Jersey Shore - May 2013

After a quick start in April for the usual slow starting D-Bags, was it any surprise that May brought struggles?  The D-Bags had their first losing month after tallying 5 winning months in a row and finished May with a 13-15 record, putting their overall record at 31-25 for the season.  The month all started by placing 2 starters on the DL, something they skirted by through April without having to do.  After winning a POTM award in April spark-plug Marvin Taylor missed the majority of the month, as well as 3B Parker Morrow with injuries sustained in the same game.  Later in the month OF speedster Bill Welshman who surprised everyone with a quick start tore a rib cage muscle and will return sometime in August. 

Players of the Month:

SP Jose Reyes: 3-3, 2.19 ERA, 0.95 WHIP.  Reyes returns to the POTM section for a 2nd straight year after a strong month in May.  His record was not stellar but that's more of the offensive problems than his, as he threw 5 Quality Starts and 2 of his 3 losses he gave up 3 and 1 ER respectively.  He averaged 8 innings per start and threw 2 complete games and added a shutout in for month.

MR Lucio Tapia:  1-0, 1.08 ERA, 1.20 WHIP. Tapia was stellar out of the bullpen for the D-Bags in May.  He pitched in 13 games, averaging over 12K/9 racking the highest WAR for pitchers on the team at 1.7.  The 28 year old who struggled with an ERA over 5 in 51 games last year seems to have found his stride posting a sub 2.00 ERA throughout the first 2 months of this young season.

C Luis Antonio Duran: 7 HR, 17 RBI, .291/.364/.595. 2 months into the season and Jersey has it's 2nd catcher on the POTM list.  After a very poor ST, Duran popped onto the screen in May co-leading the team in HR, which included a stretch of 4 HR in 4 games in mid-May.  He mainly saw time at DH while regular catcher Jorge Lozano did the catching, but look for these two to trade off during the season.

2B Antonio Ruiz: 2 HR, 14RBI, .306 BA, 18 R.  After a subpar rookie season and an underwhelming April, Ruiz finally showed a little of what scouts having been talking about for years with this 25 year old.  He mainly saw time at 1, and hit for some power, average and even speed with 3 2B and 2 3B.  Through May he is hitting around .300 and is taking more and more AB's away from 1B Milliard Cross, and I wouldn't expect that trend to stop anytime soon.

RF/CF Leon Foster:  7 HR, 22 RBI.  2nd month on the team, 2nd POTM award.  Foster again showed why the Bags traded for him bashing 7 HR for the 2nd straight month.  That was encouraging, but what really has management happy is the fact he also led the team in BB with 17.   He is on pace to almost double the walks he had last season and get back to what that OBP was looking like in 2011.  As of the last day of May, he is on pace to shatter the D-Bags HR record which right now stands at 30 by William Hinson in 2011.

Roster Changes, Questions and Answers:

With the injuries that happened we got to see some new faces in May.  Fred Ross returned from the DL he sustained in ST and went 0-11 for the month.  Super prospect Mike Bryant was called up and received 45 AB in May and struggled, hitting 1 HR and 5 RBI, but slumping to a .222 BA mark.  The scouts think he is ready for the pros, but might need some playing time to work out the nerves and kinks.  Also making their Major League debut in May was OF Sergio Rodriguez.  The 25 year old only appeared in 4 games gaining 3 hits in 12 AB, and was recalled to AAA when Michael Paul returned to action.

On the pitching front, Alex Torrez after a horrid April start, started 1 game in May and was lit up.  He was pulled from the rotation and replaced with Greg Schaefer from AAA who didn't fare much better compiling a 5.40 ERA in 5 starts.  Torrez went on to clear waivers but refused his assignment to get back on track in AAA.  At the end of May he hadn't pitched anywhere and his status for the remained of the season was up in the air.

It's been hinted a lot that if Schaefer can't find success at the ML level he will come back to AAA and we will see the debut of top pitching prospect Jerry Paige.  Through May Paige has a 5-0 record and a 2.96 ERA in AAA Tuscaloosa. 

May saw 7 1-run losses as the offense struggled to push runs across the board.  10 times of 28 they scored 3 runs or less and were shutout 3 times during the month which ended 1-0, 1-0, 2-0.  3 great efforts by the pitching staff wasted.

While the schedule doesn't look easy in June, a winning record should be obtainable.  The obstacles will be a 3 game set @Boston followed by a 3 game home stand with Hendersonville with a 6 game road trip at the end of the month to the seemingly out of nowhere red hot Regina and ending with division rival Pittsburgh.

GO D-BAGS!

Jersey Shore - April 2013

Normally when a season starts the D-Bags stumble out of the gate only to rite the ship later on in the season.  Not this year as the Bags starter April out with a bang, compiling an 18-10 record including a 10-1 home record where their only home loss came on the last home game of the month to Denver.  The run included average starting pitching, great bullpen help and some new found power along with the TL's top batting average.

Players of the Month:

MR Marv Williams: 1-0, 1.98 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 13K's.  Though I could have chose a number of relievers from the bullpen, I chose Williams because of the shock value.  Selected with a high pick in the inaugural draft, Williams failed as a starter and a reliever with the D-Bags. After an ERA over 5.30 last year in 15 games it looked as if his time had passed, until this year came around.  Williams dominated in ST, earning him the last spot in the bullpen.  April he posted an ERA under 20, seeing time in 20 of the D-Bags 28 games. Maybe his time to contribute has finally arrived.

CL David Morris:  1-1, 9 Saves, 0.69 ERA, 0.85 WHIP.  I couldn't help adding him as a POTW once again, his stats are ridiculous.  He did have one BS, which came in his first game of the season and was perfect from there on out.  He is making over $7 million this year, and was an All-Star last year, but this is what to expect out someone of his caliber.

C Jorge Lozano: 3 HR, 20 RBI, .408 BA, 1.081 OPS.  After splitting time with Ramirez last season Lozano won the job out of spring training and took off. He led the TL in batting average was all over the base paths with 40 hits, 10 BB"s compared to only 5 K's.  Is it a surprise he is in a contract year?

2B Marvin Taylor: 3 HR. .373/.453/.640.  The super multi use player jumped onto the scene in April.  He played mainly 2B with Fred Ross out of the lineup and was quickly moved to the 2 slot where he scored 14 runs and was on base all the time.  After posted a time low -7.9 VORP last year, the 27 year old seems to have found himself a starting job.

RF/CF Leon Foster:  7 HR, 26 RBI.  In the offseason Jersey wanted a right handed hitting power OF, they seemd to have found it.  Foster led the team in HR and was Top 5 in the league in RBI.  His average and K's were down, but he was brought in to produce runs and did exactly that in April.  First month, first POTW!

Roster Changes, Questions and Answers:

Well on the injury front, so far so good.  But we know that will not last all season.  The only injury the team has suffered was the one to Fred Ross in the off-season and Marvin Taylor has stepped in more than likely better what Ross could have put up.  There is a lot of depth in the minor leagues, so if any injuries do take place, there should be adequate backups.  

Not everyone tore April up like the POTM's.  OF Michael Paul had an atrocious start to the season.  The normal OBP machine started out 3 for 45 with XBH and 8 K's.  He split time with Ramon Tavarez, who didn't hit much better but did have a HR and 5 RBI.  Manny Romero who won one of the last spots on the roster had ample opportunity in April but struggled at a .200 Avg while slugging 2 HR.  SP Alex Torrez also struggled with a 5.60 ERA but managed to win 2 games despite 0 quality starts in 5 starts.

Jerry Paige and Greg Schafer are waiting in AAA for their shot at the rotation and Torrez among others could be at risk to lose their starting spot.  There are 5 regulars hitting over .300 in AAA and 5 regulars with more than 7 HR's in Tuscaloosa.  A many number of players could see action over the next month.

There are a lot of division games and a big series with LAB coming up in May.  While a winning percentage of .643 might not be obtainable, look for Jersey to have continued success as long as the starting pitching does not completely implode.

GO D-BAGS!

Jersey Shore - September 2012

Even though with the end of September we saw our D-Bags fall short of their first playoff spot, we did see another good month in September.  After a rocky start the D-Bags went on a middle of the month run and finished up with a 16-11 record for the month.  This marked their 4th straight winning month and in those months they played at a clip of .630.  If they would have played that well in April and May this team would have won 102 games.  Disappointing end to a magical run, but encouraging moving forward.

Players of the Month:

SP Jose Reyes: 3-2, 1.75 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 30 K's.  The season will be marred with "what-if's" for Reyes.  After suffering an injury last season which kept him out until the middle of June he rejoined the rotation and was the staff's best pitcher.  After 3 sub-par starts at the end of August, Reyes re found the magic in September winning 3 of his 5 starts and lasting into the 7th inning 4 times out of 5 tries.  A little more run support and help from the bullpen and he could have been 5-0.  Regardless he is a big reason that Jersey came so close this year to their first playoff berth.

MR Ciro Roghi: 1-0, 1.08 ERA, 8.1 IP.  Though 8 innings in a month is a small sample size, 1 ER in relief for the month is why he has a role on this team. Roghi finished up a fabulous rookie year with 2nd straight POTM award.  He allowed 1 ER in his last 17.2 IP.  Look for this lefty to be a staple in the pen for years to come.

MR Alonso Jiminez: 0.00 ERA, 9 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 7 K:  Where did this kid come from??  Jiminez was Jersey's 2010 3rd round draft pick out of Michigan, and just two years later he was an intricate piece of the D-Bags late season bullpen.  He started the year dominating AA ball, moved to AAA Tuscaloosa posting big numbers and earned a September call up.  He racked up a 5.5 VORP in just 9 outings and it's looking like he could add to Jersey's already lethal bullpen.

3B Parker Morrow: .326/.391/.484. 4 HR, 13 RBI, 16 R, 2 SB.  Morrow capped his best season as a D-Bag with his 2nd best month and 2nd POTM award of the 2012 season.  This month included 7 multi-hit games including 4 with at least 3 hits.  He also had his first multi-HR game of the season on the 4th against Regina.  Morrow also picked up his 1000th VBL6 hit this month.  He finished the season with 1037 hits and only turns 28 this upcoming January.

LF Mason Bonniface: .313/.451/.438.  1 HR, 10 RBI, 18 BB.  Yes, that's right his OBP was higher than his SLG in the month of Sept. Bonniface's bat regressed this year and he had his worst season since his rookie year as a pro, but clogged the basepaths all month long.  Became the 25th player in league history to draw at least 104 BB's in a season.  Really bounced back after the beginning of the season saw him moved down in the lineup and had people questioning his talent.

2B Fred Ross: .378/.489/.595.  8 RBI, 9 BB, 1K, 4 SB.  Sure this screams small sample size considering he only played in 12 games, but filled a much needed void.  After trading 2B Nunez at the trade deadline to make way for uber prospect Antonio Ruiz, Ross was the fill in if needed and PR.  Antionio Ruiz gets injured and thrusted Ross into the starting position where he couldn't have done much better.  He hit the cover off the ball, hitting in 11 of the 12 games he played in Sept, and scoring in 7 of the 12. 

Roster Changes, Questions and Answers:

As always in September we see different new faces, some make a difference and some do not.  Alonso Jiminez stepped up from AAA to dominate out of the pen.  The loss of Antonio Ruiz allowed Fred Ross to step off and hit the cover off the ball.  Alex Torrez suffered a season ending injury mid-month and Rob Goodship jumped in to make two spot starts against Greenville and pitched brilliantly.  The kind of pitching that this team's front office thinks he can do in the future.

As always when a season ends means roster changes.  The team as a whole has 4 players whose contracts are ending and another 8 players who will be arbitration eligible when the season is over.  It will raise some interesting questions the team must make, especially considering the amount of talent this club has waiting in AAA this season.  This will be talked more in depth in the first off season report.  This wraps up the last monthly report for the 2012 season.  Look for our season in review report which will be out next month.

GO D-BAGS