2016 CLDS Jersey Shore vs. Vista; In Depth Breakdown

It took a team record of wins of 101, it took a Triple Crown Winner and a new RBI record and a rookie hurler to win 12 games in 16 starts, but Jersey is back in the playoffs!  The out battled the Chicago Machine who had a great season but fell off in September and finished 5 games back of Jersey.  The Bags will be facing this year's only newcomer to the playoff scene, the Vista Panthers.  Vista will be making their first ever trip to the postseason, and being the winner's of the CL West, they will be the home time, albeit having won 11 less games than Jersey.

This season in 9 head to head match ups, Jersey held the edge 6-3.  Jersey went 4-2 at home, and 2-1 on the road.  6 of those games were before the All Star break, and if you watched the BSA this season you know Vista was a different animal after the break.  Vista's hails from Southern California and plays in a home park opposite of Jersey Shore's.  It is very pitcher friendly and in general it is death to right handed hitters with the left field foul pole sitting 382 feet from home plate featuring a 10 foot wall. 


Let's break down the teams:

Offensively:

 

As you can see Jersey holds a distrinct offensive advantage.  Dominating every category, especially in runs.  Jersey on the season scored 5.92 runs per game, while only 4.28 for Vista.  This of course has to do with how different their home parks are as well as the offensively friendly parks in the CL East compared to the CL West, but also do to how the teams are built, Vista is primarily built on pitching.

Pitching:

Vista holds a distinct advantage in team ERA and starter's ERA.  A main to watch in this series will be how the Vista starters handle Jersey's big bats.  If they can limit damage from the 3-4-5 spots in the order, they will definitely give themselves a chance in this series.  If Vista is to win the series, I foresee them winning low scoring close games.  It will be tough for them to win a slug fest with the Bags.

The Starters vs. Vista:

Art Ellis:  0-1, 0.00 ERA, 8.2 IP, 6HA, 0ER, 1BB, 6K

Jose Ramos: 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 7.1IP, 6HA, 0ER, 4BB, 4K

Dan Macias: 1-0, 6.00 ERA, 6.0IP, 8HA, 4ER, 1BB, 5K

Rob Goodship: 0-2, 4.09 ERA, 11.0IP, 14HA, 5ER, 5BB, 9K

Jerry Burgess: 2-0, 0.63ERA, 6HA, 1ER, 8BB, 6K

 

Lineups:

Jersey plans to run with the usual lineups, which are as follows:

vs RHP:

1. LF Peter Larson

2. SS Lawrence Schroeder

3. 2B Mike Bryant

4. DH Matt Doyle

5. RF Dave Dodd

6. 1B Alberto Perez

7. C Luis Antonio Duran

8. CF Fransisco Torres

9. 3B Adam Morrow

vs LHP:

1. CF Sergio Rodriguez

2. SS Lawrence Schroeder

3. 2B Mike Bryant

4. 1B Matt Doyle

5. RF Dave Dodd

6. DH Manny Romero

7. C Warren Goyer

8. 3B Alberto Perez

9. LF Tim Duncan

Hitters against probable Vista starters:

vs. Hoffmeyer

Bryant 6/14  2HR      .429

Perez 3/8    .375

Morrow 3/11    .273

Doyle 2/8   1HR     .250

Duran: 2/11   .182

Larson  1/9   .111

Torres 0/4    .000

Schroeder 0/3    .000

Dodd    0/3   .000

vs. Montanez

Torres 2/4   .500

Schroeder 1/3  .333

Bryant  7/23  2HR   304

Larson  7/25  .280

Romero 3/11   .273

Doyle 5/19  1HR   .263

Perez 2/9  .222

Duran 4/19  1HR  .211

Morrow 1/6  .167

Dodd  0/4  .000

vs Law

Schroeder 1/2   .500

Taylor  3/7  1HR  .429

Romero 2/6  .333

Dodd  1/3    .333

Doyle 2/8  1HR  .250

Bryant  2/9  1HR   .222

Duran 1/5   .200

Perez  1/5  .200

Rodriguez 0/7   .000

Larson  0/6   .000

Goyer 0/3   .000

Morrow 0/3     .000

Not many AB for most of the Jersey players against the Big 3 of Vista, but not a whole lot of success for Jersey hitters.  One thing to note is both Bryant and Doyle have homered off of each starter in their career.  Does this mean anything?  Probably not.  But it's baseball, we break stuff down, it's what we do.

There will be more on this series and much more playoff talk as the week progresses!  

GO D-BAGS

      

Jersey Shore August 2012 in Review

In Jersey picked anytime to have their best month so far of the season it was August, especially after the subpar and sub .500 month they had in July.  Coming into the month they sat 1.5 games back of Chicago for the CL Wild Card spot and when things were said and done a 19-9 record pushed them to 1/2 up on the Machine.  The bats got hot scoring over 8 runs in 11 of their 19 wins and a 21 year old rookie won the CL Pitcher of the Month Award. 

Players of the Month

SP Jose Ramos: 5-1, 2.62 ERA, 2CG, 1.12 WHIP.  Wow, Ramos went from big time prospect dominating AAA hitters to CL Pitcher of the Month faster than anyone could have expected.  With Jerry Burgess struggling, Ramos stepped in at the right time to pick up 7 wins in his first 10 starts and bring another formidable starter to the Jersey rotiation.

SP Art Ellis: 2-1, 1.95 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 37 K in 33.1 IP.  After having his worst month as a D-Bag in July, Ellis bounced back in a remarkable way.  The lone loss was against Toronto where he surrounded 4 ER, but didn't allow more than 1 in any other start for the rest of the month.  He even picked up a no decision against Vista allowing 0 ER.  If Jersey is going to find their way back to the playoffs this year, Ellis will be a main cog in getting them there in September.

2B Mike Bryant: .363/.406/.552. 3HR, 29RBI, 42 hits, 9 2B.  Familiar face this season.  While the power dipped a little bit for Bryant in August, the hits kept on coming.  His 4th 40 hit month, 4th month to have more RBI than games played and scored a season high 31 runs for the month.  This is the dream season for Bryant, if he can keep it up BSA records will fall.

1B Matt Doyle: .355/.430/.645. 8HR, 30 RBI, 39 hits, 8 2B.  Welcome back Matt Doyle! After a summer swoon which saw Doyle hit for .238 and .255 with 6 combined HR for the months of June and July, Doyle found that stroke he had in May and much of his rookie year bashing 16 XBH, his 2nd 30+ RBI month and a glimpse of how devestating the 3-4 holes in the Jersey lineup can be with he and Bryant are both clicking.

Questions, Concerns and Answers

The main concern heading into September is will this team make the playoffs?  Both Chicago and Jersey are playoff caliber teams and both could win 95-100 games this year with one being left at home. 

Will Jerry Burgess be given his rotation spot back? Since his demotion to the pen, he has only pitched 6.1 IP but only has given up 1 ER in that time span.  He also struck out 10, compared to 4 BB.  The control has been the issue for him much of this season.  While Goodship and Shaefer have not been terrible, they haven't put up numbers bad enough to be replaced in the rotation.  Plan on seeing Burgess get a spot start or two, or more if Jersey can take the lead in the WC race.

September is a time for call up but since we have seen Ramos, Schroeder and Torres is there anyone else we might see during the month?  I don't think we will be seeing any more rookies, but catcher Duran will be off the DL as well OF Jose Ortiz, plan on seeing both back.  We will probably also see OF Duncan and OF Kino come back up to be bats off the bench.  There is an outside chance of seeing a rookie pitcher, for depth.  If I had to guess MR Zong, Lara or Cortez could be given a couple of September innings.

Minor Leaguers of the Month

Pitcher
MR Bernardo Pacheco (AAA):  1-0, 1 save, 0.63 ERA, 1.12 WHIP.  While pitching mainly middle relief and set up for Tuscaloosa, Pacheco was money in his 14.1 IP in August.  He allowed 1 ER, which was on a solo HR and tallied 13 K to only 3 BB.  Pacheco, 28, is in his 4th year at AAA and each year his ERA has gotten lower.  He will be 29 next year, and if he becomes a minor league free agent, he could catch on somewhere and help a bullpen.



Hitter

1B Tadahisa Kisuki (AA): .408/.487/.582. 3 HR, 27 RBI, 40 hits.  Signed in April 2015 out of the free agent pool, the 20 year old is really picking it up since he his subpar play in A ball last year.  He crushed A pitching this year, and August was his best month playing in AA Gainesville.  While he doesn't hit for a lot of power, the gap is there totally 37 2B between the two levels while hitting over .350.  There's a good chance he will get the promotion to AAA before the year is over.  At only 20 years old the kid could see the show before a lot of players his age are even out of college.

 

Jose Ramos, Rookie Phemon; Wins CL Pitcher of the Month

Coming into this season Jose Ramos was just a 20 year old heading back to AAA after a trying 2nd half the season after dominating AA in 26 starts.  He showed so much promise that OSA named him the 7th best prospect in the entire BSA before the 2016 starter.  Management had no plans to even consider moving him to the big club this season.  

"Ramos is a kid with special talent.  Being so young we have moved slowly with him since he joined the organization in 2013.  We gave him 2.5 seasons in AA before he finally felt comfortable and his true talent starting coming out before sending him to AAA last season.  We expected him to struggle in the starts that he had.  In his 7 starts he had an ERA of around 4.50 and only had a 2:1 K/BB ratio, so we knew he had a ways to go.  At the beginning of the season I never really thought we would be talking about him in a light like this," commented GM Josh Swain on Ramos.  

Ramos struggled in April and came through about with the same statistics and ratios he had last season, but was walking fewer.  In his first 2 starts in May he notched 2 wins pitching 15 innings, giving up 2 ER and having a 4:1 K/BB ratio.  His signature start though came against Topeka on May 18th.  Ramos went 7 shutout inning, giving up 5 hits, walking 3 and tying a league record with 15 K's.  It got the attention of the baseball world, and also put him at 7-0 for AAA Tuscaloosa.  He would continue baffling AAA hitters up through his last AAA start on June 30th where he would throw his first career shutout, giving up just 3 hits, walking no one and striking out 11.  This took his record to 11-1, his ERA to 2.95 and fIP of 2.30.  How do you keep a guy down after that performance?

He made his BSA debut on 7/5/2013, 2 days before the All Star break to face the Madison Bombers at home.  He wasn't overwhelming but did go 8 strong innings, giving up 3 ER on 4 hits, walking 1 and striking out 3 for a no decision.  He would get his first win 11 days later in his next start across the country against Pocatello.  He again would throw 8 innings, this time only allowing 1 ER, 6 hits, 1 walk and 6 K's.  He would beat rival Chicago before be humbled by the bats of Niagara Falls to bring his record to 2-1 entering August.  

Ramos got 6 starts in August, 3 at home and 3 on the road.  He went 6.2 IP in everyone of his starts, allowing 4 or less runs in every start and 4 /6 2 or less.  He tallied a 5-1 record, getting his only loss in his last start at Chicago, allowing a season high 10 hits and 4 ER as well as 2 HR.  His shiny 5-1 record compiled with a 2.62 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 24 K's gave him the CL Pitcher of the Month.  This was the first recorded time that we could find of a Jersey pitching winning this award.  Amazing with a staff that has featured pitchers like Macias, Ellis, Brito and Burgess that a 21 year old was the first to win it. 

Even though GM Swain didn't expect Ramos to pitch for the big club this season, he could end up being their savior.  7 wins in his first 10 starts, as well as Ramos making 4 or 5 starts may be the reason they make the playoffs instead of being on the outside looking in.  Either way, the kid has been everything he was advertised to be and more.  I don't expect this will be his last POTM award.

GO D-BAGS

Down the Stretch We Come

After an interesting, long, fun filled journey with our first year using the OOTP 13 simulation engine, we have reached the home stretch of the 2016 season.  We have seen surprises on both ends of the spectrum, weather it be surprise teams to breakout stars, to teams with high hopes who have faltered.  As of right now each team has roughly 30 games left to play, or 19% of their season left.

Looking over at the NL things are eerily and not surprisingly very much the same. As of this point in the season, the standings are EXACTLY the same as they finished last year except for Cleveland and Niagara Falls are switched around in the NL East.  Other than that we have exact orders. 

In the NL East, we have our two main rivals fighting for the division crown again, but this time 3rd place Cleveland on sits 5 games behind.  This division which normally features a 100 game winner will be lucky to have 1st place finish with above 85 wins.  While budget slashing has gone on in both Baffin and Boston, the race has remained tight.

Remaining Schedule strength:
Boston:     .460
Baffin:       .479
Cleveland:  .495

None of the 3 have a particularly hard schedule, but Cleveland being down 5 games with the hardest schedule and 10 games remaining with BAF & BOS, it will be an uphill climb.  Can Baffin, who sits only 1/2 game behind Boston, break the streak of 2nd places finishes that have plauged them 4 out of the last 5 years?  Or will it be back to the playoffs for the Beavers?

Moving to the NL West, there is a familiar face atop the standings; The LA Bruins.  Heading into the final stretch they lead LCC by 6.5 and SF by 7.5.  While they are by no means a lock, they would have to crumble to lose this division lead.

Speaking of familiar faces, the NL Central leader is no stranger either; The Hendersonville Hitmen.  You might know them as the 4 time BSA champions and currently on a 3peat. They have the biggest lead in all of the BSA at 12.5 games over New Orleans and sits with a magic number of 18.  While Mr. Hays has been heard that he doesn't feel like a championship caliber team and gives his odds the worst they have been, the team is still on pace to win 115 games which has only been done in the BSA twice, by previous Hitmen squads.

Where it gets interesting in the NL is the WC position.  New Orleans has held that post since early May.  Their lead which was once hovering around 10 games has shrunk to just 2.5 over Los Cabos and 3.5 over San Fransisco.  The loss of Blink Hernandez has come at exactly the wrong time for the Looters.  Before Blink went down the Looters were 61-35, since then they are 20-16.

Strength of Schedule:
Los Cabos:         .448
San Fransisco:    .483
New Orleans:     .530

Could we see the same 4 teams make the NL playoffs like last year?  Can New Orleans overcome a brutal down the stretch to secure their first playoff spot in team history?  New Orleans next 13 games are with BOS, SNF, HEN and LCC.  If he can get through that stretch within 2 games of LCC or SNF I like him winning the WC.  Don't sleep on SNF, they are lurking in the background.

Let's move on the CL.  The East like always is tough.  Really tough.  For most of the season we saw all 5 teams above .500 before Madison slipped below just recently.  With a 9 game lead and playing as hot as anyone, Greenville on the verge of their 6th straight division title.  Jersey and Chicago have had great seasons, but at this point, they are playing for the WC

Shifting to the West, we see....VISTA? In first?!? That's right the fighting Jordan's have gone white hot to take a 6 game lead on the the 2 time reigning division champ Seattle. In a division in a down year, even for being the CL West, Vista was the most active team at the deadline getting young phenom Rodrigo Aguilar in a heist from Reno and bringing in SS Brian Cash from Greenville.  Add that to getting MR Alejandro Lopez from STL and drafting MR Edward Cadle in the first round, Vista is certainly an improved team.  6 games with Seattle remain.  If the Pikes can break out of their season long slump, this race certainly isn't over.

Heading to the Central, we have Toronto holding a 7.5 game lead on a very improved Indianapolis team.  Austin with their superb staff has fallen under .500 and 9 games out.  Toronto has been busy this year trading away Salvador Perez and "Heart throb" Gomez this season.  They also recently lost Cy Young favorite Rickey Bolden for the remained of the year.  Their lead should suffice holding off Indy and Austin, but is there current 3 game lead enough to hold off Vista 3rd best record in the CL?

CL Wildcard.  This comes down to 2 teams, 2 division rivals.  You have your reigning CL Champs, Jersey Shore and your much improved bounce back Chicago Machine. Chicago jumped out to a very hot April and Jersey has cut into their lead every month to now stand 1/2 game up on the Machine.  Both teams are on pace to win 100+ games this year.  Both teams are playing well in August, but September will be the real test.  The teams have 7 games left against each other.

Strength of Schedule:
Jersey:     .530
Chicago:  .550

Both teams have hard schedules.  Can Chicago overcome and make their first playoffs ever?  Will Jersey take the wild card as they did last year?  Those 7 games against each other will be big.  Will Greenville rest starters to effect the race?  Lots of questions over the last 5 weeks!

Jersey Slides to 12-14 July Record

A theme is occurring this season in Jersey and it isn't a position one.  We just finished the 4th month of the season and each month in succession has gotten worse than the last.  The most recent was an up and down  with a lot of struggling finishing with their first under .500 month of the season with a record at 12-14.  It included losing 3 of 4 at home to division mate Madison, being swept on the road at rival Greenvilleand losing 4 of their final 6 games of the month to Maui and Niagara Falls.  The only constant was the play of The Machine, Mikey Bryant, who put the team on his back.

Players of the Month
2B Mike Bryant: .364/.405/.673  8 HR, 29 RBI, 10 2B.  Bryant kept his onslaught of the league posting huge numbers on his way to his 2nd Player of the Month award for the CL this year.  In fact, Bryant loves hitting in July.  It is the 3rd year in a row he has won the July player of the month for the CL, that has to be a record.  He continues his record pace where he still has has his eyes set on setting league records for hits, RBI, total bases, WAR and VORP.


3B Alberto Perez: .337/.432/.459  33 hits, 12 2B, 18 BB.  Perez continues to be a solid contributor this season, most coming from the 2 hole in the Jersey lineup.  His 33 hits gives him 30+ hits in 3 of the 4 months this season and his average puts him top 5 in the CL in batting.  Not only that, he also knocked in the game winning run in this month's all star game. 

MR Jose Gomes: 3-1, 1 Sv, 1.02 ERA, 25K in 17.2 IP.  What a year or resurgence for Dog Pound.  He has given up 2 ER in his last 55 IP and is posting the best season of his career.  On pace for career highs in IP, W, and K Gomes was also selected to this year's all star game, the first of his career.

CL Jaime Saenz:  3 saves, 0.93 ERA, 9 K in 9.2IP.  Lack of wins kept his save numbers down but he was all business as usual giving up 1 run in his 9.2 IP for the month.  With Saenz and Gomes anchoring the back end of the pen, not many games slide out of Jersey's hands.  This marks the 6th year the two remained bullpen mates in the Jersey pen

Questions, Concerns, and Answers
The real question is, can it get worse?  If the trend follows August should be Jersey's worst month of the season, but let's hope that doesn't happen. As of August 1st, Jersey sits 2.5 games behind the Chicago Machine for the CL Wild Card lead.  A familiar position for Jersey, who has seemingly been in the hunt every year as of late.

Jersey fans got a nice surprise when super prospect and No. 1 prospect on OSA's Top 100 list, Jose Ramos was called up to start the game before the All Star game.  Ramos ended getting a no decision but baffled Madison hitters only giving up 4 hits in 8 IP, including 3 ER as well as striking out 3.  In 3 other starts Ramos would dazzle against Pocatello and Chicago, giving up 1 ER in 16 innings against the 2 before getting lit up against Niagara Falls for 6 ER in 5.1 IP.  If his stuff so far is any indication, he is here to stay.

While speaking of pitching, what is going on with Jerry Burgess?  In 4 starts in July he failed to get out of the 6th inning and twice not even able to finish 5 innings.  In those starts he had a combined 17 K to 16 BB.  He has never been known for his control, but it's never been this bad.  If this continues, and Ramos stays up, it might mean a bullpen assignment or a demotion to AAA for Burgess.

Jersey welcomed back Al Ryan this month, but only played in 2 games.  He should return to his OF position in the lineup against RHP thought.  Leon Foster finally came off the DL after his re-injury and will rehab probably till the 2nd week of August before coming back to the big club.  OF Jose Ortiz came off the DL with his strained back to play 3 games and to strain his oblique which will put him on the shelf for 6 more weeks.  This led to increased AB's for Taro Kino, who had his best 5 game stretch of his career piking up 4 multi hit games, including two 3 hit games, 6 xtra base hits, and 6 RBI.  He cooled down considerably towards the end of the month and was sent back to AAA to make room for Al Ryan.

With the addition of Warren Goyer, Albert Lopez was sent back to AAA where he will be the starter.  With Adam Morrow continuing to struggle and former 1st round pick Lawrence Schroeder still killing AAA pitching, might there be a swap in order this month? Also OF Fransisco Torres, still only 21, is posting an OBP north of .450 at AAA Tuscaloosa, while bringing speed and great defense thus far.  He could be a candidate to be called up as well.  Don't be surprised to see the Bags shake it up a bit to try and turn around the slump.

Minor Leaguers of the Month
So who had it going on in the Bags system for the month of July?  We will recognize 2 new players here or stepped it up.  Last month's winners were SP Jesus Zapata and SS Lawrence Schroeder.

Pitcher
SP Henry Malone (AAA) 4-0, 1.93 ERA, 25K, 1.44 WHIP.  Malone, 29 year old career minor leaguer, put together a great month, starting 3 games and pitching 5 others out of the bullpen.  This marks the 4th straight year he has won over 12 games for Tuscaloosa.  There is still hope for Malone to hold down a 4th or 5th spot in some rotation in the BSA.




Hitter
OF Fransisco Ibarra (AA) .367/.441/.688  10 HR, 41 RBI, 40 hits, 15 SB.  Ibarra, in his 4th year in the D-Bags organization, has also had THAT potential.  Always been ranked Top 5 potential for D-Bag batters, got off to a slow start and struggled in limited AB's in his first 2 seasons.  Last year we finally got a glimpse of the hype when he hit 13 HR in 332 AB, but a .223 batting average kept him off the radar.  This year before the season he was named the 26th best prospect by OSA.  He got off to a promising start before be sidelined with a hamstring strain for 6 months, but after he came back he has been amazing.  His 41 RBI for the month mark a team record (that we could find) at any level, and his 10 HR increased his career HR by almost 33% and put high hope in what "could be" a 1-2 OF punch of Dodd-Ibarra in the Jersey Shore OF. 

GO D-BAGS

Despite Down Year Doyle Reaches Milestone

Matthew Doyle had high hopes coming in 2016.  A year after leading the CL in HR in his first full season he eyed improvement and so far this year he has come up short.  For him the numbers are down across the board, for any normal player it's still a stellar season, but playing in his 3rd year in the pros it's been a small disappointment. Though on August 9th, 2016 he had something to celebrate.  Doyle become the 2nd D-Bag player in franchise history, and this season, to reach the 100 HR plateau.

In officially his 1537th AB, Doyle took Vista SP Michael Hoffmeyer deep in the 4th inning to give Jersey a 3-0 lead and officially his 100th career HR.  It was a line drive shot Doyle pulled and whizzed by the foul pole landing an estimated 352 feet from home plate.  As Doyle rounded third celebratory fireworks filled the skies at the Ballpark at the Shore and Doyle was first greeted by fellow superstar and best friend Mikey Bryant who had doubled in his previous AB.  It was Doyle's 2nd career hit and 1st career HR off of Hoffmeyer, who he had been 1-5 against previously for his career.

Doyle needing only 1537 AB's, or 15.37 AB/HR, compared to all-time HR leader John Crowe who has hit 16.04 AB/HR in his career.  Not that it means anything, nor that Doyle will ever reach Crowe who has nearly 4 times the HR at this point, but a nice point of reference for the 27 year old.  Doyle in only his 3rd year sits only behind Bryant for HR in a D-Bags uniform.  Bryant currently sits at 125, while at the time of this publication Doyle sits at 103.  If Doyle is going to repeat as CL HR king, he will have to get hot late.  Bryant and rookie Domingo Cardona currently lead the CL with 33 HR apiece, while Doyle sits at 26 with only 40 or so games left to go in the season.

Bags Make First Trade in Over a Year; Get Goyer From Cleveland

GM Swain has never been known for his knee jerk reactions or long winded traded talks.  In fact Jersey Shore had not made a trade in over a year, the last coming when they brought Jerry Burgess in from El Paso for a handful of prospects.  On Tuesday the Bags completed their first trade since then.  According to sources talks went swiftly and were very concise which resulted in Catcher Warren Goyer, formerly of Cleveland coming to Jersey for 3 players.  Those players were MR Chris Woodruff, 3B Williams Seppings and former 1st round pick 3B Richard Coker.

Goyer is 27 in his 3rd year in the BSA.  He came up through Reno's system before being traded to Cleveland in 2015 where he got his first extended playing time.  In 429 AB, he hit a paltry .219, but did slug 18 2B, 18 HR and drove in 62 runs.  This season thus far he has seen the bulk of the playing time and in 353 AB, he has matched his totals from last year in doubles and has 17 HR while bring up the average to .238.  He has always had big power potential and Jersey thinks with their hitter friendly park they may have brought in a guy who can start and hit 30 HR.  Not bad for a team which already has the power in their lineup.  Current catcher Luis Antonio Duran who has been in the organization since 2011 and starting catcher for the past 4 is without a contract next season and rumors have it trading for Goyer was to replace Duran.  That will set to be seen, but with Duran looking for a big deal, that could be a possibility.

Leaving Jersey is MR Chris Woodruff who was claimed off of waivers before the season.  He could never get it going and demoted to AAA where he pitched decent.  He is 31 years old and has good pitches, he could put up decent numbers in Cleveland.

The 2nd player traded is 3B William Seppings.  He is 29 and been with the team since the inaugural draft, but hasn't seen much playing time in AAA the last couple years.  He is more or less just organizational filler and was included in the trade because he was on the 40 man roster and had a 400K contract.

The 3rd and last player going was the main piece.  Former 1st round pick, 1B/3B Richard Coker.  We recently did our prospect breakdown on Coker, which can be found: here.  Coker in his 4th year with the team was having his best year in AA and was on pace to be called up soon to AAA.  He was currently hitting .293/.391/.434. He has a high contact rate and hits the ball to the gap.  He lacks power and his walk rate has been going up while his K rate has been going down.  Scouts have compared him to a slightly less version of 3B Alberto Perez, who is on pace for 200 hits and hit the game winning single in the All Star game this season.  We here at the Bag Report will be keeping tabs on Coker and wish him the best in Cleveland.  

Will this be the only trade the Bags make until the deadline later this week?  Nothing is on the hot stove right now, but that could change in an instant.  Stay tuned Bag fans!

GO D-BAGS

2016 Rule IV Amateur Draft; Jersey Shore

It's draft time again and that means one of GM Josh Swain's favorite times of the year.  Swain has done a fantastic job drafting taking the teams 2 superstars in Bryant and Doyle, as well as the team's current SS Adam Morrow and the team's future SS Lawrence Shroeder and recently traded Richard Coker.  In 6 years of drafting one thing has been common for the Bags, taking a bat in the first round.  And most notably taking an infield bat.  5 out of the 6 years the team's first round pick was an infiender: Bryant, Doyle, Coker, Schroeder and Brodeur.  The only other first rounder that wasn't an IF was CF Ernesto Barzaga who never developed and is out of the league.  This year we saw things change.

1st Round:
With Jersey's first pick coming at pick 31 in the first round they went and different direction and chose SP Gianluigi Ciottone out of the University of Nebraska.  Ciottone was a solid starter for Nebraska for 4 season averaging over 11 K/9 while walking 3.5 per/9 and limiting his HR.  Swain was ecstatic to get him at 31.  "I'll be honest we had him as a Top 3 SP in this draft and him falling to 31 is amazing, I would have taken him 20-25 picks sooner if we had position" Swain said.  The one knock on Gianluigi is the lack of a decent 3rd pitch.  He does throw a changeup, but it is very raw and limits it in games.  The Bags will try to help improve the pitch in the offseason and track his results from there.

2nd Round:
Having 2 second round picks, Jersey went the same route with both picks.  Both high stuff/high movement MR, one out of HS and one out of college.  The first was pick 40 of the 2nd round and 113th overall, MR Gil Dickson out of Randall HS.  Dickson served as the closer for Randall for 4 years, totally 31 saves in his 4 seasons.  He finished his HS career with a 2.70 ERA, racking up 99 K's in 60.0 IP.  He throws an above average fastball and curveball and tops out at 94 MPH.

2 picks later at 115th overall, Jersey selected SP/MR Claude Pinard out of the University of Louisville.  Pinard was a college starter and finished school with a 16-7 W/L record, striking out 271 batters in 67.2 IP. He was one of the best starters in the country his senior year having a 2.13 ERA and finishing 6-0.  Jersey has already come forth and stated he might get some minor league starts but with only 2 pitches he will probably be regulated to straight bullpen duty.  Pinard throws an excellent sinker which keeps the ball on the ground almost 75% of the time.  Combine that with his power to hit 99 MPH, you have some great potential.

3rd Round:
For the 2nd round in a row Jersey would have 2 picks.  With the first the trend continued and Jersey selected MR Pat Wright out of Dublin Jerome High School at pick 45 of the 3rd round, 169th overall. Wright started for 4 seasons tallying a 20-6 record in 32 starts amassing an amazing 319 K's and only 38 BB's 199 IP.  He like Pinard only throws 2 pitches and probably will be regulated for bullpen duty and if there was a knock on his pitching it's his movement. He gave up 29 HR in 32 stats.

2 picks later Jersey selected another pitcher and it's 5th of the day taking MR Jesus Ramos out of Buchanan High School with pick 47 of the 3rd round, 171st overall.  Ramos played at Buchanan for 3 seasons compiling a 3.53 ERA, making 14 starts in 23 appearances.  His control is his strong point rating at a 16 on a 20 point scale.  He will be sent to A ball Manhatten.

4th Round:
With it's 4th round pick, 203rd overall, Jersey selected Nicaraguan born 23 year old MR out of the University of Minnesota Sergio Hernandez.  Hernandez was selected 90th overall last year by the New Orleans Looters but failed to sign.  He reportedly played ball in the South American league this season before re-entering the draft pool.  Sergio was the primary closer for UMN, but what stands out is his 73% groundball rate and the fact he only gave up 4 HR in 89.2 IP in college.  He will report to AA Gainsville.

5th Round:
For Jersey's 5th round pick they finally shied away from the arms and selected a bat.  At 231st overall they selected 3B Michael Swanson out of UCLA.  This is the 3rd time time Swanson has been drafted and will turn 25 later this year. Not the ideal draftee.  He was selected 134th overall by Toronto in 2014, then 160th overall by your Jersey Shore D-Bags last season.  Swanson doesn't have much upside with the stick but has elite speed and has a great glove.

6th: CF Guillermo Cardenas
7th: MR Juan Patino
8th: CF Charlie Nichols
9th: LF Joseph Randall
10th:  RF Greg McDaniel

Overall another strong draft for the Bags.  The pitching will restock the system and give them one of the deepest systems in MR prospects in the BSA.  If Ciottone can develop like Jersey hopes, he could be an absolute steal at pick 31.

GO D-BAGS