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.

April 2017 in review; Jersey Shore

After a devastating injury left Jersey starting the season without their ace and Opening Day starter Art Ellis, Jersey went into the season with high hopes, just not as high as before the injury.  If there was any hesitation, it didn't show in April.  Jersey finished the month with a BSA best 20-6 record and only their 3rd 20 win month in team history.  Both pitching and hitting led to their great start and exception play by the their captain Mikey Bryant.

Players of the Month

Rob Goodship: 4-0, 36IP, 3.00 ERA, 30 K, 1.03WHIP.  Goodship is the master of deception.  Not only in his delivery but you just never know when he will string together some great starts.  Jersey fans are hoping he finally turned the corner and went from a Good 3-4 to a Good #2 on this staff.  He dominated in his first 4 starts before getting roughed up by Austin his last start of the month for a no decision.

Greg Schaefer: 3-0, 28.1IP, 2.86 ERA, 21K, 1.06 WHIP.  Much like Goodship now is the time for Schaefer to transform himself into a MLB pitcher.  He has trended upwards every season in his career and a career wouldn't surprise Owner Josh Swain, "We have been waiting for it."  Needless to say, going 7-0 out of your 3 and 4 starters is a great way to start the season.

Jaime "Mungo" Saenz: 0-0, 8 saves, 15K, 13.1 IP.  Mungo was almost perfect in April outside of 2 solo homeruns.  He did not blow a save and looks comfortable in his 2nd year starting for the D-Bags.  The back end of the Bags bullpen has always been a specialty and he is the anchor.

Mike Bryant: .400/.455/.691  7 HR 27 RBI  44 hits.  Bryant continued to add on to his Triple Crown season by coming out of the gate hot and another 40 hit month.  Not only did he win the CL Player of the Week Award for the 8th time in career in early April he was also presented with CL Batter of the Month Award for the 5th time in what is his 5th year in the BSA.  

Matt Doyle: .315/.390/.602  7 2B 8 HR  24 RBI.  Doyle worked hard in the off-season to avoid the slow start that plagued him last year and it paid off.  He combined with Bryant to lead an offensive charge that averaged a tick under 7 runs per game in the month of April.  If this duo can continue to click together into this season it could be very scary for the opposition.

Questions. Concerns and Answers
What kind of questions can you have for a team that starts 20-6?  We did see Alberto Perez return from injury and struggle in the 4 games he did play in.  He will be one to watch to see if can elevate his game to last season's performance.  Rookie Francisco Torres is off to a great start for the D-Bags hitting .333/.410/.580 which landed him a permanent starting place in the lineup.  Dan Macias has started slow and Jersey management is hoping this isn't it for the big veteran righty.  His K/9 rate has continued to drop and his velocity seems lower than it has been before in his career.  If Macias continues to struggle and Ellis still being out, Jersey might have to make a move for a Starter.  Other than that we don't see any immediate moves unless an injury pops up.

Minor Leaguers of the Month
We have decided to keep the MLTM going into it's 2nd season here.  This is where we choose who had the best month out of the minor league system for the month of April.


Pitcher
MR Luis "Bugs" Cortez (AAA):  15.0 IP, 16K, 1.15 ERA, 0.93 WHIP.  Cortez came to the Bags in a trade
with Vista back during the 2014 season for the Italian left hander Ciro Roghi. Cortez has always been a highly rated thrower and will find his way into the Jersey bullpen.  At 22 years old he is already starting to mature in his 2nd year year in AAA.

Hitter 
2B William Martel (AAA):  .375/.400/.521.  36 hits, 11 2B, 17 RBI, 5 SB.  Martel signed with the Bags during the 2013 as a free agent from Canada.  He is your prototypical utility man who plays everywhere on the field but Catcher and CF. He has mainly seen time at 2B and 3B this year.  The 22 year old was a great table setter for the dangerous Tuscaloosa lineup using his above average contact and speed to score 25 runs in just 22 games.  At 22 years old he is probably getting close to joining Jersey.


GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore August 2012 in Review

In Jersey picked anytime to have their best month so far of the season it was August, especially after the subpar and sub .500 month they had in July.  Coming into the month they sat 1.5 games back of Chicago for the CL Wild Card spot and when things were said and done a 19-9 record pushed them to 1/2 up on the Machine.  The bats got hot scoring over 8 runs in 11 of their 19 wins and a 21 year old rookie won the CL Pitcher of the Month Award. 

Players of the Month

SP Jose Ramos: 5-1, 2.62 ERA, 2CG, 1.12 WHIP.  Wow, Ramos went from big time prospect dominating AAA hitters to CL Pitcher of the Month faster than anyone could have expected.  With Jerry Burgess struggling, Ramos stepped in at the right time to pick up 7 wins in his first 10 starts and bring another formidable starter to the Jersey rotiation.

SP Art Ellis: 2-1, 1.95 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 37 K in 33.1 IP.  After having his worst month as a D-Bag in July, Ellis bounced back in a remarkable way.  The lone loss was against Toronto where he surrounded 4 ER, but didn't allow more than 1 in any other start for the rest of the month.  He even picked up a no decision against Vista allowing 0 ER.  If Jersey is going to find their way back to the playoffs this year, Ellis will be a main cog in getting them there in September.

2B Mike Bryant: .363/.406/.552. 3HR, 29RBI, 42 hits, 9 2B.  Familiar face this season.  While the power dipped a little bit for Bryant in August, the hits kept on coming.  His 4th 40 hit month, 4th month to have more RBI than games played and scored a season high 31 runs for the month.  This is the dream season for Bryant, if he can keep it up BSA records will fall.

1B Matt Doyle: .355/.430/.645. 8HR, 30 RBI, 39 hits, 8 2B.  Welcome back Matt Doyle! After a summer swoon which saw Doyle hit for .238 and .255 with 6 combined HR for the months of June and July, Doyle found that stroke he had in May and much of his rookie year bashing 16 XBH, his 2nd 30+ RBI month and a glimpse of how devestating the 3-4 holes in the Jersey lineup can be with he and Bryant are both clicking.

Questions, Concerns and Answers

The main concern heading into September is will this team make the playoffs?  Both Chicago and Jersey are playoff caliber teams and both could win 95-100 games this year with one being left at home. 

Will Jerry Burgess be given his rotation spot back? Since his demotion to the pen, he has only pitched 6.1 IP but only has given up 1 ER in that time span.  He also struck out 10, compared to 4 BB.  The control has been the issue for him much of this season.  While Goodship and Shaefer have not been terrible, they haven't put up numbers bad enough to be replaced in the rotation.  Plan on seeing Burgess get a spot start or two, or more if Jersey can take the lead in the WC race.

September is a time for call up but since we have seen Ramos, Schroeder and Torres is there anyone else we might see during the month?  I don't think we will be seeing any more rookies, but catcher Duran will be off the DL as well OF Jose Ortiz, plan on seeing both back.  We will probably also see OF Duncan and OF Kino come back up to be bats off the bench.  There is an outside chance of seeing a rookie pitcher, for depth.  If I had to guess MR Zong, Lara or Cortez could be given a couple of September innings.

Minor Leaguers of the Month

Pitcher
MR Bernardo Pacheco (AAA):  1-0, 1 save, 0.63 ERA, 1.12 WHIP.  While pitching mainly middle relief and set up for Tuscaloosa, Pacheco was money in his 14.1 IP in August.  He allowed 1 ER, which was on a solo HR and tallied 13 K to only 3 BB.  Pacheco, 28, is in his 4th year at AAA and each year his ERA has gotten lower.  He will be 29 next year, and if he becomes a minor league free agent, he could catch on somewhere and help a bullpen.



Hitter

1B Tadahisa Kisuki (AA): .408/.487/.582. 3 HR, 27 RBI, 40 hits.  Signed in April 2015 out of the free agent pool, the 20 year old is really picking it up since he his subpar play in A ball last year.  He crushed A pitching this year, and August was his best month playing in AA Gainesville.  While he doesn't hit for a lot of power, the gap is there totally 37 2B between the two levels while hitting over .350.  There's a good chance he will get the promotion to AAA before the year is over.  At only 20 years old the kid could see the show before a lot of players his age are even out of college.

 

2016 Jersey Milestones We Might See

Baseball is about statistics.  There are more statistics in baseball than in any sport combined.  And we here in Jersey are no different, we love tracking our players and their accomplishments.  Here is a list statistics and what we might be in store for the 2016 season.  Some more likely than others.

Let's start on the pitching side of things.  

Pitching:

35 year old Dan Macias has 3 wins in 4 starts.  It's a long shot, but 19 more wins this year (22 wins total) would make him the 3rd ever pitcher to reach 150 wins.  With 2 more wins he passes Ethan Pickup for 5th All-time.

Sticking with Macias, his 19 K's thus far puts him just 105 K's from 1800, which (After Ricky Bolden does it soon) would make him the 5th pitcher to reach this milestone.

Rob Goodship with 1 win this season, needs 12 more this season for 51 career, which would make him the current all time Win leader in D-Bag history.

Jaime Saenz with 2.6 VORP this season needs 17.4 more this season to pass former closer Daniel Morris as the franchise all-time VORP leader.

Hitting:  

Leon Foster, with 17 RBI in 16 games, needs 92 more RBI to join the 800 RBI club which has only been accomplishment thus far by 5 players and 2 soon to be members.  109 RBI might be a stretch for the season though.

Foster also needs to strikeout only 3 more time to join the 1100 club, occupied by 3 players.  With 103 more he would join only John Crowe, and possibly Enrique Jarmillo as the only players on the 1200 list.

Mikey Bryant, 3 HR thus far, needs 5 more to make him the 1st D-Bag ever to hit for 100 career HR.  It would also only make him the 3rd 2B ever to hit 100+ HR behind Luis Pezina and Jeff Cole.

Matt Doyle would need 23 total, already has 5, for the 100 HR plateau as well.  Doyle has average a HR ever 14.23 AB in his career so far.  Career leader John Crowe has a 15.62 average for his career.

There are also a few team records Bryant could set this season.  He needs  to score 111 total runs this season to set the team record in runs, he currently sits 3rd behind Parker Morrow and Mason Bonniface.  He would also need 226 hits (which would break his own team record of 209) to pass Parker Morrow the only man he sits behind at this point.

With the team's last 5-4 win over Austin on 4/22 with 4 total bases, Bryant passed Morrow for 1st on the franchise record for total bases.

With 29 HR this season (which would be a career high) Luis Antonio Duran would become the 8th catcher to hit 100 HR in BSA history. 

With most players being in their mid-20's there isn't a lot for milestones.  But some things to look this season besides the amount of wins the D-Bags rack up!

GO D-BAGS!

Jersey Shore Flexes Muscle; Takes Down Toronto in 6

Staring at a 2-0 hole and a long flight back to Jersey reality set in.  After 5 years or playing decent baseball and coming up short so many times this was the playoffs. Where the best of the best come to play.  They had been good enough to enter this prestigious tournament and after 2 games had not played their best baseball, in fact it was far from their best.  A game 3 win was a boost, but it was still far from Jersey baseball. Runs scored in odd ways, not the usual Jersey style of mashing and bashing.  We held a press conference after Game 3 with GM Josh Swain and he laid out what Jersey had to do to win, and with surprise much of that came through.  What came after that was 3 straight wins.  Down 0-2 to winning the series 4-2.  4 game winning streak.  How did they do it? Here's how:

Entering Game 4 you can tell the monkey was off their backs.  There was that Jersey swagger back in the walks of a lot of the players.  It would be a rematch of Game 1 with Dan Macias taking the mound for Jersey and Ricky Bolden for Toronto, both on short rest.  GM Josh Swain told us it's the matchup he wanted.  If Dan could outduel Ricky, Jersey had the advantage.  They liked their changes agianst Jackson at home and liked the potential Ellis/Brito matchup in game 6.  Fireworks started early.  Toronto got 3 runs on 5 hits in the Top of the 1st before Jersey had a chance to bat.  But a sac fly and a passed ball in Jersey's half of the inning put the game back to 3-2.

The 2nd inning starting and things didn't stop.  D-bag killer Jaime "Gunner" Torres lifted off hitting a solo HR down the RF line to get a run back.  But veteran Leon Foster got the run right back for Jersey with a mammoth 452 run shot off of Bolden.  After the HR, a walk to Marvin Taylor, a single by Scott Powers and the eventual death blow came with catcher Luis Antonio Duran hit his 1st HR of the the postseason and 3 run blast that put Jersey up 6-4, a lead that would hold.

Macias would retire 13 of the next 16 batters before eventually being replaced and received a standing ovation from the Jersey crowd.  With Gomes replacing Macias and striking out Cuan and Rivas to end the 7th, Toronto replaced MR Cole with MR Jones, which turned out to be a mistake. A 2B, 1B, BB and HBP left a run in and the bases loaded with Al Ryan at the plate who tore open the game with his first postseason HR and first Glad Slam by a Jersey player in playoff history.  The Bags would add one more in the 8th before cruising to a 12-4 victory to the tie the series at 2 games apiece.

Who knew after the offensive explosion by the D-Bags in Game 4 that Game 5 would bring us the low scoring game of the series.  We would see Shawn Jackson start for Toronto and Rob Goodship take the hill for Jersey in what could have been the last game at the Shore for the season.  40,200+ fans showed up to cheer on their Bags.  Goodship made the first mistake in the 2nd inning when HR king John Crowe led the inning off with a solo HR to get the scoring started.  Jersey tied the score in the bottom of 3 when Sergio Rodriguez and Scott Powers both doubled.  Other than these two early runs, each starter was very good.  It wasn't until the bottom of the 7th when Sergio Rodriguez led off the inning and reached 1st when John Crowe bobbled the throw from SS Pete Harvey.  Shawn Jackson would retire the next 2 batters on a fly out and a sac fly before he was pulled in favor of the lefty Jung-Keun Li to face lefty Jose Ortiz.  Ortiz took a 1-2 pitch from Li and rapped into the corner for an easy stand up double and Rodriguez came around to score the go ahead run.  Goodship would cruise in the 8th and that would be his last inning of work.  In what you have to call the biggest game of his career, he was brilliant.  Throwing 8 IP, giving up 5 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB while striking out 9.  Mungo was called in to save the game and it only took 11 pitches to strike out John Crowe, Luis Gonzalez and German Rivas all swinging.  The crowd was in an uproar, Jersey had won 3 straight, all at home and took a 3-2 lead in the series going back to Toronto.

Game 6.  A rematch of Game 2 with Jerry Burgess facing off against Jose Brito.  Brito won the first match pitching brilliantly while Burgess was knocked around for 7 ER. Would this game be any different and could Toronto force that pivotal Game 7?  Brito was his usual efficient self facing 3 batters over the minimum in the first 4 innings and not letting any runner get past first base.  Burgess on the other hand lived dangerously.  Allowing runners 1st and 2nd with 1 out in the first get erased by a double play ball.  A walk, wild pitch and an error by SS Marvin Taylor allowed German Rivas to reach 3rd base in the 2nd inning before Pete Harvey grounded out to end the threat.  A single in the 3rd was wiped off the board with the 2nd double play of the day and in the 4th a Rivas single, stolen base and a walk to Fujita put 2 runners on before Burgess hunkered down and struck out Gunner Torres looking on a nasty slider that just brushed the outside corner.  Alberto Perez would lead off the 5th and thus far after taking over for Adam Morrow at 3B he was 0-17 in the series.  Something had to give, and it did.  He took a 2nd pitch fastball from Brito and pulled it deep and far and way back in the left-center field bleachers for his first hit of the series to give Jersey a 1-0 lead.  

Burgess would settle down and Jersey would turn their 3rd double play ending Toronto's 5th inning.  Both pitchers breezed through the 6th until some commotion in the 7th inning.  With 2 outs in Jersey's top half of the 7th the usual pinpoint Brito came way inside and hit catcher Luis Antonio Duran on the hand which immediately dropped him to the ground.  He had to be lifted from the game and came away gripping his hand.  We wouldn't find out til later he had fractured the hand.  Brito would get Taylor to ground out to end the inning.  In Toronto's half of the 7th, after a groundout Burgess came inside and hit the Toronto catcher Kyuso Fujita in the back.  Warnings were given to both sides and after 112 pitches, 6.1 IP and 0 ER Burgess was pulled in favor of Jose Gomes.  Gomes got out of the 7th without incident and we headed to the 8th.  A half check swing by Scott Powers combined with his upper echelon speed created a leadoff infield hit that chased Brito from the game.  Jose Murillo was brough in and pinch hitter Al Ryan surprised everyone when he laid down a perfect sac bunt to put the insurance run on 2nd base with 1 out.  Struggling superstar Mike Bryant came through knocking a hard line drive into RF, but Powers was held at 3rd giving the Bags runners at the corners.  Matt Doyle knocked a grounder into the hole that looked like a hit but a diving stop by Zaragoza managed to get Doyle at 1st by a half a step but couldn't prevent Powers from crossing the plate and Bryant advancing to 2nd.  The run gave Jersey a 2-0 cushion.  With 2 outs now veteran Leon Foster and put a ball right down the right field chalk line for a stand-up double easily scoring Bryant and pushing the lead to 3-0.  Murillo would get Manny Romero swinging to end the inning.  

Jose Gomes walked Lugo to lead off the 8th before striking out Cuan to end his night as he was replaced by Lucio Tapia to face John Crowe.  Tapia went 1-1 with Crowe until I can only describe as "the longest HR I have ever seen" on a 97 MPH fastball.  Crowe hitting left handed crushed it to CF and Powers barely turned his head to watch it travel 485 feet and give the Toronto crowd a reason to celebrate as Toronto was back in it and only down 3-2. A single and a walk gave Toronto the go ahead run on 1st base with only 1 out while the crowd was on their feet.  After a mound visit Tapia got the biggest out of his career by striking out All Star Kyuso Fujita before being pulled for closer Daniel Morris to face Gunner Torres.  Morris amidst the avoided danger by getting Torres to ground out on the first pitch on a 2 hopper to Doyle at first base.  Insurance runs at this point would have been nice, but Toronto brough in future HOF'er Martin Griffin to set the side down in order before heading to the bottom of the 9th.  Daniel Morris, the longest tenured D-Bag, would retire the side in order as LuGo would fly out to Leon Foster to end the game and send Jersey to their first ever series win and sending them to the CLCS to face their division rival, the waiting Greenville 84's.

We now will go live to GM Swain's press conference:

::Swain comes out, untucked button-up business shirt, D-Bags cap, and big smile:::

Reporter Vanessa Antuaco, Morgantown Today: "Mr. Swain!  You just won 4 games in a row.  We talked with Toronto GM Jason Goldberg earlier and in his tenure with the Titans this is his first 4 game losing streak, how'd your boys do it??"

Swain: "I told you at the last conference how what we needed to do to win this thing.  We needed some clutch hitting, Game 4 was full of that.  Hell, we scored 12 runs on only 8 hits!  I told you we would need another quality start and in fact we got 2 of them.  Goodship was fantastic in Game 5 and Jerry really bounched back for a great Game 6.  The bullpen stayed strong and we won the close games.  That's what October baseball is about!"

Reporter Dan Miles, NY Times: "Everyone and their dog though (Art) Ellis would be the starter for Game 6. He was brilliant, Burgess had been lit up, what were you thinking there?"  

Swain: "Burgess convo again?  I told you guys the first time through that Burgess had been better in Toronto.  Yes, Game 2 we saw him get lit up.  Art could have gone.  We thought he was close to 70% rested which would have been good enough to throw out there, but with a 3-2 lead, with us having confidence in Jerry, even a loss would have given us Ellis at 100% in Game 7.  I don't want to say I played this one right, but it worked out didn't it?"

Reporter Sally Trumpert, Trenton Free Press: "Duran left tonight's game with an apparent hand injury, can you tell us any more on what happened?"

Swain: "At this time the medical staff hasn't given us an update yet.  They have it on ice and we are waiting for the swelling to go down, but the said it doesn't look good, but we might not know for a day or two.  Losing Luis would hurt.  We already lost our 1-2 hitters against RH starters, losing 1-2-3 would almost be devastating.  But we showed this series that even losing key pieces like Larson and Morrow, we have the talent to overcome."

Beat writer Sam Toddenfield, BSAreport.com: "Speaking of Larson, will he play in the Greenville series?"

Swain: "At this point we feel as he can play towards the end of this week.  He will be added to the roster but will not travel to Greenville for games 1 and 2 but stay at home and rest and we will run some more tests.  If all goes well and there are no setbacks there's a great chance he will play in Game 3 or 4.  Last question guys!"

Beat Writer Melissa Franklin, Jerseysports.com: "You are very familiar with Greenville, what are the keys to beating them and can it be done?"

Swain: "Anything can be done.  Yes, Bosma's 84's have had our number over the past couple of seasons.  This will be a slugfest.  2 loaded offenses.  We will need some starting pitching performances and we will need someone to step up. Toronto held down our superstar bats in this series, don't expect that to happen in the next one.  Thanks everyone for your time, and I would like to congratulate you all on being here to see the D-Bags move on!"

:::Swain gets up to leave and stops:::: "Oh and one more thing.  Let me introduce you all to the 2015 CLDS MVP Al Ryan!"  :::Ryan walks out, waves, shakes a few hands and is presented with a the CLDS trophy:::

Ryan lead the team in batting during the series hitting .385, hitting 1 HR and driving in a team high 5 runs.  The bullpen was stellar and probably was the difference in the low scoring series.  They pitched 12 IP in 6 games, giving up 2 ER, 8 hits, 4 walks while striking out 18.  With Jersey knocking out Toronto and Greenville knocking out Seattle, 2015 will mark the first time in BSA history that the CL East will represent the CL in the World Series.

With Burgess going in Game 6, the probable rotation for Jersey in the CLCS is:

Game 1: Art Ellis

Game 2: Dan Macias

Game 3: Jerry Burgess

Game 4: Rob Goodship

Whatever happens will happen, but the CL East will have a representative in the World Series and here is to rooting for our D-Bags!

GO D-BAGS

 

Bags Stumble But Remain Hopeful

For the first time in Jersey Shore's history they were putting on the uniforms in the month of October.  In the visitor's clubhouse at CNE Stadium in Toronto wasn't home but this was the postseason.  "You could tell there were nerves in the air," SS Marvin Taylor proclaimed, "this is a fun loving bunch and before the game the only one yappin' like usual was Al (Ryan).  For the majority of this team this was their first postseason experience.  Their draw as the wild card was to take on the #1 seed in the CL, 110 win Toronto, which was second only to the mighty Hitmen in all of the BSA.  It is a 7 game series, but the first game was the first punch, who would land it?

  The veteran Ricky Bolden would get the start for TOR who was making his 22nd all time playoff appearance and 7th BSA playoff start. Dan Macias would get the start for Jersey marking his first BSA playoff start. He previously had playoff experience in '09 and '07 before the VBL-BSA take over.  After getting out of a 1st inning jam, disaster struck in the 2nd.  With runners on 1st and 2nd, Toronto SS Jordi Overbeek smashed a line drive between SS and 3B. Using cat like reflexes 3B Adam Morrow dove back into the hole and made a spectacular catch for the first out of the inning.  Sighs of relief came from the Jersey dugout until they noticed Morrow struggling to get up.  Trainers immediately rushed onto the field and helped him up.  Morrow obviously in pain grasping at his left shoulder as he was taken out of the game.  We would learn after the game the diagnosis: separated shoulder: recovery time, one month.  A blow to the offense.  In the last 3 weeks Jersey has lost both Adam Morrow and Peter Larson who ranked 2nd and 4th in the CL in OBP and were the team's lethal 1-2 on base machines in front of the big boys in Bryant and Doyle.  A big loss.  Things didn't get better from there, a 3 run 3rd inning capped off by a Ben Moss 2-run HR would all that Ricky Bolden would need as he cruised through 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits while striking out 7.  A triple by Maximo Zargoza in the 6th would make the score 4-1 and essentially chase Macias from the game.  Jersey had a chance in the 7th after Ryan reached on an error, Ryan Cole replaced Bolden.  He got a K, gave up a BB and big RBI 2B by Marvin Taylor to put 2 runners in scoring position with the tying run on 2nd base with only 1 out.  He would get Alberto Perez and Jose Ortiz to fly out and the Bags never threatened again, dropping Game 1, 4-2.

Game 2 started differently, a double, wild pitch and a sac fly put the Bags up a run after only producing one out, but that's where the good fortunes would end.  Starter Jerry Burgess would give back 3 runs in the bottom half on a handful of hits and Jose Brito would do the rest.  He was brilliant in his 7 IP, allowing 6 D-Bags hits, the 1 run, 1 BB and 6 K's.  A Ben Moss solo HR in the 4th would make it 4-1 and Toronto added 3 more in the 7th to chase Burgess taking a 7-1 lead.  Toronto's bullpen would work 2 perfect innings to shut the door, giving the home team the 2-0 advantage.

The good news was that the series would head to Jersey.  The bad news was the offense was struggling,badly.  3 runs on 11 hits over 2 games.  The deadly duo of Bryant/Doyle had combined to go 3/15 without an extra base hit or and RBI.  Jersey played a lot better at home all season long, playing almost .700 baseball there.  Art Ellis would be on the mound, he had an ERA of 2.28 at home this season, something had to give, and it did.  Jersey nearly equaled their hit total from the first two games and Art Ellis pitched a gem leading Jersey to their first ever playoff win in front of a crowd of 40,000+.  It was a tight game most of the way through but Ellis refused to let Toronto back in, or even on base if he could.  He gave up 3 hits through 7 innings, 2 being solo HR's by Rivas and Crowe which would be all the offense the Titans would generate.  The Jersey offense took every advantage to score runs. They plated runs on a double play, wild pitch, walk and then finally on Mike Bryant's 2 run HR that put the game away for good.  It was the first HR of the series for Jersey and Bryant's first RBI as well.  Being down in a series 2-1 sure looks better than 2-0.  Jersey is still in this thing.

We now will go live as GM Josh Swain's press conference is just getting under way:

Reporter Sally Trumpert, Trenton Free Press:  "Mr. Swain, please give us thoughts on the loss of Adam Morrow."

Swain: "Losing Adam is big.  After Pete went down we were relying on Adam to be our spark plug, our table setter.  The kid is a hustler, first in-last out type of kids, really sucks to lose him.  That first game, which was tough enough already playing a team like Toronto in front of that raucous crowd and facing that all-star studded lineup, but as they helped Adam off the field it was like a punch in the gut that took the air out of the sails.  We will move on and the combination of Perez-Taylor on the left hand side of the infield will do fine, but we will miss the boy on the field."

Beat writer Sam Toddenfield, BSAreport.com: "You were criticized and 2nd guessed for starting Burgess Game 2 and waiting to use Ellis in Game 3.  We know how it turned out, have anything to add now and would you change anything?"

Swain: "No.  I will stand by that decision.  I know Burgess had struggled in much of September, but he had been good in Toronto.  We wanted Ellis at home.  Look, even if Ellis would have been on the mound for game 2 he would have had to been perfect.  We scored 1 run.  Brito was excellent that day.  We were hoping that either Macias or Burgess could lead us to a win and Ellis could put us up in the series pitching Game 3.  You need offense to win games fellas and I still feel it was the right choice."

Reporter Dan Miles, NY Times: "With the struggles of the offense, will there be changes for Games 4 and 5?"

Swain: "What do you expect me to do?  Yes, we had to make changes to the lineup to compensate for Morrow, but other than that it's all about timely hitting.  Yes, we haven't had that many hits, but when we have had opportunities, we haven't taken advantage.  We need to score those runners from 3rd with less than 2 outs, 1 clutch hit in game 1 and we had a tie game.  Game 3 should have been a blow out, so many runners left in scoring position.  The hits will fall.  We had the bases juiced with 1 out and had Bryant and Doyle coming up and we scored 1 run when Doyle was walked.  How often is that going to happen?  The lineup will be much of the same, but look for Foster to get the start in CF in Game 4. Last question."

Reporter Vanessa Antuaco, Morgantown Today:  "What are the keys for your team for the rest of the series, how do the D-Bags pull this out?" 

Swain: "Like I said before, some clutch hitting, we won't win games scoring 3 or less runs against this team.  The bullpen needs to stay strong, they have been nearly perfect thus far and need to keep that up.  Also we need to get on the board early and keep their starters pitch counts high.  Bolden only lasted 6 innings last time and is coming back on short rest, we need to get into that bullpen which we have had success against.  We need another quality start.  We will be going with Dan in Game 4 and we need a big time Macias start. Evening up the series 2-2 with one more game at home would be huge.  Thank you for your time and questions, hopefully we can have another one of these after the series.....a winning series. ;)"

Thus far the starters have given up all 13 runs in the series.  The bullpen like Swain mentioned has in fact almost been perfect.  In 5.2 IP they have surrendered 2 hits, 1 walk while striking out 7.  Dog Pound Gomes is the only reliever to be in more than 1 game and he has seen all 3.  He came into Game 3 in the 8th to strike out Cuan and Rivas back to back to end the 8th, the only 2 batters he faced.

Game 4:

SP Dan Macias

RF Scott Powers

DH Jose Ortiz

C Luis Antonio Duran

2B Mikey Bryant

1B Matt Doyle

LF Al Ryan

3B Alberto Perez

CF Leon Foster

SS Marvin Taylor

Rob Goodship is more than likely going to be the starter in Game 5.  Jersey was waiting to see how rested Jerry Burgess will be, but based on his first start it might not matter.  Toronto will see one of the lefties in Game 5.  That is all from the Bag Report, we wish the D-Bags luck!

GO D-BAGS

 

Jersey Shore May 2015 in Review

May 2015 is in the books and your D-bags remain one of the streakiest teams in all of the BSA.  This might be the streakiest month though we have ever seen.  The D-Bags opened the month with high hopes with a tough schedule coming up and in the next 2 weeks managed to have the worst stretch in the team's history going 2-12.  This stretch included 6 1-run losses and bad play all around.  Losing much ground in the division and WC race, the Bags finish the month on a 13-1 run, which included closing out May on an 11 game winning streak.  What gives? What is going on?  Who knows, but here's the month in review.

Players of the Month

SP Rob Goodship 3-0 1.54 ERA 36K's 0.94 WHIP.  With Macias and Ellis on the staff who would have picked Goodship to be the best pitcher through the first 2 months?  He dominated this month giving up 6 ER total while ending the month with 22 straight scoreless innings.

MR Jaime "Mungo" Saenz 2-0 1.62 ERA 23K/2BB in 16.2 IP.  In a month where the bullpen got demolished in the first half of the season Mungo thrived.  Averaging almost 1.5K per inning he allowed the opposition to hit at a .182 clip and led the shaky bullpen.

1B Matt Doyle .299/.362/.335  8HR 34RBI 24R.  After a relatively slow start in April Doyle busted out in May.  Averaging more than a hit and RBI per game he led the offense in hits, HR, RBI and runs.  This is what to expect out of your MVP candidate and 2nd year superstar.

2B Mike Bryant .300/.371/.500 4HR 25RBI 22R.  When Bryant and Doyle hit the D-Bags thrive.  The two combined to knock in 59 runs in 28 games.  Bryant also added 8 2B and 3SB for the month.  He continues to show that his runner up for MVP last season wasn't a fluke.

3B Adam Morrow .317/.450 33H 25BB 22R.  This rookie continued to flourish hitting mainly out of the 2 hole.  His OBP of .450 is a godsend for the big boys behind him and had his 2nd straight 30 hit month.  The early talks of ROY hold merit, the kid can ball.  Won BSA CL Rookie of the Month for May.

RF Peter Larson .300/.463  82B 26BB.  Larson has such a good eye that he averaged 1BB shy of 1 per game.  When his bat is going an OBP of over 450 is never out of the question.  When Larson and Morrow both have a cominbed OBP over 450 is anyone surprised Doyle drove in 34 runs for the month?  He is the catalyst of this offense. 

Roster Questions, Changes and Answers

Thus far ::knock on wood::: the Bags have been injury free.  This creates little room for call ups and ABs for other players. We did see Rule V pick Jose Ortiz return from the DL after his spring training injury and hit 3-14 in limited action.  The Bags would like to see him get more AB's against RHP.  Super prospect CF Tim Duncan got a call up after the Bags struggled so much against LHP early in the season. Duncan who had been tearing the cover off of the ball in AAA pitching for the past 2 years had little success managing 8 hits in 37 ABs in 9 games getting 1 XBH hits and stealing no bases.  The 5th OF position has been a carousel looking for someone to take charge.

OF Taro Kino ripped up in AAA pitching as well with 11 HR hitting .404 with a .500 OBP, look for him to possibly get some BSA AB's this upcoming month.  Also we could see 3B Alberto Perez sometime soon, even though I'm not sure Jersey has a spot for him.  He had an astonishing 45 hits in just 27 games in AAA and is on pace for a monster season.  The 27 year old lost the battle to Adam Morrow in ST, but with the struggles of SS Marvin Taylor and 2B/SS/3B Antonio Ruiz, we could see Perez sooner than later.  

As the Bags end the month on an 11 game win streak all we can think is June plans on being another streaky one!  Let's hope the Bags can stay close in the division and WC so that elusive first playoff berth hopes will still be alive down the stretch!

GO D-BAGS!

April 2015 In Review

It seems like the season just got underway and POOF we have a full month under our belts.  Technically we are 17% of the way through 2015 just like that.  This season started again with high expectations for your Jersey Shore D-Bags.  After winning a franchise high 94 games last season, they bring back a nearly identical team with added pitching ace Art Ellis. The season started in true D-Bag fashion, with the Bags dropping 3 in a row for a quick 0-3 start.  They would rebound at one time winners of 7 straight and even a 2-3 final week of the month the Bags finish with a 18-10 record, good for a share of the CL East lead with the Greenville 84's and a comfy 3 game Wild Card lead at this point in the season.  The April mark bests last year's 15-13 record by 3 games, but the Bags open May up with a tough stretch.  They will finish out their 4 game set with  the 84's with 2 more games, travel to defending BSA Champions Hendersonville for a 3 game set before coming home to greet the current NL West leaders Los Cabos for a 3 game tilt.  Also during month includes a trip to Toronto who holds a BSA record of 23-5 and also a visit by NL West leading St. Charles.  May will really determine how serious this team is about contending this year.

Players of the Month

SP Rob Goodship 2-0, 2.09 ERA, 25K.  After 1 month of play surprise, surprise Goodship leads the CL league in ERA.  In 6 starts he has given up 2 or more runs only twice and if he had any run support at all he would be sitting at 4+ wins.  It's great to see him finally turn a corner after a down Sophmore year.

SP Art Ellis 1-0, 2.49 ERA, 38K, 5QS.  Speaking of run support, where is it for Ellis??  Jersey is averaging 2.83 runs per game for his starts which shows with Ellis only having 1 win on record despite being superb thus far.  Any of the critics who said they gave up too much for Ellis is eating crow right now

MR Jose Ruiz 2-1, 1.38 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 10/3 K/BB.  While the likes of Saenz and Morris in the pen have been struggling, rookie Ruiz has stepped in nicely to add to an already formidable bullpen.  At only 22 years old look for Ruiz to be around for awhile throwing that high 90's heater.

3B Adam Morrow .355/.454/.445, 19R, 39H, 7 2B.  When Parker Morrow was traded giving way for rookie Adam Morrow to start I don't think anyone saw this hot start coming.  Hitting primarily out of the 2 hole Morrow has been an OBP machine on pace to best 100 runs scored and 100 base-on-balls.  Bryant then Doyle now Morrow, third year in a row a rookie could be an added impact bat in this Jersey lineup.   It's been almost 2 years since we broke down Morrow, read about what we thought about him then, right here.

RF Al Ryan .439/.500/.805.  3HE, 10RBI, 6 2B.  We saw what Ryan could do last year as he blasted 20 HR as a rookie for this team and he just continues to add to that this year.  He started out as a 4th OF but has slowly been taking playing time away from veterans Leon Foster and Scott Powers as he rakes with the hot stick.  He only played in 18 games, but is hitting .500/.570/.867 against RHP.  Hard to keep that out of the lineup.

Roster Questions, Changes and Answers

Even though we did have some nice breakout performers there were also those players who still have us scratching our heads.  First that comes to mind is CL Daniel Morris.  The usual steady rock has blown 5 saves already and attributed for 4 losses.  To put that in perspective that's as many saves as he has blown in the past 2 years combined.  He has already walked as many batters as he did all of last season as well in 43 less innings.  There have been talks of taking him out of the closers role to regain composure, we will see if it happens.

Matt Doyle, Luis Antonio Duran, Peter Larson and Antonio Ruiz are all hitting below the .225 mark.  These of course are all plenty below career marks and could be a concern.  On the bright side Doyle leads the team in HR and RBI while Duran and Larson both have matching OBP's of .379, not hitting could cause a decrease in playing time. 

While there may not be any roster changes for now, look for a mix up in the backup catching situation this month as Albert Lopez has struggled mightily having only 3 hits in 34 AB's.  Also former Rule V pick Jose Ortiz will have to be called up in the next 2 weeks as he rehab assignment will end and look for him to replace Taro Kino or possibly 1B Derrick Wright.  There are also a slew of players hitting the snot out of the ball in AAA, including CF Tim Duncan, 3B Alberto Perez, LF Sergio Rodriguez and 2B Aaron Bailey.  Depth is never a problem and you never know when an extra bat might come in handy.

May should be a tough month, let's hope the D-Bags can win enough to keep up with Greenville!

GO D-BAGS

Slow Start

After a hot spring training the Bags were looking to change things up and get off to a hot start this year in 2015.  5 out of there first 6 games were decided by 1 run and left the D-Bags with a 2-4 record.  At the half way part of the month the Bags sit 8-6 with some surprises, both good and bad.

The Good:

Starting pitching has been excellent.  Jersey's starters sit with an ERA of 3.17 which is 4th in the league. Led by Art Ellis, Rob Goodship and Greg Shaefer who all have an ERA under 2.75.

The rise of Adam Morrow.  The draftee of 2010 (one round behind Mike Bryant) waited patientlly putting up huge numbers in AAA back to back years. Now hitting either leadoff or in the 2 hole has gotten off to a scorching start hitting .367 with an OBP of .441 and a team high 10 runs scored.

The return of dominant middle men.  The combination of Gomes, Saenz and Ruiz have been virtually unhittable giving up 10 hits in 22 2/3 IP while giving up 3 runs and striking out 23 while picking up 3 of the team's 8 wins thus far.

The Bad:

Bats off to a slow start.  Although with each sim the batting average goes up a little bit each, it still sits at .242 which is 10th in the league and a slugging percentage of .403 which is 8th in the league.  These are bound to go up but they can be attributed to the low scoring 1 run losses. 

Mike Byrant and Peter Larson slow starters.  When the 2-3 hitters in your lineup are either below 200 or barely above you know you will have problems.  Larson, though taking walks at a high pace has not hit....at all, getting 8 hits in 53 AB.  Mike Bryant who is and will be the catalyst of this offense, got off to a brtual start hitting .156 with no HR or RBI in the team's first 7 games.  He has turned it on some hitting a couple of bombs and raising the average to .213, but he needs to step it up.

Daniel Morris not automatic?  In the first 3 games he pitched in, he gave up 6 runs, struck out only 2 batters and attributed for 2 losses and a blown save.  Though in the last 4 games he has given up 1 hit, it was totally unlike Morris, who is usually Mr. Automatic.  It won't matter if the pen is lights out if Morris isn't.

As usual Greenville is off to a hot start.  Despite a few key injuries already, the 84's have raced out to an 11-2 record, 3.5 games ahead of the Bags.  They don't play their first series with Greenville until the end of the month giving the 84's plenty of time to cool down before these teams meet. 

GO D-BAGS

2015 Is Here; And a Major Change

Welcome back D-Bag fans!  As I type this we are just days away from the start of a new and exciting season full of promise for your Jersey Shore D-Bags!  We have a few new faces, but for the most part the Bags bring back the majority of the same team that won a team record 94 games last season.

The major news in the off-season is the addition of SP Art Ellis.  Ellis pitched in Madison last year after 3.5 seasons in Hendersonville.  He marks the first player ever to come play for the D-Bags who has a BSA championship ring from the current period, and he has 2.  After an injury plagued season in Madison last year which held him to 23 starts, he is healthy and ready to be the #2 starter behind Cy Young runner up Dan Macias.  This could be the 1-2 punch Jersey has been looking for in previous years.  For his career Ellis has won 89 games while posting a 3.83 ERA.

As of opening day the rotation will look like this:

1. Dan Macias

2. Art Ellis

3. Rob Goodship

4. Greg Shaefer

5. Kenny Stanford

 After losing Marv Williams to injury for most of the season, he became a FA and ultimately signed with the New Orleans Looters.  Gordon Brown was traded for right before the deadline and an extension couldn't be reached and he signed a 1 year deal with Niagara Falls this off-season.  With neither of these players being retained it opened up a spot in the bullpen.  After some solid pitching in Spring Training, the open spot will go to 22 year old Jose Ruiz.  Ruiz has climbed through the Jersey system since 2010 and finished last year with a 3.27 ERA in AAA along with 56 K in 41.1 innings.

The current bullpen looks like this:

MR1 Lucio Tapia

MR2 Jose Ruiz

MR3 Brian White

SU1 Jose Gomes

SU2 Jamie Saenz

CL Daniel Morris

Much of the faces on offense will look the same, in fact every players has had some playing time in a Jersey uniform except one player.  That player is OF Jose Ortiz.  Ortiz was picked in the Rule V draft coming over from the Reno organization.  He is 26 and never played above A ball, but Jersey think he has the type of skills to compete for the 4th-5th OF position.  In order to acquire Art Ellis the D-Bags traded all time hits leader Parker Morrow.  Morrow had been a D-Bag since the inception of the league and while it was sad to see him go, he will be replaced in the lineup by another Morrow, Adam Morrow.

The opening day starting lineup will look like this:

RF Peter Larson

3B Adam Morrow

1B Matt Doyle

2B Mike Bryant

DH Manny Romero

SS Antonio Ruiz

CF Leon Foster

C Luis Antonio Duran

LF Scott Powers

With a bench of:

C Albert Lopez

1B Derrick Wright

SS Marvin Taylor

LF Taro Kino

RF Al Ryan

RF Jose Ortiz*  Will begin year on DL.

With much of the team in tact, Ellis adding to the rotation, Peter Larson and Matt Doyle staples in the top of the lineup for the whole year, Jersey has a reason to be excited.  Expectations are high, but still have to some how find a way to overcome the dominance of the Greenville 84's and the tough competition atop of CL.

Jersey needed a change, not a managerial change, not a player change....but a change.  Something to break them out of their slump of missing the playoffs and something to send them over the top.  And with that, I would like to introduce to you the new logo of the Jersey Shore D-Bags.

Boom.  Enjoy.  

GO D-BAGS

2014 In Review

2014 started and finished in true D-Bag fashion.  After a 16-0 Opening Day loss in Dan Macias first ever Jersey Shore start, the season ended with the same Macias shutting out Greenville for his first career 20 win season and the first ever in Jersey history.  The year contained 4 winnings months, including a 21 win September, 2 losing months including a 12 win August and finished with the D-Bags notched a team record 94 wins and falling 2 games short of their first playoff spot.  This marked Jersey's 5th straight winning season where they have compiled a 440-370 record, good for a winning percentage of .540.  

Before the season Jersey built arguably their most talented team with bringing in of Macias, the emergence of 2nd year up and comer Mike Bryant combined with a young core group of players in their 2nd or 3rd seasons.  At the end of the year it was the veteran Macias combined with the bullpen on the pitching side and a young offensive core that drove Jersey's drive for a playoff spot.  5 of their 6 top offensive performers were all in their 1st or 2nd full season which creates an amazing buzz of hope for the future.

Offensive MVP - Mike Bryant

Unless you have been living in a cave, this is a no brainier.  Not only did he finish near the top of the league in every category, Mike "The Monster" Bryant also shattered nearly every record in the Jersey Shore record book.  His batting average of .329 bested the prevoius best by 1 point, his slugging percentage of .600 shattered  the old record of .567 set by Leon Foster.  His offensive VORP of 72 best Mason Bonniface's old record by 11.5, and his OPS was short that only of Bonniface's 2011 season.  He also set team records for hits (209), runs (113), total bases (381), HR (37), and RBI (130).  He won the CL player of the week award 3 times and player of the month award once.  He was selected as a starter at the All Star game and finished 2nd in MVP voting only to Morales of the 84's.  It was a season for the record books and it came in Bryant's full official season after playing 91 games his rookie year.  What else does Bryant have in store for us?

Runner Up - Matt Doyle (see below)

Pitching MVP - Dan Macias

Again like Bryant, another no brainier.  This 34 year old who came over in a trade with Orlando in the off season found his youth again pitching his best season since the 2008 campaign.  He became Jersey's first 20 game winner, the only 20 game winner in the CL, as well as the first Jersey starter to have an ERA under 4.00 for a full season, which he shattered by putting up a 2.82 ERA.  25 of his 36 starts were quality ones, including 2 shutouts and tying a career high of 227 strikeouts.  Despite finishing 2nd in Cy Young Voting to "Prince" Clemente of Madison, Macias's WAR this season was 9th all time since the inception of the VBL/BSA in 2010, only trailing seasons by the names Hill and JTF.  His VORP of 74.5 also ranks 9th all time. Both marks of those that Clemente posted, but it came down to the voters.  The only categories Macias trailed Clemente eas ERA and WHIP, but led him in W, K, FIP, VORP and WAR but regardless Macias had an amazing season.

Runner Up - Rob Goodship

Although Goodship's season numbers do not scream anything positive, he did finish 14-14 with a 4.44 ERA.  His overall season was a down step from his "rookie" year as a Jersey starter.  But not everything was negative.  Goodship won his last 7 starts in a row, beating 4 playoff teams in the stretch. His ERA for his last 12 starts was around 3.25 showing much promise on being a solid #2 on this staff.  If he had pitched nearly that good earlier in the season we might be talking playoffs. 

Rookie of the Year - Matt Doyle

#Call Up Doyle becoming a trending sensation in the early goings of the season while Doyle ripped up pitching in AAA during the first month of the season.  What Doyle did with the time he did have in Jersey was nothing less of sensational.  He finished with a line of 33 HR 108 RBI with a slash line of .326/.389/.570 with a VORP of 51.2.  He played 4 months in the big leagues and won the Rookie of the Month award for the CL 3 of those months.  Despite leading all rookies in the CL in OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA, HR, RBI, BB and ISO he finished runner up in ROY voting to LuGo of Toronto.  Doyle also finished runner up to only LuGo in Avg, WAR, hits, runs and total bases.  Bryant and Doyle emerged this season as one of the most feared duos in all of baseball.  Combined they have played in only 380 games total, be prepared for the duo to bring fear to pitchers for the next decade.

Runner Up - Al Ryan

In a trade just days before the season started, Jersey acquired Al Ryan from division rivals greenville in exchange for MR Gabriel Barrentez. Ryan had showed some power promise hitting 16 HR in 294 AB for Greenville's AAA affiliate last season and figured to be a 4-5th bench spot.  Ryan played in 90 games, getting 273 AB's and fully took advantege of them .  He belted 20 HR combined with 50 RBI on way to a VORP of 12  giving Jersey another prominent lefty in their lineup.  In a normal year Ryan probably would have been a ROY candidate.

The Off-Season

Entering the off season Jersey will be short 3 players due to free agency.  Two of those players were acquired during the season in MR Gordon Brown and 3B David Paquette.  Paquette had the biggest impact, playing in 42 games for the Bags after coming over from Indianapolis hitting 7 HR, driving in 17 RBI hitting .297 with an OBP of .355.  The former All Star was asking for a big extension the Bags just couldn't sign at this point.  MR Brown came over from New Orleans after pitching a very good season could never get it going with the Bags.  In 19 appearances, he had an ERA arond 7.50.  He does carry a B-level compensation pick if he is signed.  The other FA the Bags are seeing leaving is MR Marv Williams.  Marv continued his Jekyl and Hyde performances this year after throwing a very respectable year last year.  Williams appeared in 14 games, sporting an ERA around 9.00 before tearing a muscle in his back ending his season.  

With only the 3 vacancies and 2 25-man roster spots don't expect much FA talk from Jersey this off season.  MR Jose Ruiz expects to challenge for the open MR slot in the spring and the combo of Adam Morrow/Alberto Perez plans to be a good one for the last spot on the offensive side of things.  

Rumors have it that Jersey is deep in talks with a couple of clubs to acquire another starting pitcher to pair up with Dan Macias and Rob Goodship, but nothing has been announced yet.  Stay tuned to the Bag Report for any moves, big or small upcoming the Jersey D-Bag world.

GO D-BAGS