Jersey Shore May 2016 in Review

2016 continues to the year of the 3-headed monster in the CL East.  Jersey almost matched their record in April with an 18-10 record and currently sit 4.5 games behind Greenville for the division lead and 4 games behind Chicago for 2nd place and the WC lead.  

Players of the Month
2B Mike Bryant: .404/.465/.711 7 HR  36 RBI  46 hits  12 2B.  Why not start out with the league's POTM?  For the 3rd time in his career Byrant was named the BSA player of the month for his outstanding play during May. He over .400 for the 2nd straight month and his 46 hits are an unconfirmed team record for a single month.  12 multi-hit games, including 4 games with 4+ hits to go along with 10 multi-RBI games.  He leads the BSA in almost every offensive category.  Bryant also won back to back player of the week awards to begin the month.  

1B Matt Doyle: .353/.448/.716  11 HR  35 RBI.  After a terrible April, Doyle broke out in a big way.  He climbed to near the top of the charts in both HR and RBI and averaged over an RBI per game.  The beginning of the month say Doyle have a 3 game stretch where he had 7 hits, 3 HR and 12 RBI.  He and Bryant continue to carry this offense.

3B Alberto Perez: .339/.389/.46  2 HR  13 RBI  24 R  8 2B.  Perez just continues to flat out hit.  He hit 2nd for the most of the month and flourished with the stick.  His 39 hits were only behind the 46 of Bryant and he currently sits in the Top 5 for batting average in the CL with .355 average.  The 28 year old has already surpassed his career highs in every category and looks like here is in Jersey to stay.

MR Jose Gomes:  0.00 ERA, 23.0 IP, 0.61 WHIP, 28 K, 7 hits allowed.  Hello Dog Pound!  Gomes returned to the Gome of old for May and he was nearly unhittable.  7 hits allowed in 23 innings while chalking up 28 K, he was the among the best MR in baseball during the month.  He and Saenz have been a deadly 1-2 punch in the back end of the bullpen.

SP Art Ellis:  3-1, 3.31 ERA, 39 K 35.1 IP.  Ellis was the most consistent starter for the month and finally lost at the tail end for his first lost in his last 10 outings.  He continues to show why he was worth the big contract Jersey handed to him before the year started.

Roster Moves, Questions and Answers
The D-Bags gave us a little treat this month when the called up the #1 hitting prospect in BSA OF Dave Dodd.  Dodd has ridiculous raw power and showed it off hitting 3 HR in the 9 games he played in May. Welcome to the show kid. The reason Dodd got the call up was that Leon Foster was sent to the DL with shoulder tendinitis which is really too bad because he was starting to look like the Foster that made the All Star team in his first year in Jersey.  Foster plans on being back towards the end of May, possibly early June.

Also in May we watched the continued struggles of Dave Rice, the Bags Rule V MR pick from Chicago.  His struggles continued into May and he was eventually offered back to Chicago.  Takafumi Ogusuku took his spot in the pen and was just OK having a 5.14 ERA in 7 IP, striking out 7 and walking 6.

The speculation is still out to when we will super pitching prospect SP Jose Ramos.  He is starting to look more poised and polished and still just 21 years old.  He had the best starter of his career when he struck out 15 batters in a win against Topeka on 5/18 in just 7 innings.  GM Josh Swain said there is no time table for his call up, but we will keep a close eye out.

Minor Leaguers of the Month
In the 2nd installment we will introduce 2 more minor leaguers who had great months.  Last months MLOTM were Dave Dodd and MR Angel Lara.

Pitcher: Yin-zhen Zong (AAA) 13.0 IP, 2.08 ERA, 19 K. The 25 year old Zong who was a 7th round pick in 2013 has had a couple tough years in AAA.  The past two seasons he has started, relieved and closed and both years had an ERA north of 6.  And before the month of May his ERA of 5.40 was nothing of interest.  Something seemed to have clicked during the last month.  He mowed down hitters lowing his season ERA to 3.65 while he is striking out over 12 batters per 9 innings.  If this continues he could find himself in the Jersey pen before too long.

Hitter:  Lawrence Schroeder (AAA) .344/.383/.611.  7 HR  23 RBI  29 R  45 Hits.  Schroeder, the 24 year old SS, just continues to get better.  The former 1st round pick played the majority of 2015 in AAA putting up respectable numbers, but nothing like this year.  His power has been a surprise to go with some great gap power and high contact which makes his quite the IF threat.  He also has a plus glove at SS.  With Adam Morrow's struggles on the big club, could we being seeing Schroeder man the field for the Bags anytime soon?  He is on pace for 39 HR, 126 RBI and a .355 average in AAA.  What more could you ask for?

Great August Puts 1st Playoff Appearance in Reachable Sight

The Jersey Shore D-Bags picked a great time to string together their best two months of the season in July and August, but should it come as a surprise to anyone considering the way this team has played over the years?  Widely known as a 2nd half team, the Bags record of 81-55 put them on pace to finish the season with 96 which would set a new team record and in this case probably would secure a playoff spot.  The 19-11 record in August put them 6 games up on the Austin River Sharks for the Wild Card spot in the CL and marks the first time they entered the last month of the season in the lead for a playoff spot.

Players of the Month

SP Art Ellis.  1-2. 2.77 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 38K/39 IP.  Though his W/L record doesn't show it Ellis was far and away the best starter in the month of August. In 4 of his 6 starts he gave up 2 ER or less and twice gave up 0 ER, once earning him a loss (4 unearned runs) and the other a no decision.  Ellis's great August kept him in the lead in the CL in the ERA race and makes it likely he will set the team record in this category which was set by Dan Macias last season.

MR Jaime "Mungo" Saenz.  4-0, 2 saves. 0.00 ERA, 0.65 WHIP, 31K/21.2IP.  Mungo was as we call it flat out nasty in August.  In fact this probably is the best month from a Jersey reliever ever, and that's saying something.  Appearing in 17 of the teams 30 games he didn't give up a run and only allowed 6 hits in 21.2 innings.  Mungo is showing that if the Bags can't work out an extension with closer Daniel Morris that he is more than able to do the job going forward

1B Matt Doyle. 10 HR, 22 RBI, .364/.456/.710.  1.166 OPS.  Another POTM for Doyle, even if it wasn't as big as his July.  He continued to lead the CL in HR and his average crept higher towards that .326 he hit last year, finishing the month at .298. His 10 HR was tied for 3rd in the BSA only behind Caro's 11 of NFF and "Superman" Phillips's 16 also of NFF.

3B Alberto Perez. 4 HR, 15 RBI, 10 2B, .390/.420/.701 1.121 OPS.  Antonio Ruiz who?  Perez has been a highly coveted asset with no place to play in Jersey until the trade that sent Ruiz to Vista before the deadline.  Now that he is getting AB's he is showing the fans of Jersey what he can do.  Despite a handful of AB's over the past two season this was by far his best month in the big leagues, adding 30 hits and 15 of those for extra bases.

2B Mike "Coffin" Bryant.  10 HR, 23 RBI, .316/.374/.598.  Bryant's stellar 2nd month in a row puts him in the MVP chase again and ended the month ranked 3rd in AVG, 3rd in HR, 2nd in RBI while leading the leading the league in runs scored.  The past 2 September's have been huge for Bryant earning him POTM from the Bag Report for each of them, don't be surprised to see him here again next month.

LF Sergio Rodriguez. 4 HR, 17 RBI, .351/.424/.689, 1.114 OPS.  Sergio is another player like Perez who is an AAA standout but just lacked a place to get AB's on the Jersey big league club.  He continued his above average July with a stellar September month, much of the time playing CF.  The drawback was he had an elbow injury towards the end of the month which will sideline him for 3 weeks.  With Scott Powers and Foster coming off the DL, Jersey will have replacements for him, but it always is a downer losing a hot bat.

Roster Changes, Questions and Answers:

Ah, September always brings a time to see the young kids called up and get their "cup of coffee."  This year should be no different as we expect to see a a group of new faces joining the club.  With Leon Foster coming off the DL, he should join the Bags the first week of August after his rehab stint gets over with.  Sergio Rodriguez is the only member of the club on the DL at the moment, should miss the first 2 weeks on the DL and might get a small rehab stint before joining the club the last week of the season.

We talk about him almost every month in this section, but OF Tim Duncan has been called up to the big club.  In fact in August he played in 2 games and hit his 1st career HR and stole his 1st career base in the same game, so congrats to him.  We aren't sure yet if he will start on a regular basis, but expect him to at least get pinch run and some late inning defense in.  The Bags are also expected to recall MR Takafumi Ogusuku to give the bullpen some rest before their late season playoff push.  He was so-so with the Bags in July posting an ERA north of 5.00.  

We also expect at least at some point in the month that 1B Edgardo Gonzales, 2B Aaron Bailey, SP Jose Reyes, C Albert Lopez, and LF Ken Taylor to be recalled for some AB's.  With Tuscaloosa being 14 games up in the AAA standings, their magic number is 9 and would get their players back before the playoffs started.  

Until next time, go out and root on your Bags as their quest for their first playoff spot could come to and end this month!!

GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore July 2015 In Review

July was a successful month for Jersey who compiled a 15-8 record in the game shortened month causes by the All Star break.  The stars showed up to shine and the Bags will start August with a 4.5 game lead in the Wild Card race over the Austin River Sharks.  It's an odd place for Jersey who usually finds itself chasing other teams at this point and not holding any sort of lead.

Players of the Month

2B Mike "The MACHINE" Bryant: .385/.431/.703 8 HR 30 RBI 22 R.  Why not start off with the CL Player of the Month?  Bryant won the award for the 2nd time in his career for the month of July, he also won it July of 2014 as well.  Bryant had 12 multi hit games, 9 multi RBI games, including having 4 RBI on 3 separate occasions.  He started at 2B for the CL All Star team earlier in the month and has put himself back into the midst of MVP talks for the 2nd year in a row.

1B Matt "Down Home" Doyle: .357/.421/.667 8 HR 30 RBI.  Doyle joined Bryant to create quite the 2 some for the month.  He was also selected as a reserve for the All Star game and matched Bryant's HR and RBI totals.  The combined 16 HR and 60 RBI in 23 games is an incredible amount.  It was Doyle's 2nd 8 HR and 30 RBI month of the season, the other coming in May.  He currently sits 2nd in the league in HR and leads the league in RBI, also he was the first BSA player to reach 100 RBI on the season.

3B Adam Morrow: .323/.405 31 H 13BB 16R.  Super rookie continues to impress as he had his 3rd 30 hit month of the season.  Leading off most games he ranks in the Top 10 in the CL in hits and runs.  He has put himself right in the thick of things in a crowded CL ROY conversation as well.

SP Jerry Burgess: 4-0  2.70 ERA  28K/4BB  0.90 WHIP.  The new acquisition dazzled winning all 4 starts after coming over from El Paso.  His 4 wins were more than he had in 3 months with El Paso and his first month with less than double digit walks.  Apparently the bats like when he is on the month as well, in his 4 starts they scored:  11, 14, 13 and 15 runs in his starts. 

SP Art Ellis: 3-0  2.01 ERA  1.12 WHIP  26K/6BB.  Ellis continued his torrid first season with the Bags and is making a run at Dan Macias's team record for ERA which he set last year at 2.82.  After his last July start he sits at 2.44.  Ellis was selected to the All Star for the 2nd time this month and his first time since the 2011 season.

MR Jaime "Mungo" Saenz: 2-0  1.35 ERA   0.75 WHIP 16K.  After a rough start to the season in April for Mungo, he finished July as the 3rd month in a row with an ERA sub 2.00.  The hard throwing lefty is having a bounce back season after a "down" 2014.  This marks the 2nd year in a row he has registered 9 wins, he currently sits at 9-0.

CL Daniel Morris:  1-0  6 Saves  1.08 ERA  0.96 WHIP.  Morris had been having the exact opposite of what a contract season should be, but July he finally looked like the Morris of old.  2015 marked the 2nd year in a row Morris was left off the CL All Star team after a streak of making the team 3 years in a row.

Roster Questions, Changes and Answers

Leon Foster still has 3 weeks left on the DL and we won't see him probably until late August or September.  Scott Powers suffered a Knee contusion on 7/23 and will miss 3 weeks with the injury.  With him being out of the lineup it gave more AB's to Sergio Rodriguez and Taro Kino in the OF. Sergio had 60 AB in July and hit .300 with 2 HR.  

Jose Gomes was also injured on 7/30 with some shoulder tendonitis and is set to miss 3 weeks.  In his absence the Bags added Takafumi Ogusuku, the Japanese native to the 40 man roster and the active roster.  In one game in July he gave up 3 ER in 2.1 IP vs San Fransisco.  At only 19 years old he rose quickly through the Bags system to make it to the big club.

Edgardo Gonzales, Aaron Bailey and Tim Duncan continue to impress in AAA Tuscaloosa for the Bags but right now there just isn't any room for any bats.  Look for one or all 3 of them to get September callups to see what they can do for the big club, especially if the Bags start to pull away in the WC race. 

GO D-BAGS