Let's start with the current standings as we head into the last week of April:
As you can see, the Baltimore Lords remain the team with the best record in the WPK, and quite a bit of credit can be given to this guy:
It is the second week in a row that Mustard, a fan favorite and clubhouse leader, earned the MGL Player of the Week honors. The 1978 MGL Rookie of the Year is a 4-time All-Star who has finished each of the last two seasons with a 5.5 WAR and while not really excelling at any one thing in particular is a strong all-around player.
The Brewers lead the MGL West largely on the strength of this starting rotation:
They also continue to get great production from
Brett Taranto (.447/.463/.658), who did see a 20-game hitting streak end this past week, and who is tied in WAR with Mustard and St. Louis third baseman Steve Whitehead at 1.6 to lead the league. Left fielder
Val Guzman (.393/.469/.643) has cooled off a bit while new guy
Dustin Moore (.362/.413/.464), getting nearly all the playing time at second base with
Bobby Erbakan just now getting ready for a rehab assignment at AAA Chester, if anything got even more impressive this past week. In addition to his fine bat so far he has been one of the best fielders on the club thus far and has a ZR of 1.7.
On the other hand,
Antonio Acuna (.226/.279/.452), who has won the MGL MVP award the past 3 seasons, continues to scuffle at the plate, though he is a marvel in right field and has thrown out 3 baserunners thus far while putting up a solid 0.8 ZR.
And left fielder/center fielder
Matt Catlett (.241/.268/.296), who was an All-Star for the first time last season, is really scuffling and so far has a -0.4 WAR. Part of the problem is that the team was playing him in center field a good deal of the time and it is becoming clear that he can't handle the challenges there (-2.5 ZR) and it is hard for him to push
Val Guzman for time in left the way
Val is hitting.