2059/2060 Season - January
Notable Performances
1 Jan: The Australian All Star selectors’ strategy worked, with their team triumphing 5-1 in a contest that remained tight until the 8th inning.
3 Jan: Sydney and Adelaide fought tenaciously for 11 innings before Dean Brewster’s single scored the winning run to see the Blue Sox walk off 6-5 winners. That wasn’t Brewster’s only hit of the night, though. The 3-time All Star equaled the AUZNBL game record (regular and extra-innings) of 6 hits. He did so from 6 at-bats, and while every hit was a single and he only scored once, skipper Joe Lane said Brewster’s focus at the plate lifted his teammates and was a big reason they were able to tie the game in the 8th, equalize after Adelaide went ahead in the 10th and win it in the end.
5 Jan: Angelo Spear went the whole game, restricting Hobart to 1 run on the back of 5 hits, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. The Heat offense stepped up to give their veteran ace a 9-1 victory. It was only Spear’s 6th win of the season but, more importantly, it was the 203rd win of his career. He now had 2nd all-time on the wins board to himself, and needed just 4 more to tie Phil McLaren at the top. Amazingly, McLaren had never registered a 20-win season, his best effort being 18-8 when he won HotY in 2028.
7 Jan: The streak was over. Angelo Farriss threw the 6th and 7th innings of an eventual 7-5 Cavalry triumph over Hobart. Canberra scored 4 in the 7th to take the lead and give Farriss the win. Farriss, who’d delivered some snarling soundbites earlier in the season when approached about the losing streak didn’t want to talk to media after the game, restricting his comments to, “All good things must come to an end for you guys, I guess,” when brushing past the sideline reporter.
12 Jan: Edwin Hayes had some pop in his game this week, going .400/.483/1.040, with 5 of his 10 hits bleacher balls. Central Coast looked to have settled whatever differences they might’ve had with each other and/or their manager, with an 8-2 record so far in the month. That saw them out ahead in the East-West, Kununurra 1 game back and Brisbane freefalling to 4 games behind and 4 games below .500.
12 Jan: Carlos Aguilar had been battling a few niggling injuries over the last couple weeks, but they weren’t enough to put a dent in his hitting stride. Today he made it a 20-game hit streak, going 2-4 in Perth’s 4-2 defeat of Sydney. Not only that, but Aguilar had also doubled in 5 consecutive games.
15 Jan: Cain Donaldson had come roaring back after his average December. In the Blue Sox’s 9-6 win over Canberra, he swiped base number 50 for the season. That result already put him at 22nd overall on the single season record ladder but he was firmly focused on the current record of 67... and then some. “80,” he said was the goal. “That’s a nice round number.”
15 Jan: Perth prevailed over Whangarei 4-2. Spear threw 8 innings in the victory, conceding 8 hits and 1 walk for 1 unearned run. Career win 204!
16 Jan: Malcolm Pickhills went deep for the 5th game running in Adelaide’s 7-4 loss to Newcastle.
17 Jan: Could Pickhills equal the AUNZBL record and go deep 6 games in a row? He could not. He did triple in the 8th however, but there was never any thought of that fly clearing the fence. To sweeten the miss, Pickhills’ triple was part of a 2-run frame which saw Adelaide reclaim the lead and go on to beat the Roos 5-4.
18 Jan: Perth might’ve got beat up 8-2 by the Sluggers at Heat Ballpark, but Aguilar was still entitled to a smile post-game. His 9th-inning single meant he’d hit in 25 consecutive games. The ride would come to an end the following night.
18 Jan: Craig Fisher put together his 2nd shutout of the season, keeping Wellington scoreless while only allowing 6 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 5 as Brisbane won 4-0.
19 Jan: Bailey Kinnear wasn’t especially well known outside of Brisbane. The 2058 All Star did his thing and did it well, but didn’t court all that much attention. He was a bit better known after today’s announcement that he’d won PotW, however. He did so on the back of a .520/.600/.960 effort, his 13-25 including 1 triple and 3HR.
19 Jan: As Aguilar’s streak ended another continued. The indomitable Cain Donaldson was 1-4 in Sydney’s 4-3 loss to Darwin, giving him a 20-game hit streak.
21 Jan: Donaldson was stopped at 21 games but at least Sydney held on to win, defeating Darwin 3-2.
21 Jan: Luigi Dempster equaled the AUNZBL game record of 9RBI with a sensational 3-5 performance in Wellington’s 10-2 victory over Auckland. 2 of his hits were HR, and his 8th-inning effort was a Grand Slam. He would crack 2HRs in the following night’s victory, too, driving in 7 more runners.
25 Jan: Bailey Kinnear continued hogging the headlines with a 5-5 performance in Brisbane’s 6-3 defeat of Adelaide.
26 Jan: To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Luigi Dempster took home PotW. He hit .419/.455/1.065, with 2 doubles and 6HR among 13 hits. He also drove in 20 runners, 2 more than he had in the entire month of November.
28 Jan: “Triumphant!” That’s how Patrick Maggs described his mood after slugging his 400th career HR in Perth’s 5-4 win over Darwin. The 35 y/o had never hit more than 39HR in a full season, and never less than 22, registered in his rookie year. “I made it,” he said, “and that’s what matters.” He was the 13th player to reach that coveted milestone, and was 4th on the active leaderboard.
29 Jan: It seems Spear’s recent wins were coming when he threw 8 or more innings. He went the whole game today in Perth’s 5-1 win over Darwin to move him 1 win closer to top spot. A free agent at season’s end, Spear admitted he was “eager to get to 208” before the end of this campaign.
30 Jan: Darwin just kept digging a deeper hole for themselves in 2059. Perth eased past them 8-5 to mark 10 straight defeats.
Notable Injuries
6 Jan: Darwin workhorse Bruno Budd (6-9, 3.97 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 1.39 WHIP) was gone for the season with a torn triceps.
6 Jan: Melbourne’s Jayden Downes (.313/.338/.368, 1HR) would miss the next month or so with a sprained thumb.
13 Jan: That hand! While not exactly the same injury, Aguirre (.303/.364/.482, 6HR) today fractured a finger sliding into base. He’d be out a further 5-6 weeks, and admitted to journalists that worry about how the hand had healed from its previous injuries had been affecting his power swing to this point. “Yeah,” he said, “it seems to twinge sometimes. Maybe it’s in my head, but it’s probably fair to say I’ve been a bit ginger. Now, with this, it might be time to book in some sessions with the team shrink.”
17 Jan: 26 y/o Isaac Canavan (4-2, 21 sv, 1.66 ERA, 1.59 FIP, 0.82 WHIP) was establishing himself as one of the best closers going around. Sadly, he was today diagnosed with a partially torn UCL after coming off injured on the 13th. He’d need Tommy John surgery and 8-9 months rest and rehab. Whether he’d be the same when he returned next season was anybody’s guess.
17 Jan: Richard Moore (.312/.427/.532, 18HR) wasn’t planning on watching much baseball while he recovered from a fractured foot. “Probably not, to be honest,” he told journos when the question was raised. “I get a bit angsty if I’m forced to watch but can’t play.” He was expected to be sidelined around 3 weeks.
18 Jan: A resurgent Canberra would have to do without catcher Elijah Lutz (.280/.332/.543, 24HR) for the next 6 weeks while he recovered from a hamstring strain.
21 Jan: Wellington would need to find a replacement in their rotation for Byron Moore (11-5, 3.22 ERA, 4.98 FIP, 1.23 WHIP) for the next month as he had an oblique strain.
Notable Trades/Signings
2 Jan: Adelaide made another move to strengthen their rotation, acquiring 25 y/o SP Teddy Wigley (5-5, 4.26 ERA, 4.74 FIP, 1.54 WHIP) from Brisbane. They also got some cash out of the deal, but had to give up their #1 draft pick of 2056, 21 y/o 1B Bob Lindner, who’d been moving between single-A and double-A this season. Lindner projected to be a decent all-round hitter thanks to a good eye and solid power.
16 Jan: 30 y/o Vern Bull’s (.289/.397/.544, 23HR) obscurity-to-stardom story had been told plenty of times over. Today he could add another chapter, having signed a 7-year extension with the Aces. 1st-year Melbourne GM Danny Stapleton was enthusiastic about the agreement: “We’d like him to be a 1-club player, and I’ve no doubt he’ll be remembered not only as one of our greats, but also one of the game’s greats.”
22 Jan: 34 y/o Clint Aitcheson (3-6, 5.69 ERA, 4.63 FIP, 1.37 WHIP) couldn’t believe it. While he admitted his season so far “hadn’t been great,” he didn’t think his form warranted Central Coast shifting him on, and he especially didn’t like heading from a contender to a straggler. The Thunder had traded him to Perth, along with cash, for 26 y/o Dermott Alcock, who’d spent the season up and down between AAA and the majors, and a 19 y/o pitching prospect. Perth were 14 games behind in the Coastal and 5 games back in the wildcard, while Central Coast were 2 games up in the East-West. Aitcheson would be a free agent at the end of the season, and he was already certain of one thing: “I’m definitely not signing with Central Coast again!”
26 Jan: Canberra fancied themselves a chance at a postseason berth. To get there, they figured they needed a deeper rotation. To that end, they wrangled a trade with Newcastle for 34 y/o RHP Dan Pankhurst (6-10, 4.52 ERA, 4.62 FIP, 1.49 WHIP), and a big wad of cash. To get him they had to give up promising 25 y/o 1B Angus Wheeler (.302/.356/.481, 17HR).
30 Jan: The Cavalry added more starch to their starters today, acquiring 33 y/o Xuan-ling Wong (1-3, 4.84 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 1.37 WHIP) from Melbourne in return for 29 y/o RF Marco Bamber (.250/.273/.365, 2HR from 99PA) and a 22 y/o OF prospect. Wong’s stats didn’t look the best, but he’d only just finished a run of 18 undefeated starts, many of those no-decisions likely down to his inability to retain petrol in the tank for the later innings. Most thought Melbourne’s agreement to the proposal an odd move, especially considering that they were locked in a 3-way division battle with the Blue Sox (1-game ahead of them) and Canberra (2 games behind them).
Month Awards
Rookie of the Month: There was no stopping Jason Hewitt. Fresh of his double award win in December, he once again snared RotM, his efforts in January amounting to a staggering .395/.465/.651 stat-line, his 34-86 including 10 doubles and 4HR. He also scored 19 runs, brought home 25 runners, and earned 11 free passes. For the season Hewitt was hitting .314/.413/.579, atop the league in OPS and wOBA (.424).
Right now, RotY seemed a three-way race between Hewitt, Cain Donaldson, and Bert Allan.
During the month, Hewitt mused to an OotPB TV interviewer about the transition from the ABC to AUNZBL. “Y’know,” he said, “a lot of you media blokes said we’d struggle to adapt, that the AUNZBL was just too big a step up from the ABC.” He then paused to give an expansive shrug. “But look at how well Cain, Bert and I are doing. And Kade*, too, doesn’t look out of place over here either. Even ole Air** is coping all right with the lowered mounds. For a long time it’s been said that all the local talent is tied up in the AUNZBL systems already, that the only place to look for players is overseas. Perhaps that’s not true after all, though I’ll tell you what, I heard it enough times while I was on the semi-pro circuit that I believed it and figured I wasn’t good enough for a shot.”
*Kade Wurfel, catcher for Christchurch
**Tristan Agar, SP for Whangarei, who was 12-6 for the season
Hurler of the Month: Ted Heathcote chewed through opposition lineups in January like they were honey-coated weetbix. He went 4-0 from 6 starts, with a 1.60 ERA, 3.43 FIP, and 0.99 WHIP. In 39.1 IP he fanned 32. It was his first HotM Award since 2052, when he also took out HotY.
Slugger of the Month: Malcolm Pickhills unleashed during the month, hitting .317/.403/.856, 16 of his 33-104 going the distance. He also hit 6 doubles and 1 triple, scored 23 runs, collected 32 ribbies, and walked 12 times.
Media Watch
Jacob Blanksby: Blanksby was very boring to keep tabs on in January. The aging superstar didn’t hit a single HR during the month, his 26-95 including just 6 doubles.
Last Year’s Top Players Watch
2058’s Top Rookies
2058 Rookie of the Year, Tadakuni Sasaki: Sasaki was projecting to have a pretty similar season to last year. So far he was hitting .305/.373/.485, 103-338, with 52 runs, 25 doubles, 3 triples, 10HR, 43RBI, and 38BB from 384PA.
Manny Chavez: Chavez had been pushed out of the everyday role by Rowan Kimpton but was making decent use of limited playing time. .301/.372/.393, 72-239, 30 runs, 10 doubles, 4HR, 29RBI, 25BB, 270PA.
Nathaniel Bowden: Selected to his 1st All Star Game this season, Bowden was on track to more than double his WAR output of 2058. .299/.341/.501, 132-479, 58 runs, 28 doubles, 2 triples, 19HR, 80RBI, 24BB, 10SB, 479PA.
2058’s Top Pitchers
2058 Brodie Backhouse winner, Caspar Buffey: Buffey’s velocity had noticeably dropped during the season, as well as the overall ‘hardness/strength’ of his pitches. He was still doing an adequate job, and behind an inconsistent offense and mediocre defense it was difficult to quantify how much his mechanical issues were affecting him. 4-6, 24 sv, 3.61 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 1.72 WHIP, 46 K from 52.1 IP.
2058 Hurler of the Year, Clint Kline: 14-5 from 24 starts, 3.73 ERA, 4.38 FIP, 1.11 WHIP, 128 K from 152.0 IP. While advanced metrics said Kline was only pitching averagely, he was still getting the job done and already had as many wins as he’d managed all of last season. His K/BB ratio of 5.12 was best among qualified pitchers.
Barry Dean: Perth had themselves an absolute superstar in the making, if he could stay injury free, that was. 16-3 from 23 starts, 2.65 ERA, 3.25 FIP, 1.18 WHIP, 150 punch-outs from 166.2 IP. Dean led the league in ERA and wins, was 2nd in FIP, WAR (4.8), and strikeouts, 6th in WHIP (1.18), and tied for the most innings pitched (166.2).
Brock Lawless: Lawless just got it done, no amount of media accolades seeming to go to his head. 10-7 from 24 starts, 3.94 ERA, 4.33 FIP, 1.25 WHIP, 113 strikeouts from 150.2 IP.
2058’s Top Hitters
2058 Slugger of the Year, Calvin Hodnett: With Patrick Maggs and Quentin Welch performing well below expectations, a lot rested on Hodnett, who typically hit at 2 in the Perth lineup. .305/.395/.583, 92-302, 55 runs, 19 doubles, 1 triple, 21HR, 54RBI, 38BB, 10SB (without having been caught once), 351PA. He’d missed 5 weeks through various injuries.
Malcolm Pickhills: Not quite at the heights of last season, but if he had another month like January he’d quickly be back there. .257/.347/.522, 107-416, 69 runs, 21 doubles, 4 triples, 27HR, 78RBI, 54BB, 478PA, +12.9 ZR at 3B.
Vern Bull: Melbourne loved Vern Bull and he was doing his best to repay that love, anchoring the lineup with aplomb. .298/.407/.564, 110-369, 71 runs, 12 doubles, 1 triple, 28HR, 72RBI, 69BB, 2SB, 445PA. Bull’s 5.0 WAR topped the league.
Other Notes
Coastal Division: Cairns (15-13) extended their lead over Adelaide (10-18) to 7 games, while Perth (18-10) started putting together some wins to pull to within 9 games of the division leaders.
East-West Division: Central Coast (18-10) rose from 3rd to 1st, Brisbane (12-16) and Kununurra (14-14) jostling it out in 2nd place, 3 games in arrears.
NZ Division: Wellington (14-14) maintained their 6-game distance from Christchurch (14-14).
Southern Division: This division was getting tight! Sydney (14-14) were only par in January, allowing Melbourne (16-12) to within 2 games of them. Just 1 game further back sat a resurgent Canberra outfit (21-7), while Hobart (12-16) had a bad month, but weren’t out of contention at 7 games behind.
Wildcard: Adelaide and Melbourne both had the same record and both had their hands on one wildcard slot. Canberra lurked just 1 game behind, Christchurch and Perth 2, and Brisbane, Hobart, and Kununurra 5. Killer February promised to be an exciting month.
#
Injury-prone Sluggers’ RF Peter Moy (.358/.404/.572, 10HR) now had enough at-bats to qualify for the BA board and was currently sitting well clear of Martin Boston (.335/.369/.414, 2HR).
Yoshihito Morimoto (.333/.365/.384, 0HR) had 164 hits, 8 more than Boston in 2nd.
Bert Allan (.276/.353/.543, 23HR) led the league in doubles, ISO (.267), and XBH (64). Teammate Rowan Kimpton (.328/.360/.590, 28HR), who one prominent commentator remarked was “a curious player to watch, with a strikezone from ankle to shoulder and a swing that looked as balletic as a rugby league prop crashing into the defensive line,” led the league in slugging, and was in the peloton of players tied for 2nd in the HR race.
Luigi Dempster (.273/.329/.514, 29HR) had the HR lead by 1.
John Foreman (.303/.365/.531, 28HR) had broken the 100-rbi barrier, with 101. The next closest players both had 88.
Cain Donaldson (.328/.429/.469, 8HR) only stole 9 bases (from 15 attempts) in the month, but still had a healthy lead over any other players, with 53 successful steals. He also topped all-comers in OBP, triples (11), and runs (89).
Eddie Rayner (9-5, 4.46 ERA, 2.93 FIP, 1.32 WHIP) was the only qualified pitcher with an FIP of less than 3.00. His 5.0 WAR was also a league-best.
Bailey Naylor was 2 saves clear of all the other closers, with 30. He also had 9 losses.
Greg Ahern (13-3, 3.13 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 1.05 WHIP) had 156 strikeouts at a rate of 8.42 per 9 innings, both league leaders.
Damian Flemming (10-2, 3.09 ERA, 3.57 FIP, 1.20 WHIP) was proving the hardest starting pitcher to hit, opponents only managing .212 against him for a rate of 6.92 hits per 9 innings. Teammate Lance Ralston (11-6, 3.88 ERA, 3.37 FIP, 1.45 WHIP) was only giving up 0.38 homeruns every 9 innings.
Angelo Spear (8-7, 3.80 ERA, 4.55 FIP, 1.27 WHIP) was proving wilier than ever. His BB/9 rate of 1.21 was best in the league.
ABC Wrap-up
The Gold Goast Goannas had snatched a 1/2 game lead over Brisbane in the Northern, the Broncos having had a game called off due to rain. Sydney had romped to a 15-game advantage in the Southern, while Broome were now 4 up over Kalgoorlie and Perth in the Western. Dunedin saw their lead cut nearly in half, to 3 1/2, with Jakarta and Port Moresby surging, while Hamilton continued to fold, 9 1/2 games back and 7 below .500.
Rowan Reardon (.316/.403/.624, 35HR) continued to live up to his nickname of ‘Beast,’ out in front in the HR race by 8. Satya Susanti had crashed through the 200 strikeout barrier already, finishing the month with 204 at a rate of 11.15 per 9 innings.
AUNZBL Standings, Feb 1