July was a successful month for Jersey who compiled a 15-8 record in the game shortened month causes by the All Star break. The stars showed up to shine and the Bags will start August with a 4.5 game lead in the Wild Card race over the Austin River Sharks. It's an odd place for Jersey who usually finds itself chasing other teams at this point and not holding any sort of lead.
Players of the Month
2B Mike "The MACHINE" Bryant: .385/.431/.703 8 HR 30 RBI 22 R. Why not start off with the CL Player of the Month? Bryant won the award for the 2nd time in his career for the month of July, he also won it July of 2014 as well. Bryant had 12 multi hit games, 9 multi RBI games, including having 4 RBI on 3 separate occasions. He started at 2B for the CL All Star team earlier in the month and has put himself back into the midst of MVP talks for the 2nd year in a row.
1B Matt "Down Home" Doyle: .357/.421/.667 8 HR 30 RBI. Doyle joined Bryant to create quite the 2 some for the month. He was also selected as a reserve for the All Star game and matched Bryant's HR and RBI totals. The combined 16 HR and 60 RBI in 23 games is an incredible amount. It was Doyle's 2nd 8 HR and 30 RBI month of the season, the other coming in May. He currently sits 2nd in the league in HR and leads the league in RBI, also he was the first BSA player to reach 100 RBI on the season.
3B Adam Morrow: .323/.405 31 H 13BB 16R. Super rookie continues to impress as he had his 3rd 30 hit month of the season. Leading off most games he ranks in the Top 10 in the CL in hits and runs. He has put himself right in the thick of things in a crowded CL ROY conversation as well.
SP Jerry Burgess: 4-0 2.70 ERA 28K/4BB 0.90 WHIP. The new acquisition dazzled winning all 4 starts after coming over from El Paso. His 4 wins were more than he had in 3 months with El Paso and his first month with less than double digit walks. Apparently the bats like when he is on the month as well, in his 4 starts they scored: 11, 14, 13 and 15 runs in his starts.
SP Art Ellis: 3-0 2.01 ERA 1.12 WHIP 26K/6BB. Ellis continued his torrid first season with the Bags and is making a run at Dan Macias's team record for ERA which he set last year at 2.82. After his last July start he sits at 2.44. Ellis was selected to the All Star for the 2nd time this month and his first time since the 2011 season.
MR Jaime "Mungo" Saenz: 2-0 1.35 ERA 0.75 WHIP 16K. After a rough start to the season in April for Mungo, he finished July as the 3rd month in a row with an ERA sub 2.00. The hard throwing lefty is having a bounce back season after a "down" 2014. This marks the 2nd year in a row he has registered 9 wins, he currently sits at 9-0.
CL Daniel Morris: 1-0 6 Saves 1.08 ERA 0.96 WHIP. Morris had been having the exact opposite of what a contract season should be, but July he finally looked like the Morris of old. 2015 marked the 2nd year in a row Morris was left off the CL All Star team after a streak of making the team 3 years in a row.
Roster Questions, Changes and Answers
Leon Foster still has 3 weeks left on the DL and we won't see him probably until late August or September. Scott Powers suffered a Knee contusion on 7/23 and will miss 3 weeks with the injury. With him being out of the lineup it gave more AB's to Sergio Rodriguez and Taro Kino in the OF. Sergio had 60 AB in July and hit .300 with 2 HR.
Jose Gomes was also injured on 7/30 with some shoulder tendonitis and is set to miss 3 weeks. In his absence the Bags added Takafumi Ogusuku, the Japanese native to the 40 man roster and the active roster. In one game in July he gave up 3 ER in 2.1 IP vs San Fransisco. At only 19 years old he rose quickly through the Bags system to make it to the big club.
Edgardo Gonzales, Aaron Bailey and Tim Duncan continue to impress in AAA Tuscaloosa for the Bags but right now there just isn't any room for any bats. Look for one or all 3 of them to get September callups to see what they can do for the big club, especially if the Bags start to pull away in the WC race.
No comments:
Post a Comment