Your All-Time Jersey Shore Team

I thought this seemed like a fun idea.  To find the best team I could from former Jersey Shore teams.  Rules: You can only use a player once, regardless if he played another position.  Some decisions were tough, some were easy, but here you have it:  

SP: 2019 Jose Ramos.  23-6, 2.76 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 1.05 WHIP, 8.2 WAR

SP: 2014 Dan Macias. 20-8, 2.82 ERA, 2.81 FIP, 1.16 WHIP, 8.9 WAR

SP: 2015 Art Ellis. 13-8, 2.94 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 1.20 WHIP, 5.0 WAR

SP: 2019 Sergio Martinez. 17-3, 3.08 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 4.5 WAR

SP: 2017 Greg Schaefer. 18-3, 3.82 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 3.9 WAR

MR: 2016 Jose Gomes. 10-1, 4 saves. 1.31 ERA, 2.05 FIP, 1.02 WHIP, 3.6 WAR

MR: 2014 Daniel Morris. 6-5, 31 saves.  1.52 ERA, 1.94 FIP, 1.03 WHIP, 2.0 WAR

MR: 2013 Lucio Tapia. 8-1, 2 saves.  2.19 ERA, 1.77 FIP, 1.21 WHIP, 3.0 WAR

MR: 2019 Jose Ruiz.  6-3, 40 saves. 2.83 ERA, 2.92 FIP, 1.09 WHIP, 1.3 WAR

MR: 2013 Ciro Roghi. 1-0, 0 saves. 1.95 ERA, 2.15 FIP, 1.30 WHIP, 1.2 WAR

CL: 2017 Jaime Saenz. 8-2, 49 saves.  1.94 ERA, 1.96 FIP,  0.99 WHIP, 2.8 WAR

C: 2013 Jorge Lozano. .303/.388/.511.  36 2B, 24 HR, 107 RBI, 5.1 WAR

C: 2017 Warren Goyer. .257/.329/.541. 20 2B, 42 HR, 116 RBI, 3.4 WAR

1B: 2015 Matt Doyle. .302/.386/.572.  25 2B, 44 HR, 147 RBI, 5.7 WAR

1B: 2021 Tadahisa Kisuki.  .366/.424/.560.  32 2B, 18 HR, 57 RBI, 5.7 WAR

2B: 2016 Mike Bryant.  .347/.407/.618.  48 2B, 40 HR, 158 RBI, 9.6 WAR

3B: 2015 Adam Morrow. .282/.402/.360.  31 2B, 4 HR, 61 RBI, 3.9 WAR

3B: 2012 Parker Morrow. .313/.390/.418.  29 2B, 10 HR, 62 RBI. 3.6 WAR

SS: 2020 Lawrence Schroeder.  .306/.341/.542.  27 2B, 19 HR, 74 RBI, 4.7 WAR

SS: 2011 Jerome Lindsey.  .343/.427/.480.  23 2B, 9 HR, 56 RBI, 4.2 WAR

UTIL: 2020 Fabrice Brodeur.  .325/.365/.465.  29 2B, 10 HR, 61 RBI, 3.4 WAR

OF: 2021 Dave Dodd.  .388/.455/.799.  46 HR, 119 RBI, 9.7 WAR

OF: 2011 Mason Bonniface. .328/.433/.556.  23 HR, 78 RBI, 6.1 WAR

OF: 2010 William Hinson.  .308/.404/.538.  23 HR, 91 RBI, 4.3 WAR

OF: 2013 Leon Foster.  .272/.338/.567.  33 HR, 105 RBI, 3.7 WAR

Starting Lineup:

SP: 2014 Dan Macias. 20-8, 2.82 ERA, 2.81 FIP, 1.16 WHIP, 8.9 WAR

1.  SS 2011 Jerome Lindsey

2. DH 2021 Tadahisa Kisuki

3. 2B 2016 Mike Bryant

4. RF 2021 Dave Dodd

5. 1B 2015 Matt Doyle

6. C 2013 Jorge Lozano

7. LF 2011 Mason Bonniface

8. CF 2013 Leon Foster

9. 3B 2015 Adam Morrow

How does your team stack up?

GO D-BAGS

1st Round 2021; Bags select Ben "Cadillac" Morton

The amateur draft always a favorite time of the year for GM Josh Swain.  The way real teams build their core is to through the draft.  Jersey Shore is no exception to the rule, just look at their former 1st round picks: Mike Bryant, Matt Doyle, Richard Coker, Lawrence Schroeder, Fabrice Brodeur, Gianluigi Ciottone, Roland Martin, Gerald Johnson, Matthieu Vancini....and those are just 1st and 1st round compensatory picks over the past 10 years.  

The D-Bags selected 24th this year and for the 3rd year in a row and for the 4th time in 5 years they chose to selected a prep player over going the going the college route.  They selected out of Sante Fe High School, Catcher Ben Morton, or simply as his teammates call him.....Cadillac.  In his senior year and first year as a starter, Morton caught 36 of the teams 40 games while hitting 8 doubles, 6 homers and driving in 33 runs.  He finished with a triple slash line of .299/.389/.493.  While not lighting it up like a lot of first rounders in high school do, Jersey's scouts see  the tools  While his defensive tools won't light the world on fire, scouts predict him to be middle o the road if he can live up to his potential, but his bat is why he got chosen here.  "We have his bat and gap as plus tools and his power at plus-plus.  He will never be a guy who walks a lot and probably will strike out his fair amount of times, but catchers are still one of the more rare positions in the BSA and if he can refine his hitting tools he could be one of the better hitting catchers in the league, but he has a long ways to go for that.  I imagine he struggles pretty good with A pitching, but being at age 18 we have a lot of options going forward," said GM Swain.

Jersey won't pick again until the 62nd overall pick which will be their regular 2nd round pick.  While that is a lot of players to be picked between now and then, don't be surprised to see GM Swain find a player who will turn out to be productive, it's just what they do in Jersey during a draft.

Last year's 1st round pick Miguel Serna, who was drafted 21st overall last season, is starting to pick it up in A ball after struggling last season.  While the power hasn't come around he is hitting .251 and has 20 doubles in A ball.  Jersey's other 1st round pick, SP Ben Head, another prep player, is improving as well.  He has reduced his BB/9, while picking up his K/9 and H/9.  His FIP is 4,43 and will probably spend the rest of the year in Manhattan to improve.  2nd round pick and 63rd overall last season 2B John Moore is really picking it up in AA.  Moore turned 24 this year has shown off his speed with 18 steals, 18 doubles and 3 triples.  He has struggled in the field, but management has him playing shortstop trying to improve his range there as he has been scouted to be one of the better fielding 2B at the AA level.  Chances are he will be playing in AAA before the year is done.

GO D-BAGS

Dave Dodd; Man or Machine?

It has been evident for years that Dave Dodd had the talent to be a special player.  The way he went from  an everyday outfielder in A ball in 2015 to manning RF for Jersey the very next season as a 22 year old was no mistake.  The power potential was always there.  In 2015 he hit 15 HR in just 41 games in AAA before being called up to the show.  In 4 full big league seasons he has never failed to top 30 2B, 30 HR or 100 RBI.  He has speed, he plays defense and the scary part.....he is improving.

Turning 27 early this season all you have to do is look at his numbers to see the improvement.  He has improved on his batting average every year he has been in the league.  Hitting .254 as a rookie in 2016, .289 in 2019 and now this year 75 games into the season an eye-popping .399.  As a rookie Dodd broke the all-time record, and still holds it, for strikeouts in a season at 204.  Last season he struck out 138 times and in 2021 he is on pace to K just 83 times.  

At age 27, Dodd very well could be in the perfect storm.  He hits directly behind one of the greatest hitters in the BSA in Mike Bryant and has power hitting all-star Jaime Torres directly behind him.  He is in his prime.  The 26-28 ages are well known for sluggers putting up the biggest numbers of their career.  From Luis Padilla's record season at age 26,  Jeff Cole's 12 WAR at age 27, Zach Hutchinson's 12.1 WAR season at age 27, and Bryant's Triple Crown season at age 28 now is Dodd's time.

So far in 2021 he is putting up video game numbers. When you look at the leaderboard it is a collage of Dodd's face over and over again sprinkled in with a couple other faces.  His. 399 batting average is 26 points higher than Bill Wilson of Boston.  His .471 OBP is 28 points higher than Al Mills of Greenville.  This might be the most unbelievable one: his .853 slugging is 186 points higher than Matt Doyle of Toronto.  The record for slugging in a season is .699 by Felix Morales.  He has 10 more HR than Doyle as this point as well.  If Dodd stays on his current pace he would shatter BSA records.  A WAR of 15.8, 71 HR, 243 hits, 187 RBI.  A triple slash of .399/.471/.853 to go along with an OPS of 1.324.

No one can say what is going on with Dodd right now.  He already has a Player of the Month trophy to go along with 5 player of the week trophies in 2021 alone.  All we can say to the fans of Jersey Shore and the BSA, sit back and enjoy it.  You might be witnessing a season for the ages and seasons like this only come around once in a great while.  Enjoy it will it lasts, I know I will!

GO D-BAGS!

Bryant Starts Season Hot; Clubs 300th Career HR

When Mikey Bryant ended the 2020 season with 297 career home runs, everyone knew it wouldn't take him long in the 2021 season to hit 3 and reach the milestone of 300, but what they didn't know is that it would only take 3 games.  Bryant homered in both of the 2 game opening series again the 84er's to put him at 299 heading into a 3 game set in Reno on April 5th, 2021.  Luis Lopez was the starter for the Cards and a pitcher Bryant was a then 2-7 against without a HR.  After grounding out in the 1st, Bryant would a 0-1 pitch and launch it 438 feet to dead center easily clearing the CF wall for his 300th career bomb.  

Bryant becomes the 10th big leaguer to hit for 300 HR in the history of the BSA, behind Shizue Chouda who hit his 300th before the end of last season.  Though Bryant amassed 40 HR last year, through 51 games in the 2021 season he has struggled.  As of May 30th, he sits at 8 HR which puts him on pace for only 25. In the past he has heated up in the summer months, particularly August, so time will tell if can put up another great season at age 33, Jersey Shore could sure use his bat as they sit 6 games under .500.  

The only real viable candidate he can pass on the all time list this year year is George Alston who sits at 315 homers. He is active playing in AAA Lansing, but hasn't seen BSA time since 2019.  There is still a good chance that Bryant could reach the 400 HR club and beyond if he doesn't harshly regress in the next 2 years.  Even only a 30 HR season would put him would put him around 330.  The real question to be asked is if Jersey Shore will resign him after this season where he is a pending free agent.  Only a handful of parks around the league are as offensively friendly as the park in Jersey.  I really don't see the D-Bags letting him walk, but we have seen stranger things in the BSA. 

Meanwhile in the lineup, Dave Dodd and his incredibly hot start have him sitting on 184 HR at only 27 years old and he might be peaking now.  Tracking his stats should be a fun thing to do as well.

GO D-BAGS

Meet Your 2021 Jersey Shore D-Bags Pitching Staff

A late in season run saw Jersey Shore capture their 3rd CL Eastern Division title in 4 years and their 2nd ever World Series appearance last season.  Though they fell to Boston in 5 games, the season was considered a success and saw a lot of young players step in and make big contributions.  A year later and a new season are upon us and we have a lot of familiar faces but the staff also has a few changes.  Jersey lost 4 fairly big contributors from the past couple years.   Those names include SP Art Ellis, SP Greg Schaefer, MR Phillip Moran and MR/CL Jose Ruiz. Who will be taking their spots?  Find out below.

Pitching
Art Ellis really showed his age in the past 2 seasons and declining his large option was a no brainer for Jersey.  Greg Schaefer on the other hand wasn't the easiest decision.  Rumors have it that Jersey was in talks with Schaefer and at least 2 other clubs for a sign and trade, but nothing materialized.  Coincidentally both of these players, including MR Jose Ruiz are all with division rival Madison now.
The Rotation
Jersey brings one of the strongest rotations we have seen from them in years.  4 members are under the age of 26 and Jose Ramos is coming off his best season as a pro.  If they pitch up to their potential, Jersey should be very much in the hunt to win the East for a 4th time in 5 years.

Jose Ramos - 25 years old, IFA signing 2013 season.  Ace of the staff, 41 wins over the last 2 seasons and finished 2nd to Lebel in Cy Young voting last season.  
2020 stats: 18-5, 3.09 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 3.27 FIP, 3.45 K/BB
Contract: $7.06M.  Signed through 2023 season.

Sergio Martinez - 24 yeras old, IFA signing 2013 season.  After great 2019 season he took a step backwards last year.  Jersey is hoping it was just a sophomore slump.  Highly talented.
2020 stats: 14-10, 4.27 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 3.88 FIP, 1.61 K/BB
Contract: $2.59M. Signed through 2024 season.

Ramon Ruiz - 24 years old, IFA signing 2013 season.  Ruiz got his feet wet last year getting 12 starts with mixed reviews.  He really burst onto the scene in 2019 winning 21 games in AAA after being thought of as a C type prospect.  His only downfall would seem to be his stamina.
2020 stats: 6-2, 4.46 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 3.65 FIP, 3.05 K/BB
Contract: $400K. Should become Arb eligible in 2023.

Jose Lara - 30 years old, acquired via trade with Toronto after the 2017 season.  The elder statesman of the rotation, Lara has been a polarizing, up and down starter since coming to Jersey, not what they expected when the trade was made.
2020 stats: 12-10, 5.70 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 5.14 FIP, 2.23 K/BB
Contract: $15M.  Signed through 2023 season,

Javier Garcia - 24 years old, acquired via trade with Vista during 2015 season.  A strong spring training won the 5th spot for Garcia this year.  After 3 straight years of striking out 225+ batters in AAA he got 3 starts last year for Jersey.  Probably not a long term option, but can throw heat.
2020 stats: 1-1, 5.12 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 4.18 FIP, 2.75 K/BB
Contract: $400K.  Should be arb eligible in 2024.

The Bullpen
The only loss in a fairly inexperienced pen was Ruiz but Jersey had the man power in AAA to replace him internally.   Mungo's option was picked up to anchor the bullpen as it should be one of the team's strong points again this season.

Jaime Saenz - 35 years old, re-acquired via trade with Baffin Island during the 2020 season.  The 2021 season will be the 10th Saenz will appear in Jersey.  One of the better relievers in the game and hardest throwing pitchers.
2020 stats: 6-3, 35 saves.  2.43 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 1.99 FIP, 4.95 K/BB.
Contract: $9M.  Signed through the 2021 season.

Gerald Johnson - 25 years old, drafted 2015 in 1st compensatory round.  Johnson is a closer in the wings, who is said to have one of the better fastballs in the league.  Likes to keep the ball on the ground, only flaw is he lacks control at times.
2020 stats: 7-2, 10 saves.  2.45 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 2.76 FIP, 3.45 K/BB.
Contract: $1.04M.  Signed through the 2025 season.

Angel Lara - 25 years old, signed as an IFA 2013 season.  Hard throwing right hander and 2021 will be his 4th season in the Jersey pen.  Like Johnson, groundball pitcher who avoids giving up the long ball.
2020 stats: 5-4, 2 saves.  3.76 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 3.18 FIP, 2.42 K/BB.
Contract: $820K.  Signed through the 2022 season.

Hyo-chin Kim - 24 years old, signed a MLC during 2013 season.  After tearing his UCL in spring training of the 2019 season and missing the entire year, he came back in 2020 and the best season of his career.  This will be his 5th season in the pen and could be a future closer.
2020 stats: 6-1, 2 saves.  2.43 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 2.78 FIP, 5.71 K/BB
Contract: $1.49M.  Signed though the 2026 season.

Luis Cortez - 26 years old, received via trade with Vista during the 2014 season.  Talented hurler spending his 4th year as part of the Jersey pen, but has never pitched a full year, always bounced between Jersey and AAA.  Out of options so it's time to put up numbers.
2020 stats: 0-1, 1 save.  5.14 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 5.63 FIP, 2.00 K/BB
Contract: $400K.  Should be arb eligible in 2023. 

Claude Pinard - 27 years old, drafted in the 2nd round of the 2016 draft.  Pinard is a true rookie after taking a couple extra years to reach the pros.  Was great last year as the closer in AAA and impressed in spring training.
2020 stats (AAA): 7-3, 16 saves.  2.45 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 3.05 FIP, 3.17 K/BB
Contract: $400K.  Should become arb eligible in 2024.

Yin-zeng Zong - 30 years old, drafted in the 7th round of the 2013 draft.  Zong is the only 7th round pick from 2013 to see major league action.  Put up his best numbers as a pro last season and throws very hard.
2020 stats: 3-1.  1.89 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 3.58 FIP, 2.78 K/BB
Contract: $830K. Signed through 2023 season.

There you have it.  Your 2021 Jersey Shore pitching staff.  The 12 man rotation is a lot for the D-Bags who usually only carry 11 men.  There are a few options in AAA including top prospect SP Roland Martin if injuries or poor play arise.  Can this staff be one of the best in the CL?  Only time will tell.

GO D-BAGS

Tracking Mikey Bryant's Assault on the Record Books; Volume 4

For the 4th year in a row we will track where and how high 2B Mikey Bryant climbed in the career leaderboards.  In his 7th full season and 8th year in the BSA overall, it was the first time Bryant failed to hit for .300 in a full season as well as snapping his streak of 7 straight 200 hit seasons, where he only finished with 188 hits.

His power stayed in full force though as Bryant managed 36 doubles, 40 home runs while knocking in 133 runs.  You can tell age is finally starting to catch up with him a bit as he struck out a career high 142 times and swiped a career low of only 4 stolen bases.  His season was good enough for his 7th All-Star selection while finishing 3rd in MVP voting and help lead his Jersey Shore club to their 2nd World Series appearance.

With his first season below hitting .300, Bryant took a swift drop in career numbers going from .3288 to .3246. While this is still good for 2nd all time, Paco Rosas increased his lead after a season where he hit .348.  Bryant sits only 1 point ahead of Adam Mason who retired in 2013.  Bryant remained in 2nd in career OPS where he has been since we started doing this tracking report 4 seasons ago.  Jeff Cole and his crazy OBP lead by a healthy margin and Bryant dropped a few points, but Paco Rosas sits only 4 points behind Bryant while veteran slugger Shumei Yokoyama is the next active player in 5th.

A category where Bryant remained king though was in Slugging even though his .561 mark last season was the lowest of his career.  Bryant once was the only player to hold a .600 slugging percentage, but that number has slowly lowered to .586.  That number is still 23 points higher than the 2nd place Mel Fields and 33 points higher than the next active player in Jeff Cole.

Like I mentioned earlier, this was the first year since his rookie season where he only played a partial season that Bryant didn't reach the 200 hit plateau.  His 188 hits did take him to 27th on the all time list and 22nd on the active player list.  He reached the 1500 hit plateau in July and will reach the 300 double mark sometime early as he finished 2020 with 298 career 2-baggers.  As for total bases, even though he tallied the lowest number of his career in a full season, he still lead the BSA with 356 and edged closer to Top 10 All-time in this category.

For the 4th time in his career Bryant reached the 40 HR plateau and for the 5th time knocked in more than 130 runs.  With 297 career Homers, he looks to become only the 10th player to hit 300 in a career, following the latest player, CF Shizue Chouda who hit his 300th last May.  In similar fashion he became the 9th player to knock in 1000 runs in a career reaching this mark in the middle of September.  In both HR and RBI the only retired player ahead of Bryant is the leader John Crowe in both categories who retired in 2019.  Sam Sagar who is nearing the end of his career, needs 19 RBI to tie Crowe, while Yokoyama starts the season behind Crowe by 74.

Bryant turned 33 in Spring Training and while the scouts have his ratings dropping a little, we have yet to see anything steep.  He is to the point in the record books where not only his numbers matter but most of the players he is grouped with are also active.  What is interesting is this is the last year he remains under contract with Jersey Shore after spending his entire career in the organization after being drafted in 2010 and receiving the 6 year contract in the summer of 2015.  He has stated he would like to finish his career in Jersey and you have to assume D-Bag mamagement would love to watch their native son only wear one uniform for his career.

Current All-Time Rank.  (Previous 3 years are in parenthesis)  

BA: 2nd (2nd, 2nd, 1st): .3246

OPS: 2nd (2nd, 2nd, 2nd): .9673

SLG: 1st (1st, 1st, 1st): .5861

VORP: 9th (9th, 13th, 20th): 554.92

Hits: 27th (34th, 57th, 96th): 1582

Doubles: 42nd (57th, 82nd, NR): 298
Triples: 28th (46th, 75th, NR): 41

Total Bases: 14th (23rd, 41st, 73rd): 2853

HR: 10th (15th, 20th, 35th): 297

RBI: 9th (19th, 32nd, 53rd): 1012

Runs: 22nd (28th, 55th, 86th): 890

WAR: 11th (13th, 18th, 24th): 54.38

2020 Season Overview; The Jersey Offense

After an exciting back and forth season full of good performances and ending with a division title, comeback playoff series wins and disappointing showing in the World Series the 2020 season as a whole can only be called a success.  Yes, the ultimate goal to bring the first championship to the Jersey Shore didn't happen, but the D-Bags did win the CL Crown for the 2nd time in 11 years and the CL East crown for the 3rd time.

Instead of breaking down the games and playoff series, we will look at the roster as a whole.  The first segment we will break down the offense.

With the addition of some young players, a FA acquisition and big time stars Jersey put up an offensive show for the ages in 2020.  With a combined slugging percentage of .486, this Jersey Shore team slugged higher than anytime in the history of the BSA and it's 244 HR were 2nd only to the 2018 Greenville 84's.  They lead the CL in batting average, OPS, hits, extra base hits and runs to go with the HR.  In a league and especially in a division that is known for it's hitting Jersey bested them all.  The team had 9 players in double digit HR's and 5 of them slugged 20 or more this season.  The team also boasted 7 players who hit 29 or more doubles, a category in which they lead the CL with 327.  

The Stars

The offense was led by the team's best player two-time MVP Mike Bryant.  At age 32 he showed small signs of slowing down but still led the team with 40 HR and 133 RBI.  It was the first year in his career that he failed to secure 200 hits and hit .300, but still managed 64.1 VORP and 6 WAR.  Not to be out shined, but a slow first half "slowed" down up and coming superstar Dave Dodd hit 39 doubles, 37 HR and knocked in 117 runs to finish a little behind last year which was his best season in the pros.  His 6.7 WAR was a team best and reduced his strikeouts for the 4th year in a row.

The Career Year

When you have an offense that helps break records you have to have career years as well.  Jersey got just that from their 28 year old SS Lawrence Schroeder playing in his 4th full season as a starter.  He had a career year across the board posting a .306/.341/.542 line with a career best 132 OPS+ and 4.7 WAR.  His 50 doubles was a career high and good for the 2nd in the league and he hadn't missed a month during the year his HR and RBI totals would have been a career high as well.  2nd year starter 

The Breakout Year

In his 2nd year as a full time starter, former 1st round pick, Fabrice Brodeur had that breakout year for the team.  Starting mainly at 3B he played above average defense while posting a line of .325/.365/.465 and finishing the season with 155 hits and 52 extra base hits mainly hitting towards the bottom of the order.  If he would have gotten just 18 more plate appearances he would have been eligible for the batting title and would have finished 5th in the CL in hitting.

The Rookie

What's a successful offense without a hot hitting rookie?  For Jersey it was 1B Tadahisa Kisuki.  After mashing in AAA over a span of 3 seasons he got the call and started from day 1.  His 30 HR and 105 RBI both ranked 2nd on the team and he led the team with 189 hits.  At only 24 years old he looks like he could be a force in the league for a long time.  With his 30 2B and 30 HR, he becomes on the 4th player in franchise history to hit the 30-30 mark behind Bryant, Dodd and Matt Doyle

The Acquisition

After hitting 38 HR in 2019 it was a little surprising that D-Bags signed 31 year catcher Fernando Ramos formerly of the Boston Rebels.  GM Swain must have seen something we didn't.  While they split time very evenly behind the plate, Ramos had a career year while only getting 305 AB.  He posted a line of .298/.396/.577 hitting 24 HR.  A full season of that he is posting 6.5 WAR and hitting nearly 50 HR.  With Goyer being a pending free agent, all signs point at Ramos being a full time starter next season.

GO D-BAGS

Superstar in the Making?;Meet Rookie Ricardo Berroa

Not really too surprising but in his 2+ months in the big leagues, rookie Ricardo Berroa is excelling and adding another dangerous bat into an already potent offense in Jersey Shore.  He was called up June 21st to play mainly against right handed pitching and hasn't looked back since.  He started his career with a 16 game hit streak and through 49 games played and 194 plate appearances, Berroa has a line of .324/.387/.497 to go along with 13 doubles, 4 triples, 3 home runs and 6 stolen bases.  

Berroa was discovered by scouts early in the 2016 season in Cuba and began his ascent through the Jersey Shore farm system.  He came out of the gates a raw but talented 19 year old and was named the #22 prospect in all the BSA by the OSA scouting department prior to the 2017 season.  That season he would go on to have a monster season in A ball putting up a 5.9 WAR and rightfully earned promotion to AA the following year.

As a 21 year old in AA, he would top his monster year in A ball by posting a 6.1 WAR to go with his .562 slugging percentage and 49 doubles.  Jersey knew they had something special in Berroa.  He was kept in AA the first month and a half of the 2019 season before being promoted to AAA Tuscaloosa.  He would struggle adjusting to AAA pitching at first, but ended the 2019 season with a .273/.398/.528 in 66 games.  

With a crowded outfield in Jersey Shore which included Vancini, Dodd, Torres, and Ibarra, Jersey chose not to invite Berroa to spring training and named him the starting LF in Tuscaloosa.  The first 2.5 months of this season showed Jersey management they had no choice but to promote him.  Berroa was hitting a career high .351 to go with an outstanding .466 on base percentage and an OPS of 1.207 when he got the call to the big league club.  It was also the first time in his career where his walks would out number his strikeouts. 

Combined with Jersey's 24 year old rookie starting 1B Tadahisa Kisuki and their trio of young starting pitchers in Jose Ramos, Sergio Martinez and Ramon Ruiz the future is bright for the D-Bags. Though it seems like he has been on the team forever as well, Dave Dodd is just 26 and on pace for another 5.5+ WAR season.  So while the days of the solid core of Bryant/Perez/Morrow/Ellis get older this new group of core players look to help Jersey remain competitive well beyond the foreseeable future and hopefully for the next decade.

GO D-BAGS

Jersey Pitching Sizzles in July; Ramos Takes Home Award

It was a great month for the Jersey Shore D-Bags, whom at the end of July saw themselves with a 3 game lead over slumping St. Louis in the CL East.  While the bats continue to lead the league in most offensive categories, it was the pitching that came through to drive Jersey Shore to an 18-5, easily their best of the season.  The starters combined to go 16-4 with 15 quality starts, 3 complete games and 1 personal shutout to go with another team shutout.  

Ace Jose Ramos led the way, being named the Pitcher of the Month for the CL, the 4th time in his career he has been donned with that honor.  He won all 5 starts he had in July, getting a quality start for every one of them and averaging a little over 8 innings per start.  His final numbers for the month: 5 starts, 5-0, 41.2 IP, 1.51 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, and 21 K's to go along with just 5 BB. With a 13-4 record and league leading 2.34 ERA he might have a chance to catch up with Toronto phenom Albert Lebel in the Cy Young race who is out for the next 2-3 weeks.

Not only was Ramos perfect for Jersey, but we saw glimpses of the Jose Lara of old as he went 6-0 for the month, winning everyone of his starts as well, including a 109 piece masterpiece on 7/7 against Chicago.  Lara threw his first shutout since 2014 and it was the 14th complete game of his career.  His final numbers for the month: 6 starts, 6-0, 40.1 IP, 3.12 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 34 K's.  Before the month began Lara was 2-6 with a nasty high ERA of 7.20.  Through his 6 starts in July he lowered that to 5.64.  While Lara is still only a fraction of the Lara we saw in Boston, stretches like this give Jersey fans hope that he can make some meaningful starts down the stretch and help lead Jersey back to the playoffs.

Is Art Ellis's job in trouble?  After bouncing back somewhat from a horrible 2019 campaign, veteran Art Ellis had a good April and May before slipping in June and having a fairly terrible July.  In his last 4 starts, though he is only responsible for a 0-1 record, he hasn't gotten out of the 5th inning and twice hasn't even gotten out of the 3rd.  The almost 35 year old is making $12.25 million this year and has a team option for $14.75 million next year.  At this point that option being picked up has to have a very slim chance of happening.  24 year old Ramon Ruiz who has ripped up AAA pitching this year, but struggled through 4 big league starts is slated to come off the DL this week and with a couple more bad Ellis starts.....could a change be made?  If Jersey remains in a tight race down the stretch can they really send a struggling Ellis who has obviously lost a step and several MPH off of that fastball?  As much as we would hate to see him go out on a low note....Ellis's days in Jersey might be limited.

GO D-BAGS

Bryant Joins 1500 Hit Club; Dodd Climbing Jersey Leaderboards

In the 1st game after playing in his 6th straight All-Star game, August 12th, 2020,  Mikey Bryant did nothing new and had another 3-hit game, his 10th of the season.  In his 2nd AB he grounded a ball between 3rd and SS that found a hole into the OF for his 2nd single of the game.  What was special is that marked his 1500th career hit in just a shade over 7 total seasons in the big leagues.  

He became the 29th BSA player to reach that level, but by far has the most the hits between 2013-2020 than any player in the league.  There have only been 34 different times where a player has 208 or more hits in a season.  Bryant accounts for 6 of those.....all 6 full seasons he has been in the league.  That comes out to nearly 18%.  The man is a hitting machine.  He is on pace for 196 hits this season and I know everyone will be rooting him on to get that 7th straight season of 200 hits or more.  

Bryant turned 32 years old this year and though is OPS is down a little bit from the former glory years, Bryant looks to continue hitting in a  league where turning the age of 30 is like getting a death sentence. Though there have been a handful of players to succeed well into their 30's, the list of players to fall off is a lot longer than  of players who have faltered.  Hopefully we can see Bryant age like the great Sam Sagar has done, playing at a high level through age 35 and still putting up at least average numbers through age 37.  Hopefully 2500 hits will be within reach for Bryant.  He also sits at 279 HR.  A great 2nd half could have him near that magical 300 mark which only 8 players have accomplished thus far in the history of the BSA.  Are 400 HR out of reach?  Only time will tell at this point.

On the opposite end of the age spectrum, kinda, is Dave Dodd who turned 26 this season.  When Bryant was 26 he had ~1 year or so of BSA experience under his belt.  Dodd has 4+ at the same point.  Just this week Dodd passed former Jersey slugger Matt Doyle in hits and tied him in HR in a Jersey uniform.  With 1 more HR and 39 more hits he will plant himself in 2nd in both categories only behind Bryant.  Pretty crazy to think that he is already among one of the Jersey greats before his 27th birthday.  If he can stay healthy, he might be able to put up some very big numbers statistically.  Many people around the league believe he hasn't hit his peak yet, which could be scary for pitchers around the league.  Regardless of meaningless personal accomplishments, if you ask each player what they hope to accomplish most you can bet both of them want a championship more than anything.

GO D-BAGS

Jersey and Baffin Make Deal; Mungo Coming Home

After 8 seasons in Jersey blue, Jamie "Mungo" Saenz became a free agent and eventually signed a 3 year, $19 million dollar deal to switch coasts and pitch for the Seattle Pikes.  Jersey was the only team and organization he had ever known after joining the Jersey organization in April 2010.  Ownership wanted to keep him but salary restraints and the fact that the D-Bags have a knack for producing a high level of major league quality middle relief pitching, the fans had to watch their closer, 2-time All-Star and 2017 Reliever of the Year leave.

Jose Ruiz stepped in last year, saved 40 games and was elected to the All-Star team.  He struggled this season blowing 2 saves and having 4 losses pinned on him before handing the reigns to the young Gerald "Top Dog" Johnson.   While Johnson has an electric fastball that can reach 99 on the gun, first time closing duties aren't always a success. Johnson was lights out as the setup man before taking over the closer role.  Since he has blown 5 of 14 save chances and left GM Josh Swain with question marks what to do with his closer role.  The team's 15 blown saves leads the entire BSA, and in a race as tight as we have this season, losing games in 8th and 9th is not something a team like Jersey can afford to do.

In a casual conversation with Aaron Blank, GM of the Baffin Island Beavers, Blank made a comment on how old his relief pitching had gotten. With Daniel Morris and Saenz at 34, Tapia at 35, J-Rod and James Kelly 33, and Pedro Castillo at 31, the bulk of the relief corps is 33 or over.  With the Beavers struggling mightily this year, and at the time were sitting 15+ games under .500, Swain simply asked about Saenz and his large $9M dollar team option for next season.  Talks progressed and eventually a deal was in place for Mungo to be sent back to Jersey for a pair of young middle relievers.  

Those relievers are Pedro Vega and Antonio Ramos.  Vega was discovered as an 18 year old in 2013 and has slowly worked his way up through the Jersey system spending multiple seasons at every level before seeing action in the Jersey bullpen last season as a 24 year old.  Now at age 25, Vega throws 2 above average pitches and his fastball reaches the mid-to-upper 90's.  His arm isn't nearly as live as Saenz's arm, but at 10 years younger he could be a nice cheap bullpen fixture on a team who will probably have to re-tool their bullpen in the near future. 

Ramos actually came from Baffin Island when Jersey traded starting pitcher Dan Macias to the Beavers after the 2017 season.  Macias would pitch one year in Baffin before deciding to hang them up.  Ramos is also 25 and your typical hard throwing bullpen arm.  He has averaged just a shade under 12 K/9 in his minor league career and his knack has been giving up the long ball, but being in Baffin should help that tremendously. 

For all intents and purposes this move for Jersey looks like a rental, as Saenz's $9 million dollar option next season seems like a stretch for Jersey to be picked up, but if Saenz keeps up his great numbers he has put up in Seattle and Baffin this year, you never know what will happen.  For the season Mungo's stat line looks like: 4-2, 15 saves. 1.93 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and is striking out 11.6 K/9.  He will step into the closer's role immediately and being added to the CL's 2nd best bullpen (statistically wise) should make a good pen even better.

"We hope this is a move that helps push us over the hump," GM Swain exclaimed, "If we had only won a third of those 15 blown saves we would be sitting in 1st place with the best record in the CL.  The fans are excited to have him back and the veterans are as well."  Saenz will go back and wear his #99 jersey that he wore for all 8 seasons in Jersey.  Welcome back Jaime!

GO D-BAGS

All Star Game Notes and Tidbits

The BSA is in their 11th year which means of course we have now played 11 All-Star games.  The game shows off the games best talents and this year was no exception.  The NL won for the 9th time in 11 years and used spectacular pitching from 9 different members to hold a stacked CL lineup to just 1 run on 4 hits.  This game was much less dramatic than last's year game which saw the NL come back from behind and win in walk-off fashion.  This PR isn't meant to talk about the game or score itself, but rather the players who have played in it.

There were 64 players voted into this year's game.  30 from the NL and 34 from the CL.  Enzo Diaz, Richard Hunter and Hiroshige Yamada were all replaced on the CL squad which is why their roster was pushed to 33 players.  Jamie Saenz was also voted in from his stats with Seattle before being traded to Baffin Island, he was also replaced but did make a cameo.  Of the 63 players voted in, this is how it breaks down:

26 1st time All-Stars

12 2nd time All-Stars

9 3rd time All-Stars

6 4th time All-Stars

4 5th time All-Stars

5 6th time All-Stars

2 7th time All-Stars

This seems to be the general way things go each year.  More players have career years or young players break out than the good ones continue to stay good.  It shows how hard it is to stay healthy and good to make it to this game year in and year out.  

Here are some stats about total appearances from our 11 games:

We have had 347 different players make the All-Star team over the 11 years the game has been played.  Of those 347 players, only 151 players have repeated being selected for a 2nd time.  That means there have been 196 different players who made the game just a single time.  Of those 151 players who have made it twice, just a little more than half of those have made it a third time, at 77 players.  When a player makes it a 4th time is when I anoint them as a special player.  Only 44 players over 11 seasons have made the All-Star team 4 times.   A relatively small number, but we are getting into elite talent here.  As for 5th timers?  Just 23 players.  After the 5th timers we have a drop off.  It seems that being one of the games great for more than half a decade is just...well...hard to do.  12 players have been selected 6 times for the game...and 5 of those players played in this year's game.  How about 7?  3 players.  It's fair to say there will be more as 7 seasons is more than 2/3 of the total seasons we have played in the BSA.  2 of those players played this year.  Mike Bryant and Jeff Cole who are now on the wrong side of 30 but both playing at a very high level.  The only player to play in 8 games and in fact 9 games is the games greatest player, Scott Hill.  It will be interesting to keep tracking this after the league has been around 20-25 years.

Here are some questions about the future All-Stars..........

Will we see these greats play in another game? The great Scott Hill?  JTF?  Ramon Hernandez?  All 6+ time players who missed the game this year.

Our MVP Kendrick Garland this season was enjoying his 2nd appearance. His 1st appearance?  9 years ago when he made the 2011 team with the Madison Bombers.  9 years between appearances and he wins the MVP trophy?  Talk about making the most of his appearances.  

Yet, was any All-Star more unlikely this year than Rob Sharp? One of the feel good stories of the BSA this season, unless you are a River Sharks fan.  It was his 2nd game as well, his 1st coming in 2015 with Austin.  After a great 2015 season which saw Sharp blast 41 HR, he got a massive extension of $71M over 6 seasons.  If you look at that, he should be in his 5th year with Austin.  Well....the 4 years between 2016-2019 he hit between .188-.202 each season, saw his AB's dimish, as well as his OBP and his slugging never got over .390.  Austin reluctantly paid him up front for his final 2 years and became a free agent.  No one signed him until Birmingham gave him a shot a week into spring training.  A mere $1.4M for the slugger.  I don't think anyone saw what Sharp has done this season.  He is having the best season of his career, ready to shatter personal records across the board.  To your comeback Mr. Sharp, I salute you.

With another All-Star game in the books, we are ready for the 2nd half of the year.  A lot of stories to be settled, let's get ready for a great 2nd half.

GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore Selects Prep Star Serna 21st Overall

With the 21st pick in the 2020 amateur draft the Jersey Shore D-Bags selected 19 year old Miguel Serna out of Madawaska Valley High School from the Canadian Province of Ontario.  Though Serna only saw 65 games in his HS career, he amassed a stat line of .382/.494/.593, while hitting 9 HR in his 199 AB.  Though scouts have his talents as very raw, they believe his potentials could top out at plus contact, power and eye to go along with his plus-plus speed.  While he is listed as a 3B, many believe that his future could be at 2B given his fielding talents.

Jersey was given the 21st pick as compensation for not signing their last year 1st round pick, prep star Max Jones, who attended the Univeristy of Miami this year and is draft eligible.  By not signing Jones and his lofty contract demands, Jersey sits with the 21st and 32nd picks in the first round and a real chance to add great talent in what is turning out to be one of the deepest drafts the BSA has seen in a long time.

Serna is the 3rd infielder off the board after Irvine took SS Murphy and Los Cabos snagged college 2nd baseman Gonzalez one pick ahead of Jersey.  Serna is the 11th bat off the board as the first 22 picks were split evenly between arms and bats.  This marks the 2nd year in a row that Jersey selected a prep player and the first time since 2015 that they selected an infield bat with their 1st overall pick.  In 2015 they selected current starting 3B Fabrice Brodeur with the 25th overall pick.

Serna will likely be sent to Single A Manhatten after he signs and likely take his bumps with professional pitching but hopefully add some pop to a lineup who only has one player with over 5 HR and a team that sits with a 33-45 record.  It will yet to be seen what Jersey will do with their 2nd pick in the first round.  According to GM Swain, there is a lot of top talent on their draft list and will be a tough decision on who to select with that pick.  We will see soon enough who else will be joining the organization

GO D-BAGS

Early Jersey Trade Bock

Though we have just hit June 1st and the trade deadline sits just less than 2 months away we have already seen a handful of BSA trades where veterans have been swapped for prospects.  Contending teams starting early before the frenzy of the July comes.  With that being said, here is an early Jersey Shore Trade Block:

One of Jersey's strong points is the bullpen.  Their 3.30 ERA sits 2nd in the CL and they have a slew of talent in AAA as well.

LHP Phillip Moran - The 32 year old is enjoying a much better year in his 2nd year in Jersey, carrying a 3.06 ERA in 35 innings pitched.  His K/9 is over 10 while posting an ERA+ of 140.  He has a team option of $4 million next season, but with the emergence of Gerald Johnson and the comeback after 14 months after a nasty injury to Hyo-chin Kim, this lefty is available.

C Warren Goyer - The signing of Fernando Ramos in the offseason had Jersey fans thinking Goyer's days might be numbered and after seeing Ramos severely out-hit Goyer in the first 2 months of the season, things are looking that way.  At age 31, Goyer is coming off of a 38 HR season and is in the last year of 4-year deal given to him by Jersey after acquiring him from Cleveland in 2016.  He still has elite power and rumors have it he is looking for a very modest extension.

1B/3B Alberto Perez - A D-Bag for life, Perez lost his starting position at 1B when rookie Kisuki was called up before the season.  The 32 year old has a career slash line of .293/.341/.422.  He still plays an above average 3B and has a slick glove at 1B.  He is in the last year of his contract and is also looking for a short term extension for any team that is interested in acquiring him.

LF/RF Jose Ortiz - A 4th or 5th option a crowded Jersey OF over the years, Ortiz has above average contact, a knack for hitting the ball to the gap and rarely strikes out.  Currently making only $1.25M this season, he will become a free agent at the end of the year.  With Berroa and Mendoza knocking on the door from AAA, Ortiz is very much a trade-able asset.

Now we will also accept offers on other players, but these are very much the most available.  Feel free to make offers on other relievers as there is a long list of quality arms in the majors and AAA who can help many teams out.

With all the slew of talent, we are looking to restock the farm system.  Just letting that be known before offers start being made.  

GO D-BAGS

Interesting Start in Jersey & an Interesting Season for The BSA

23 games into the 2020 season and what is going on?  The Frenzy, Bombers, and Stars sit in first place while the Titans, Beavers and 84's all occupy the cellars in their respected divisions.   Scott Hill is lost for the season and All-Stars John Doby, Al Mills, Zach Hutchinson and Kyuso Fujita are all hitting under .200.  This is The BSA this season.

Meanwhile in Jersey, it has been an up and down 3 weeks to start this season.  The top of the rotation has been excellent.  Jose Ramos and Sergio Martinez account for half of Jersey's wins though both have been blown up once this season. They have a combined record of 6-3 and includes one of Jose Ramos's better starts in his career when he struck out a career high 13 Pikes in his last start against Seattle.  On the other hand the older veterans have been.....terrible and that's putting it lightly.  After an injury riddled season which looked like he was getting back on track, Jose Lara has nearly a 9.50 ERA after 4 starts and has given up 5 or more ER in each of his starts.  Greg Schaefer finally showed life in his last start going 8 shutout innings, but before that he had only gotten out of the 4th inning once in 4 starts.  The good news for the staff is the bullpen leads the CL with a 3.09 ERA, even though they account for 4 losses and 3 blown saves.

Offense has been the tell tale story of the D-Bags season though.  Jersey has scored at least 2 runs in every game this season and in 6 of their 11 losses they have scored 4 or more runs.  In 11 of their 12 wins they have scored 4 or more runs that that includes scoring 8 runs, 6 or more times.  The offense is Top 5 in almost every major offense category, which is a good sign considering Dave Dodd, John Warner and Fransisco Ibarra are all hitting under .220 for the year.

While those 3 have been bad, there have been some very good though.  Lawrence Schroeder is out of the gate scorching hot hitting .393/.446/.786 and has 19 extra base hits in 22 games.  He has hit safely in 20 of those 22 games and leads the CL in OPS and is 2nd in batting average and batter WAR.  After ripping through AAA pitching for 2+ seasons Tadahisa Kisuki is off to a great start to his major league career as well.  He is acting a platoon with John Warner at 1B/DH and hitting mostly out of the 2 hole has put up a .309/.350/.443 line while adding 5 doubles, a triple and 2 HR.  

Rumors out of Jersey is that we will probably see SP Ramon Ruiz sooner than later.  After a very rough Spring Training he has completely dominated AAA in 4 starts to a tune of a 4-0 record, 0.59 ERA, 0.68 ERA while striking out 32 batters and walking 3 in 30.1 IP.  Jersey is almost ready to welcome back hard throwing lefty Hyo-Chin Kim who had suffered a torn UCL tear early in last season's spring training and has missed nearly 14 months time.  He has been rehabbing in AAA and has looked better and better and would be a much welcome addition to the bullpen.  

All things considered, it has been a decent start for Jersey who is more known for stumbling out of the gate than coming out hot.  They sit 3 games out of first place and 1 game out of the wild card.  The D-Bags would prefer to sit back in the shadows than be up at the top with a target on their backs because we have seen that movie before.  Let's hope for a strong close the month and a head of steam going into May.

GO D-BAGS

Tracking Mikey Bryant's Assault on the Record Book; Year 3

Since we have done this 2 years in a row.....why not make it 3?  After a slow start to the 2020 campaign Mikey Bryant had a hot summer, won Player of the Month for September and had his longest hitting streak at the major league level at 22 games.  But how high did he climb in the all time ranks this season?

With a 70.5 VORP, he had a classic Bryant season, but with waning defense as he ages, he saw more time at DH than ever before and fell out of the Top 5 of player WAR for the year.  Jeff Cole would go on to win the MVP in the CL, breaking the 3-way tie between himself, Cole and John Crowe with 2 MVP wins.

Before last season Bryant sat atop the all time list for batting average, nearly 5 points ahead of Greenville's Paco Rosas.  A giant year from Rosas which saw him win the batting the tittle with a .339 average.  At the moment he has squeaked by Bryant by 1/1000 of a point at .3289 to .3288.  Nothing changed in OPS as Cole still has a commanding lead with Bryant in 2nd by a healthy margin over the next active player in Shumei Yokoyama by nearly 14 points.  In Slugging percentage, nothing changed as Bryant has a large lead over 2nd place and retired vet Mel Fields and leads Toronto's German Rivas by 30+ points.

Though it took the most plate appearances of his career, Bryant reached 200 hits for the 6th straight year of his career and as far as we could look, he is the only player to even have 5 straight.  Those 213 hits took him from 57th all the way up to 34th, where he sits 3 hits shy of 1400 and if he stays healthy should hit 1500 sometime in July after the All-Star break and would likely be the 30th or 31st player in the league history to hit that milestone.  Another big season would push up him to the lower 20's, but anything beyond that is unobtainable this season.

After 5 straight years of 37+ HR, Bryant fell back and only hit 36, his lowest total of any full season he has had in the big leagues.  Last season he sat at #20 and those 36 pushed him up to 15th all time.  He is done passing retired players as the only one ahead of him on the list is all-time leader John Crowe.  Ahead of him is teammate John Warner, 2 ahead of him and current free agent Erroll Hughes who sits 6 ahead of him at 263.

After having a career low in RBI in 2018 with 119, he followed up with the 2nd lowest of his career at 126.  While this is by no means a small number, it's a far cry from the 130+ numbers he put up in the 1st 4 years of his big league career.  None the less he jumped from 32nd to 19th in RBI and 126 this season would put him over 1000 for his career.  As of this point only 8 players have hit the 1000 RBI mark in BSA history.  39 doubles for the 2nd straight year moved him up 25 spots to 57th and 129 runs, the 2nd biggest mark in his career, helped him crack the Top 30 and number 28.

Bryant turned 32 during spring training and is no spring chicken when it comes to the BSA.  We can only help he keeps up his good health and ages gracefully hopefully joining the Top 10 of BSA history in the upcoming years.  But for now, we can only wait, watch and enjoy one of the best players of his era.

Current All-Time Rank.  (Previous 2 years are in parenthesis)  

BA: 2nd (1st, 2nd): .3288

OPS: 2nd (2nd, 2nd): .9730

SLG: 1st (1st, 1st): .5884

VORP: 9th (13th, 20th): 486.87

Hits: 34th (57th, 96th): 1397

Doubles: 57th (82nd, NR): 262

Total Bases: 23rd (41st, 73rd): 2500

HR: 15th (20th, 35th): 257

RBI: 19th (32nd, 53rd): 879

Runs: 28th (55th, 86th): 785

WAR: 13th (18th, 24th): 48.22

Mistakes and Poor Offense Plague Jersey; Fall Behind in Series 2-1

On a day that featured 4 errors, 11 pitchers and 11 innings of baseball the Titans of Toronto ended up on top to take a 3-2 win and a 2-1 advantage in this best of 7 Divisional Series.  Though Titans starter Gonzales only pitched 4.2 innings, the Titans bullpen combined throwing 6 arms, giving up only 1 run on 3 hits in 6.1 innings, limiting the powerful Jersey offense to just 2 runs on 5 hits.

Jose Lara, making only his 2nd start since coming off his rehab assignment was sharp pitching 6.2 innings giving up 6 hits, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.  The last batter he faced reached on an error when 1B John Warner bobbled a throw, a play that should have ended the inning.  Instead reliever Angel Lara would come in and promptly give up a double to German Rivas followed by a single from Luis Gonzalez which would score two runs and give Toronto a late 2-1 lead.

Jersey would come back in top of the 8th and tie the game on back to back doubles by Alberto Perez and Matthieu Vancini, but Bryant would end up stranding Vancini on 3rd with a lazy fly ball to center field two batters later.  Toronto would strand a runner on 2nd in the bottom half and John Warner nor Warren Goyer could knock in Fransisco Ibarra from 2nd base in the Top of the 9th.

Jersey would get a real chance to pull ahead in the 11th when Ignacio Rios would hit Jersey shortstop Lawrence Schroeder with a pitch on a 2-2 count and walk Mike Bryant to put two runners on with none out.  Toronto would get the force out at 2nd on Ibarra' fielder choice putting runners at the corners for David Dodd.  The mistake came when Ibarra lazily was caught leaning off of 1st base on a pick off throw which wasn't even close.  Dodd would eventually strike out which would be Jersey's last chance to take the lead in the game.  

Toronto would start the 11th with a bloop since from Zaragoza followed by a walk from Overbeek to give the Titans life.  Reliever Gerald Johnson would get Ayala to hit a slow chopper where 3B Perez's only play was 1st base giving the Titans 2 runners in scoring position with only 1 out.  Catcher Gonzalez would be intentionally walked to set up the double play for 9th hitter Lucero.  Johnson wouldn't even give him a chance to win the game with a hit by walking him on 4 pitches and forcing in Zaragoza from 3rd for the winning run to end a frustrating and error filled game for the D-Bags and putting them in a 2-1 series hole.

This is not a position the D-Bags wanted to get into, especially with 2 more games in Toronto.  Game 4 both teams will bring back their Game 1 starters on short rest as Jose Ramos looks to even the series with another dominate performance.  Meanwhile Lebel tries to avoid losing to the D-Bags for the 5th time this season while putting team on the brink of their 3rd trip to the League Championship Series for the 3rd time in 4 season.

GO D-BAGS

Titans Use Long Ball to Tie Series at 2; D-Bags Lose Brodeur

The Titans made up for their inefficiencies at the plate in Game 1 by showing off their powerful offense in Game 2.  Toronto pounded out 14 hits, including 5 for extra bases and 4 of them being home runs as they scored in 6 of the first 7 innings to jump out to a 7-0 lead before eventually winning Game 2, 7-3.  2nd year pitcher and 17 game winner Sergio Martinez struggled as the Titans tagged him for 8 hits, 3 of which were home runs, 5 earned runs in only 3.2 IP.  It marked his 2nd shortest start of the year and only game of the year where he gave up 3 home runs.

Not only was the pitching sluggish for the D-Bags the bats weren't much better.  Though they did manage 8 hits and 4 of them for extra bases, 4 of those hits came in the last two innings, including Goyer's 2 run HR in the 9th.  Jersey scored all 3 of their runs in the last two frames.  Not only did Jersey struggle on both sides of the ball, they also lost their 2B/SS/3B Fabrice Brodeur for the foreseeable future.  Brodeur led off the 5th inning with a double down the right field line and came up limping as he got to 2nd.  Adam Morrow would pinch run for him as he was helped off the field with a limp.  He is diagnosed with a strained hamstring and is likely gone for the season.  A blow to Jersey defensively, but also was productive with the bat for the past 2 months.

Tim Harmon, starter for Toronto, had his best month of the season in September, kept it going in Game 2 allowing 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6 batters through 6 scoreless innings.  Not bad for his first post season start after spending the the previous 5 years of his career as a member of the New York Knights.

Stars Luis Gonzalez and Kevin Beasley did most of the damage for the Titans, going a combined 6-8 with 3 runs scored, 3 RBI and a walk.  Two of those hits were home runs by Gonzalez.  The other homers for Toronto came from catcher Manuel Gonzalez and SS Eugenio Lucero.

Game 3 will be in Toronto after an off day.  SP Jose Lara will go for Jersey, while 23 year old Jose Gonzales will take the bump for Toronto.

GO D-BAGS

Ramos Masterful; Jersey Takes 1-0 Series Lead

Jose Ramos showed today why he is one of the favorites to take home the CL Cy Young Award and why he is considered one of the best starters in the BSA.  Ramos sprinkled 4 hits in a complete game, giving up 1 earned run on a 5th inning Kevin Beasley single, walking no one and striking out 7 in a 120 pitch performance.  Only 5 balls left the infield all day, as Ramos induced 15 groundballs, including a double play. 

Ramos was aided by 11 hits by the offense, including back to back to back singles in the 4th to tie the game and 3 singles and an error in the 5th which would put the D-Bags up for good.  For the most part starting pitcher Albert Lebel for Toronto kept Jersey guessing all day, striking out 9 in 6.2 innings.  On the 10 hits that Lebel surrendered  only 1 went for extra bases.  Lebel got in trouble when he gave up multiple hits as he did in all 3 innings that Jersey scored in.  Dave Dodd added a solo HR in the 8th inning for extra measure making the score 5-1 which would be the final.

Ramos brings up his post season record to 2-5 with the win.  He had hard two years against against Austin where he went 1-2 despite only giving up 3 ER and only allowing 12 hits in 19 innings pitched.  This was Lebel's 1st post season loss after going 2-0 in 5 starts in Toronto's World Series run last season.  For the 2019 season this marked the 4th time Jersey has beaten Lebel this season.

Game 2 in Jersey Shore features SP Tim Harmon for Toronto vs. SP Sergio Martinez for Jersey

GO D-BAGS

2019 CLDS Breakdown; Toronto vs Jersey Shore

In what many saw as a wacky year in the BSA the playoff teams that eventually came out probably didn't surprise that many people.  While surprise teams Chicago and Pocatello fell short in September and left contenders Seattle and Austin under the .500 mark, the CL sent Toronto and Greenville back to the playoffs while Jersey Shore and Vista reclaimed their division titles that they both had claimed in 2017.

It took a 1 game tie breaker against division rival Greenville, but Jersey Shore held on for their 2nd division title and and the #1 seed in the CL playoffs.  They had to withstand a 24-4 September record from the 84's but had enough in the tank to win Game 163 on the road, 6-4 and win a date with Toronto. 

This will mark the 3rd time in BSA history that D-Bags and Titans will meet in the postseason.  The first being in the 2015 CLDS where Toronto took a 2-1 lead and Jersey came back and won 3 games in a row to advance and eventually make the World Series.  That Jersey Shore team won 13 games less than the heavily favored Titans who had the best record in the CL and 2nd best record in the BSA behind Hendersonville.  They would also meet a year later, this time as Jersey coming in as the team that had won 11 more games.  Toronto still had home field advantage being division winners and walked away with a convincing 4-1 series win which propelled them to the World Series as well.  This will mark the first time that Jersey will face Toronto as the better seed with home field advantage.  

Jersey won the season series this year by a slim margin of 5-4 which was mostly made up of convincing wins by either side.  There were only 2 of the 9 games decided by 2 runs or less.  It should be noted that Jersey did hand the Toronto ace Albert Lebel 3 of his 9 losses on the season.

Projected Jersey Shore lineup:

vs RHP:

LF Matthieu Vancini
SS Lawrence Schroeder
2B Mike Bryant
CF Fransisco Ibarra
RF Dave Dodd
1B John Warner
C Warren Goyer
3B Fabrice Brodeur
DH Alberto Perez

Bench:
C Albert Lopez
1B Roberto Bojorquez
3B Adam Morrow
LF Fransisco Torres
RF Jose Ortiz

vs LHP

LF Matthieu Vancini
SS Lawrence Schroeder
DH Mike Bryant
CF Fransisco Ibarra
1B John Warner
RF Dave Dodd
C Warner Goyer
2B Fabrice Brodeur
3B Adam Morrow

Bench:
C Albert Perez
1B Roberto Bojorquez
3B Alberto Perez
LF Fransisco Torres
RF Jose Ortiz

Pitching Staff:

Jersey will go with a for sure 1-2-3 of Ramos, Martinez and Jose Lara for the first 3 games of the series and will use either Art Ellis or Greg Schaefer in Game 4 or back to Ramos if necessary. Here is a list of Jersey pitchers with their season stats against the Titans.

SP Jose Ramos - 2-0, 17 IP, 15H, 4ER, 0BB, 11K, 2.12 ERA, 0.88 WHIP
SP Sergio Martinez - N/A
SP Jose Lara - N/A
SP Art Ellis - 0-2, 12.1 IP, 13H, 7ER, 4BB, 7K, 5.11 ERA, 1.38 WHIP
SP Greg Schaefer - 1-0, 6IP. 9H, 2ER, 1BB, 5K, 3.00 ERA, 1.67 WHIP
SP Jerry Burgess - 0-2, 16.2 IP, 22H. 15ER, 17BB, 11K, 8.10 ERA, 2.34 WHIP

MR
LHP Phillip Moran - 5.1IP, 7H, 5ER, 2BB, 6K, 8.44 ERA, 1.69 WHIP
RHP Yin-zhen Zong - 6IP, 9H, 2ER, 3BB, 9K, 3.00 ERA, 2.00 WHIP
LHP Pedro Vega - 2.2IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K, 3.38 ERA, 1.50 WHIP

Setup
LHP Gerald Johnson - 1-0, 4.0IP, 7H, 3ER, 1BB. 4K, 6.75 ERA, 2.00 WHIP
RHP Angel Lara - 1-0, 7IP, 9H, 4ER, 2BB, 3K, 5.14 ERA, 1.57 WHIP

Closer
RHP Jose Ruiz - 2 saves, 2.0IP, 2H, 0ER, 0BB, 0K, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP

GO D-BAGS

The Machine that is Tuscaloosa

When you think dynasties you think the Murderer's Row and the Yankees of the 20's and 30's, the Celtics of the 60's, the Showtime Lakers, Steel Curtain Steelers, Jordan's Bulls, the late 90's Yankees, and most notably the Hendersonville Hitmen the modern era.  A little less talked talked about modern dynasty is what is  going on for Jersey Shore's AAA affiliate in Tuscaloosa.
Tuscaloosa is most well known for the the powerhouse that is the Alabama Crimson Tide of the collegiate football world, but in the last 9 years, the Trout Slayers of Tuscaloosa have donned the championship hats and shirts 5 times and are set to tangle this week with the Trenton Stars in a best of 5 series aiming for their 6th title in 10 years.  

In this being the 10th year of the modern BSA, Tuscaloosa has won 8 division titles and made the playoffs as the Wild card team the 2 remaining years.  This season with their 108 wins it marked the 6th time they eclipsed the 100 win barrier and marked the 3rd straight year they have seen over 1 million in attendance for the season.

In a league and for a team that is very much offensive based, the Trout Slayers feature a player who has taken International league hitting to new heights and that player is 25 year OF Juan Mendoza.  Originally a 2nd round pick of the Jacksonville Jackhammers way back in the 2014 season, Mendoza was signed and then released nearly a month later and say as a free agent for 3 weeks before Jersey offered him a minor league deal and was sent to A ball Manhattan. Always projected as a power prospect, he didn't show it until the 2016 season hitting 26 HR in A ball and a combined 22 HR between A and AA the following year.  2018 was a stellar year for Mendoza as he bashed 39 HR and drove in 135 runs to go with 100 walks in AA Gainesville before being promoted to AAA to finish the 2018 season.  2019 Mendoza finally was put on the 40 man roster and was invited to Spring Training for the D-Bags where he struggled in 31 AB, only hitting .161 with a single HR.  Being sent back to AAA gave Mendoza a push.  He hit double digit HR in every month except September and had his banner month in August.  In 106 AB in 28 games he 17 HR, 45 RBI, walked 22 times on way to a slash line of .349/.461/.858.  He won player of the month for both June and August and sprinkled in 3 player of the week awards in their as well. This season he set the ITL record for SLG (.713), OPS (1.97), Total Bases (430), HR (72), RBI (185) and WAR (9.8).  Those are some big numbers.

Not only did the 2019 feature the record breaking Mendoza, they also had Tadahisa Kisuki, a very possible next star in Jersey at 1B, who hit .366/.452/.561 and 3B Xin Zhang who added 25 HR and hit .322/.431/.552.  Not only could they hit they had four 16 game winners led by top prospect Ramon Ruiz who went 21-4 in 28 starts with an ERA of 2.91 and a WAR of 6.9 and not to mention one of the best bullpens in the ITl. While Trenton does have a very stacked roster, the Trout Slayers have a very good chance to add a 6th title to their wall.

Many of Jersey Shore players past and present have been part of championship teams and added to the storied past which is Tuscaloosa.  From that first Championship year in 2010 which featured players such as: former MVP Ricardo Vargas, long time major leaguers David Pena, Damien Balmforth, Sergio Rodriguez, Jugurtha Wemusa and Jose Reyes to long time Jersey bullpen arms such as Jaime Saenz, Lucio Tapia and Jose Ruiz.  The 2014 Championship team featured former ROY Adam Morrow, 5-time All Star Matt Doyle, Jersey starter Alberto Perez, Jersey starting pitchers Sergio Martinez and Greg Schaefer and current bullpen arms Jose Ruiz and Yin-zhen Zong.  

With Jersey's long time strategy to build within and through the draft, it is evident to this how many home grown players have come up and won in the Jersey system playing together.  This can only mean a championship is coming to Jersey......right?

GO D-BAGS

Milestone for Bryant; Smashes HR #250

I'm sure the league has to be sick of hearing the name Mike Bryant by now.  The superstar now in his 6th full season and 7th total season continues to put up eye popping stats year in and year out.  Earlier this season he was selected to his 6th straight All-Star game and after a "slow" month of April Byrant has hit at least 6 HR and 20 RBI in every month, hit above .330 with an OBP of over 400 in every month except for May and is currently having his most productive month with a week still left over.  

On August 12th, 2019, the first game of a 10 day roadtrip, Bryant didn't take much time hitting a towering fly down the RF line into the 2nd deck of Red Box Field in Madison off of 24 year old reliever turned starter Robinson Gonzales for his 250th career bomb.  Bryant became only the 14th batter to reach this milestone behind classic sluggers such as Crowe, Sagar, Yoko, Delaney, Rivas, Fujita, Alston, Torres, Chouda, Newell and most recently Copriviza.  Not a bad group of players to be associated with.

At the current pace he is on with ~5 or so weeks to go in the season, Bryant would reach 37+ HR for the 6th straight year, 208+ hits for the 6th straight year as well as 119+ RBI also for the 6th straight year.  While he seems to have lost a tiny step on defense and on the basepaths there is really no denying his bat is still going strong.  Bryant will turn 32 a few weeks before the 2020 season and all of Jersey Shore is hoping he ages gracefully continuing to be the heart and soul of the powerful offense.  With his current pace, Bryant should hit the magical 1500 hit mark at some point next season and if he continues on his career HR pace, the 300 HR mark could be hit near the end of next season.

With the emergence of Dave Dodd as a bonafide superstar, he and Bryant make for the one of the most dangerous duos in the current BSA.  They lead all duos with a combined 66 HR, 207 RBI, 193 runs scored and 594 total bases.  Throw in catcher Warren Goyer and the trio makes up for 3 of the top 4 HR hitters in the CL this season.  Will this be enough to push Jersey into the post season?  We can only hope so.  With 5 weeks left in the regular season, Greenville is making a charge and sits 5 games behind Jersey.  The D-Bags only hold a slight lead on the current Wild Card team, the Pocatello Bocabellas as well.  It should be a fun 5 weeks in the CL!

GO D-BAGS