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

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 

Prestige is on the Line in the Most Important Race Left of the 2017 Season

With only 15 games to play in the 2017 season we have a few intriguing races still to be played out.  As emotions are riding high, managers losing sleep and players with flailing nerves only the best will stand out and take over.  One race imparticular has a few new contenders.  Over the last couple seasons two teams have dominated this race, in fact for the last 3 years these teams have finished 1-2 in the race.  We want to congratulate Terrance and Terry for finally using that talent of draft's past to improve the team and leave the race for the #1 pick. (Although Terrance Knights are only 4 games up on the current #1 seed, we feel that is a big enough margin for him to stay out.)  We will highlight our top 3 contenders, break down the teams and see who has what it takes to secure BSA's worst record and the right to first pick in the 2018 amateur draft.

First off let's identify the Top 3 and they are according to record at this point:

Niagara Falls Frenzy 49-98

Irvine Gang Green 50-96

St. Charles Sheens 51-95

The Frenzy have 15 games left to play while the other two still have 16 games to go. Here's how the schedules break down:

NFF: 3 vs LAB, 3 @ IRV, 3 vs NYK, 3 @ORL, 3 vs CLV               

IRV: 1 @BAF, 3 @MAU, 3 vs NFF, 3 @LAB, 3 vs SNF, 3 vs LCC

SCS:  1 vs REN, 3 @SEA, 3 @KCY, 3 @POC, 3 vs TOR, 3 @GRN

NFF has the easiest schedule coming in with an average winning percentage of .472 while both IRV and SCS opponents are over the .500 mark at .515 for SCS and .525 for IRV.  St. Charles will also play the most games on the road with 12 of their final 16 games come away from home.  

Niagara Falls

After 74 wins last year and some good young players, NFF looked prime to compete, after disastrous April and May that was shot to hell.  It seems the young pitchers, both starters and relievers, were held back and a patch work rotation of veterans shouldered the load.  In fact at this point in the season the pitching staff has 9 members who are over the age of 30 years old, a staff that is dead last in almost every category in the NL.  The starting rotation features 4 starters who have lost over 14 games including former 16 game winner Allan Landry who has lost an impressive 18 of his 21 starts this season.

NFF seemed to have a leg up on the #1 pick up through August.  Pitching was terrible.  The veteran bats were terrible.  Former super spec and 2nd year man Bernardo Guzman was sub par, and then August hit.  The Frenzy had a winning record at 15-13.  Phillips and Guzman combined for 15 HR.  JJ's freaky bunch was winning.  They are currently 4-7 in September, Benny McCafferty is coming off a Player of the Week award and they have the easiest schedule remaining of my contenders.  While they have a bright future, what will the next 15 games bring?

Irvine Gang Green

First year owner Larry Rice knew he didn't have much to work with when he moved the franchise from El Paso to Irvine following former owner Michael Flaherty's jump to greener pastures taking over the San Fransisco franchise.  A new ballpark, much bigger than the bandbox this team was use to in El Paso created more of a pitching environment instead of the big offensive teams of the past.  What he did have is a young 21 year old ace in Etienne Garcia and a powerful ROY candidate in Alden Lindsey, after the it was murky.  After a terrible June, Irvine has seemed to be neck and neck with the Frenzy, and they also had a good month in August going 12-16 to keep pace with the "hot" Frenzy.  

The currently have the hardest remaining schedule, facing 7 games with playoff teams.  Unlike NFF they have called up a few top prospects.  Those include former 7th overall pick Jose Esparza and SP Ignacio Colon, who was the main piece in sending Jerry Burgess to Jersey Shore in 2015.  Irvine has been active on the waiver wire this year as well, probably most notably getting former Baffin closer Razor Ramon for free who has thrived as the closer since coming over.  Will Irvine play playoff spoiler and upset a few contenders or will they fall by the way side and slide into the #1 pick? Only time will tell.

St. Charles Sheens

This was a team who was just 81-81 two years ago. They finished 2nd to only division winner Seattle and a core of Fred Jones, Phil Lindsey and Dominque Marquis seemed to be set up for a good future.  Fast forward 2 years and this team is on the verge of 100 losses, Fred Jones fell apart, Lindsey is on the shelve with a long injury and has been a shell of his former self and the Sheens are looking toward a younger generation.  The interesting things about the Sheens in the race is they weren't even on the radar until a 7-23 August helped them gain an astronomical 9 games on Niagara Falls and put them right in thick of things.  

The Sheens late season schedule sees them have games with 1 for sure playoff team in Greenville, one playoff contender in Seattle and the under achieving yet still loaded Toronto team.  The Sheens have been good about keeping young talent and have a system littered with some very nice pieces to compete in the future.  Currently on their major league team are a trio of players they obtained in the Gillberto Montano trade that happened in 2014.  The speedy John Meldelson has done an adequate job filling in for the entire injured outfield.  While he might not be ready yet 15 steals and 34 extra base hits in 323 at bats isn't anything to sneeze at.  Top SP prospect 23 year old "Ratchet" Moreno was called up this month to fairly terrible results but the talent is there.  1B 22 year old Alfredo Rivera has broken out this year with 13 HR on way to a 22.5 VORP and currently hits clean up.  Will the trio help the team win games or just get that valuable experience for the future?  

All 3 are interesting teams who all have a shot at the prestigious prize.  Who will get it? Stay tuned.