John Warner Named CL Player of Month for August

After trading Superstar Matt Doyle in the off season it opened a huge hole at 1B and in the middle of the lineup.  Alberto Perez has a glove at 1st base and while he isn't a slouch with the bat, he isn't a threat either.  Plans to replace his power came from rookie Fransisco Ibarra who showed he can hit in AAA, but all intents and purposes had no BSA experience.  Before the start of the season Jersey dealt big time power prospect Fransisco Calderon to the LA Bruins for vet John Warner.

Warner had his glory days back in the 2012-2013 season while playing for the Knights of New York before being signed by the Bruins.  After having arguably the worst season of his  career last year, Jersey hoped bringing him into a hitter's park like the Ballpark by the Shore would help his numbers and help the whole created in the lineup.  About being shuffled about the lineup getting over 30 AB hitting 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th during the season, Warner's numbers were consistent April-July, but nothing to write home about.  That's until August rolled around. 

During August Warner was one of 3 players to hit 11 HR during the month, and that also tied 2 others for the most HR for a month in 2018.  It included a 3-game HR stretch vs STL and SCS 8/7-8/9 and his 2nd mutli-HR game of the season in a 11-6 win @TOR on 8/22.  Surprisingly this is the first time in his career that he has been crowned Player of the Month in the BSA.  During the month he raised his slugging percentage 52 points and as of 9/12 sits tied for 6th in the CL in HR with 31. It's the first time he has reached the 30 HR mark since the 2014 season.  

By the end of the season Dave Dodd and Warren Goyer should join Warner and Mike Bryant with 30 HR.  This would mark the 2nd straight season and only the 2nd time in team history that 4 players hit the 30 HR mark.  With the up and coming Fransisco Ibarra, maybe next year we might see the 1st time a Jersey club has featured five members of the 30 HR club.  

For now as 2018 winds down and Jersey is looking towards missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014, we can still hope for a good finish.  Mikey Bryant is looking for his 5th straight 200 hit season, rookie Sergio Martinez has really come on late to show he might be the next big thing and Dave Dodd needs 3 doubles to break the all time Jersey record for doubles in a season.  Just a few things to watch for as the season winds down.

GO D-BAGS

Jersey Sends 3 to All-Star Game; Jose Ramos Timeline

For the 7th year in a row Jersey Shore has sent multiple people to represent the team in the annual All Star game.  The contest was held earlier this month on the 9th of July.  The CL team behind very strong pitching blanked the NL All-Stars 2-0, in only their 2nd win in the series. Representing Jersey Shore were 2B Mikey Bryant, C Warren Goyer and SP Jerry Burgess.

After a terrible start Bryant and a terrible month of April, Bryant stepped up his game like we have seen him time and time again and won Player of the Month for the CL in the month of May.  Even with his hot May and above average June he was still on the cusp of not making the team due to Jorge Martinez's MVP type season and the continued success of Joe Sanders.  Bryant was rewarded one of the last spots on the team.  This is Bryant's 5th selection to the AS team, putting him in some very good company beside some of the BSA's best players.

Goyer has obviously liked his time he has spent in Jersey.  After becoming the team's starting backstop last year and making his 1st AS team on the way to 40+ HR, he followed that up this season with his 2nd straight AS game nod.  While he isn't on pace to best 40 HR again, he has been quite consistent.  In all 3 months thus far this season he has clubbed 6 HR and between 15-18 RBI.  At his current pace he would hit 36 HR and drive in 96 runs.  

The last of the 3 All Stars took a different road to get there.  After trading for SP Jerry Burgess from El Paso in 2015, Jersey was hoping they were getting a legitimate SP to join Macias and Ellis.  Burgess pitched good enough down the stretch and in the playoffs to earn a 5 year extension that off season, and that's when his well documented struggles started.  2016 was a trying year where his control was almost completely lost.  He only started 22 games and came out of the bullpen 12 times to a ERA of 5.20 plus and Jersey wondered what to do with him.  He cleared waivers before the playoffs last year and started this year in the bullpen with Jersey's plethora of starting pitching.  He entered the bullpen when Jose Ramos went down with injury and hasn't looked back since.  While his control is has not been great, it's better than his career average and he is striking out people at all time high.  He leads all starters in the BSA with 11.39 K/9 and only trails Lebel of Toronto and Haynes of LA in strikeouts this season.  For this Burgess has earned his first career nod to the AS game. 

Speaking of the injury who allowed Burgess another change at the starting rotation, Jose Ramos will start his injury rehab tonight after missing 4 months with a torn labrum in his shoulder.  With Jersey in a very tight 5-team race, it couldn't have come at a better team.  GM Swain said that a timetable for his return isn't known yet, but depends on results we see from Ramos in AAA.  What we know from previous rehab stints is Ramos will not be rushed, and could use the entire 30 day rehab limit on pitchers.   Even if Ramos does use the full 30 days he would return towards the end of August and have 5.5-6 weeks to help his team down the stretch.  Swain has said that this will likely be the teams "trade deadline" move as no other big moves plan on being made.

As of right now, July 25th, Jersey is tied for the WC lead with fellow division rival St. Louis and Vista/Seattle.  They are 1 game up on Toronto and 2 up on Kansas City.  This looks like it might come down to one of the better races we have seen in the BSA thus far.  

GO D-BAGS

2018 Jersey Shore Amatuer Draft

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GO D-BAGS

Bryant Reaches Milestone; 1000 Hits

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

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

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

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

GO D-BAGS 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A comparison of the two months thus far:

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

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

Welcome back MVP, you were missed.

Jose Ramos Tears Labrum; Expected To Miss 4 Months

For the 2nd year in a row, Jersey Shore has taken a major blow to their Starting Rotation.  After losing Art Ellis for the majority of the 2017 season, ace Jose Ramos was taken out in the 4th inning of his 2nd start vs. the St. Charles Sheens.  After giving up a 1st inning run, the Bags spotted Ramos 7 runs in the first 3 innings and he was cruising along. The last batter he faced was Dominique Marquis, whom he struck out on 3 pitches, the last being a beautiful change up which he got Marquis to waive at.  He immediately grabbed his arm and the trainers rushed out.

After trainers took a look at him it had come to light that he partially tore his labrum in his pitching arm.  The doctor's gave the diagnosis and told the media if everything goes right he should be able to pitch again in 4 months.  This means he should return to rehab towards the end of August, possibly into September.  The only good news is if the team is in playoff contention, he could get a few starts in after rehab and possibly in the playoffs if the team makes it that far.

"It really is a blow.  I felt the kid was going to establish himself as one of the league's premier pitchers this year.  We are lucky in a sense that it will not require Tommy John surgery, which you know, would have kept him out 12-14 months.  We are also lucky that we are one of the few organizations who has depth at starting pitching.  Management bringing in Lara over the winter now looks a helleva lot more important than it did at the time," is what GM Josh Swain had to say about the injury.

Jerry Burgess took over the 5th spot in the rotation after being regulated to the bullpen this year and has looked overly dominate in 2 starts since the injury.  In 4 starts since coming over to Jersey this season, Jose Lara has struggled to an ERA of 8.22 which the team expects to even out after some more starts.  Art Ellis has also struggled posting an ERA of 5.59 after 3 starts.  We do not expect these 2 above average pitchers to continue to struggle, and hope we see a turnaround soon.

After 18 games, Jersey has yet to find an offensive rhythm, as they have scored almost a league worst 63 runs, their MVP is hitting under 200, and only 2 regulars have an average of 265 or higher.  The team, after being swept by Greenville recently, fell to 8-10 and sit 5 games out of the division.  They are hoping some home cooking, they play the net 8 games at home, will help even the team back out.  They have played 18 games thus far, 4 at home and 14 on the road.  They are undefeated at home, while going 4-10 on the road.  They say games in April don't matter as much as games late in the season, but in a division that looks better than usual and with Greenville surging and #1 in both offensive and pitching categories, falling too far behind could leave a very tough climb for the rest of the season.