Jersey Shore - August 2013

Another strange month in a strange up and down season for your Jersey Shore D-Bags.  After a very slumping July which ended in 4 losses, the Bags came out of the gate flat and lost another 4 more, pretty much setting the tone for the majority of the month.  Throw in another 6 game losing streak, a few wins and with one week left to go in the week the Bags were sitting at a record of 8-15.  In the series finale with Madison the bats finally awoke after taking nearly 2 months off.  The Bags won 5 of 7 in the last week including taking 2 of 3 from division leading Greenville to end the month with a record of 13-17.  At month's end the Bags sit 5.5 games out of 1st place with only 26 games to play, playoff chances look bleak. 

Players of the Month:

You won't find a starting pitcher on this list, it was a rough going for the Jersey starters, but for the most a great month for relievers.  There were a lot of choices here, but I narrowed it down to 2.

CL Daniel Morris:  2-0, 5 S. 0.75 ERA, 0.92 WHIP.  Surprised he is here?  Continues to prove he is one of the best in the league.  His best month since April.  Not many saves chances but he was 5 -5.  Couldn't ask for much more out this elite closer

MR Jaime "Mungo" Saenz: 1-0, 1S.  1.42 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 26K 19IP.   The powerful lefty pitched outstanding for the 2nd month in a row.  His 26 strikeouts in only 19 innings helped continue his CL lead with 13.5 K/IP.  He is 2nd in the BSA behind Smith of Hendersonville.  With Gomes Struggling this year he has been a great 2 option for the Bags.

2B Antonio Ruiz: .319/.439/.532.  4HR, 15RBI, 20BB.  Ruiz in his 1st full season in the bigs is breaking out, and August was his best month as a pro.  He added 4 2B, 2 3B and 5 SB as well.  With the loss of Foster Ruiz really stepped up in adding some power that was lost.

1B Milliard Cross: .361/.451/.689. 5HR, 15RBI.  After nearly being jettisoned off the team, Cross proved why he is a valuable asset.  Playing an excellent 1B, Cross put up these numbers in only 18 games, begging to get more playing time in September, and at this rate he will.

SS Jerome Lindsey:  .348/.452/.565.  11BB, 13R. After the brutal slump the offense went into over the summer, the lineup was changed around and Lindsey was put in the leadoff spot and has thrived ever since. 7 mutli-hit games during the month which includes 3 3-hit games.  Look for him to be an intricate part of the Sept playoff push.

Roster Changes, Questions and Answers: 

It's September which means callups!  There will probably not be much changes on the pitching front.  The two main options SP Greg Schaefer and MR Gabriel Barrentez will both miss the rest of the season with injuries.  There are a lot of options with the sticks though.  The only problem will be finding the AB's for new players coming up the big club.  With the AAA club on it's way to the playoffs the first callups will probably be to get another RH OF bat to hit lefties.  Currently Bonniface and Paul are struggling mightily against LHP.  Joe Hernandez and Sergio Rodriguez seem like the first choices, but Taro Kino and bringing back Ramon Tavarez could be viable options as well.

Alberto Perez was called up when Foster went on the DL and is hitting 7 for 21 with 1 XBH hit and 2 RBI after crushing the ball in AAA all year.

The question to be asked is, Can this team once against make a run at the postseason?  We all know they came up short last year and 5.5 games is a tough run with how much season we have left.  The starting pitching needs to be better, a bullpen cannot carry the load.  It will also be interesting to see if any contracts get signed this month as well.  SP Jose Brito and SP Hector Hernandez are both FA at the end of the year and will be interesting if the Bags go into the off-season with only 3 seasoned SP. 

Also without Foster being in the lineup can the young guys, mainly Ruiz and Bryant step up and carry the load?  It's hard to ask basically 2 rookies to do so, but they are the future of this team.  They both have big skills and we will see what the rest of the season brings!

GO D-BAGS!

Prospect Lookback and Breakdown - Adam Morrow

Continuing our series of prospect breakdown, today we take a look at 25 year old 3B Adam Morrow.

 

 

Though this writeup comes a little late considering he is now 25 years old, he has not yet seen a BSA AB, we thought it was still appropriate to get in a breakdown.


College Play
Morrow played his college ball at Oregon State University where he played 4 years.  He excelled in college and showed throughout his 4 years his knack to be a great contact hitter with an above average eye.  If he would have come out after his Junior year, many scouts say he would have been a for sure 1st round pick.  He compiled a triple slash line of .437/.591/.739 while walking 32 times and striking out only 20 times.  The batting average he put up that year stands as 2nd all time in the collegiate ranks and the OBP of .591 still sets the mark as the best ever seen by a collegiate player. His Senior year went well, but nothing compared to the record setting junior year, and he finished his college career with 137 hits, 40 2B, 8 HR and 66 RBI.  His final slash line of .354/.517/.530.  His career BA its in the Top 60, and his OBP currently sits 6th all time at the college level.


Draft and Early Years
Morrow was drafted int the 2nd round of the 2010 draft, 42nd overall by the Jersey Shore D-Bags.  Josh Swain, GM of Jersey Shore, had Morrow listed in his Top 10 and was shocked when he fell to the Bags in the 2nd round.  The 22 year old signed quickly and was sent to Single A affiliate Manhattan.  As many first year players do, he struggled.  He played in 21 games that year getting 67 AB's.  He only managed to get 8 hits, one being a HR, and struck out 23 times without taking a walk.  Morrow got down on himself for not being prepared and went home to Minnesota for the winter where he worked long hours on his swing and worked on the transition from the metal college bats to the wooden ones used at the professional level.  In 2011 he was sent back to Manhattan where he got a full year's play in.  While he didn't light the world on fire, he was improved.  He hit .242/.302/.312 while still K'ing 119 times in 458 AB's.  In the winter of 2011 Morrow put on 15 pounds of muscle and came to play in 2012.  The 23 year old came in as a leader, cut his K's dramatically and played the first 5 weeks in Manhattan getting on base at an alarming rate.  In 27 games he was hitting .366 and getting on base at a .440 clip, cutting down his K-rate even more, and after a 3-4 game a trip to the manager's office produced a promotion to AA Gainesville.


Promotions and Success 
After being sent to Gainesville in 2012, he started at Third Base immediately.  His gap power took a turn for the best and ended the year with 20 2B, 2 3B, and 3HR.  In 125 games he hit .292/.351/.356.  Though he did strikeout 122 times in 517 AB, he walked 48 times, just slightly less than he did in 1.5 season in Manhattan.  While his OPS+ of 99 didn't lead the team or jump out on the page to start the 2013 season Morrow was promoted to play for the AAA affiliate in Tuscaloosa, AL.  Before the season started the BSA named him the 90th best prospect in baseball, the first time he had the honor of being included on this list.  He joined the Troutslayers, which had won the ITL Championship the year before. He joined a powerful offense that included Derrick Wright, Mario Ramirez, Alberto Perez among others.  Through 121 games thus far this season Morrow has shown why he was listed on the Top 100 prospects list.  He has hit .327/.405/.429 while hitting a career high 7 HR.  His K/BB ratio is also the best it's been in his career, K'ing 83 times to taking 58 BB.


The Future
Being 25 and excelling in AAA, Morrow's future looks very bright.  Although the D-Bags currently have a jammed packed roster at 1B, 3B and SS, if Morrow keeps it up the D-Bags will have to find AB's for him.  Jersey has never been known to rush along players and Morrow will likely spend the rest of the year in AAA, possibly getting a September call-up.  Morrow is currently not on the 40-ran roster and must be placed there before the Rule V draft or the D-Bags will risk losing him.  GM Josh Swain thinks that Morrow could be a cog at the top of the Jersey lineup for years to come.  Is he right? Or will Morrow just become a utility player?  Only time will tell.


Next lookback: 2012 1st round pick Ernesto Barzaga

Summer Swoon

Through a long baseball season there will be ups and downs, a good team will minimize the downs and thrive on long periods of ups.  Getting through the down trodden parts are the hardest part though.  For this Jersey Shore team we have already seen a few high and lows.  At the All-Star break this team was riding high, having taken over the Eastern Division lead and sat atop with a 1.5 game lead.  It was a rare time for the D-Bags, and it was one of the first and if not THE first time they held the division lead outside of the month of April.  Starting pitching was adequate, upper half of the CL.  Bullpen was the best in the league and the bats were hot, red hot.  Over 5.5 runs a game were being scored.  Decent starting pitching led to a dominant shut down bullpen who rarely gave up hits nor runs.  But as the AS break came and went things changed.  Why is the unkown, but we break it down here:

The AS break took place July 8-11, which left 17 games left in the month of July.  The D-Bags didn't tank but compiled a 8-9 record in that time frame, but it was the end of the month when the real trouble started.  

After taking 2 of 3 from KC, Jersey welcomed the 84's to town and took 2 of 3 from them as well.  Next to town was the Knights of New York.  The Knights punished D-Bag pitching to the tune of 25 runs in 3 games, but the Bags salvaged one game in a 10-7 win.  After an off-day the D-Bags made the travel to Maui to visit the Tropics with a 3 game set.  Somewhere on the long plane ride over to Hawaii the bats were misplaced. Jersey scored 7 runs in 3 games and were swept, including a 1-0 series finale where former D-Bag Jugerta Wemusa out dueled Rob Goodship.  Next came was a trip to Oklahoma.  Oklahoma handed the Bags 2 one run losses before thoroughly beating the Bags 7-1.  The last loss represented Jersey's 8th straight loss, the longest such streak since the team relocated here over 3 years ago.  It had to end here right?

A trip to St. Louis seemed all Jersey needed to bust out of their slump.  They ended the losing streak at 8 with a 7-2 win and went on to take 3 of 4 from the Browns and welcomed the Vista Panthers to town and promptly took 2 of 3 from them.  The Bags seem to be back on their feet with a 3 game road trip to play St. Louis again, who had the worst record in all the BSA.  Things didn't go as planned as the Browns outscored the Bags 21-9 in a 3 game sweep.  

When all was said and done since the break the Bags have turned in a 13-18 record and have gone from 1.5 games up in the division, to at one point down 6.5 games out, now to 4 games out.  Things could be a lot worse, but the competitive division has everyone beating on everyone, so 4 games should be considered a blessing.  The bags have an off-day tomarrow, their only off day in the month of August BTW, then go on a 21 day stretch of having a game every day.  The next 3 weeks probably will determine if the Bags will make a run or fall short as they did a year ago.

Before the break:

5.6 runs per game

After the break:

4.4 runs per game 

Take out the 2 big outbursts of 10 and 12.....3.9 runs per game.