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

Can Bryant Make Case For 3rd Straight MVP?

Before Jorge Martinez went down this past week he was all but a shoe in to take home this year's CL MVP award and end our very own Mike Bryant's 2-run at being voted the most valuable player in the league. Martinez was on pace to put up one of the best season's WAR wise that the BSA has ever seen.  With him being injured at that play at the plate, the doctors put him on a 5 week timeline, which means he would miss close to 20% of the Pikes games this year.  Is this enough for Bryant and others to gain ground and pass the Martinez? Or will it not be enough?

It's been well documented that Bryant had a terrible start to this season.  As we have covered in a past blog his April numbers were this: His April numbers ended like this: .173/.214/.373.  1 2B, 0 3B, 7 HR, 19 RBI and 24K in 110 AB.  Not numbers you expect to see with a player as consistent has him and with his track record.  Since then he has taken major strides.  He won the CL Batter of the Month award in May, was voted into the AS Game and has hit over 330 in every month of the season since April.  What really has put him back in the race is his last 15 games though.  

Going into the game on 7/23 with Madison, Bryant had a stat line of .296/.344/.528.  Respectable, sure, but all below career averages.  In the next 15 games, Bryant would get a hit in 13 of them and all 14 of those would be multi-hit games and 8 of them would be three hit games.  He would hit 5 HR, 16 RBI to go with 11 doubles and one triple.  After the Bags most recent game against St. Louis on 8/7, another 2 hit game for Bryant, his triple slash line stood at: .326/.369/.585.  So 15 games, adding 30 points of batting average, 25 points of OBP and 57 points of SLG.  This puts him Top 5 in batting average, slugging percentage, HR, RBI while he leads the league in hits.  He is on pace to lead the BSA in total bases for the 4th time in 5 years as well.  He is even more valuable to his team this year after the loss of superstar Matt Doyle.  The Bags have no one that will hit his lowest numbers of the past 2 years when he did win the award.  The downside is of course, his defense.  Usually an above average fielder, Bryant has committed more errors this year than any year in the past and his ZR is by far at a career worse -6.2.  This has even caused Jersey to DH him from time to time.  This of course brings down his WAR, which is a big number to use by a lot of voters.  Can he continue on his recent tear and climb up those leaderboards?  Can he power his team past a handful of contenders for a playoff spot?  All this is possible and will be something many people will have their eyes on for the rest of the season.

GO D-BAGS