In another winning month for the Bags, it was another month that slightly got worse than the last percentage wise. The Bags finished the month of June with a 16-11 record, in what was their hardest month of the year schedule wise. It included series with Boston, New Orleans, Toronto, and Greenville twice. The Bags finish the month 3 games back of the division leading Greenville 84's and 1/2 game behind the Chicago Machine. Going into July the Bags are 52-30.
Players of the Month
MR Jose "Dog Pound" Gomes: 15.2 IP, 3-0, 15 K, 6H, 8 BB. For the 2nd straight month Gomes did not allow a run to score on his watch. He extended his scoreless streak to 38.2 IP which is over 31 appearances. Any concern that the bullpen would take a step down with the loss of Daniel Morris can be put to rest.
OF Peter Larson: .337/.442/.533 2 HR, 13 RBI, 31 hits, 19 BB. Peter Larson returned to the on-base machine we all know and love during June. He was on base an astonishing 50 times, good for 44% of his AB. If the Bags are going to compete they are going to need for players at the top of the order to be one base for the big boys.
OF Sergio Rodriguez: .322/.400/.655 6 HR, 18 RBI, 19 runs. Sergio was a nice surprise after injuries pushed him into an every day starting role. He led the team in RBI for most of the month until Doyle passed him on the last day of the month. The guy just does what he is asked. He played great defense and even stole 2 bases.
Roster Changes, Questions and Answers:
A couple of injuries really dictated the moves this month. On back to back days both OF Al Ryan and OF Jose Ortiz went down with muscle strains. Both of them were diagnosed and guessed to be out around a month apiece. Taro Kino and Ken Taylor were both called up to take over and have split the little time they have played in. There has been talk about super SP prospect Jose Ramos being called up to make a few starts in the rotation. If this does indeed it happen it will go against Swain's earlier statement claiming he would not being seen until Spring Training of next season.
Minor Leaguers of the Month
3rd official installment of MLOTM here at the Bag Report to recognize the top minor leaguer player in the Jersey Shore system for June. Last month's were MR Yin-Zhen Zong and SS Lawrence Schroeder.
Pitcher:
Jesus Zapata (AA): 3-1, 1.27 ERA, 35.1 IP, 39 K, 0.96 WHIP. The 20 year Zapata lit up AA in his 5 starts which included 21 straight innings without giving up an ER. He has really picked up the strikeout this season averaging almost 8 per 9 innings. He was signed to a MLC by the Bags in March of 2013 after being released by Greenville.
Hitter:
OF Taro Kino: .368/.439/.621. 32 hits, 6 HR, 28 RBI. 28 year old Kino lit up AAA pitching and continues to be a powerful bat for AAA Tuscaloosa. He led the entire organization with his 28 RBI and his hot month is what dictated his promotion to Jersey Shore, where he hit 1 for 8 in 2 games. If he keeps up his torrid hitting in AAA, the Bags will have to find a roster spot for him.
GO D-BAGS
If you ask 22 year old Richard Coker how he got where he is today he might not be able to give you an answer right away. The Boston, Massachusetts native was your typical kid growing up in the suburbs who played sports year round mixed in with the usual trouble making teenagers like to do. It was apparent when he was just a young teenager that the kid was athletically gifted. He led his Little Guy football team when he was just the age of 12 to the state title in a passing attack that is rare to that level. The kid was big and he could throw. He wasn't the fleetest of foot, but already grown to 5'9" as a 14 year old, he was among the biggest kids in the class when he entered High School.
"At that time I had one dream to play Pro Football. My idol was and still is Tom Brady and I love the Patroits. The only problem was I grew too fast. I was the biggest kid when I was 12 and each year after the kids caught up a little bit. By the time I started my senior year I stood 5'11" and weighed 180 and I was pretty average." Coker talked to a lot of recruiters during his senior year which he led the Butler High Golden Tornados to a 9-2 record and a state semi-final appearance. "I wanted Boston College, Notre Dame, Rutgers, but it was always the same answer, too small kid. It was a let down. Football was my game, and pretty much my life up until that point."
In the early Spring his buddy convinced him to try out for the baseball team, a sport he hadn't played since little league. "It's not that I didn't like baseball, but I had football in the fall, basketball in the winter and spring and by the time the earliest summer months hit I was in football camps, there just wasn't much time for baseball." Being naturally gifted he picked the game back up fairly quickly.
Though his swing didn't produce much power, it was natural and making contact wasn't a problem for him. He made the team and coach put him at first base where it seemed he had played there his entire life. "The kid was a defensive whiz at 1B. Scooping, diving, stretching he was everywhere. We eventually moved him to 3B where he wasn't quite as good, but he certainly had the arm for it." Coker attributes his quickness to the football field. "As a QB you only have so many seconds before you know you are getting crushed. At 3B you have to react so quickly to the ball that I was just use to it."
Coker played in 27 of the teams 40 games and surprised everyone by hitting .341 and having a knack for getting on base by also walking 21 times. He became a staple at hitting 3rd and playing 3rd on a nightly basis. The Golden Tornadoes finished the season 15-25, missed the playoffs but Coker and 2B Vincente Ventura continued to hit in the cage. Coker was surprised when he got a call from an agent in June telling him that there was a good chance he was to be taken in the BSA amateur draft in the next month. At the time Coker had planned on going to school and being a 2 sport athlete, but the idea of being drafted excited him.
To most people's surprise on July 1, 2013 the Jersey Shore D-Bags selected Coker 20th overall in the 1st round of the draft. "I went from wanting to play football the year before, to being a first round draft pick in baseball, it was unreal, but way cool," said Coker on draft day. Jersey saw potential. "The kid was raw, but you could see he had skills. We had his contact as way above average, he had that stroke that could get the ball to the gap, he rarely struck out and making of a good eye and not to mention not too shabby at defense. We knew it would take some time, but when you draft in the last part of the 1st round taking a risk isn't a bad thing," GM Josh Swain told us recently.
Coker joined A ball Manhattan and looked raw in his first season. He hit just .224, walked only 12 times in 220+ plate appearances and struck out at a 19% clip. "We expected struggles. He didn't take to the struggling very well to no surprise though. Those natural athletes are use to succeeding as kids and into High School, first year of professional life can be tough."
He played in just 14 Manhattan games in 2014 before being promoted to AA Gainsville. He hit .320, had an OBP of .370 but the strike outs were still troubling. 20 in 70 plate appearances. In fact he had more strike outs than he made regular outs, but yet he was still called up. "We had an influx of talent at A and we were lacking bodies in AA. I probably called him up too soon, but he could hit. I guess call it more of a challenge if anything."
The rest of 2014 was a struggle. AA was hard. Coker played in 100 games, hitting .209, striking out 94 times. He fell off the D-Bags top 20 prospect list and was disappointed In 2014 he met Lawrence Schroeder whom the D-Bags drafted in the amateur draft out of Virginia that year and the two playing on the same side of the IF instantly become friends. "Schroeder helped. He was always up beat, always telling me to keep my head up. Helps having a friend."
In baseball and in life, sometimes things just start clicking, and after a slow April and May that's what happened for Coker in the summer of 2015. Coker, Dave Dodd and Fransisco Torres led the offense to a Gainesville record 88 wins, a big upgrade over the 43 they won the year before. Coker ended up hitting .301/.350/.419 with a career high 9 HR and 26 2B. While his strikeout rate was still high he was improving. In 2014 he walked once for every 5.22 K's. In 2015 it had improved to 1 in every 3.36. There was hope yet again for the then 21 year old.
Hoping for a promotion in 2015, Jersey sent Coker back to AA for the season. If Jersey was looking for improvment they have found some thus far. Though his average only sits at 280, he is on pace for less K's and almost double the walks he took last season, which is exactly what Jersey wanted to see. They still see him as a potential starter in the IF at the major league level. He has been in the system for almost 4 years and he is still only 22, the beauty of drafting out of high school.
There's no telling if there is a time table for Coker. They have rushed him, they have held him back. We might see him in AAA later this year, maybe it will be next year, but the potential is there. Should we expect anything else out of a 1st round D-Bags draft pick?
Follow Coker on his way to the bigs and the D-Bags push for their 2nd straight playoff appearance!
GO D-BAGS
The 2010 amateur draft took place September 1st, 2010 towards the end of the then VBL6's 1st season in existence. A lot of people like to put grades on drafts the minute they happen, but taking a 6 year window and looking back is a much better way to grade. As we are just a month away from the 2016 amateur draft, let's look back at that 2010 draft, see all the potential that has come out, find our busts, steals and overall....let's see what happened. The 2010 draft is FILLED with hitters who are scattered all over the BSA.
First off, there was ALOT of talent taken in our first amateur draft, many of today's stars came right here out of that draft. Where else to start but #1 overall. The then Eugene franchise, who is now Reno, selected SP Tommy Connare, who did have extreme upside. He never did learn a dominant 3rd pitch and has had up and downs as a SP, who is now a main cog in the Los Cabos bullpen. Not a bust, but didn't live up to #1 pick hype.
The first hitter taken, and the #2 pick in the draft was Mr. John Doby by Vista, and he is still with the team. At times Doby has been dominant posting career numbers of .291/.407/.488. Doby's problems have been injuries and staying on the field though. In 4+ BSA seasons the most games he has played in a season is 127.
Now look break down that first round and find the steal and bust of the round.
The hitter steal of the first round falls to Jersey at 21 in 2B Mike Bryant. Bryant is a 2 time All Star, has finished 2nd in MVP voting 2 seasons in a row. He leads all players in the draft class in HR, RBI, BA, SLG and OPS.
For every steal there is a bust, and unfortunately for Jacksonville that pick came at pick 6. Chris Dawson a powerful 1B out of UNC looked to be at the time a cornerstone at 1B for Jacksonville for the next 12-15 years, but after 3 years in the minors he was traded to Baffin where he would play AAA ball until last year before seeing some action. While he still has talent, at 28 years old with only 6 HR and 21 RBI to his BSA career, at this point he is my first round bust of a hitter.
Other players of note drafted in the first round include OF Carlos Perez (3rd), OF Stu Wilson (8th), C Bryan Sandstrom (9th), OF Al Burrill (11th), OF Antonio Sanchez (17th), IF Tom Jacobson (18th), 3B Luis Alou (19th), OF Rocky Anderson (22nd), and OF Porter Standford (28th).
On the pitching side of things things were a little bit more clouded. Even though Cy Young winner Steve Haynes was picked at #10, my steal of the first round is SP Greg Casey, pick 24, by San Fransisco. The flame thrower spent his first big league season notching 34 saves as the SF closer before being moved to a starter and eventually traded to Hendersonville. Haynes and Casey have matching career records of 44-37.
As for the bust for pitching in the first round, my pick is Rob King, pick 12, by then Somerton out of the Univ. of Georgia. King never became that front line starter Somerton had envisioned and didn't make the big league club until 2013 with New orleans, going 0-6 in 11 starts with an ERA of 7.11. He now pitches in the Toronto Titan's system at the A ball level.
Other pitchers of note in the first round include: Richard White (4th) and Ross Holley (7th).
Drafts are not won in the first round, they are usually the safe picks. Drafts are won by finding those gems in the later rounds. Here's what we found in the 2nd round:
All-Star Catcher Gernot Renner (2nd Round, 6th pick), breakout star OF Domingo Martinez (2nd Round, 11th), former 40 HR man OF Ghebru Olatunji (2nd, 15), CF Jose Estrada (2nd, 19), 2015 ROY 3B/SS Adam Morrow (2nd, 21), and Boston setup man Horace Thomas (2nd, 16th).
The 3rd round is where I find 3 of my Top 5 steals of the overall draft though. How these guys fell so far, no one might ever know. Round 3, pick 14 3B Bryce Hester. Hester leads all players in hits from the 2010 draft class and who has been traded 4 times since being drafted. At pick 27 in Round 3, Kansas City selected 1B Tony Marin. Marin was released by KC before he had the chance to get much playing time and proved everyone he was a player when he hit .323 with 46 HR and 139 last season and finished 2nd in MVP voting.
In a very mundane pitching class the biggest steal of the draft might be then Oklahoma, now Toronto's pick, the 7th pick of the 3rd round. They selected a SP by the name of Mike Haward. Haward is an All Star and a 2 time champion with Hendersonville who leads all pitchers of the 2010 class in wins with 55.
In the 4th round Jersey found in a gem in Russell "The Muscle" Phillips with pick 21 in the round. Phillips was later traded to Sacramento, then to Niagara Falls where he broke out last year with his 40 HR campaign and looks like a legit slugger.
The 4th round also is where current Greenville closer Jorge Valentin was taken by then Sunnyvalle, now New York. In 161 career innings he has an ERA of 2.62 with 30 saves.
In Round 5 with the 10th pick then Haddonfield, now Indy, selected OF Todd Church. Church's first year as a regular was in 2015 where he busted out hitting .327 with 166 hits and 30 doubles for the Lions.
My last gem of the draft was found in Round 7. The 13th pick of the round the then Long Beach Havens, selected out of Oklahoma 1B/OF Robbie McLaughlin. McLaughlin is known as having one of the best eyes in the game combined with good contract and 30+ 2B power to the gaps and that's from a 7th round pick.
Overall there are 17 hitters who have played in 400+ games, 7 players who have 500+ hits and 3 players with 100+ HR. 3 pitchers have 40+ wins, 3 have 20+ saves, we have a Cy Young winner and have been runner up for MVP on 3seperate occasions. Not bad for a class whom most players are 27 or recently turned 28.
Make those draft lists, there are gems and late finds to be found!
2016 continues to the year of the 3-headed monster in the CL East. Jersey almost matched their record in April with an 18-10 record and currently sit 4.5 games behind Greenville for the division lead and 4 games behind Chicago for 2nd place and the WC lead.
Players of the Month
2B Mike Bryant: .404/.465/.711 7 HR 36 RBI 46 hits 12 2B. Why not start out with the league's POTM? For the 3rd time in his career Byrant was named the BSA player of the month for his outstanding play during May. He over .400 for the 2nd straight month and his 46 hits are an unconfirmed team record for a single month. 12 multi-hit games, including 4 games with 4+ hits to go along with 10 multi-RBI games. He leads the BSA in almost every offensive category. Bryant also won back to back player of the week awards to begin the month.
1B Matt Doyle: .353/.448/.716 11 HR 35 RBI. After a terrible April, Doyle broke out in a big way. He climbed to near the top of the charts in both HR and RBI and averaged over an RBI per game. The beginning of the month say Doyle have a 3 game stretch where he had 7 hits, 3 HR and 12 RBI. He and Bryant continue to carry this offense.
3B Alberto Perez: .339/.389/.46 2 HR 13 RBI 24 R 8 2B. Perez just continues to flat out hit. He hit 2nd for the most of the month and flourished with the stick. His 39 hits were only behind the 46 of Bryant and he currently sits in the Top 5 for batting average in the CL with .355 average. The 28 year old has already surpassed his career highs in every category and looks like here is in Jersey to stay.
MR Jose Gomes: 0.00 ERA, 23.0 IP, 0.61 WHIP, 28 K, 7 hits allowed. Hello Dog Pound! Gomes returned to the Gome of old for May and he was nearly unhittable. 7 hits allowed in 23 innings while chalking up 28 K, he was the among the best MR in baseball during the month. He and Saenz have been a deadly 1-2 punch in the back end of the bullpen.
SP Art Ellis: 3-1, 3.31 ERA, 39 K 35.1 IP. Ellis was the most consistent starter for the month and finally lost at the tail end for his first lost in his last 10 outings. He continues to show why he was worth the big contract Jersey handed to him before the year started.
Roster Moves, Questions and Answers
The D-Bags gave us a little treat this month when the called up the #1 hitting prospect in BSA OF Dave Dodd. Dodd has ridiculous raw power and showed it off hitting 3 HR in the 9 games he played in May. Welcome to the show kid. The reason Dodd got the call up was that Leon Foster was sent to the DL with shoulder tendinitis which is really too bad because he was starting to look like the Foster that made the All Star team in his first year in Jersey. Foster plans on being back towards the end of May, possibly early June.
Also in May we watched the continued struggles of Dave Rice, the Bags Rule V MR pick from Chicago. His struggles continued into May and he was eventually offered back to Chicago. Takafumi Ogusuku took his spot in the pen and was just OK having a 5.14 ERA in 7 IP, striking out 7 and walking 6.
The speculation is still out to when we will super pitching prospect SP Jose Ramos. He is starting to look more poised and polished and still just 21 years old. He had the best starter of his career when he struck out 15 batters in a win against Topeka on 5/18 in just 7 innings. GM Josh Swain said there is no time table for his call up, but we will keep a close eye out.
Minor Leaguers of the Month
In the 2nd installment we will introduce 2 more minor leaguers who had great months. Last months MLOTM were Dave Dodd and MR Angel Lara.
Pitcher: Yin-zhen Zong (AAA) 13.0 IP, 2.08 ERA, 19 K. The 25 year old Zong who was a 7th round pick in 2013 has had a couple tough years in AAA. The past two seasons he has started, relieved and closed and both years had an ERA north of 6. And before the month of May his ERA of 5.40 was nothing of interest. Something seemed to have clicked during the last month. He mowed down hitters lowing his season ERA to 3.65 while he is striking out over 12 batters per 9 innings. If this continues he could find himself in the Jersey pen before too long.
Hitter: Lawrence Schroeder (AAA) .344/.383/.611. 7 HR 23 RBI 29 R 45 Hits. Schroeder, the 24 year old SS, just continues to get better. The former 1st round pick played the majority of 2015 in AAA putting up respectable numbers, but nothing like this year. His power has been a surprise to go with some great gap power and high contact which makes his quite the IF threat. He also has a plus glove at SS. With Adam Morrow's struggles on the big club, could we being seeing Schroeder man the field for the Bags anytime soon? He is on pace for 39 HR, 126 RBI and a .355 average in AAA. What more could you ask for?
