[thehatfield]

ABL News & Notes
New Jersey and El Paso made a deal centered around two prospects: 24-year old right-handed starting pitcher Mike “Dingo” Richardson who went to the Sentinels, and 24-year old catcher Brad Moore who went to the Biscuits. New Jersey also included 31-year old left-handed pitcher Allan Byrd, 32-year old left-handed reliever Curt Parsons, and $2MM in cash. El Paso included 23-year old minor league infielder Michael McGee in the deal. Byrd and Parsons, who had been at AAA for New Jersey, will report directly to El Paso and there are rumors that the Biscuits want to try Parsons out as a starter. “It’s tough to lose guys like Allan Byrd and Brad Moore,” said NJ General Manager Herbert Clams, “but to be able to bring back a quality pitching prospect like Mike Richardson is something that will help this club tremendously in the future.” Richardson is mostly a fastball/curveball pitcher but if he can develop his changeup – and all indications are that he’ll be able to – he should be devastating at the ABL level. For his part, Moore projects to be a plus contact hitter and above-average defensive catcher, the sort of guy that could anchor a club behind the plate for years. Biscuits General Manager Kane Ivory, a 30-year old Australian, was pleased at the deal considering the circumstances: “For us to get back two ABL-ready pitchers, a stud catching prospect, and two million dollars was quite a haul, even if we did have to part with a big-time pitching prospect. There’s no hiding we were in a bit of a financial bind heading into the last several weeks of the season so part of this deal was financially motivated.”

The San Antonio Keys entered full rebuild mode, sending 31-year old catcher Gustavo Mendez and $3MM to the Charlotte Copper Kings for three minor leaguers. Mendez amassed a .274/.343/.497 line in 100 games played with the Keys, with a 131 OPS+, 21 home runs, 72 RBI, and 2.4 WAR. San Antonio really seemed keen to move Mendez as there were rumors surrounding the player for weeks, and got the deal done just minutes prior to the midnight deadline. 20-year old closer Francisco Morales who featured in the AA All-Star game, and 19-year old Canadian outfielder Jim Fleury (#78 overall ABL prospect) were key components heading back to San Antonio.

The Queen Horses may be 8-games out in the Washington League Eastern Division, but a crazy trade of five minor leaguers in exchange for Chicago Violins closer Scott “Cha Cha” Smith means that all of their eggs are in one basket for 2012, and that Queens thinks a closer will help them close the gap in the divisional race. The Horses seemed to mortgage the future to bring in Smith and his $14MM contract even though Smith is not under contract beyond this season. If Queens cannot agree to an extension with Smith before the end of the season, this trade is likely going to be the biggest steal in the ABL’s first season. Smith is 2-3 on the season with 25 saves (two blown), 1.46 ERA (271 ERA+), 0.69 WHIP, 66 strikeouts and just three walks in 49.1 innings pitched, and 1.8 WAR. The two biggest chips going back to Chicago are 24-year old catcher Cordell Bruce and 20-year old starting pitcher Jose Flores.

And finally, the Ft. Worth Highwaymen sent 27-year old 4th outfielder Luis Carrizal to the San Francisco Sawdust for 21-year old minor league third baseman Mark O’Higgins. The Sawdust have made a couple of recent moves to bring in ABL-ready talent to solidify themselves for 2013 and Carrizal will slot directly into the starting lineup. In 55 games and 143 at-bats Carrizal hit .308/.379/.462 with three home runs, 19 RBI, and a 1.6 WAR.




Gabriel Jensen had a great week at the plate for the Detroit Street Toughs to take the Washington League Player of the Week Award. The 33-year old third baseman went 11-for-25 (.440) with three home runs and seven RBI. On the season the All-Star is hitting .283/.364/.602, 164 OPS+, 21 home runs, 46 RBI, 58 runs scored, and a 3.8 WAR.

In the Fillmore League, 31-year old San Diego Golden Hats catcher Komaki Pakiana took the Player of the Week honors on the strength of an amazing .619 batting average (13-for-21), with two home runs and five RBI. Pakiana has a 1.8 WAR on the season in 98 games behind the plate.

Weekly Team Power Rankings
Top 5
#1 New Jersey Sentinels (143.0, o), #1
#2 Jacksonville Cannons (123.3, +), #3
#3 Detroit Street Toughs (113.0, +), #4
#4 Phoenix Imperials (107.0, +), #5
#5 Columbus Pants (104.1, ++), #11

Bottom 5
#20 El Paso Biscuits (74.4, +), #22
#21 San Diego Golden Hats (67.7, -), #20
#22 Charlotte Copper Kings (67.6, --), #17
#23 Chicago Violins (62.1, -), #21
#24 San Francisco Sawdust (47.4, -), #23



Game Results
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Game 109: 2-0 WIN vs. Gilbert Airplanes
W: Jeff Burns (11-5) L: Johnny Hughes (9-10) SV: Justin Jones (31)
HR – None
Attendance: 47,516
Game Time: 2:32
Recap: Jeff Burns and Johnny Hughes were locked in a duel as the score remained 0-0 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning. Ken Bullock, playing right field to give Jesús Santiago the day off, led off the inning with the first triple of his career. C Reese Haley fell behind in the count 0-2 before blooping an RBI single to right field over the second baseman’s head. A walk and two more singles made the score 2-0 and that was good enough to get Burns his 11th win of the year. Burns was actually pinch hit for during the rally, and Steve Adams threw the 8th inning before Justin Jones closed out the game for his 31st save of the season. LF Rubén Jaramillo, 3B Russ Thompson, and Haley all went 2-for-4 for the Sentinels. RF Bill “Lizard” Patterson and NJ-killer CF Junnosuke Saito went 2-for-4 for Gilbert. Hughes and 1B Edmond Olivier both committed errors for the Airplanes, while 2B Ray Durham committed his first error of the season for NJ. None of the errors contributed to the scoring.

Monday, July 30, 2012
Game 110: 8-7 WIN vs. Gilbert Airplanes
W: Jayson Miller (7-0) L: Amato Ramos (1-3) [b]S:[b] Justin Jones (32)
HR – GIL: Junnosuke Saito (17) NJ: Miguel Bravo 2 (20)
Attendance: 46,637
Game Time: 2:43
Recap: It looked like NJ’s winning streak was going to end at 11 games after taking a 2-0 in the bottom of the 1st inning only to have Brian Baker go out in the top of the 2nd and get shelled for seven runs including a three-run blast by CF Junnosuke Saito. Sentinels manager Jorge Hinojosa left Baker in to “take one for the team” and Baker gutted out three more innings before departing after 5. Baker’s final line was 7 runs allowed on 9 hits and a walk with 7 strikeouts in 5 innings pitched. NJ picked up a run in the bottom of the 5th to make it 7-3, and then Miguel Bravo made it 7-4 with a solo home run in the bottom of the 6th. In the bottom of the 7th inning after an RBI triple from Rubén Jaramillo made the score 7-4, Bravo hit a two-run homer off Airplanes starter Sixto Flores to knock him out of the game and make it 7-7. In the bottom of the 8th inning CF Jack Deck hit a line drive to center field off reliever Amato Ramos which went over the head of Saito for a triple. After striking out two batters, Ramos walked the next three which forced Deck in with the go-ahead run. NJ closer Justin Jones got ready in a hurry and came in to finish off the thrilling comeback win in the 9th. Gilbert catcher Bernardo Cruz was 3-for-4 with two RBI and RF Bill Patterson had another 2-hit game for the Airplanes. Reliever Carlos Perea threw two shutout innings of relief for New Jersey after Baker had exited the game.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Game 111: 8-3 WIN vs. Gilbert Airplanes
W: Phil O’Morgan (3-1) L: Troy Martin (7-8)
HR – GIL: Bradley Tinker (8) NJ: Jack Deck (9), Jesús Santiago (14)
Attendance: 46,363
Game Time: 2:36
Recap: Gilbert held a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the 8th inning in this one before a 6-run New Jersey eruption, including a grand slam by CF Jack Deck and a solo home run by RF Jesús Santiago, put the game out of reach. It really was tough luck for Gilbert starter Troy Martin, who until the 8th had done a fantastic job of keeping the Sentinels guessing and was able to wriggle out of the trouble he managed to create for himself. Martin’s final line was a bloated 7 runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out three. Reliever Amato Ramos actually surrendered the grand slam but Martin had loaded the bases before being pulled. Carlos Vargo got the no-decision for New Jersey, going 7 innings and allowing three runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out eight. Every starter except for 2B Ray Durham (0-for-4) had at least one hit for NJ, and SS Kaz Tamura was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. RF Bill Patterson went 2-for-4 for the third straight game and is now batting .381/.422/.524 (16-for-42) against New Jersey this season.

Series Recap: New Jersey extends their team record to 13 consecutive victories, and this was an important sweep as Jacksonville Cannons dropped 2-of-3 games against the Seattle Hilltops. This was certainly a much more exciting series for New Jersey with the nature of the victories on Monday and Tuesday than recent contests and the Sentinels showed some real fight, especially battling back from the 7-2 deficit on Monday. It remains to be seen if the pitching is going to be able to hold up for the final six weeks of the season but for now you couldn’t ask for a better way to close the month of July.

Next: NJ (76-35) goes to Columbus (59-52) to play three against the Pants. The Sents are a dominating 8-1 against Columbus this season, but Columbus is 8-2 in their last 10 games and has won six consecutive games coming into this series with sweeps over the Charlotte Copper Kings and the San Jose Victorians.