8 years, 8 picks; Jersey Shore 1st Round History

We just finished our 8th first round amatuer draft in the BSA since inagural 2010 season.  The people in Jersey don't take drafting lightly and consider it a key piece to building a franchise.  Let's look back at the 1st round picks that Jersey has made, and where they are today:

2010 - 21st overall - 2B Mike Bryant.  The 4 year college player spent just less than 3 seasons in the minors before debuting just before his 25th birthday.  In the 4 full seasons since then he has 4 all-star appearances, finished 2nd in MVP voting twice and won the award the past two seasons.  He currently holds every batting record in the Jersey Shore record book.  His contract will keep him starting at 2B for the D-Bags for at least the next 3 seasons.  It's likely he retires in a Jersey uniform.

2011 - 18th overall - 1B Matt Doyle.  Another 4 year college player out of the Texas.  Doyle debuted for the D-Bags in May of the 2014 season and hasn't looked back since. He finished runner up to Luis Gonzalez of Toronto in back and force race.  He became a force with Bryant in the lineup and led the BSA in HR in his 2nd year with 44.  After four seasons with Jersey, they surprisingly shipped him off to Toronto in the Jose Lara trade.  Doyle is currently tied for the lead in HR in the league and will likely be voted to his 4th all star game later today.

2012 - 22nd overall - CF Ernesto Barzaga.  After going infield for two years, the Bags switched up and went with a rangy and speed CF in Barzaga.  While he didn't have one batting tool that stood out, his contact, gap, power and eye were all average or a tick above average.  He turned out to be a bust.  He struggled mightily in A ball as a 22 and 23 year old in his first two seasons.  As a 24 year he was tried in AA but struggled even more.  At 25 he finally had a successful season in A ball, but by that time his potential had gotten worse and looked like he might turn into a career minor leaguer.  He was eventually dropped by the D-Bags and retired.  A rare early pick miss for Jersey.

2013 - 20th overall - 3B Richard Coker.  Coker was the first HS player Jersey selected in the amateur draft.  After 1 year at Butler HS, he showed his nack for getting on base.  A high average and great eye as well as potential to play an above average 3B made him a 1st round pick.  He spent the last month of 2013 in A ball and less than a month there in 2014 before being promoted to AA.  He struggled a lot his first year in AA, but he was given the starting position.  He picked up ten-fold in 2015 improving that contact but the eye was still behind.  We started to see it come around in 2016 when a week or so before the trade deadline he was sent as the main piece to Cleveland in the trade for C Warren Goyer.  After spending close to a season in the AAA for the Monsters he was recalled.  This season he is having a breakout year and could be looking at an All-Star spot.

2014 - 28th overall - SS Lawrence Schroeder.  Playing an unprecedented 5 years at Virginia, with his skills with the bat and glove, Jersey was lucky he dropped to them at 28.  He played 81 games at AA, flashing some power but mainly that contact to move up to AAA in the season after he was drafted.  He thrived in a full season in AAA, hitting the gaps and hitting for power. The only thing that bothered Jersey management is the 150+ strikeouts he accumulated.  In 2016 he spent 105 games in AAA, dropping the K rate a little, but raising his batting average 60 points to .347, which earned him a promotion to the big league club.  He played 48 games in a Jersey uniform his rookie year and hit well, very well and earned the starting job.  He struggled in 2017 but did show promise hitting 48 2B, 6 3B, and 14 HR.  This season he started off slow but picked up more recently winning his first POTW award as well as having his first 5-hit game.  He is currently sideline by an injury but should still be in consideration for an All-Star position.

2015 - 25th overall - SS Fabrice Brodeur.  Another 4 year college player who not only had skill at playing SS, but all over the infield.  Above average speed, above average contact, decent gap and above average eye for striking out made him a good pick.  He like many other Jersey players struggled early on to only bust out in his 2nd to 3rd season. The year after he was drafted he crushed AA pitching and earned a promotion to AAA. Now in his 3rd year, 2nd full year in AAA, it seems he has found it. Walks are up, K's are down, and he is hitting near a league best .377.  He is also leading the AAA International League in WAR at the moment.  With the recent injury to Schroeder, Brodeur was recently called and will start his first games in a Jersey uniform for tomorrow's sim.

2016 - 31st overall - SP Gianluigi Ciottone.  A 4 year college starter at Nebraska, Jersey was surprised to find him on the board at 31.  Despite not having a good 3rd pitch, with the depth of SP in their minors Jersey hopped on the chance to grab him. The minors have been puzzling for Ciottone.  He has struggled in both AA and A in what is his now 3rd minor league season.  He is currently 24 year old pitching in A ball, which is never a good sign but it appears things might be headed on the right track.  His K/9 and BB/9 are the best they have ever been and his FIP is 2 runs better than his ERA.  He might be headed towards bust land, but we will give him another year to see if he can turn into anything before putting that label on him.

2017 - 32nd overall - SP Roland Martin.  Martin marked Jersey's 2nd time to select a SP as their first round pick, and the first time they went HS SP as a 1st rounder. Martin made 10 starts and 6 bullpen appearances last season in A ball, struggling, especially with control which was a staple of his in HS.  This season in 18 starts as a 20 year old in A ball, Martin seems to be slightly improving across the board.  Scouts are really impressed that he has picked up 2 MPH on his fastball than was previously seen in his HS games.  He was named the 63rd best prospect by OSA before the season.  His potentials say he should be a mid-rotation guy but with a little work he might some day be a top of the rotation man.  At 20 years old, he has a lot of time to develop and he will be one to watch in the coming years.

Omitting this year's draftees who haven't even signed yet, there are your 8 years of Jersey Shore 1st round picks.  You have the multi MVP winner, two all-stars, two young up and comers, one player just getting to his major league debut, two pitchers still in A ball and one bust out of the league.  Considering Jersey's draft position I would say they have done very well.  If Doyle and Coker will still in Jersey the IF of Doyle-Bryant-Schroeder-Coker would probably be ranked Top 3 in the BSA right now. Hopefully we see good things from the younger draftees.  Don't sleep on the draft, you can build franchises this way, even with late picks!

Go D-Bags 

2018 Jersey Shore Amatuer Draft

The only downside of finishing the 2017 season with BSA's best record (besides being knocked out in the first round) is that Jersey Shore would receive the last pick in the 2018 Rule IV draft held on July 1.  Drafting late in the draft hasn't been a problem so far for the D-Bags who have found some mid-late 1st round gems over the years.  Here we will break down Jersey's 2018 draft.

1st Round, 30th overall (acquired from LA) - 1B/C Owen Carter - When the LA Bruins signed MR Jose Gomes in the off season, the rights to their first round pick become the D-Bags with the type A compensation attached to him.  With LA's pick, GM Swain was very surprised to find Carter still available.  He was the best catcher in the draft and had really started to show his skills after 2 years at University of Arizona.  He was previously drafted in the 2015 draft, 12th overall, by the Kansas City Cougars, but they couldn't come to an agreement, so off to Tuscon he went.   Carter has an overall skill set of average contact, great gap power and above average HR power and eye.  His defense should come out to be average to play at the big league level.  The D-Bags really enjoyed the jump in HR and BB his senior season, hitting 12 HR and walking 47 times in only 48 games.  If everything goes to plan, Carter should be the heir apparent to catcher someday.

1st Round, 32nd overall - 1B/DH Sergio Barron.  Using their own first round pick, and the last in the round, Jersey selected high school 1B/DH Sergio Barron.  Barron who hails from Jefferson-Youngsville High School in Jefferson, NY, isn't your typical 19 year old.  At 6'3" and 250 pounds he is a force on the field.  While he lacks speed, he was drafted for his bat.  He compiled 37 HR, 111 RBI and 69/32 BB/K with a triple slash of .381/.485/.791.  His senior year his .435 average and .519 OBP ranked among the elite in at the HS level.  Jersey power hitters aren't known for their patience and limiting K's so Barron is a difference.  With being so young we might not see him for awhile, but one day this kid could be a force at the plate.

Supplemental Round, 50th overall - SP Michael Manning. Using the 2nd of 2 picks from the Gomes compensation the Bags selected High School pitching Manning out of Madawaska Valley HS. Manning sits 6'1, doesn't have the best stuff and but makes up for it with above average control and movement.  His fastball tops out at 89-90 and his forkball is best of his 4 below average pitches.  With some technique going into one of his pitches he might be able to pick up stuff while in the minors.   He never had a great season in high school on the surface but his 4 year FIP was 2.60, topping out a best 2.06 his senior year.  He carried a 8.29 K/BB ratio while giving up .55 HR/9.  While he doesn't look like front line material, if a little time goes into him he might be a mid to back-end rotation option.

2nd Round, 93rd overall - SP Jonathon Phillips.  For the 3rd time in 4 picks, Jersey reached for a high school player, selecting Phillips out of Butler HS. There's no easy way to say this, but Phillips was a beast his senior year.  He won the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award while finishing 8-0 in 8 starts, compiling a 1.87 ERA to go with a 0.79 WHIP and struck out 85 hitters in just 53 innings.  That included a 17-strikeout No-Hitter on May the 11th.  The downside for Phillips, is depsite his overwhelming velocity and fastball and his nasty slider, he lacks a 3rd pitch.  He does look a little wild, but got away with it HS with kids flailing away at pitches.  He will probably start in the minor leagues but I doubt he ever sees anytime in the bigs as a starter.  He could turn out to be a decent reliever though.

3rd Round, 128th overall - 1B Ryan McBride. McBride is an unathletic 1B who does have some skills as a hitter especially contact.  He won't hit for a ton of power, despite hitting 14 HR his senior year for the Iowa State Hawkeyes. If he can gain some power he could be a legit prospect, but if he pans out like his potential stacks up, he might start one day a team looking for a cheap 1B or DH option, but more than likely is a guy who puts up good-great numbers in AAA.

4th Round, 157th overall - LF David Murphy. Murphy is another high schooler who has speed and power.....and not much else.  In his 1 high school year he did hit over 300 with 13 HR, but he is a boom or bust player.  The type of player you find in the around the 150th pick in a draft.  Someone with a above average skill you could hope turns elite in his time in the minors.

There was nothing of note in the last 6 players and I would guess would be surprised if more than 2-3 of them made any roster.    Overall I give this draft a B.  It yielded a very nice looking player at a premium position, a potential above average power bat, and two pitchers who could pitch at the major league level one day.  Not great, but in an overall weak draft position picking at the end of every round, gems are hard to come by.  It will be fun watching Carter and Barron to see if they live up to those 1st round expectations that Jersey fans are accustomed to seeing.

GO D-BAGS

Apparently Jersey Baseball Starts in June

As May ended, Jersey sat 6 games under 500, trailed the Greenville 84's by 14 games and trailed the St. Louis Browns by 11.5 games and though some hitting had started to come around, the pitching continued to be all but awful.  They finished the month with a 14-14 record, which was much better than the 11-17 record they put up in April, but playing .500 ball doesn't get you back in the race.  

The team must have taken a sweep by Reno pretty tough.  Dropping the last game of a 3 game set on April 28th at home against Reno 7-4, The Bags had an off day before place Austin came to town for their first meeting since the Riversharks knocked Jersey out of the playoffs last season.  The series would feature 3 straight quality starts from Lara, Schaefer and Ellis. Something he hadn't seen all season.  Three tight games with Jersey coming on top in each one: 3-2, 3-2 and 4-1.  Jersey would stay at home and welcome St. Louis, the team they are chasing in the Wild Card race, for a 4 game set.  Jersey would take games 1 and 3 but drop 2 and 4 resulting in no movement in the division.

The next 14 games would be the best stretch of the season thus far for Jersey Shore.  They traveled to Boston and took 2/3.  Defending champions Hendersonville would come town to and Jersey would take 2/3 from them as well.  A day off and a flight to St. Charles for a 3 game series would feature Art Ellis pitching a masterful 8 innings, giving up 1 hit and striking out 10.  Jersey would take the first two games before dropping the 3rd and final matchup.  A trip back home to face slumping Kansas City would result in one of Jersey's few sweeps of the season, outscoring KC 23-13 for the series.  The most recent game saw Chicago come to town and Jerry Burgess picking up his 3rd win of the season allowing 1 run over 7 innings picking up 10 K's.  

Jersey is 10-3 over their last 13 and 14-5 for the month.  Greenville has posted the same monthly record and Jersey still trails them by a gigantic 14 games.  Just 19 games ago they trailed St. Louis by 11.5 games for the wildcard.  They have chopped 6.5 games off of that lead and now only sit 5 games behind the Browns. After this most current sim, it's the first time all season we can say that the Jersey Shore sits above .500 with a 39-36 record.  

Top performers for June thus far:

Art Ellis:          4GS, 3-0, 29.2IP, 18H, 1HR, 3BB, 28K, 2.12 ERA
Jerry Burgess:  4GS, 1-0, 21.1IP, 16H, 2HR, 10BB, 30K, 2.95 ERA
Jose Lara:       3GS, 2-0, 17.0IP, 14H,  2HR, 10BB, 16K, 3.18 ERA

Fransisco Ibarra: .327/.431/.577 3HR, 13RBI, 11R, 10BB
Mikey Bryant:     .311/.370/.541 4 HR, 15 RBI, 14R, 7BB
Warren Goyer:    .333/.400/.729  6 HR, 15 RBI, 9R, 4BB

Jersey isn't out of the woods by any means and it still looks like it would be a hot race down the stretch to see if this team can make the playoffs for the 4th straight year.  It's looking much more manageable now than just 3 weeks ago though.

GO D-BAGS

Bryant Reaches Milestone; 1000 Hits

We celebrated for his 100th career HR, and on May 10th in St. Louis, Mikey Bryant celebrated his 2nd major milestone with his 1000th career hit.  It came in his 747th game at Gateway Stadium in St. Louis and was the 3rd hit in his 5th career 5 hit game.  It's also the game that got him started after a 5 week cold spell to start the season.  He becomes the 86th player in BSA history to reach the 1000 hit plateau and the first player ever to do it in a Jersey uniform.  He also becomes the first player to make his debut in 2013 or later to reach the 1000 hit mark.

Sitting at 996 hits before the game started, Bryant would need a big day to reach the mark.  On the mound was young "Beanpole" Gonzales who up until this time was posting a shiny 4.12 ERA to go with a 3-2 W/L record.  In the first Bryant would get an infield single, which Jersey would end up scoring 3 runs in.  Bryant would single the very next inning scoring a runner from 3rd, two batters before teammate Dave Dodd would hit a Grand Slam to completely break the game open at 9-0.  Bryant wouldn't have to wait long to get his 3rd chance.  In the 3rd inning he would come up with runners on a 2-2 count line a pitch between 1st and 2nd for his 3rd single of the day and his 2nd RBI.  3 innings, 3 AB, 3 hits.  He would actually have to wait an extra inning to get his shot at grand 1000 hit.  With Peter Larson standing on 1st base and MR Seung-Woo Yun on the mound, Bryant would foul off a 1-0 pitch before Yun left a 98 MPH fastball up in the zone.  A pitch like that Bryant usually doesn't miss, and he sure as wouldn't today.  The ball wouldn't clear the short CF wall by much, but 413 feet later, Bryant was 4-4 and his 1000th hit was a HR, which really shouldn't be that surprising.  Nearly 20% of Bryant's hits in his career have landed as souvenirs.  Bryant would double in the 7th for his 5th hit, giving him 5 RBI on the day.  He had a chance to join former 2-time MVP Jeff Cole as the only other BSA players to have 6 hits in a regulation 9 inning game, but lined out into Left-Center leading off the 9th inning.

The HR was the 188th in Bryant's career.  As of today, he sits at 1026 hits and 193 HR.  If he continues along his career pace, his 200th career HR will come sometime in late June or early July.  Teammate John Warner currently sits at 198 HR, but you never know with Mikey, 7 HR might not take as long as anyone could guess.  Currently Warner sits with 7 HR on the year and Bryant is 2nd in the CL with 14 HR.  

As Bryant and any other Jersey players climb career leaderboards and gain personal achievements tune in to the Bag Report to read the full breakdown!

GO D-BAGS 

The State of Jersey Pitching; It Must Get Better.....Right?

We are 50 games through the 2018 season, which puts us almost at the 1/3 way point of the season.  Thus far your Jersey D-bags sit with a record of 22-28, 3rd place in the division, 11.5 behind the Greenville 84's and 10.5 behind the Wild Card leading St. Louis Browns.  While April showed struggles with pitching and hitting, May showed a turnaround in the hitting...but the pitching continued and still continues to struggle.  What is happening?  Not only is it the starters, but also the bullpen, which is usually a Jersey strong point.  We will break down the pitching here and try to determine if it can get better and help Jersey climb back into the race, or if it will be the demise of the 2018 team.  Current 2018 CL ranks:  Starter's ERA, 12th, 5.52 ERA.  Bullpen ERA, 8th, 4.01 ERA.

Starters:
It didn't help when Jose Ramos went down which will seemingly keep him out til September.  That still left Jersey with a strong staff though.

Art Ellis: Art missed almost all of last season with an injury.  He had a couple of meaningless starts at the end of last season, but came out strong in Spring Training having 3/4 quality starts.

Career Numbers:  3.85 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 2.92 BABIP, 9.41 K/9, 1.20 BB/9, 1.30 HR/9, 4.00 FIP
Last Season:         4.01 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, .244 BABIP, 9.84 K/9, 2.66 BB/9, 1.35 HR/9, 3.96 FIP
This Season:         6.26 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, 2.96 BABIP, 8.23 K/9, 4.11 BB/9, 2.50 HR/9, 6.42 FIP

The problem with Ellis is both his BB/9 and HR/9 is almost double his career average.  He is on pace to break the season record for HR given up in a season at this point, that cannot keep up.This could be a fallout of his injury or his age creeping up there, or just a slow start.  While his K's are down, all signs point to just bad pitching.

Jose Lara: Lara came over from Toronto in the Matt Doyle trade.  Though he did put up career worst numbers in TOR last season, his struggles this season have been monumental in someone Jersey hoped would helped push them over the edge, not further back down the hill.

Career Numbers:   3.80 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, .297 BABIP, 9.43 K/9, 2.83 BB/9, 1.05 HR/9, 3.61 FIP
Last Season:          4.70 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, .319 BABIP, 8.15 K/9, 2.69 BB/9, 1.10 HR/9, 3.91 FIP
Current Season:     6.79 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, .303 BABIP, 6.79 K/9, 4.01 BB/9, 2.61 HR/9, 6.92 FIP

Lara is having the same problems that Ellis has.  Increased walks and HR.  Lara could be attributed to a slight ratings decrease, but he is pitching down right bad.  Also like Ellis is also on pace to break the all time HR allowed record.  Even pitching in Jersey, this cannot keep up.  His hits given up is scary for his low BABIP though, without Lara pitching well, Jersey might be doomed.

Greg Schaefer: After a great 2017, at age 28 Jersey expected Shaef to at least put up similar numbers and through 11 starts, we haven't seen that yet.  While his numbers aren't as trouble as Ellis and Lara, he isn't helping much.

Career Numbers:  4.91 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, .308 BABIP, 7.57 K/9, 2.86 BB/9, 1.38 HR/9, 4.53 FIP
Last Season:         3.82 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, .270 BABIP, 8.21 K/9, 2.74 BB/9, 1.09 HR/9. 3.97 FIP
Current Season:    5.34 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, .333 BABIP, 7.53 K/9, 2.04 BB/9, 1.57 HR/9, 4.53 FIP

While Shaefer's numbers aren't far off of his career numbers, he had shown real strides in the past two seasons and thus far has regressed to his 2015 numbers.  Like the other two, his HR numbers are up.  Instead of walk numbers also being up, his hits are way up and K's are down.  While we can only hope last season wasn't an outlier, it will be interesting to see which way he goes from here on out.

Rob Goodship: Longtime Jersey player Goodship has never been ace material, and for that matter #2 material either.  Always a mid rotation type guy. But this year he looks as like a guy who shouldn't be pitching in any rotation.  

Career Numbers:  4.47 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, .304 BABIP, 7.62 K/9, 3.40 BB/9, 1.17 HR/9, 4.42 FIP  
Last Season:         3.61 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, .279 BABIP, 7.01 K/9, 2.71 BB/9, 1.16 HR/9, 4.31 FIP
Current Season:    6.29 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, .331 BABIP, 5.28 K/9, 3.45 BB/9, 1.22 HR/9, 4.87 FIP

Goodship like the other 3 starters has seen a considerable decrease in his K/9 while all other numbers stayed steady except for that BABIP.  With a much lower FIP than his ERA, his defense is not helping him out at all.  That considerably high ERA should come down, but it's still very ugly.

I didn't break down Jerry Burgess because half of his games have come out of the bullpen but is the only starter to be pitching near or above career averages.  While I don't expect all of my big name pitchers to struggle, having all 4 of them  decrease their K/9 and my two aces on pace to give up almost 50 HR this season, there is room for concern.  When 3 veterans in your rotation decide to all have the worst year of their career at the same time, there's not much a team can do. 

Struggles out of the bullpen have magnified things as well.  Usually when a starter struggles the bullpen comes in and keeps us in the game, but with them also giving up runs, wins are harder to come by.  I expect the team ERA to come down, it has to, but if low K numbers, hits and walks continue at this rate, Jersey might be out of the race before we hit September.

How to Turn a Season Around in 13 Games; Mikey Bryant Style.

April was a rough month for Jersey.  Pitching, hitting, defense.  The team was among the worst in the CL in every category.  Was it still a hangover from the 119 win season? Maybe.  Among the worst players on the team though was the back-to-back MVP winner Mikey Bryant.  After opening the season with a rough series, he came out of the gate during a 2 game stretch with 3 HR and 7 RBI and everything was looking right again the world.  Leaving that game with triple slash line of .261/.346/.652 would be the best it would get all month long.  Bryant would not hit another HR until 4/18, a 12 game stretch.  That 12 game stretch that only included 6 hits.  Bryant would hit his first and only double of the month of 4/28, this coming from a player who has averaged over 40 a season in his career.  Ending the month in a game in Chicago, Bryant went 0-4 with 2 K's in a 5-3 loss to the Machine.  His April numbers ended like this: .173/.214/.373.  1 2B, 0 3B, 7 HR, 19 RBI and 24K in 110 AB.  

"The kid is so fluid, has such a great swing and the more he struggled the more he tried to get out of with 1 swing.  He has never struggled in his career, he got in his own head," Manager Kevin Davis remarked, "What was I going to do? Bench him?  It's not an option.  I knew if I let him swing and play through it he would turn it around.  I hoped at least.  April was tough."

Bryant got May started right and went on a 5 game hitting streak which included 2 HR, but it only pushed his average up to .189.  After a home loss to Los Cabos on May 7th, Davis sat Bryant in the last game of the series even though the next day was to be an off day as well.  Was the double off day a recipe for success?  What did Bryant do in those 2 off days?  The next 13 games would be one of the greater stretches we have seen in awhile.

Traveling to St. Louis, who has started the season red hot, Bryant finally found his stroke.  He had his 5th career 5 hit day, including a double, HR and 5 RBI in an 18-6 romp of the Browns.  A hit-less day, which included 2 walks, the next day would be his last in awhile.  The next 8 games Bryant was a hit machine. 8 straight multi-hit games, half of them 3-hit performances.  His total line for those 8: 20-33, 11 runs, 5 doubles, 3 HR, 10 RBI.  Jose Brito would cool him of on 5/20 with an 0-4 performance, before putting in two more mutli-hit games to get where we are today.

A comparison of the two months thus far:

April: .173/.214/.373   10 R, 1 2B, 7 HR, 19 RBI, 5 BB, 24K, 110 AB
May:  .447/.500/.788   21 R, 8 2B, 7 HR, 23 RBI, 7 BB, 11K, 85 AB

In the last 13 games of this month he has raised his average 101 points, OBP 103 points, 157 points and OPS 259 points.

Welcome back MVP, you were missed.