After a long run of familiar names and faces the longtime strong point of Jersey Shore pitching has finally turned itself over to a new younger and from what we have seen so far......familiar results. Gone are the leaders in most Jersey pitching categories. Jaime Saenz, Jose Gomes, Lucio Tapia and Daniel Morris have all left over the last 4 off seasons testing free agency and chasing big bucks.
Two weeks before the All-Star break the D-bags bullpen stands with a respectable 3.38 ERA, which is good for 5th in a strong CL. While this could be more impressive, remember that this include Hyo-chin Kim missing the entire season with Tommy John Surgery. Kim finished 3rd in bullpen VORP behind Saenz and new closer Jose Ruiz. So where did this group come from and how did they get here? Let's meet them.
Phillip Moran, 31 years old. Acquired in trade with LA Bruins, 12/8/2018. The elder statesmen of the group and the newest member as well. Moran was lost in the shuffle of a strong rotation and strong pen in LA. He almost has as many games and innings as he had in the past 2 seasons as a Bruin. A hard throwing lefty who is usually one of the first men out of the pen.
Yin-zhen Zong, 28 years old. Drafted by Jersey Shore in the 7th round of the 2013 draft. Zong is one of a handful of players drafted past the 5th round of the 2013 draft to see the Major Leagues. He spent 5 years in the minor leagues before becoming a contributing member of the pen last season. He started the years as the set-up man, but with a knack of giving up the long ball, 9 HR in 37.2 IP, he has been regulated to middle relief duty. Like Moran, a very hard thrower, averages nearly 13 K/9.
Junior Mateo, 24 years old. Discovered by Jersey scouts during the 2015 season. Mateo worked his way through the Jersey farm system finding a spot in the bullpen just this season. In fact on the season he has only pitched 11 innings so far. His high movement and high groundball percentage makes me an excellent candidate for a D-Bag pitcher though his control is on the low side. He can hit 101 MPH on a good day.
Pedro Vega, 24 years old. Discovered by Jersey scouts during the 2013 season. Vega was in his 7th season in the minor leagues before being promoted earlier this year due to injuries. He projects as a middle of the road left handed bullpen arm who should succeed if he keeps the ball out of the upper half of the strike zone. Has appeared sparingly this season only seeing 9 innings of action.
Gerald Johnson, 23 years old. Drafted in the 2015 Supplemental Round 1, pick acquired for loss of CL Gordon Brown. Johnson went from A ball to AAA last season and this year is sharing the primary set-up man duties with Angel Lara. Possibly the most talented member of the pen, Johnson throws two nasty pitches in his fastball and change-up while striking batters out at a high rate. The one part of his game which isn't refined is his control. He has walked 21 batters this season.
Angel Lara, 23 years old. Signed as a Minor League free agent in 2013. Lara broke out last season, posting a 2.93 ERA in 55 IP and though his ERA has been higher this year, he has been a much more efficient pitcher. He can hit 99 MPH with his fastball and has a devastating 2nd pitch in his curve-ball and in 85+ IP in his Major League career has only allowed 2 HR.
Jose Ruiz, 26 years old. Discovered by Jersey scouts during the 2010 season. Though it's not 100 percent certain, we think Ruiz was the first player discovered by Jersey Shore in the history of the franchise as a 16 year old. Being in the organization since 2010 puts him on a shortlist of players to be with the franchise since then. He first appeared in the pen during the 2014 season and at age 26, this is his 5th big league season and 1st as a closer. He may not stick in that position but has been great so far. He leads the CL in saves with 22 and has a WHIP under 1.00.
Hopefully a couple of these young guns can plant their places and once be known as a Jaime Saenz or a Jose Gomes. Until then it will be fun to watch them improve and backup a rotation that has rebounded nicely from the disaster that was 2018.
GO D-BAGS
Friday, March 28, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Sergio Martinez; Jersey's Next Ace?
Signed as a 16 year old in March of 2013 as a international free agent out of Puerto Rico, Sergio Martinez looked like a kid who possibly had a chance at securing a bullpen job if everything went right and he could stay in the minor leagues. Equipped with 2 above average pitches but little control he was mature beyond his age and was almost immediately put into AA only after 11 innings in A ball. He took his lumps in AA ball and became a staple in the Gainesville rotation......for 5 different seasons.
In 2013 he walked more batters than he struck out at a 0.62 K/BB rate, had an ERA north of 5.40 and was the youngest player on the roster. Fast forward to 2017, he struck nearly twice the batters he walked, compiled an ERA of 3.81 and a FIP even lower when he finally got the call to AAA for good. In 26 AAA starts over the next 14 months he would post a FIP of 3.10 on way to 150 strikeouts with 68 walks. A better rate than he posted in an of his full AA years.
It wasn't suppose to happen in 2018. Jersey Shore had a deep staff and Martinez was only 22. Pre-season rankings had him ranked 8th on the depth chart. Injuries to Ramos and Burgess combined with ineffective pitching by Goodship caused a temporary turned permanent call up for Martinez in July. In 11 starts last season, Sergio went 5-3, had an ERA of 3.65, WHIP of 1.35 and was one of the few brights spots on a disastrous season for Jersey Shore.
Martinez began the season as the 6th man in a 6 man rotation but 3 weeks into the season, seasoned veteran Jose Lara went down with a 3+ month injury which assured Martinez a spot for the remained of the season. So far in 2019 Martinez has been stellar and leading the staff in most categories. He is 6-1, an ERA of 3.00 and a WHIP of 1.37. His promising start has made us look into what the future of Jersey pitching will look like. With Jose Ramos being young and great, he should anchor the staff for years to come. But with Art Ellis showing his age, Jerry Burgess in the last guaranteed year of his contract, Jose Lara's terrible season last year and Greg Schaefer not looking like the pitcher who won 18 games just 2 years go.....Martinez seems heir apparent to the #2 on this staff far earlier than anyone could have expected. With Ramon Ruiz shooting up the prospect rankings inside the Top 100, Jersey looks to have a solid young trio to build around in the next wave of the league.
It's uncertain to how far along Sergio Martinez is to reaching his full potential, but what he has shown us in his short big league career is he very well could be the next star in Jersey.
In 2013 he walked more batters than he struck out at a 0.62 K/BB rate, had an ERA north of 5.40 and was the youngest player on the roster. Fast forward to 2017, he struck nearly twice the batters he walked, compiled an ERA of 3.81 and a FIP even lower when he finally got the call to AAA for good. In 26 AAA starts over the next 14 months he would post a FIP of 3.10 on way to 150 strikeouts with 68 walks. A better rate than he posted in an of his full AA years.
It wasn't suppose to happen in 2018. Jersey Shore had a deep staff and Martinez was only 22. Pre-season rankings had him ranked 8th on the depth chart. Injuries to Ramos and Burgess combined with ineffective pitching by Goodship caused a temporary turned permanent call up for Martinez in July. In 11 starts last season, Sergio went 5-3, had an ERA of 3.65, WHIP of 1.35 and was one of the few brights spots on a disastrous season for Jersey Shore.
Martinez began the season as the 6th man in a 6 man rotation but 3 weeks into the season, seasoned veteran Jose Lara went down with a 3+ month injury which assured Martinez a spot for the remained of the season. So far in 2019 Martinez has been stellar and leading the staff in most categories. He is 6-1, an ERA of 3.00 and a WHIP of 1.37. His promising start has made us look into what the future of Jersey pitching will look like. With Jose Ramos being young and great, he should anchor the staff for years to come. But with Art Ellis showing his age, Jerry Burgess in the last guaranteed year of his contract, Jose Lara's terrible season last year and Greg Schaefer not looking like the pitcher who won 18 games just 2 years go.....Martinez seems heir apparent to the #2 on this staff far earlier than anyone could have expected. With Ramon Ruiz shooting up the prospect rankings inside the Top 100, Jersey looks to have a solid young trio to build around in the next wave of the league.
It's uncertain to how far along Sergio Martinez is to reaching his full potential, but what he has shown us in his short big league career is he very well could be the next star in Jersey.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Early Injuries Hit Jersey
Everyone knows the injuries are part of baseball and the BSA is no exception. Injuries have hit several teams this year and many note worthy players have hit the DL in recent weeks. Some of those players outside of Jersey include: Jose Salazar, Zach Hutchinson, Osvaldo Cruz, Kendrick Garland, Jason Jackson, Brett Dwyer, Earl Harper, Enzo Diaz and many others. Injuries to star and core players can impact one team more than others and vice versa. Do you have the depth to replace the player with an above average player? League average player? Defensive stud? Below Average starter? Is the injury bad enough to make a trade? Many questions go into how to replace these players.
As for Jersey since the beginning of Spring Training 6 of the D-Bags projected Opening Day 25 man roster have been injured severely enough to warrant a DL trip. Below they are listed with their injury, approximate time missed, their replacement and how heavy it impacts the team.
MR Hyo-chin Kim: Torn UCL, 14 months+ recovery time. With a young bullpen Kim was one of the more experienced relievers on the staff. In 3 years his ERA+ was 117 and he was pegged as the set-up man. If the trade with LA hadn't of happened to bring in MR Moran, this would have been a much harder hit. At the time I would have rated this as 7/10 impact level. Through the first month and a half of the season the bullpen ERA sits at 3.50, which is good for 4th in the CL. His replacement Gerald Johnson has been more than adequate in his rookie season.
LF Fransisco Torres: Sprained Knee, 5-6 weeks+ recovery time. Torres a starter in the past have seen his numbers go down each year he had been in the pros. With a full OF, he was slated to be the 4th or 5th OF, bench bat and pinch runner. I rated this a 2/10 on impact level because of how deep the Jersey OF is. His replacement on the roster is 27 year old Juan Cabanas who has done everything Torres could have done thus far.
MR Phillip Moran, 2 weeks, back tightness. Moran became the primary bullpen lefty when Kim went down. Luckily this injury happened before the the end of spring training, so almost a week of his DL time was before the season started. MR Pedro Vega replaced him and pitched 5.2 scoreless innings before Moran came off the DL. I listed this as a 2/10 impact because the length of the injury was so short. A long injury for Moran would have pushed this much higher.
SP Jose Lara, 3 months, elbow inflammation. This only makes sense. After a career worst year, Lara came out of the gate hot and was the D-Bags best starter through 5 starts. He was pulled after 1 hitter in his 6th starter. Though the Jersey rotation is deep I still rate this a 7/10. Lara seemed to have put 2018 behind him and with the rest of the staff struggling, he hadn't allowed more than 3 runs in any start. With rehab we should see Lara sometime in mid-late July. Since the staff was going with a 6 man rotation, this injury pushed it back to the normal 5-man rotation.
CF Fransisco Ibarra, 3-4 weeks, sprained knee. For the 2nd year in a row Ibarra will miss at least a month of the season. He had drastically improved across the board this year and was hitting clean-up. I put this at an 8/10 impact level. He is one of the only consistent right handed hitters on the team and was on pace for 40+ HR at time of the injury. He was replaced in the field by sliding Vancini from LF to CF and 4th OF Cabanas to LF starter. He was replaced on the roster by OF Armando Gonzales.
MR Angel Lara, 2 weeks, back tightness. The 3rd MR of the short season to see DL time. Luckily middle reliever is the deepest position in the organization. Thus far Lara has been good serving as the set-up man posting a 3.15 ERA and striking out just over a batter per inning. Pedro Vega was recalled to replace him an Gerald Johnson will move into the primary set-up role for the next 2 sims. Though Lara is an important piece to the pen, missing 2 weeks only rates as a 2/10.
Although Jersey has been hit with 3 major injuries so far in the young 2019 season, none of them had TOO much of an impact so far. The majority of the injuries have come at positions of great depth, something Jersey prides themselves on, and were replaced with above league average players. We hope that early injury concerns do not become a theme of this season, but if they do, the D-Bags plan on replacing and chugging along.
Through May 19th, Jersey sits with a 24-21 record, 3rd place in the CL East, 5.5 games behind division leader Greenville and 1.5 games behind Wild Card leading St. Louis.
GO D-BAGS
As for Jersey since the beginning of Spring Training 6 of the D-Bags projected Opening Day 25 man roster have been injured severely enough to warrant a DL trip. Below they are listed with their injury, approximate time missed, their replacement and how heavy it impacts the team.
MR Hyo-chin Kim: Torn UCL, 14 months+ recovery time. With a young bullpen Kim was one of the more experienced relievers on the staff. In 3 years his ERA+ was 117 and he was pegged as the set-up man. If the trade with LA hadn't of happened to bring in MR Moran, this would have been a much harder hit. At the time I would have rated this as 7/10 impact level. Through the first month and a half of the season the bullpen ERA sits at 3.50, which is good for 4th in the CL. His replacement Gerald Johnson has been more than adequate in his rookie season.
LF Fransisco Torres: Sprained Knee, 5-6 weeks+ recovery time. Torres a starter in the past have seen his numbers go down each year he had been in the pros. With a full OF, he was slated to be the 4th or 5th OF, bench bat and pinch runner. I rated this a 2/10 on impact level because of how deep the Jersey OF is. His replacement on the roster is 27 year old Juan Cabanas who has done everything Torres could have done thus far.
MR Phillip Moran, 2 weeks, back tightness. Moran became the primary bullpen lefty when Kim went down. Luckily this injury happened before the the end of spring training, so almost a week of his DL time was before the season started. MR Pedro Vega replaced him and pitched 5.2 scoreless innings before Moran came off the DL. I listed this as a 2/10 impact because the length of the injury was so short. A long injury for Moran would have pushed this much higher.
SP Jose Lara, 3 months, elbow inflammation. This only makes sense. After a career worst year, Lara came out of the gate hot and was the D-Bags best starter through 5 starts. He was pulled after 1 hitter in his 6th starter. Though the Jersey rotation is deep I still rate this a 7/10. Lara seemed to have put 2018 behind him and with the rest of the staff struggling, he hadn't allowed more than 3 runs in any start. With rehab we should see Lara sometime in mid-late July. Since the staff was going with a 6 man rotation, this injury pushed it back to the normal 5-man rotation.
CF Fransisco Ibarra, 3-4 weeks, sprained knee. For the 2nd year in a row Ibarra will miss at least a month of the season. He had drastically improved across the board this year and was hitting clean-up. I put this at an 8/10 impact level. He is one of the only consistent right handed hitters on the team and was on pace for 40+ HR at time of the injury. He was replaced in the field by sliding Vancini from LF to CF and 4th OF Cabanas to LF starter. He was replaced on the roster by OF Armando Gonzales.
MR Angel Lara, 2 weeks, back tightness. The 3rd MR of the short season to see DL time. Luckily middle reliever is the deepest position in the organization. Thus far Lara has been good serving as the set-up man posting a 3.15 ERA and striking out just over a batter per inning. Pedro Vega was recalled to replace him an Gerald Johnson will move into the primary set-up role for the next 2 sims. Though Lara is an important piece to the pen, missing 2 weeks only rates as a 2/10.
Although Jersey has been hit with 3 major injuries so far in the young 2019 season, none of them had TOO much of an impact so far. The majority of the injuries have come at positions of great depth, something Jersey prides themselves on, and were replaced with above league average players. We hope that early injury concerns do not become a theme of this season, but if they do, the D-Bags plan on replacing and chugging along.
Through May 19th, Jersey sits with a 24-21 record, 3rd place in the CL East, 5.5 games behind division leader Greenville and 1.5 games behind Wild Card leading St. Louis.
GO D-BAGS
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