Jersey Ends 1st Half Strong; Sends 6 to Mid-Summer Classic

The Jersey Shore D-Bags entered the All-Star break with a 62-26 record, 2.5 games back of the Greenville 84's for 2nd place in the CL East and the 2nd best record in the CL.  They ended the 1st half with a 6 game winning streak which included a 4-game home sweep of division rival Chicago.  Both the pitching staff and the offense have been ranked in the Top 5 of the CL all season long with the offense ranking a little bit higher being only behind the 84's in almost all offensive categories.  With the All-Star game taking place earlier this month, the D-Bags sent 6 players to game.  3 on on the offense and 3 from the pitching staff.  Here they are:

SP Jose Ramos - 5 time All-Star - Entering the break at 16-2 with a 2.79 ERA, Ramos is on track for a career best year.  His 16 wins lead the entire BSA and at one time he put together a streak of 10 straight wins.His K/BB of almost 5 is a career high.

MR Hyo-Chin Kim - 1st time All-Star - Pitching from mainly out of the set-up role, Kim entered the break with a minuscule 0.82 ERA, appearing in 38 contests and pitching 42 innings.  With only 2 HR given up on the season, it marks a big improvement from last season where he gave up 22 in 136 IP.   His 11.7 K/9 is a career high.

CL Gerald Johnson - 1st time All-Star - Johnson took over the closing duties last year for Jersey Shore and has been one of the best in the league this season.  Entering the break Johnson had converted 20/22 saves while posting a 1.72 ERA while striking out over 12.5 men per 9 innings.  Kim-Johnson presents one of the toughest 8-9 inning combo in the BSA.

2B Mike Bryant - 9 time All-Star - For the 9th time in a row Bryant was chosen to participate in the All-Star game.  Bryant enters the break hitting in 19 straight games with a triple slash line of .357/.416/.616.  His 24 HR put him on pace for 40 and at age 34 he is on pace for one of his more productive seasons as a pro.

SS Lawrence Schroeder - 1st time All-Star - After a fairly productive career thus far, Schroeder was awarded with being named to his 1st AS game this season , being voted in as the starter for the CL.    His slash line of .318/.374/.500 would represent career highs in batting average and on base percentage while the slugging would be 2nd in his career.  He is on pace for 20 HR, 100 RBI and 35 doubles this season.

RF Dave Dodd - 3 time All Star - For the 3rd year in a row your reigning CL MVP was voted in to start for the CL.  While Dodd hasn't kept up with the historic season he put last year, his .365/.424/.662 line are eye popping none-the-less.  His batting average is 2nd in the BSA behind Greenville's Paco Rosas, meanwhile his pace of 46 HR don't look like they will be nearly enough as Matt Doyle of Toronto was approaching 40 near the break.  Regardless, Dodd is on pace for a back to back 11+ WAR season.

The 6 All-Star selections ties a Jersey Shore record matching the mark they set back in 2017.  Both Ramos and Bryant were part of that group in 2017.  Jersey has sent 5 players to the game on 3 other occasions, with those being in 2016, 2019 and 2021.

GO D-BAGS