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