BNN Weekly Report
This Week in the CBO
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
23 April 2300
News from Around the League
18 April 2300 - Kawolski Sharp in 6-0 Shutout
Sheng Kawolski was throwing strikes early and getting ahead in the count, his manager said after the Oberland T-51s hurler tossed a 3-hit, complete game shutout against the Warwick Mirelurks.
"I went right after each hitter, trying to get ahead in the count," said Kawolski. "I wanted them to swing the bats and keep my pitch count down. It worked. I felt strong the whole game, even in the last two innings."
Kawolski walked 1 and struck out 9 in the 6-0 victory.
20 April 2300 - Consecutive-Game Hit Streak Continues for Byrd
Harry Byrd's bat has been smoking lately, and it continued today as he went 1-for-4 in a 3-2 Vault 81 Dwellers triumph over the Oberland T-51s at CURIE Inc. Field. The 21-year-old second baseman has now hit safely in 20 consecutive games for the Dwellers.
Harry Byrd struck out in the 1st, singled in the 3rd, walked in the 5th, grounded out in the 7th and flied out in the 8th.
This season in 13 games Byrd is batting .333 with 3 home runs, 10 RBIs and has scored 11 times.
22 April 2300 - Penaltybox Blanks Synths, 1-0
The Concord Radstags did little to support starter Joe Penaltybox against the Lexington Synths, but it turned out he didn't need the help.
The left-hander spun a complete game shutout against the Synths, striking out 5 and surrendering 5 hits. The performance from Penaltybox allowed Concord to escape with the 1-0 win despite an anemic offense.
"Nobody came to me and said 'Joe, we're gonna need you to win this one for us today,' but I could feel it," Penaltybox told BNN reporters following the win. "I'm the guy that will step up for you when you need it."
22 April 2300 - Oren Gep Wallops 3 Homers for Swatters
Diamond City Swatters first baseman Oren Gep sensed he was going to have a good day at the plate, but he still might have underestimated it a little.
Prior to the start of today's contest with the Egret Ninjas, Gep told teammates he was sure he would hit a home run. He did -- three times.
"During batting practice I really had my swing down pat," he recalled. "I felt some thunder in the lumber."
The big day from Gep pushed the Swatters past the Ninjas, 15-4. To go along with the homers, he collected 7 RBIs and scored 5 runs.
"I was seeing good, feeling good and swinging good," Gep told reporters after the game.
Oren Gep reached via catchers interference in the 1st, hit a solo-shot off Ryan Mills in the 3rd, walked in the 5th, hit a GRAND SLAM off Josh Kish in the 6th and hit a two-run home run off Matt Duty in the 7th.
To date this year Gep is batting .462 with 10 home runs.
23 April 2300 - County Crossing-Warwick Trade: Radoncis for 5
Reports have surfaced that County Crossing has agreed to send 22-year-old RHP Dobbie Radoncis to the Warwick Mirelurks in exchange for 21-year-old minor league LHP Whip Lashley, 21-year-old minor league RHP Nick Potter, 19-year-old minor league RHP Rob O'Cop, 23-year-old minor league 1B Macaw Lee Calkins and 20-year-old minor league LF Delmarva Illeracula.
“It's a done deal," said one executive speaking on the condition of anonymity. "I'm surprised word got around so quickly. We just signed off on this an hour ago." The deal apparently is awaiting physicals before an official announcement is made by either team.
Reviewing his career stats, Radoncis has worked 65.2 innings with 50 strikeouts en route to a 2-4 record. The 22-year-old also has a 7.13 ERA.
Reports are that Radoncis was deeply dissatisfied with the County Crossing franchise and wanted out. Warwick, which has struggled to the worst record in the CBO in the first three weeks, had troubles all around, including the 11th-worst starters ERA (6.98) in the 2300 season.
Radoncis will probably slot into the starting four with one of the other starters probably getting moved to boost the offense. Jerry Weisman, who went 2-20 in 2299 after going 12-8 in 2298, will probably be that move, though it is questionable if any team is willing to trade for him.
Scores
Tue 17 April
Slog 6 at Lex 5 / Sal 1 at Star 4 / FF 6 at Con 5 / ET 4 at Abe 3 / CC 8 at ST 4 / NB 2 at FtH 8
Qui 1 at V81 6 / Good 5 at Egr 6 / War 1 at Obe 12 / Atom 0 at DC 8 / UP 6 at Rox 4 / JP 2 at FHE 6
Performance of the Day: SP Edwin Mass, Vault 81, 9.0 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W
Wed 18 April
NB 5 at FtH 2 / Sal 2 at Star 4 / FF 13 at Con 10 / ET 2 at Abe 6 / Slog 4 at Lex 3 / CC 2 at ST 3
Good 1 at Egr 8 / War 0 at Obe 6 / Atom 1 at DC 8 / UP 9 at Rox 3 / Qui 6 at V81 15 / JP 4 at FHE 5, 10 inn
Performance of the Day: RF Matt Basile, Finch Farm, 4 for 5, 2B, 2 HR, BB, 2 R, 7 RBI
Fri 20 April
Con 11 at Lex 5 / NB 3 at CC 2 / FtH 11 at ST 5 / Sal 5 at FF 2 / ET 7 at Slog 10 / Abe 2 at Star 1
Obe 2 at V81 3 / Good 5 at War 1 / Atom 8 at Qui 3 / JP 1 at UP 7 / DC 3 at Egr 7 / FHE 10 at Rox 4
Performance of the Day: LF Andrew Nuka, Fort Hagen, 3 for 5, 2B, HR, 2 R, 6 RBI
Sat 21 April
Con 7 at Lex 5 / FtH 12 at ST 2 / Sal 9 at FF 1 / Abe 5 at Star 4 / ET 7 at Slog 8 / NB 9 at CC 4
Good 11 at War 1 / Atom 4 at Qui 5, 10 inn / JP 2 at UP 17 / DC 8 at Egr 9 / Obe 5 at V81 4 / FHE 7 at Rox 1
Performance of the Day: 1B Antonio Toeclaw, Salem, 2 for 4, 2 HR, 2 R, 7 RBI
Sun 22 April
Con 1 at Lex 0 / FtH 8 at ST 1 / Sal 4 at FF 1 / ET 6 at Slog 4 / NB 2 at CC 5 / Abe 1 at Star 2
Good 2 at War 3, 12 inn / Atom 5 at Qui 7 / DC 15 at Egr 4 / Obe 1 at V81 4 / FHE 7 at Rox 6 / JP 2 at UP 11
Performance of the Day: 1B Oren Gep, Diamond City, 3 for 3, 3 HR, BB, 5 R, 7 RBI
Players of the Week
NCA Awards Player of the Week Trophy
Antonio Toeclaw has the tools to stick in this league for many years. The 20-year-old first baseman of the Salem Witch Hats had a hot bat in the North Charles Association over the past seven days and won the Player of the Week honors.
Toeclaw batted .400 with 8 hits in 20 at-bats, 2 home runs and 9 RBIs.
So far this year, Toeclaw is batting .276 with 2 home runs and 14 RBIs.
Player of the Week: Gep of the Swatters
22-year-old Oren Gep sent shock waves through Commonwealth Baseball Organization last week with an eye-popping performance that brought him the South Charles Association Player of the Week Award.
A newcomer to the league, Gep made the establishment sit up and take notice, punishing opposing pitchers with a .529 average, 9 hits in 17 at-bats, 5 home runs and 11 runs batted in.
Where the Diamond City Swatters first baseman goes from here, only the baseball gods know for sure, but Gep certainly made his mark last week.
For the season Gep has produced 24 hits in 52 at-bats for a .462 average with 10 home runs and gotten on base at a .569 clip.
Transactions
Monday, April 23rd, 2300
Oberland T-51s: Placed SP Brandon Freeman on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to 04/22/2300.
The Grape Painted Ghouls traded 20-year-old minor league reliever Brad Chatter to the University Point Deathclaws, getting 32-year-old minor league starting pitcher Jack Mutt in return.
Sunday, April 22nd, 2300
Diamond City Swatters: Placed RP Nick Via on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to 04/21/2300.
Saturday, April 21st, 2300
Egret Ninjas: Placed SP Danny Cautious on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to 04/20/2300.
Friday, April 20th, 2300
Roxbury Rad Sox: Activated SP Tyler Shuster from the injured list.
Warwick Mirelurks: Activated RP Capstone Goofson from the injured list.
Thursday, April 19th, 2300
Finch Farm Four Leafs: Activated 3B Peter Tatoeater from the injured list.
University Point Deathclaws: Activated SP Bobby Lidtke from the injured list.
Starlight Lady Killers: Activated SP Jonathan Newman from the injured list.
Wednesday, April 18th, 2300
Diamond City Swatters: SP Mark Stuhlsatz returns from his rehab assignment.
Roxbury Rad Sox: Signed RP Tim McCormac.
Roxbury Rad Sox: Signed RP Joe Osborne.
Tuesday, April 17th, 2300
The Orange Tourists traded 23-year-old reliever Ronnie Koliba and 21-year-old minor league first baseman Smallfoot Cox to the Egret Ninjas, getting 22-year-old minor league starting pitcher Kent Jennings in return.
Standings
Team Power Rankings
Weekly Team Power Rankings: Here are the current team power rankings for Commonwealth Baseball Organization:
Teams (Total Points, Tendency):
1) FHE Yao Guai (159.0, +)
2) University Point Deathclaws (141.0, ++)
3) The Slog Ghouls (137.0, +)
4) Vault 81 Dwellers (125.0, ++)
5) Nordhagen Beach Party Boys (121.0, -)
6) Diamond City Swatters (113.0, o)
7) Salem Witch Hats (113.0, ++)
8) Goodneighbor Hancocks (109.0, --)
9) Starlight Lady Killers (109.0, o)
10) Egret Ninjas (107.0, ++)
11) Easy Town Assaultrons (99.0, --)
12) Quincy Gunners (98.0, --)
13) Lexington Synths (88.0, --)
14) Concord Radstags (87.0, +)
15) Fort Hagen Silver Shroud (87.0, ++)
16) Abernathy Adamantium (85.0, +)
17) Oberland T-51s (81.0, +)
18) County Crossing Bloodbugs (57.0, +)
19) Atom Cats (56.0, --)
20) Sunshine Tidings Chemists (53.0, -)
21) Jamaica Plain Red Rockets (51.0, --)
22) Finch Farm Four Leafs (41.0, +)
23) Roxbury Rad Sox (23.0, -)
24) Warwick Mirelurks (17.0, o)
Analysis
There are some very hot teams and some very cold ones. The most surprising of the cold is the team that looked early as though it were the CBO’s best: the Lexington Synths.
After an 0-5 week, including a six-game losing streak, Lexington dropped from #1 to #13 this week in the Power Rankings. Sure, losing three straight to The Slog (#3) could make sense, but then dropping their league opening weekend at home to Concord (#14). That was after Concord lost two at home to Finch Farm (#22).
The Ghouls, 1st place in the Brotherhood League, are a loss away yesterday from going undefeated on the week. Still, The Slog has been the hottest team in the North Charles Association, going 8-2 in their last 10. They are also now 2-1 in the BL after beating Easy Town (#11) over the weekend.
The 2nd-best team in the NCA is the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys (#5) dropped a spot after only going 3-2 with a split against cross-league rival Fort Hagen (#15) and then winning 2 of 3 over the Bloodbugs (#18). Relatedly, the Silver Shroud looks like they may have partially turned around their poor start, going 4-1 on the week, including a sweep at Sunshine Tidings (#20).
FHE (#1) has now won seven straight with the help of those seven wins coming against 3 of the bottom 4 teams in the Power Rankings: Warwick (#24), Jamaica Point (#21), and Roxbury (#23). Who is on the schedule does not matter for the top teams; beating those lesser teams does.
Backing up the Yao Guai is the featured team this week, the University Point Deathclaws (#2). With a five-game winning streak, the Claws are now in possession of the 2nd-best record in the SCA and tied for the 2nd-best in the CBO with the Ghouls. UP played the same two teams FHE did in opposite order: Roxbury and Jamaica Point. That obviously led to 0-5 weeks for those two teams, the only two teams with winless weeks.
Vault 81 (#4) is the last of the Top 5 mentioned, going 4-1 this week with big wins over Quincy (#12) and then a 2-1 week over Oberland (#17).
Individually, Bryan Assman is at it again, batting as whopping .482 in the first three weeks of the season. He is down in homers so far, averaging only one a week so far. That pails in comparison to the early leader for the SCA Nuka-Hitter Award, Diamond City’s Oren Gep. Gep (.462/10/23) is killing the ball and leads the CBO in WAR (2.1), home runs, and RBI. Oh yeah. He also only trails Assman in batting average (.462). He is 1st in the CBO in Slugging (1.154), OPS (1.723), Total Bases (60), Extra-base Hits (15), ISO (.692), OPS+ (329), and WOBA (.651). Along with his Player of the Week honors, Gep is dominating the CBO. In the NCA, the Lady Killers’ Hope Scrapper (.388/5/15) has been the leader.
The “leader” in the top pitcher race is a bit more muddied, but there are several pitchers having great starts to the 2300 season. Diamond City’s Tyler Powers (2-0, 0.60) and X10-44 Mannson (4-0, 3.15) are both doing great. FHE’s Peak Sizeman (3-0, 0.99) is also dominating to start. Quincy Eloquent (4-0, 1.64) is also hot. On the NCA side, Salem’s Terrence Artman (3-1, 1.97) and Starlight’s City Moore (3-1, 2.53) look to be doing the best so far.
Team Focus: University Point Deathclaws
They have never finished higher than 4th place in the Minutemen League. In fact, they have only finished in 4th place. Yet the 2300 University Point Deathclaws have no hold of their history as the 2200s have become the 2300s. They are sitting at 11-4 and two games up on Goodneighbor for the ML lead.
The offense has been the boon for the team, leading the association in runs scored (109), OPS (.938), Batting WAR (6.1), wOBA (.392), Home Runs (34), and Base Running (+4.2). Six of their eight batters are above .300, though their .292 team average is only 5th in the South Charles Association. The heart of the offense is RF Tomas Jones (.379/6/19) and 1B Barker Cocoa (.340/7/13). CF Jukebox Luttrell (.387/4/12) has been one of the best leadoff hitters so far this season. 3B Ryan Morris (.310/7/19) has been a solid 5th hitter. The biggest disappointment so far has been SS Aaron Nukacola (.158/0/2) with a -0.3 WAR so far, the first time he has been in the negative in his career despite his good defense. That could also mean they could look to move him and some prospects for a better offensive shortstop.
Pitching has not been the best, but it has been good. SP Quentin Malone has been a great ace so far with his 3-0 record and 1.88 ERA. The Claws have the 3rd-best runs allowed (59) with the 3rd-best Starters ERA (3.70) and 5th-best Bullpen ERA (3.86). They are the best in Defensive Efficiency (.773) and Zone Rating (+7.5), making them a team tough to beat. Third starter Ronnie Messenger (3-1, 2.70) has been playing above his level thus far. Despite overperforming on the defensive side of the ball, University Point still may need more pitchers once they start giving up runs in droves.
With two good teams (Quincy at 8-7) right behind them, it will take good pitching to stay in the SCA’s Top 5.