One of the Good Guys; D-Bags to Retire Bryant's 42

Noticeably absent from the current year's Jersey Shore team is the smiling face of 2 time MVP Mike Bryant who retired this past off-season.  Bryant spent his entire career with Jersey Shore after becoming their 1st amateur draft pick at 21st overall in the 2010 season.  The slugger played in the World Series 3 times, was only the 2nd player in BSA history to win the Triple Crown and finishes his career in the Top 10 of most offensive categories.  On Friday, May 26th when the D-Bags take on rival Greenville, the number 42 will be hoisted into the Jersey Shore ring of honor.

Bryant grew up in Beach Haven West, New Jersey, just 50 miles where the future franchise of the Jersey Shore D-Bags would play their home games.  A natural athlete, Bryant would excel in baseball and football as well as academics in High School.  A heavily sought after recruit, Bryant would decide to go cross country for college and attend the prestigious Stanford University.  Bryant would drop football to put his full attention on baseball and it would show.  He would start from Day 1 and man 2nd base for all 4 seasons playing for the Cardinal.  In 187 college games, Bryant would slash .328/.389/.613 while hitting 53 HR, knocking in 154 runs and scoring 153 times.  

Twenty teams would pass on Bryant before Jersey Shore would select him with 21st overall pick.  Bryant would sign right away and spend 3 years between AA Gainsville and AAA Tuscaloosa before making his major league debut in June 2013.  He would take over at 2B and not look back for the next 13 seasons.  During those 13 seasons, he would have a 10 year streak of 35+ home runs and 100+ RBI.  He would win the CL MVP in 2016 and 2017, and have only the 2nd Triple Crown season in BSA history in 2016 where he would hit .347 with 40 HR and 158 RBI.  He would lead Jersey Shore to their 1st playoff appearance and 1st World Series appearance in 2015 where the D-Bags would fall in 7 games to Hendersonville.

Bryant's number will be the 1st number to be retired by the Jersey Shore franchise.  The first 20,000 fans to the game will receive a commemorative pin and Mike Bryant bobble-head.  Several former D-Bags will be in attendance and will be signing autographs before and after the game.


GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore - July 2012

June treated Jersey Shore very well with a 16-11 record in June, Jersey kept up their winning ways in July going 15-11 even though they faced a brutal schedule which included the majority of teams over .500.  They gained 3 games on Pittsburgh, but still sit 10 games out of first place, and 7 games out of the Wild Card.  We saw good pitching and even the first Pitcher of the Month Award for 2012.


Players of the Month:
SP Jose Reyes: 5-0, 1.16 ERA, 1.16 WHIP.  After coming off the DL in June and having 3 sub par starts Reyes turned it on in July winning all 5 of his starts and being named the Pitcher of the Month for the Trillian League.  His wins including ones against Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Greenville.  He improved his record to 7-1 on the season.

CL Daniel Morris: 1-0, 9 Saves, 0.00 ERA  0.72 WHIP.  For the 2nd straight month Morris was dominate making the Players of the Month list.  He appeared in 10 games, 9 of them in situations and converted all of them.  After he signed a one year deal which was deemed ill advised by fans, Morris has stepped in and been one of the best closers in the league.  He also signed a 3 year deal earlier in the month.

MR Jose "Dog Pound" Gomes:  1-0, 1.27 ERA, 0.82 WHIP:  2nd straight month for Gomes on the POTM list as well.  He set up Morris beautifully, giving up one ER all month long to Sacramento.  After a rough start to the season he has improved his overall ERA to 2.11 and his WHIP to 1.21.  He and Morris anchor the league's 3rd best bullpen ERA wise.

SS Jerome Lindsey: .315/.406/.413 2 HR 11 RBI:  Coming off the DL was a kick in the pants for offense at a position Jersey was sorely missing.  If he can stay healthy Jersey has a top of the lineup threat, but his problem has been staying on the field.  

OF Ramon Tavarez: .343/.365/.600 5 HR 16 RBI:  Tavarez is one of the stranger leadoff hitters you will see.  He lead the team in HR and RBI.  He took only 3 walks and struck out 14 times, but amassed a SLG% of .600.  The switch hitter mashed righties for the month, with his stats he is more of the prototypical 3 or 5 hitter, but looks to stay in the leadoff role.

Roster Changes, Questions and Answers:

The first roster changes came with the trade deadline.  Jersey sent 2B Jose Nunez to Los Angeles in return for 2B prospects Rafeal Lara.  Then Jersey dealt Tak-hing Ma and Juan Garcia to Orlando in exchange for SP Hector Hernandez and Bill Welshman.  Garcia was part of the original team but was sent to make room for AB's for Milliard Cross and Derrick Wright.  Hernandez will see where he can fit into the rotation.

Again the bullpen was dominate the starting pitching was better, and the offense stepped up enough to win 15 games.  The team still didn't show much power, hitting 18 HR in 26 games, but with the addition of Cross to the 25 man roster, we are hoping to see more of it the next month.

With Nunez being traded Top Prospect Antonio Ruiz was called up again to be the full time starting 2B.  He has struggled there thus far after killing AAA, we will see how he progresses through the later months in the year.  With Garcia being gone the 1B/3B/DH AB's will be split between Parker Morrow, David Pena and Milliard Cross.  If any of them falter, 26 year old 1B Derrick Wilson is posting historically big numbers in AAA waiting for his spot. 

A question that wasn't answered in July was again the young starting pitching.  Rob Goodship got 2 starts, one ok and one terrible.  Jerry Paige is still in AAA, awaiting his shot at the rotation as well.  The only other questions that can be asked is, can this team continue to stay healthy?  With being 7 games out, can they possibly make a run at the Wild Card?  Which prospects will continue to move up the ladder and which ones will get their shot at the big league club?  Can the bullpen continue to be dominate?  We will see in August!

GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore - June 2012

After a dismal 9-19 dismal May for Jersey, the summer heat "heated" up the bats of the D-Bags.  With 1 day left in the month the Bags have a record of 15-11 for the month and will finish with their first winning month of the year.  Despite the overall good month, they went from 9 games back at the beginning of the month to 13 games at the current moment of red hot Pittsburgh.  The month of June brought out better play in many players, but these are the players of the month:

Players of the Month:

3B Parker Morrow: .393/.463/.542 2 HR 12 RBI, 10 2B, 28 R. Parker had an absolutely blistering month.  He hit in every game he started but 2 for the month, amassing 13 multi-hit games, including 5 3-hit or more games.  He scored a league high 28 runs, which more than doubled his total for the season.  His surge helped propel him to be selected as a reserve in this year's All-Star game.

LF Mason Bonniface: .352/.459/.538 3 HR 15 RBI.  Bonniface must have got the hint after the press called him out in last month's PR. Mason was dropped in the order to start the season, which apparently lit a fire under his ass to perform.  He raised his average 40 points and his OPS by over 100 points.  He had 9 multi-hit games, and 2 games with 4 or more hits.  It's no surprise the offense perked up when he had by far his best month.

1B David Pena: .329/.443/.519  5 HR  14 RBI 17 BB.  Needing production from the middle of the order, Pena stepped up in a big way to have his best month of the season.  Batting behind Bonniface and Garcia proved to be a great thing for Pena this month.  After a horrid 27 K's in the month of May, Pena had 26 hits to go with his 17 walks for a .443 OBP for the month.

CL Daniel Morris: 3-0, 4 Saves, 1.65 ERA  0.92 WHIP.  With the starting pitching continuing to struggle, the hard throwing closer stepped up in a big way.  Morris only gave up 3 ER all month long, and actually saw his ERA RISE, despite almost being lights out this month.  He was selected as the #1 closer for the Trillian League All-Star team later this month

MR Jose "Dog Pound" Gomes:  1 Save, 1.02 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 17K/3BB: The only pitcher on the staff better than Morris, was Gomes.  After an uncharacteristic May where a rough run pushed his ERA north of 4.50, Gomes was back to his normal self in June.  Pitching 17.2 innings, he only allowed 14 base runners, and allowed 2 of those to cross the plate.  He lowered his ERA by nearly a run, pushing it to 2.49 on the season.

Roster Changes, Questions and Answers:

Question of the month last month has been answered, Mason Bonniface appears to be back and healthy.

Can the offense continue to out-slug opponents while the Starting Pitching struggles continue?  I honestly believe if Bonniface, Lindsey, Pena and Morrow can stay healthy that the D-Bags should continue to be in every game regardless of the pitching struggles. The bullpen has been dominate and keep us in the games late.

Jersey Shore plays a brutal schedule in July, facing 3 division leaders and plays 6 of it's 8 series against teams above .500.  It should be interesting to see what happens.

With Jose Nunez coming off the DL later this week, it will be interesting to see what Jersey does with super prospect Antonio Ruiz. He was called up in May and played 2B with Nunez out, and saw time at SS when Lindsey went down for a week.  He had a pedestrian line of .260/.362/.340. We didn't see any of the power he showed in AAA this year thus far, but showed he has the ability to get on base.

With the starting pitching as bad as it has been, when and will we see Top pitching prospects Rob Gooship and Jerry Paige?  With the trade deadline just a month away, will Jersey come to the realization they will not compete for the playoffs and make some trades?  With only a few expiring contracts on the team, who will be available at the deadline?  These questions should be answered as we got through the month of July.

GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore - May 2012

May was not kind to the D-Bags of Jersey Shore.  After a slow start a decent May would have put this team back into contention.  That wasn't the case as we saw the D-Bags post up a cringe worthy 9-19 record for the month.  The only bright spot was that 11 of the 19 losses were within 2 runs, which makes it all the more frustrating seeing that they were winnable games.  As we sit right now, the Bags are 24-33 and sit 9 games out of first place.

Players of the Month:

SP Jose Brito: 2-1, 3.71 ERA, 38 K's - The newcomer from Sacramento continued to the team's best starter going into the 7th inning of all 6 of his May starts.  Lack of run support has hampered his record, but still has only lost 1 games this season.

CL David Morris: 1W, 5 saves, 10.2 IP, 0 ER - People turned heads when Morris signed a 1-year deal for 8.4 million last year, but all he has done thus far is impress.  Although he did lose 2 games in May, he did not give up an earned run.  Both losses came on blown saves fully put on the shoulders of the defense which led to 6 unearned runs. 

RF Michael Paul: .309/.398/.444, 2 HR, 13 RBI - You can tell by these numbers that if he was the best, it was a slow offensive month.  Paul came from LA in the off season for his ability to get on base, and he did that May posting an OBP of .398 and scoring 14 runs.

Roster Questions and Changes:

The big question is: What in the Hell Happened to Mason Bonniface?!?  A slow start didn't concern many people but in May when he continued to post putrid numbers, head officials in Jersey are scared.  Bonniface coming off a season where he posted huge numbers including a VORP of over 61 and an OBP of .433, good for 2nd in the league.  In 2011 he has completely looked like a different player hitting with a line of .218/.358/.295 while only hitting 2 HR and 10 XBH through 200 ABs this season.  It is a big concern and a big aspect onto why this offense is struggling so much.

Jerome Lindsay the D-Bags former All-Star SS returned after missing 9 months with a broken kneecap to give this team some much needed production at SS.  In 7 games in May Lindsay hit .286, but had an OBP of .444, adding 3XBH.  Thus far in June he has gone 6 for 11, climing that avg to .375 and his OBP up to an even .500.

After signing a small contract of 680K for 2 seasons, Jose Nunez became a staple at 2B this season for the Bags.  The former 2B of Madison came in with low expectations.  Through May he posted a line of .283/.379/.361 driving in 22 and scoring 19 runs.  On June 1st he suffered a severe ankle sprain and will probably miss the entire month.

Because of the poor play by MI options other than Lindsay, super prospect Antonio Ruiz, who has tore up AAA ball this year, will be called up for this week's games.  He leaves Tuscaloosa where he put up 11 HR and 46 RBI, posting a VORP of 18.4.  He can play all 4 IF positions but will most likely see time at 2B, hoping to provide a spark for this struggling offense.  Ruiz was ranked the 40th best prospect this season by BA on April 1st, 2011.