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.


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Tracking Mikey Bryant's Assault on the Record Books; Volume 7

This will be 7th year in a row we will continue to follow Mikey Bryant's rise on the career leaderboards.  Mikey turned 36 just two weeks ago and his career appears headed towards a close, but at a gradual pace.  2023 was the 1st season Bryant finished under 5 WAR since his rookie campaign but still managed 36 HR and 105 RBI.  Jersey Shore reached the conference championship round again before losing to Greenville, and Bryant's time to get a ring is running out.

Besides the HR, Mikey had 192 hits, walked a career best 66 times and still had a fairly productive season mainly playing from the DH position for the D-Bags.

Bryant's average of .304 was the lowest mark he has put up in his career and dropped his career average to .324.  Bill Wilson and Paco Rosas remained in the top two spots and we have a newcomer to the list, as Bryant's teammate Tadahisa Kisuki has enough AB's to pass Bryant for 3rd. Bryant remained 3rd overall in slugging, but fell in OPS behind the retired Mel Fields and slugger Shumei Yokoyama, good for 6th.

In hits SS Oliver Hernandez remains in the top spot and needs 157 hits this season to become the first BSA player in history with 3000 career hits.   With his 192 hits, only his 2nd full season below 200, Bryant moved past the the retired Crowe and active players Copriviza and Rivas to sit in 6th place as we start the season.  The recently retired Gordon McMahon sits 189 above Bryant.  Another 30+ double campaign made Mikey the 19th player in BSA history to reach the 400 doubles plateau and good for 19th place.  Bryant also finished the 2023 season 5th in total bases which put him 5th all time and 71 short of 4000 for his career.

His 36 HR last year was enough to top the 400 HR mark, following Crowe, Newell, Cobra and Yoko. Yoko took over the career lead last year and sits at 431 and we should see 3 more sluggers reach the 400 mark this year in Delaney, Rivas and Doyle.  His 10th straight 100+ RBI season slots Mikey into 6th all time, just 3 behind Newell, 25 behind the retired Crowe and 26 behind the retired Sagar.  65 RBI would make Mikey the 3rd player ever to reach 1400 RBI.

It was another productive year stats wise, but most categories down down down as expected.  Bryant is playing with a $26M contract this year which was a team option picked up by Jersey Shore this past off-season.  At 36 years old, what does Jersey do with Mikey?  Does he come out and have a solid year at 36? Is the year when we see things start to slide off the table?  Time will tell this season. Stay tuned!

Current All-Time Rank.  (Previous 6 years are in parenthesis)  

BA: 4th (3rd, 2nd, 2nd 2nd, 2nd, 1st): .3240

OPS: 6th (4th, 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd): .9557

SLG: 3rd (2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st): .5744

VORP: 8th (8th, 9th, 13th, 20th): 624.94 - apparently OOTP doesn't track anymore

Hits: 6th (8th, 14th, 27th. 34th, 57th, 96th): 2216

Doubles: 19th (25th, 29th, 42nd, 57th, 82nd, NR): 402
Triples: 12th (15th, 17th, 28th, 46th, 75th, NR): 54

Total Bases: 5th (8th, 11th, 14th, 23rd, 41st, 73rd): 3929

HR: 5th (8th, 8th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 35th): 401

RBI: 6th (7th, 8th, 9th, 19th, 32nd, 53rd): 1335

Runs: 7th (11th, 14th, 22nd, 28th, 55th, 86th): 1249

WAR: 6th (6th, 10th, 11th,13th, 18th, 24th): 66.74

Jose Ramos to Stay in Jersey; Signs Huge Extension

Lost in the shuffle of the playoff race and the playoffs themselves, Jersey announced on September 28th that they had come to terms with superstar ace Jose Ramos on a 7 year contract extension.  Ramos the 6 time All-Star and 3 time 20-game winner was rewarded with the most lucrative contract in Jersey Shore history.  The extension will pay him $163.52 million over the next 7 seasons, which comes to an average of $23.36M per season.  This number is over 3 times what he made this season and the contract will pay him through his 35 year old season.

"It was an easy but yet a tough decision for us," GM Josh Swain commented, "the guy has won 49 games over the last 2 years and is one of the elite starters in the game.  It was a no brainer to re-sign him in the position we are in right now.  The money was a little difficult, but you have to pay to keep top talent and that's all it really comes down to."

With Los Angeles likely to decline Stan Hickman's $23.7M team option, Ramos will become the 3rd or 4th highest paid player of the 2024 season at the moment.  Jersey's decision on star Mike Bryant's team option of $26M would be third if it's picked up.

Ramos led the league in wins for the 2nd straight year with 24 and finished 2nd only behind Kevin Bush in pitcher WAR with 7.9 compared to Bush's 9.3.  It was the 6th season of Ramos's career that he surpassed 225 innings pitched and age 28 he sits with a record of 136-46.  The 136 wins place him in a 2-way tie for 20th place all time with Chuck Phillips.

Finances with Jersey Shore might get interesting next season with Dave Dodd, Mikey Bryant and Sergio Martinez contracts are all up, but the D-Bags should bring a loaded team next year still searching for that 1st title.

GO D-BAGS

Dodd Clubs HR # 300; Joins Elite Group

At age 29, Dave Dodd has a lot of accolades already to his name.  He is a 4-time All Star, 3-time Gold Glover, 2 time MVP and a Triple Crown Winner.  He has also played in 2 World Series and has 3, 20+ game hit streaks to his name.  On July 20th in St. Louis he added his name to a list only 16 names long as he joined the 300 HR club.  He is the youngest member by 3 years and 200 days, next to Manny Copriviza who sits with 412 HR.  He teammate and the only person he is behind on the Jersey Shore HR list, Mike Bryant, hit his 300th, 3 weeks after his 33rd birthday.  That just shows where he is ranks all time, and it's looking pretty good.

His 300th HR came on a warm down in St. Louis in a game that Jersey would eventually lose 7-6.  2nd year flame thrower John Allan had just taken the mound after Mike Bryant's solo HR off of Dae-hyun Mae sent him to the showers.  Dodd met Allan's fastball with a deep blast to straight away CF which easily cleared the 10 foot wall, 405 feet away from home plate.  The shot was estimated at 431 feet and for a short while gave the D-Bags a tie with St. Louis at 6 apiece.  To go with Dodd's 300th HR, he is rapidly approaching 1500 hits and 1000 RBI, both which should be reached next season and probably before his 30th birthday.

Dodd, who signed a 4 year contract in 2019, has his contract expire next year and if anyone had to guess it will probably be one of the richest the BSA has ever seen, at least from a positional player.  With Mike Bryant's 26M dollar option next year is the last on his contract, there should be money to keep Dodd in Jersey Shore, but regardless he is on pace to be one of the best sluggers the BSA has ever seen.

April Breezes By; Jersey Leads CL East

The Jersey Shore D-Bags have loaded up once again and take aim at their try for a first World Series title ever after failing in 3 previous attempts.  First off though, they must get make their way through a grueling season, but with a 16-8 April they are off on the right foot, but it didn't begin that way.  The month got off to a rough start losing the first 4 games of the season, including a 3 game sweep at the hands of division rival, the St. Louis Browns.  That was followed up by a 8-6 loss in Seattle and not a start they had envisioned.  Things changed from there as they would only lose one other series all month and that was to John Bosma's Greenville 84's.

Led by ace Jose Ramos, who would win the CL Award for Pitcher of the Month, going 4-1 in 5 starts with a 0.88 ERA, 0.68 WHIP and a 27/4 K/BB ratio.  It is Ramos's 6th POTM award.  The rest of the staff overall was brilliant outside from the struggles of SP Sergio Martinez who did only finish the month at 0-1, but a 6.33 ERA averaging just over 5 innings per start didn't help.  

After a great 2020 season which earned 1B Tadahisa Kisuki the CL Rookie of the Year honors, a 2021 season which Kiuski had a WAR of 6.6 and looked he was a for sure superstar to be was derailed in 2022 when his numbers fell sharply in all categories.  He looks out to regain that momentum he had in 2021 with a monster April.  Kisuki hit .391/.436/.736 with 8 HR, 13 RBI, 6 2B and scoring 17 runs primarily hitting out of the 2 hole in the lineup.

Not to be outdone was your 2 time MVP Dave Dodd who was right behind Kisuki with 6 HR, 19 RBI, a CL leading 4 intentional walks to go along with 10 stolen bases.  Dodd has started the 2023 campaign on pace for 11.6 WAR which would be his 2nd highest total behind his Triple Crown season.

Down on the Farm

Leading the AAA Tuscaloosa charge are two bats you very might well see in Jersey this season.  Those two players would be RF Albert Morgan and 2B Ricardo Gonzalez.  They combined for 79 hits, 16 doubles, 36 RBI and 36 walks in 26 games for the month.  Morgan, who profiles as a DH and possibly a RF in a pinch saw a little use in spring training and as of right now he sits off of the 40 man roster.  Gonzalez was seen a lot in Spring Training, starting at both middle infield positions but struggled mightily with the stick.  His improving bat and eye to go along with his elite defense are good reasons why he has seen as Jersey's long term solution at 2B to replace the eventual face of the franchise, Mike Bryant.

Even with Jersey's hot start, the Greenville 84's finished the month 15-10, while the St. Louis Browns sit at 13-13.  This year should be another tight race as we trudge through the last year of the league containing 28 teams.  There is a lot to watch for in Jersey and around the league as a lot of young and upcoming stars are replacing the stars of yesteryear.  2023 is a transition for the BSA and hopefully that means Jersey Shore transitioning into finally getting over the hump and winning that title.

2022 Summer Brings Jersey Shore Milestones Galore

Despite just a 13-13 month in July, both June and August have been great months for your Jersey Shore D-Bags which see them sit at a 88-43 record which is good for the 2nd best record in the entire BSA, but still trail rival Greenville by 8.5 games in the CL East standings.  The 84's are on pace to best their last year's franchise record of 118 wins and to tie Jersey Shore's CL record of 119 wins.  

Along with great team play from your D-Bags, we have seen many players hit milestones hit so far this season and here are a couple notable ones:

Mikey Bryant HR #350.  It was July 1, 2022 when Bryant stepped to the for the 4th time in the 8th inning against the Kansas City Cougars.  He was riding a 2 game HR streak to put him on #349 the day before against Toronto.  With the Cougars up 5-1, they brought in tough lefty and former All-Star Joey Smith to hold down the Jersey offense. With 2 outs and no one aboard, Bryant stepped up to the plate.  Before this AB Bryant was just 2-14 against Smith.  Smith got ahead 0-2 before Bryant sat on a fastball and deposited 382 feet away in the RF bleachers for his 350th HR and a standing ovation from the hometown crowd.  Jersey would go on to lose the game 5-2, but Bryant joined elite company.  He became the 8th player to reach the 350 HR mark behind only Crowe, Yoko, Cobra, Sagar, Newell, Delaney and Rivas.   At the current moment Bryant sits at 360, 13 behind Rivas, 15 behind Delaney and 17 behind Newell.  400 is certainly in Bryant's sights.

Dave Dodd HR #250.  Just 2 weeks to the day after Bryant went for 350, Jersey was playing against a red-hot Pocatello team.  The Bocabellas would go on to win the game which was their 19th straight win, but it was Dodd doing most of the damage for the limited Jersey offense.  He gave Jersey a quick lead in the 1st with a 2-run HR off of starter Bill Bygrove, his 249th of his career.  It was in the 6th inning with Jersey down 1 run that Dodd would meet Bygrove on his first offering with a mammoth 412 foot HR to Right-Center.  For his career Dodd is hitting 7-8 with those 2 HR against Bygrove.  At age 28, Dodd is the youngest member of the 250 HR club by 3 years and if keeps hitting at his current pace he could be joining the elite of the elite sluggers in his early 30's.

Lawrence Schroeder Hit #1000.  2014 1st round pick SS Lawrence Schroeder joined Bryant and Dodd as only the 3rd Jersey Shore player to accumulate 1000 hits in their career.  On July 31st playing in San Francisco against the Bandits Schroeder would leadoff the 6th inning with a single against Pierre Dumont.  It would be his only hit of the game, but would be a special one as it was his 1000th career hit.  He became the 9th shortstop in BSA history to reach the mark.  2022 is proving to be Schroeder's best season as a pro and couldn't come in a better year as he is set to hit free agency this winter.

Jose Ramos Win #100.  Coming into 2022 at age 26 Jose Ramos was already the franchise leader in wins at 87.  A great total at only age 26 but always quite telling about the quality of starting pitching that has been in Jersey Shore over the years.  With 16 wins in 2021, getting 13 wins in 2022 was almost a shoe-in without an injury, but no one predicted how quick it would come.  Ramos won 9 of his 1st 10 starts and on June 17 Ramos sat with a 12-2 record through 15 starts and took the mound against St. Charles. While it wasn't his most dominate start of the season, Ramos gave up 4 runs on 7 hits while walking no one and striking out 5 in 7.2 innings, a 4-4 game from Kisuki led the Jersey offense good enough for a 5-4 victory and win #100 for Jose.  The next two highest win totals for Jersey in their history are Greg Schaefer with 84 and Rob Goodship with 71.  Ramos became the 56th pitcher to record 100 wins, beating Los Angeles pitcher Ramiro Jimenez to the mark by just 2 days.

A lot of celebrating has gone on this season for Jersey Shore.  With just over a month left and an 8.5 game lead in the Wild Card race, could this be the year that Jersey finally celebrates the raising of a trophy in October?

GO D-BAGS

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.

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Jersey Rallies From 5 Down & Wins in Extras; Seattle Butt hurt in Process

The Seattle Pikes visited Jersey earlier this month for a 3-game set which the D-Bags would eventually sweep.  The middle game of the series was the game of the year for Jersey Shore and one of the biggest comebacks in team history.  Down 5 going into the bottom of the 9th, there was little hope for the home town team.  Especially considering a comment GM Kevin Carter made just days earlier on Twitter about "the great pen" Seattle is suppose to have.  The best part about the comeback is All-Star Jim Nelson retired Kisuki and Bryant back to back to start the inning with 2 outs.  Then all hell broke loose.

A single from Dodd gave an extra batter and the next man up was Francisco Torres would would take a 1-2 pitch and deposit it the Right-Center bleachers for a 2-run HR.  Still, the Bags would still trail by 3.  Seattle would go to the pen and bring in wonderkid Christian Escobar and his 99 MPH fastball.  Rookie Own Carter would leg out an infield single that "King" Martinez couldn't make a play in time with.  3B Fabrice Brodeur would then walk on 5 pitches to put the tying run at the plate, another rookie, 2B John Moore.  Moore would fight off 3, 1-2 pitches, fouling them all back before slicing a double down the left field line.  Both Carter and Broduer would score, making it a 1 run game.  Seattle would opt to leave Escobar in the game to pitch to SS Lawrence Schroeder, which would turn out to be a bad decision.  Schroeder would take a 2-2 pitch and knock it up the middle scoring Broduer.  The game almost ended when Moore, who was off with the pitch, came sliding home only be to be tagged out at the last second to send the game the extras.

Both bullpens would match each other until the 14th inning when Ricardo Berroa would walk, take 3rd on a single from Brodeur and score on an errant throw when he was sliding into 3rd base.  It was a walk off win but there was more talk about the HBP from Jersey closer Gerald Johnson that broke Seattle's DH Luka Lagerweij's hand in the 13th inning.  

Seattle GM Kevin Carter came out in the post game press conference and blamed the Jersey staff for intentionally hitting and hurting Lagerweij.  GM Swain had this rebuttle. "I completely respect Lagerweij's game.  I actually feel bad for the guy.  He has supreme power and he plays his home games in one of the hardest parks to hit a HR for a left-handed hitter.  One thing I don't respect though is showing up pitchers.  In the 1st inning he hit a 3-run HR.  Yes, our pitcher Garcia made a mistake and he capitalized on it, but you don't stand and admire your work, plus it was a 349 foot shot.  He acted like he hit 500 feet.  Our catcher Carter noticed he kept creeping closer and closer jamming the plate and our Manager Negrete told Johnson to brush him off the plate.  The ball tailed a little bit and got him on the hand.  No negligence.  Part of the game.  We hope for a speedy recovery and this conversation is over."

Through Saturday May 28th, Jersey Shore sits with a 35-16 record which is the best in the CL, and that's after a current 4-game losing streak.  With 3 games left in May, the D-Bags need to win 2/3 for a 20 win month.  They finish a quick 2-game tilt with Vista before finishing the month with 2 @ division rival Chicago.

Ramos-Bryant-Bags Off to Hot April Start

April has come and May begins tomorrow and the Jersey Shore D-Bags can look back with an approving look on their face after going 17-9 and ending the month tied atop the standings with the reigning BSA champs Greenville 84's.  The team tallied that record despite only playing 10 of their first 26 games at home.  For once the pitching has led the team.  The club's ERA sits 2nd in the CL while the offense doesn't trail far behind finishing the month 5th in CL in runs scored.

The pitching staff was led by staff ace Jose Ramos who is hoping to bounce back from his down year last year after finishing 2nd in Cy Young award voting in 2020.  Ramos started 6 times for Jersey in April and won all 6 starts, giving up more than 2 ER only once and went 8 innings in every start except a rain shortened start vs Springfield.  He finishes the month with a 1.93 ERA, 1.01 WHIP to go with a an excellent 5 K/BB ratio.  In his last 2 starts he beat 1st place teams St. Charles and Toronto as well.  

On the offensive end of things, it's but who else, Mike Bryant leading the team in almost every category.  Reigning MVP Dave Dodd had a slow start and is starting to pick things up, but it's Bryant who has been Mr. Consistent thus far for the Bags.  He has played in all 26 games so far and finishes April with a slash line of: .377/.431/.726 to go along with 5 doubles, a triple, 10 HR and 28 RBI, good for 2.1 WAR in the first month alone.

Look ahead to the May schedule, we have inter-league play starting where the Bags will travel to the bayou for a 3 game set with New Orleans before welcoming the Maui Tropics to town for a 3 game set.  May will also feature the first of 17 games between Jersey and Greenville when Jersey travels to Greenville to play a 4-game tilt on May 23rd.

GO D-BAGS

Your All-Time Jersey Shore Team

I thought this seemed like a fun idea.  To find the best team I could from former Jersey Shore teams.  Rules: You can only use a player once, regardless if he played another position.  Some decisions were tough, some were easy, but here you have it:  

SP: 2019 Jose Ramos.  23-6, 2.76 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 1.05 WHIP, 8.2 WAR

SP: 2014 Dan Macias. 20-8, 2.82 ERA, 2.81 FIP, 1.16 WHIP, 8.9 WAR

SP: 2015 Art Ellis. 13-8, 2.94 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 1.20 WHIP, 5.0 WAR

SP: 2019 Sergio Martinez. 17-3, 3.08 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 4.5 WAR

SP: 2017 Greg Schaefer. 18-3, 3.82 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 3.9 WAR

MR: 2016 Jose Gomes. 10-1, 4 saves. 1.31 ERA, 2.05 FIP, 1.02 WHIP, 3.6 WAR

MR: 2014 Daniel Morris. 6-5, 31 saves.  1.52 ERA, 1.94 FIP, 1.03 WHIP, 2.0 WAR

MR: 2013 Lucio Tapia. 8-1, 2 saves.  2.19 ERA, 1.77 FIP, 1.21 WHIP, 3.0 WAR

MR: 2019 Jose Ruiz.  6-3, 40 saves. 2.83 ERA, 2.92 FIP, 1.09 WHIP, 1.3 WAR

MR: 2013 Ciro Roghi. 1-0, 0 saves. 1.95 ERA, 2.15 FIP, 1.30 WHIP, 1.2 WAR

CL: 2017 Jaime Saenz. 8-2, 49 saves.  1.94 ERA, 1.96 FIP,  0.99 WHIP, 2.8 WAR

C: 2013 Jorge Lozano. .303/.388/.511.  36 2B, 24 HR, 107 RBI, 5.1 WAR

C: 2017 Warren Goyer. .257/.329/.541. 20 2B, 42 HR, 116 RBI, 3.4 WAR

1B: 2015 Matt Doyle. .302/.386/.572.  25 2B, 44 HR, 147 RBI, 5.7 WAR

1B: 2021 Tadahisa Kisuki.  .366/.424/.560.  32 2B, 18 HR, 57 RBI, 5.7 WAR

2B: 2016 Mike Bryant.  .347/.407/.618.  48 2B, 40 HR, 158 RBI, 9.6 WAR

3B: 2015 Adam Morrow. .282/.402/.360.  31 2B, 4 HR, 61 RBI, 3.9 WAR

3B: 2012 Parker Morrow. .313/.390/.418.  29 2B, 10 HR, 62 RBI. 3.6 WAR

SS: 2020 Lawrence Schroeder.  .306/.341/.542.  27 2B, 19 HR, 74 RBI, 4.7 WAR

SS: 2011 Jerome Lindsey.  .343/.427/.480.  23 2B, 9 HR, 56 RBI, 4.2 WAR

UTIL: 2020 Fabrice Brodeur.  .325/.365/.465.  29 2B, 10 HR, 61 RBI, 3.4 WAR

OF: 2021 Dave Dodd.  .388/.455/.799.  46 HR, 119 RBI, 9.7 WAR

OF: 2011 Mason Bonniface. .328/.433/.556.  23 HR, 78 RBI, 6.1 WAR

OF: 2010 William Hinson.  .308/.404/.538.  23 HR, 91 RBI, 4.3 WAR

OF: 2013 Leon Foster.  .272/.338/.567.  33 HR, 105 RBI, 3.7 WAR

Starting Lineup:

SP: 2014 Dan Macias. 20-8, 2.82 ERA, 2.81 FIP, 1.16 WHIP, 8.9 WAR

1.  SS 2011 Jerome Lindsey

2. DH 2021 Tadahisa Kisuki

3. 2B 2016 Mike Bryant

4. RF 2021 Dave Dodd

5. 1B 2015 Matt Doyle

6. C 2013 Jorge Lozano

7. LF 2011 Mason Bonniface

8. CF 2013 Leon Foster

9. 3B 2015 Adam Morrow

How does your team stack up?

GO D-BAGS

1st Round 2021; Bags select Ben "Cadillac" Morton

The amateur draft always a favorite time of the year for GM Josh Swain.  The way real teams build their core is to through the draft.  Jersey Shore is no exception to the rule, just look at their former 1st round picks: Mike Bryant, Matt Doyle, Richard Coker, Lawrence Schroeder, Fabrice Brodeur, Gianluigi Ciottone, Roland Martin, Gerald Johnson, Matthieu Vancini....and those are just 1st and 1st round compensatory picks over the past 10 years.  

The D-Bags selected 24th this year and for the 3rd year in a row and for the 4th time in 5 years they chose to selected a prep player over going the going the college route.  They selected out of Sante Fe High School, Catcher Ben Morton, or simply as his teammates call him.....Cadillac.  In his senior year and first year as a starter, Morton caught 36 of the teams 40 games while hitting 8 doubles, 6 homers and driving in 33 runs.  He finished with a triple slash line of .299/.389/.493.  While not lighting it up like a lot of first rounders in high school do, Jersey's scouts see  the tools  While his defensive tools won't light the world on fire, scouts predict him to be middle o the road if he can live up to his potential, but his bat is why he got chosen here.  "We have his bat and gap as plus tools and his power at plus-plus.  He will never be a guy who walks a lot and probably will strike out his fair amount of times, but catchers are still one of the more rare positions in the BSA and if he can refine his hitting tools he could be one of the better hitting catchers in the league, but he has a long ways to go for that.  I imagine he struggles pretty good with A pitching, but being at age 18 we have a lot of options going forward," said GM Swain.

Jersey won't pick again until the 62nd overall pick which will be their regular 2nd round pick.  While that is a lot of players to be picked between now and then, don't be surprised to see GM Swain find a player who will turn out to be productive, it's just what they do in Jersey during a draft.

Last year's 1st round pick Miguel Serna, who was drafted 21st overall last season, is starting to pick it up in A ball after struggling last season.  While the power hasn't come around he is hitting .251 and has 20 doubles in A ball.  Jersey's other 1st round pick, SP Ben Head, another prep player, is improving as well.  He has reduced his BB/9, while picking up his K/9 and H/9.  His FIP is 4,43 and will probably spend the rest of the year in Manhattan to improve.  2nd round pick and 63rd overall last season 2B John Moore is really picking it up in AA.  Moore turned 24 this year has shown off his speed with 18 steals, 18 doubles and 3 triples.  He has struggled in the field, but management has him playing shortstop trying to improve his range there as he has been scouted to be one of the better fielding 2B at the AA level.  Chances are he will be playing in AAA before the year is done.

GO D-BAGS

Dave Dodd; Man or Machine?

It has been evident for years that Dave Dodd had the talent to be a special player.  The way he went from  an everyday outfielder in A ball in 2015 to manning RF for Jersey the very next season as a 22 year old was no mistake.  The power potential was always there.  In 2015 he hit 15 HR in just 41 games in AAA before being called up to the show.  In 4 full big league seasons he has never failed to top 30 2B, 30 HR or 100 RBI.  He has speed, he plays defense and the scary part.....he is improving.

Turning 27 early this season all you have to do is look at his numbers to see the improvement.  He has improved on his batting average every year he has been in the league.  Hitting .254 as a rookie in 2016, .289 in 2019 and now this year 75 games into the season an eye-popping .399.  As a rookie Dodd broke the all-time record, and still holds it, for strikeouts in a season at 204.  Last season he struck out 138 times and in 2021 he is on pace to K just 83 times.  

At age 27, Dodd very well could be in the perfect storm.  He hits directly behind one of the greatest hitters in the BSA in Mike Bryant and has power hitting all-star Jaime Torres directly behind him.  He is in his prime.  The 26-28 ages are well known for sluggers putting up the biggest numbers of their career.  From Luis Padilla's record season at age 26,  Jeff Cole's 12 WAR at age 27, Zach Hutchinson's 12.1 WAR season at age 27, and Bryant's Triple Crown season at age 28 now is Dodd's time.

So far in 2021 he is putting up video game numbers. When you look at the leaderboard it is a collage of Dodd's face over and over again sprinkled in with a couple other faces.  His. 399 batting average is 26 points higher than Bill Wilson of Boston.  His .471 OBP is 28 points higher than Al Mills of Greenville.  This might be the most unbelievable one: his .853 slugging is 186 points higher than Matt Doyle of Toronto.  The record for slugging in a season is .699 by Felix Morales.  He has 10 more HR than Doyle as this point as well.  If Dodd stays on his current pace he would shatter BSA records.  A WAR of 15.8, 71 HR, 243 hits, 187 RBI.  A triple slash of .399/.471/.853 to go along with an OPS of 1.324.

No one can say what is going on with Dodd right now.  He already has a Player of the Month trophy to go along with 5 player of the week trophies in 2021 alone.  All we can say to the fans of Jersey Shore and the BSA, sit back and enjoy it.  You might be witnessing a season for the ages and seasons like this only come around once in a great while.  Enjoy it will it lasts, I know I will!

GO D-BAGS!

Bryant Starts Season Hot; Clubs 300th Career HR

When Mikey Bryant ended the 2020 season with 297 career home runs, everyone knew it wouldn't take him long in the 2021 season to hit 3 and reach the milestone of 300, but what they didn't know is that it would only take 3 games.  Bryant homered in both of the 2 game opening series again the 84er's to put him at 299 heading into a 3 game set in Reno on April 5th, 2021.  Luis Lopez was the starter for the Cards and a pitcher Bryant was a then 2-7 against without a HR.  After grounding out in the 1st, Bryant would a 0-1 pitch and launch it 438 feet to dead center easily clearing the CF wall for his 300th career bomb.  

Bryant becomes the 10th big leaguer to hit for 300 HR in the history of the BSA, behind Shizue Chouda who hit his 300th before the end of last season.  Though Bryant amassed 40 HR last year, through 51 games in the 2021 season he has struggled.  As of May 30th, he sits at 8 HR which puts him on pace for only 25. In the past he has heated up in the summer months, particularly August, so time will tell if can put up another great season at age 33, Jersey Shore could sure use his bat as they sit 6 games under .500.  

The only real viable candidate he can pass on the all time list this year year is George Alston who sits at 315 homers. He is active playing in AAA Lansing, but hasn't seen BSA time since 2019.  There is still a good chance that Bryant could reach the 400 HR club and beyond if he doesn't harshly regress in the next 2 years.  Even only a 30 HR season would put him would put him around 330.  The real question to be asked is if Jersey Shore will resign him after this season where he is a pending free agent.  Only a handful of parks around the league are as offensively friendly as the park in Jersey.  I really don't see the D-Bags letting him walk, but we have seen stranger things in the BSA. 

Meanwhile in the lineup, Dave Dodd and his incredibly hot start have him sitting on 184 HR at only 27 years old and he might be peaking now.  Tracking his stats should be a fun thing to do as well.

GO D-BAGS

Tracking Mikey Bryant's Assault on the Record Books; Volume 4

For the 4th year in a row we will track where and how high 2B Mikey Bryant climbed in the career leaderboards.  In his 7th full season and 8th year in the BSA overall, it was the first time Bryant failed to hit for .300 in a full season as well as snapping his streak of 7 straight 200 hit seasons, where he only finished with 188 hits.

His power stayed in full force though as Bryant managed 36 doubles, 40 home runs while knocking in 133 runs.  You can tell age is finally starting to catch up with him a bit as he struck out a career high 142 times and swiped a career low of only 4 stolen bases.  His season was good enough for his 7th All-Star selection while finishing 3rd in MVP voting and help lead his Jersey Shore club to their 2nd World Series appearance.

With his first season below hitting .300, Bryant took a swift drop in career numbers going from .3288 to .3246. While this is still good for 2nd all time, Paco Rosas increased his lead after a season where he hit .348.  Bryant sits only 1 point ahead of Adam Mason who retired in 2013.  Bryant remained in 2nd in career OPS where he has been since we started doing this tracking report 4 seasons ago.  Jeff Cole and his crazy OBP lead by a healthy margin and Bryant dropped a few points, but Paco Rosas sits only 4 points behind Bryant while veteran slugger Shumei Yokoyama is the next active player in 5th.

A category where Bryant remained king though was in Slugging even though his .561 mark last season was the lowest of his career.  Bryant once was the only player to hold a .600 slugging percentage, but that number has slowly lowered to .586.  That number is still 23 points higher than the 2nd place Mel Fields and 33 points higher than the next active player in Jeff Cole.

Like I mentioned earlier, this was the first year since his rookie season where he only played a partial season that Bryant didn't reach the 200 hit plateau.  His 188 hits did take him to 27th on the all time list and 22nd on the active player list.  He reached the 1500 hit plateau in July and will reach the 300 double mark sometime early as he finished 2020 with 298 career 2-baggers.  As for total bases, even though he tallied the lowest number of his career in a full season, he still lead the BSA with 356 and edged closer to Top 10 All-time in this category.

For the 4th time in his career Bryant reached the 40 HR plateau and for the 5th time knocked in more than 130 runs.  With 297 career Homers, he looks to become only the 10th player to hit 300 in a career, following the latest player, CF Shizue Chouda who hit his 300th last May.  In similar fashion he became the 9th player to knock in 1000 runs in a career reaching this mark in the middle of September.  In both HR and RBI the only retired player ahead of Bryant is the leader John Crowe in both categories who retired in 2019.  Sam Sagar who is nearing the end of his career, needs 19 RBI to tie Crowe, while Yokoyama starts the season behind Crowe by 74.

Bryant turned 33 in Spring Training and while the scouts have his ratings dropping a little, we have yet to see anything steep.  He is to the point in the record books where not only his numbers matter but most of the players he is grouped with are also active.  What is interesting is this is the last year he remains under contract with Jersey Shore after spending his entire career in the organization after being drafted in 2010 and receiving the 6 year contract in the summer of 2015.  He has stated he would like to finish his career in Jersey and you have to assume D-Bag mamagement would love to watch their native son only wear one uniform for his career.

Current All-Time Rank.  (Previous 3 years are in parenthesis)  

BA: 2nd (2nd, 2nd, 1st): .3246

OPS: 2nd (2nd, 2nd, 2nd): .9673

SLG: 1st (1st, 1st, 1st): .5861

VORP: 9th (9th, 13th, 20th): 554.92

Hits: 27th (34th, 57th, 96th): 1582

Doubles: 42nd (57th, 82nd, NR): 298
Triples: 28th (46th, 75th, NR): 41

Total Bases: 14th (23rd, 41st, 73rd): 2853

HR: 10th (15th, 20th, 35th): 297

RBI: 9th (19th, 32nd, 53rd): 1012

Runs: 22nd (28th, 55th, 86th): 890

WAR: 11th (13th, 18th, 24th): 54.38

2020 Season Overview; The Jersey Offense

After an exciting back and forth season full of good performances and ending with a division title, comeback playoff series wins and disappointing showing in the World Series the 2020 season as a whole can only be called a success.  Yes, the ultimate goal to bring the first championship to the Jersey Shore didn't happen, but the D-Bags did win the CL Crown for the 2nd time in 11 years and the CL East crown for the 3rd time.

Instead of breaking down the games and playoff series, we will look at the roster as a whole.  The first segment we will break down the offense.

With the addition of some young players, a FA acquisition and big time stars Jersey put up an offensive show for the ages in 2020.  With a combined slugging percentage of .486, this Jersey Shore team slugged higher than anytime in the history of the BSA and it's 244 HR were 2nd only to the 2018 Greenville 84's.  They lead the CL in batting average, OPS, hits, extra base hits and runs to go with the HR.  In a league and especially in a division that is known for it's hitting Jersey bested them all.  The team had 9 players in double digit HR's and 5 of them slugged 20 or more this season.  The team also boasted 7 players who hit 29 or more doubles, a category in which they lead the CL with 327.  

The Stars

The offense was led by the team's best player two-time MVP Mike Bryant.  At age 32 he showed small signs of slowing down but still led the team with 40 HR and 133 RBI.  It was the first year in his career that he failed to secure 200 hits and hit .300, but still managed 64.1 VORP and 6 WAR.  Not to be out shined, but a slow first half "slowed" down up and coming superstar Dave Dodd hit 39 doubles, 37 HR and knocked in 117 runs to finish a little behind last year which was his best season in the pros.  His 6.7 WAR was a team best and reduced his strikeouts for the 4th year in a row.

The Career Year

When you have an offense that helps break records you have to have career years as well.  Jersey got just that from their 28 year old SS Lawrence Schroeder playing in his 4th full season as a starter.  He had a career year across the board posting a .306/.341/.542 line with a career best 132 OPS+ and 4.7 WAR.  His 50 doubles was a career high and good for the 2nd in the league and he hadn't missed a month during the year his HR and RBI totals would have been a career high as well.  2nd year starter 

The Breakout Year

In his 2nd year as a full time starter, former 1st round pick, Fabrice Brodeur had that breakout year for the team.  Starting mainly at 3B he played above average defense while posting a line of .325/.365/.465 and finishing the season with 155 hits and 52 extra base hits mainly hitting towards the bottom of the order.  If he would have gotten just 18 more plate appearances he would have been eligible for the batting title and would have finished 5th in the CL in hitting.

The Rookie

What's a successful offense without a hot hitting rookie?  For Jersey it was 1B Tadahisa Kisuki.  After mashing in AAA over a span of 3 seasons he got the call and started from day 1.  His 30 HR and 105 RBI both ranked 2nd on the team and he led the team with 189 hits.  At only 24 years old he looks like he could be a force in the league for a long time.  With his 30 2B and 30 HR, he becomes on the 4th player in franchise history to hit the 30-30 mark behind Bryant, Dodd and Matt Doyle

The Acquisition

After hitting 38 HR in 2019 it was a little surprising that D-Bags signed 31 year catcher Fernando Ramos formerly of the Boston Rebels.  GM Swain must have seen something we didn't.  While they split time very evenly behind the plate, Ramos had a career year while only getting 305 AB.  He posted a line of .298/.396/.577 hitting 24 HR.  A full season of that he is posting 6.5 WAR and hitting nearly 50 HR.  With Goyer being a pending free agent, all signs point at Ramos being a full time starter next season.

GO D-BAGS

Bryant Joins 1500 Hit Club; Dodd Climbing Jersey Leaderboards

In the 1st game after playing in his 6th straight All-Star game, August 12th, 2020,  Mikey Bryant did nothing new and had another 3-hit game, his 10th of the season.  In his 2nd AB he grounded a ball between 3rd and SS that found a hole into the OF for his 2nd single of the game.  What was special is that marked his 1500th career hit in just a shade over 7 total seasons in the big leagues.  

He became the 29th BSA player to reach that level, but by far has the most the hits between 2013-2020 than any player in the league.  There have only been 34 different times where a player has 208 or more hits in a season.  Bryant accounts for 6 of those.....all 6 full seasons he has been in the league.  That comes out to nearly 18%.  The man is a hitting machine.  He is on pace for 196 hits this season and I know everyone will be rooting him on to get that 7th straight season of 200 hits or more.  

Bryant turned 32 years old this year and though is OPS is down a little bit from the former glory years, Bryant looks to continue hitting in a  league where turning the age of 30 is like getting a death sentence. Though there have been a handful of players to succeed well into their 30's, the list of players to fall off is a lot longer than  of players who have faltered.  Hopefully we can see Bryant age like the great Sam Sagar has done, playing at a high level through age 35 and still putting up at least average numbers through age 37.  Hopefully 2500 hits will be within reach for Bryant.  He also sits at 279 HR.  A great 2nd half could have him near that magical 300 mark which only 8 players have accomplished thus far in the history of the BSA.  Are 400 HR out of reach?  Only time will tell at this point.

On the opposite end of the age spectrum, kinda, is Dave Dodd who turned 26 this season.  When Bryant was 26 he had ~1 year or so of BSA experience under his belt.  Dodd has 4+ at the same point.  Just this week Dodd passed former Jersey slugger Matt Doyle in hits and tied him in HR in a Jersey uniform.  With 1 more HR and 39 more hits he will plant himself in 2nd in both categories only behind Bryant.  Pretty crazy to think that he is already among one of the Jersey greats before his 27th birthday.  If he can stay healthy, he might be able to put up some very big numbers statistically.  Many people around the league believe he hasn't hit his peak yet, which could be scary for pitchers around the league.  Regardless of meaningless personal accomplishments, if you ask each player what they hope to accomplish most you can bet both of them want a championship more than anything.

GO D-BAGS

Tracking Mikey Bryant's Assault on the Record Book; Year 3

Since we have done this 2 years in a row.....why not make it 3?  After a slow start to the 2020 campaign Mikey Bryant had a hot summer, won Player of the Month for September and had his longest hitting streak at the major league level at 22 games.  But how high did he climb in the all time ranks this season?

With a 70.5 VORP, he had a classic Bryant season, but with waning defense as he ages, he saw more time at DH than ever before and fell out of the Top 5 of player WAR for the year.  Jeff Cole would go on to win the MVP in the CL, breaking the 3-way tie between himself, Cole and John Crowe with 2 MVP wins.

Before last season Bryant sat atop the all time list for batting average, nearly 5 points ahead of Greenville's Paco Rosas.  A giant year from Rosas which saw him win the batting the tittle with a .339 average.  At the moment he has squeaked by Bryant by 1/1000 of a point at .3289 to .3288.  Nothing changed in OPS as Cole still has a commanding lead with Bryant in 2nd by a healthy margin over the next active player in Shumei Yokoyama by nearly 14 points.  In Slugging percentage, nothing changed as Bryant has a large lead over 2nd place and retired vet Mel Fields and leads Toronto's German Rivas by 30+ points.

Though it took the most plate appearances of his career, Bryant reached 200 hits for the 6th straight year of his career and as far as we could look, he is the only player to even have 5 straight.  Those 213 hits took him from 57th all the way up to 34th, where he sits 3 hits shy of 1400 and if he stays healthy should hit 1500 sometime in July after the All-Star break and would likely be the 30th or 31st player in the league history to hit that milestone.  Another big season would push up him to the lower 20's, but anything beyond that is unobtainable this season.

After 5 straight years of 37+ HR, Bryant fell back and only hit 36, his lowest total of any full season he has had in the big leagues.  Last season he sat at #20 and those 36 pushed him up to 15th all time.  He is done passing retired players as the only one ahead of him on the list is all-time leader John Crowe.  Ahead of him is teammate John Warner, 2 ahead of him and current free agent Erroll Hughes who sits 6 ahead of him at 263.

After having a career low in RBI in 2018 with 119, he followed up with the 2nd lowest of his career at 126.  While this is by no means a small number, it's a far cry from the 130+ numbers he put up in the 1st 4 years of his big league career.  None the less he jumped from 32nd to 19th in RBI and 126 this season would put him over 1000 for his career.  As of this point only 8 players have hit the 1000 RBI mark in BSA history.  39 doubles for the 2nd straight year moved him up 25 spots to 57th and 129 runs, the 2nd biggest mark in his career, helped him crack the Top 30 and number 28.

Bryant turned 32 during spring training and is no spring chicken when it comes to the BSA.  We can only help he keeps up his good health and ages gracefully hopefully joining the Top 10 of BSA history in the upcoming years.  But for now, we can only wait, watch and enjoy one of the best players of his era.

Current All-Time Rank.  (Previous 2 years are in parenthesis)  

BA: 2nd (1st, 2nd): .3288

OPS: 2nd (2nd, 2nd): .9730

SLG: 1st (1st, 1st): .5884

VORP: 9th (13th, 20th): 486.87

Hits: 34th (57th, 96th): 1397

Doubles: 57th (82nd, NR): 262

Total Bases: 23rd (41st, 73rd): 2500

HR: 15th (20th, 35th): 257

RBI: 19th (32nd, 53rd): 879

Runs: 28th (55th, 86th): 785

WAR: 13th (18th, 24th): 48.22

Mistakes and Poor Offense Plague Jersey; Fall Behind in Series 2-1

On a day that featured 4 errors, 11 pitchers and 11 innings of baseball the Titans of Toronto ended up on top to take a 3-2 win and a 2-1 advantage in this best of 7 Divisional Series.  Though Titans starter Gonzales only pitched 4.2 innings, the Titans bullpen combined throwing 6 arms, giving up only 1 run on 3 hits in 6.1 innings, limiting the powerful Jersey offense to just 2 runs on 5 hits.

Jose Lara, making only his 2nd start since coming off his rehab assignment was sharp pitching 6.2 innings giving up 6 hits, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.  The last batter he faced reached on an error when 1B John Warner bobbled a throw, a play that should have ended the inning.  Instead reliever Angel Lara would come in and promptly give up a double to German Rivas followed by a single from Luis Gonzalez which would score two runs and give Toronto a late 2-1 lead.

Jersey would come back in top of the 8th and tie the game on back to back doubles by Alberto Perez and Matthieu Vancini, but Bryant would end up stranding Vancini on 3rd with a lazy fly ball to center field two batters later.  Toronto would strand a runner on 2nd in the bottom half and John Warner nor Warren Goyer could knock in Fransisco Ibarra from 2nd base in the Top of the 9th.

Jersey would get a real chance to pull ahead in the 11th when Ignacio Rios would hit Jersey shortstop Lawrence Schroeder with a pitch on a 2-2 count and walk Mike Bryant to put two runners on with none out.  Toronto would get the force out at 2nd on Ibarra' fielder choice putting runners at the corners for David Dodd.  The mistake came when Ibarra lazily was caught leaning off of 1st base on a pick off throw which wasn't even close.  Dodd would eventually strike out which would be Jersey's last chance to take the lead in the game.  

Toronto would start the 11th with a bloop since from Zaragoza followed by a walk from Overbeek to give the Titans life.  Reliever Gerald Johnson would get Ayala to hit a slow chopper where 3B Perez's only play was 1st base giving the Titans 2 runners in scoring position with only 1 out.  Catcher Gonzalez would be intentionally walked to set up the double play for 9th hitter Lucero.  Johnson wouldn't even give him a chance to win the game with a hit by walking him on 4 pitches and forcing in Zaragoza from 3rd for the winning run to end a frustrating and error filled game for the D-Bags and putting them in a 2-1 series hole.

This is not a position the D-Bags wanted to get into, especially with 2 more games in Toronto.  Game 4 both teams will bring back their Game 1 starters on short rest as Jose Ramos looks to even the series with another dominate performance.  Meanwhile Lebel tries to avoid losing to the D-Bags for the 5th time this season while putting team on the brink of their 3rd trip to the League Championship Series for the 3rd time in 4 season.

GO D-BAGS

Milestone for Bryant; Smashes HR #250

I'm sure the league has to be sick of hearing the name Mike Bryant by now.  The superstar now in his 6th full season and 7th total season continues to put up eye popping stats year in and year out.  Earlier this season he was selected to his 6th straight All-Star game and after a "slow" month of April Byrant has hit at least 6 HR and 20 RBI in every month, hit above .330 with an OBP of over 400 in every month except for May and is currently having his most productive month with a week still left over.  

On August 12th, 2019, the first game of a 10 day roadtrip, Bryant didn't take much time hitting a towering fly down the RF line into the 2nd deck of Red Box Field in Madison off of 24 year old reliever turned starter Robinson Gonzales for his 250th career bomb.  Bryant became only the 14th batter to reach this milestone behind classic sluggers such as Crowe, Sagar, Yoko, Delaney, Rivas, Fujita, Alston, Torres, Chouda, Newell and most recently Copriviza.  Not a bad group of players to be associated with.

At the current pace he is on with ~5 or so weeks to go in the season, Bryant would reach 37+ HR for the 6th straight year, 208+ hits for the 6th straight year as well as 119+ RBI also for the 6th straight year.  While he seems to have lost a tiny step on defense and on the basepaths there is really no denying his bat is still going strong.  Bryant will turn 32 a few weeks before the 2020 season and all of Jersey Shore is hoping he ages gracefully continuing to be the heart and soul of the powerful offense.  With his current pace, Bryant should hit the magical 1500 hit mark at some point next season and if he continues on his career HR pace, the 300 HR mark could be hit near the end of next season.

With the emergence of Dave Dodd as a bonafide superstar, he and Bryant make for the one of the most dangerous duos in the current BSA.  They lead all duos with a combined 66 HR, 207 RBI, 193 runs scored and 594 total bases.  Throw in catcher Warren Goyer and the trio makes up for 3 of the top 4 HR hitters in the CL this season.  Will this be enough to push Jersey into the post season?  We can only hope so.  With 5 weeks left in the regular season, Greenville is making a charge and sits 5 games behind Jersey.  The D-Bags only hold a slight lead on the current Wild Card team, the Pocatello Bocabellas as well.  It should be a fun 5 weeks in the CL!

GO D-BAGS

D-Bags Send 5 to All-Star Game

During a bounce back season from what we want to forget about 2018, Jersey Shore sent 5 players to the All-Star game this year which was played in Boston.  1 All-Star game staple, 1 2nd year selection and 3 new-comers made up this year's class.  Though no one was voted in as a starter, it was the tied for the 2nd most players Jersey has ever sent to the mid-summer classic only trailing 2017 where the D-Bags sent 6 players.  

2B Mike Bryant: .318/.400/.533, 17 2B, 17HR, 66 RBI.  Bryant's 6th full year in the league and his 6th All-Star game appearance.  One of 7 players ever to make 6 or more All-Star games.  With Jeff Cole coming over to the CL, the reigning MVP Jorge Martinez playing for Seattle and 2 time batting champ Joe Sanders.....2B is a crowded position this year in the CL.  Byrant hasn't dissapointed though, having a very Bryant-like season, despite the HR being slightly down.  He is currently 2nd in the CL and hits, total bases and RBI.

SP Jose Ramos: 12-4, 3.42 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 2.95 fIP.  After missing most of the 2018 season with injury, Ramos has found his 2016-2017 form and has come out of the gate strong here in 2019.  Ramos leads the league in BB/9 and is 2nd in FIP, wins and WAR.  If Jersey is going to stay atop or near the top of the CL East for the rest of the season they will be relying on their ace to keep it up.

SP Sergio Martinez: 11-1, 2.74 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 4.06 FIP.  After being called up at 22 years old for a spot start last season, he won the job and pitched well down the stretch in 11 starts.  This year starting the year off in the rotation, Martinez has been very good.  Sure he has been a little lucky and bailed out by his defense, but is getting a quality start at over a 70% clip, has hurled one shutout and has won 11 of his 17 starts.  At only 23 years of age this could be the first of many All-Star nods for Martinez.

MR/CL Jose Ruiz: 4-1, 23 saves.  2.41 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 2.99 FIP.  Being named the closer this off season, Ruiz knew he would have to be good to keep that job with a very talented bullpen.  He has been that more so far.  Leading the CL in saves with 23, he has converted 23 of 27 saves and is striking out over a batter per inning.  In the total of 10 years in the league, this is the 7th time Jersey has had a bullpen arm represented in the ASG.

RF Dave Dodd: .294/.366/.571.  23 2B, 21 HR, 66 RBI.  After predicting big things out of Dodd for the 3rd year in a row now, at age 25 it looks like he is finally maturing into a dangerous hitter.  He currently leads the CL in total bases, is 2nd in slugging and tied for 3rd in HR and RBI.  Maybe most importantly his strikeouts are down again for the 2nd straight year and his numbers across the board are up, including AVG, OBP, SLG and OPS.  A good finish and he could finish above Bryant in VORP, which no player has done since 2013, Bryant's rookie season in which he only played in 91 games.

5 All-Stars and a handful of very good candidates to go with a 2 game lead in the East at the break.  A very good start for the D-Bags. There are a lot of games to go yet this season, anything can still happen

GO D-BAGS