The Machine that is Tuscaloosa

When you think dynasties you think the Murderer's Row and the Yankees of the 20's and 30's, the Celtics of the 60's, the Showtime Lakers, Steel Curtain Steelers, Jordan's Bulls, the late 90's Yankees, and most notably the Hendersonville Hitmen the modern era.  A little less talked talked about modern dynasty is what is  going on for Jersey Shore's AAA affiliate in Tuscaloosa.
Tuscaloosa is most well known for the the powerhouse that is the Alabama Crimson Tide of the collegiate football world, but in the last 9 years, the Trout Slayers of Tuscaloosa have donned the championship hats and shirts 5 times and are set to tangle this week with the Trenton Stars in a best of 5 series aiming for their 6th title in 10 years.  

In this being the 10th year of the modern BSA, Tuscaloosa has won 8 division titles and made the playoffs as the Wild card team the 2 remaining years.  This season with their 108 wins it marked the 6th time they eclipsed the 100 win barrier and marked the 3rd straight year they have seen over 1 million in attendance for the season.

In a league and for a team that is very much offensive based, the Trout Slayers feature a player who has taken International league hitting to new heights and that player is 25 year OF Juan Mendoza.  Originally a 2nd round pick of the Jacksonville Jackhammers way back in the 2014 season, Mendoza was signed and then released nearly a month later and say as a free agent for 3 weeks before Jersey offered him a minor league deal and was sent to A ball Manhattan. Always projected as a power prospect, he didn't show it until the 2016 season hitting 26 HR in A ball and a combined 22 HR between A and AA the following year.  2018 was a stellar year for Mendoza as he bashed 39 HR and drove in 135 runs to go with 100 walks in AA Gainesville before being promoted to AAA to finish the 2018 season.  2019 Mendoza finally was put on the 40 man roster and was invited to Spring Training for the D-Bags where he struggled in 31 AB, only hitting .161 with a single HR.  Being sent back to AAA gave Mendoza a push.  He hit double digit HR in every month except September and had his banner month in August.  In 106 AB in 28 games he 17 HR, 45 RBI, walked 22 times on way to a slash line of .349/.461/.858.  He won player of the month for both June and August and sprinkled in 3 player of the week awards in their as well. This season he set the ITL record for SLG (.713), OPS (1.97), Total Bases (430), HR (72), RBI (185) and WAR (9.8).  Those are some big numbers.

Not only did the 2019 feature the record breaking Mendoza, they also had Tadahisa Kisuki, a very possible next star in Jersey at 1B, who hit .366/.452/.561 and 3B Xin Zhang who added 25 HR and hit .322/.431/.552.  Not only could they hit they had four 16 game winners led by top prospect Ramon Ruiz who went 21-4 in 28 starts with an ERA of 2.91 and a WAR of 6.9 and not to mention one of the best bullpens in the ITl. While Trenton does have a very stacked roster, the Trout Slayers have a very good chance to add a 6th title to their wall.

Many of Jersey Shore players past and present have been part of championship teams and added to the storied past which is Tuscaloosa.  From that first Championship year in 2010 which featured players such as: former MVP Ricardo Vargas, long time major leaguers David Pena, Damien Balmforth, Sergio Rodriguez, Jugurtha Wemusa and Jose Reyes to long time Jersey bullpen arms such as Jaime Saenz, Lucio Tapia and Jose Ruiz.  The 2014 Championship team featured former ROY Adam Morrow, 5-time All Star Matt Doyle, Jersey starter Alberto Perez, Jersey starting pitchers Sergio Martinez and Greg Schaefer and current bullpen arms Jose Ruiz and Yin-zhen Zong.  

With Jersey's long time strategy to build within and through the draft, it is evident to this how many home grown players have come up and won in the Jersey system playing together.  This can only mean a championship is coming to Jersey......right?

GO D-BAGS

Jose Ramos, Rookie Phemon; Wins CL Pitcher of the Month

Coming into this season Jose Ramos was just a 20 year old heading back to AAA after a trying 2nd half the season after dominating AA in 26 starts.  He showed so much promise that OSA named him the 7th best prospect in the entire BSA before the 2016 starter.  Management had no plans to even consider moving him to the big club this season.  

"Ramos is a kid with special talent.  Being so young we have moved slowly with him since he joined the organization in 2013.  We gave him 2.5 seasons in AA before he finally felt comfortable and his true talent starting coming out before sending him to AAA last season.  We expected him to struggle in the starts that he had.  In his 7 starts he had an ERA of around 4.50 and only had a 2:1 K/BB ratio, so we knew he had a ways to go.  At the beginning of the season I never really thought we would be talking about him in a light like this," commented GM Josh Swain on Ramos.  

Ramos struggled in April and came through about with the same statistics and ratios he had last season, but was walking fewer.  In his first 2 starts in May he notched 2 wins pitching 15 innings, giving up 2 ER and having a 4:1 K/BB ratio.  His signature start though came against Topeka on May 18th.  Ramos went 7 shutout inning, giving up 5 hits, walking 3 and tying a league record with 15 K's.  It got the attention of the baseball world, and also put him at 7-0 for AAA Tuscaloosa.  He would continue baffling AAA hitters up through his last AAA start on June 30th where he would throw his first career shutout, giving up just 3 hits, walking no one and striking out 11.  This took his record to 11-1, his ERA to 2.95 and fIP of 2.30.  How do you keep a guy down after that performance?

He made his BSA debut on 7/5/2013, 2 days before the All Star break to face the Madison Bombers at home.  He wasn't overwhelming but did go 8 strong innings, giving up 3 ER on 4 hits, walking 1 and striking out 3 for a no decision.  He would get his first win 11 days later in his next start across the country against Pocatello.  He again would throw 8 innings, this time only allowing 1 ER, 6 hits, 1 walk and 6 K's.  He would beat rival Chicago before be humbled by the bats of Niagara Falls to bring his record to 2-1 entering August.  

Ramos got 6 starts in August, 3 at home and 3 on the road.  He went 6.2 IP in everyone of his starts, allowing 4 or less runs in every start and 4 /6 2 or less.  He tallied a 5-1 record, getting his only loss in his last start at Chicago, allowing a season high 10 hits and 4 ER as well as 2 HR.  His shiny 5-1 record compiled with a 2.62 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 24 K's gave him the CL Pitcher of the Month.  This was the first recorded time that we could find of a Jersey pitching winning this award.  Amazing with a staff that has featured pitchers like Macias, Ellis, Brito and Burgess that a 21 year old was the first to win it. 

Even though GM Swain didn't expect Ramos to pitch for the big club this season, he could end up being their savior.  7 wins in his first 10 starts, as well as Ramos making 4 or 5 starts may be the reason they make the playoffs instead of being on the outside looking in.  Either way, the kid has been everything he was advertised to be and more.  I don't expect this will be his last POTM award.

GO D-BAGS

Brian Wilson No-Hit Magic

Who knew the cool spring night on April the 24th in Tuscaloosa would be a special one?  A crowd of just over 3800 piled into Tuscaloosa Municipal Stadium to see the home town Trout Slayers take on the Zanesville Gunslingers, the AAA team of Cleveland Monsters.  28 year old veteran Brian Wilson took the bump for the Trout Slayers who came in with a 4.41 ERA and 3 no decisions in his first 3 starts of the season. 

Game time was 7:05 and Wilson promptly walked the lead off man but took care of the next 3 hitters in order via 2 fly-outs and a strikeout.  The Trout Slayers went to work early starting their half of the inning off with 3 straight singles with the third bringing in the first run of the game.  SS Aaron Bailey then stepped to the plate and launched a 340 foot 3-run HR into the left field bleachers.  The 4 run first inning would be more than enough for Wilson on this night.

A ground-out, another walk and a pair of K's finished the 2nd.  A 1-2-3 3rd and 5th innings sandwiched with another walk given up in the 4th and we were through 5 innings.  0 hits, 3 BB.  A 2-run HR by OF Albert Rodriguez made it 6-0 in the bottom half of the 4th.  4 more runs in the 5th inning made it 10-0 Trout Slayers and the game was getting out of hand.  All the runs and hits from Tuscaloosa made the no-hitter through 5 innings seem non-existent. 

Wilson walked the leadoff man again in the 6th for his 4th walk of the evening but retired the next 3 batters to get out of trouble.  Back to back strikeouts and a groundout and he was through the 7th inning in just 7 pitches.  Through 7, 98 pitches 0 hits, 4 BB. 

A lengthily bottom half of the 7th saw the Trout Slayers send 7 men to the plate and Aaron Bailey knock in his 4th run to push the lead to 11-0.  It was at this time everyone in the dugouts and stands knew what was going on.  Wilson sat on the end of the bench alone with his thoughts and the stands were still full.  Wilson took the mound for the 8th and struck out the leadoff man on 3 pitches.  The 2nd batter walked on 5 pitches but a lazy fly ball to Center and a weak grounder to 2nd ended the inning.  Wilson had 8 no hit innings while throwing 112 pitches, which was already a season high.  

The Trout Slayers had a single and a walk in the bottom of the 8th but couldn't produce another run and we were onto the 9th.  Wilson had 2 coats on to keep that arm warm and every eye was on him as he made the slow walk to the mound.  After a handful of warm up pitches Marty Ward stepped to the plate and drew a 5 pitch walk with the only strike coming on a close pitch which could have easily been called a ball.  The 6th walk of the evening and questions by every fan wondering if he had anything left in the tank.  His arm was obviously fatigued as his fastball was several miles an hour below the 90 MPH he usually throws.  After 2 called strikes on the 2nd batter a changeup just missed the outside corner which had the crowd in an uproar.  Mark Bryant took the next pitch and poked it towards the 1st baseline where First Base replacement Xin Zhang was perfectly positioned.  He fielded it on 2 hops stepped on first and threw to 2nd where Aaron Bailey made the tag, and......DOUBLE PLAY!!  Just like that Wilson was one out away.  The crowd was on their feet as 34 year old veteran Antonio Reynoso stepped into the box.  Wilson set and delivered and Reynoso tagged the first pitch to deep right CF, with the entire stadium holding their collective breath, the speedy CF Tim Duncan chased back, and back on the warning track and MAKES THE CATCH!!  The entire team mobbed Wilson and carried him off the field on their shoulders.  

While Wilson reaching his prime might never make the Major Leagues, this was a moment he would call the most special one in his career up to this point.  Wilson's gem was on the 6th No-Hitter in ITL league history and only the 2nd since the VBL/BSA take over.  

 

Brian Wilson was the 82nd overall selection in the 2008 draft by the then Bugaboo Creek Caribou.  He grew up in Shelby, Montana and played his college ball at the University of North Carolina.  He was traded by the formerly known Edison Colonels, now Boston Rebels, to the Jersey Shore D-Bags in the off-season of 2011 in the Rob Whitley trade.   This is his 6th season of pitching at the AAA level and 4th for the Tuscaloosa Trout Slayers.  He is currently tied with John Sharp of the Indianapolis organization with 63 wins which is the most in ITL history.