BNN Weekly Report
This Week in the CBO, BMU, and GBRL
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
14 April 2302
Week's Results
Players of the Week
NCA - LF Michael Fogcrawler, Nordhagen Beach, 7/19 (.368), 3 HR, 8 RBI, 4 R
SCA - SS Jake Doucette, Atom, 10/17 (.588), 3 HR, 7 RBI
Daily Top Players
4/7 - LF Michael Fogcrawler, Nordhagen Beach, 3/4, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R
4/9 - LF Kory Richardson, University Point, 2/4, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 R, 2 BB
4/10 - LF Bill Chaney, Egret, 3/4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R
4/12 - SP Scruffy Taguchi, Atom, 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, BB, 8 K, W
4/13 - 3B Deerlord Fugivmee, Roxbury, 4/5, RBI, 4 R, BB
Transactions
Monday, April 14th , 2302
Vault 81 Dwellers: Placed SP Randy Kaplan on the 60-day injured list.
Lexington Synths: Placed RP Bry McBourbon on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to 04/13/2302.
Oberland T-51s: Placed SP Ben Rodgers on the 60-day injured list.
Warwick Mirelurks: Activated SP Dobbie Radoncis from the restricted list.
Warwick Mirelurks: Sent SP Dobbie Radoncis to Triple A Charles View for injury rehab.
Oberland T-51s: Signed RP Cody Graca.
Lexington Synths: Signed RP Right Overby.
Vault 81 Dwellers: Signed RP Josh Maney.
Vault 81 Dwellers: Released SP D'Andre Frost.
Saturday, April 12th , 2302
Vault 81 Dwellers: Activated CF Aesed Hayjen from the injured list.
Vault 81 Dwellers: Sent CF Aesed Hayjen to Triple A Vault 95 for injury rehab.
Diamond City Swatters: Signed CF Brenden Titleman.
Diamond City Swatters: Signed RP Jonathan Simoneaux.
Friday, April 11th , 2302
Quincy Gunners: Placed SP Greg Hudgens on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to 04/10/2302.
Lexington Synths: Activated SP Tristan Marble from the restricted list.
Thursday, April 10th , 2302
Salem Witch Hats: Released CF Andy Dogleash.
Quincy Gunners: Signed CF Andy Dogleash.
Quincy Gunners: Released CF Earl Musicman.
Wednesday, April 9th , 2302
Lexington Synths: Activated RP Evan Before from the injured list.
Roxbury Rad Sox: Activated RP Odysseus Blades from the injured list.
Roxbury Rad Sox: Activated SP Nuke Laloosh from the injured list.
Fort Hagen Silver Shroud: Placed SP Mike Cartrette on the 60-day injured list.
Fort Hagen Silver Shroud: Signed SS Jimmy Capcafe.
Fort Hagen Silver Shroud: Signed RP Adam Froggatt.
Tuesday, April 8th , 2302
Goodneighbor Hancocks: Placed 2B Jumper Hayes on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to 04/07/2302.
Easy Town Assaultrons: Activated SS Matt Stoops from the restricted list.
Fort Hagen Silver Shroud: Signed RP Ivan Indexer.
Fort Hagen Silver Shroud: Signed RP Run Backes.
Fort Hagen Silver Shroud: Signed RP Archer Robinson.
Fort Hagen Silver Shroud: Released RP Run Backes.
Fort Hagen Silver Shroud: Released RP Archer Robinson.
Standings
Team Power Rankings
Weekly Team Power Rankings: Here are the current team power rankings for Commonwealth Baseball Organization:
Analysis
Two weeks in, and now we can see a little separation between the haves and the have nots. Concord (#1) appears to be the top among the haves, while Oberland (#24) are the nots. The Stags showed that have mentality by going 4-1 against the Brotherhood League for the second straight week. The T-51s followed up a 2-3 week with an 0-5 one against Minutemen League.
There are some other trends, some surprises both good and bad, and some shake ups in lineups. Let's start with the Power Five.
#1 Concord - As mentioned, the Stags come in as the number one team this week with the CBO's best record. Concord jumped up four spots from last week, showing consistency so far. The Stags started the week by defeating Finch Farm (#14) and then swept Easy Town (#23) and split with County Crossing (#19). Several Stags players are hitting lights out, led by LF Dan Erb (.324/3/8) and RF Gene Leftswipe (.378/0/3/2 SB).
#2 University Point - The Deathclaws have yet to lose a series against the Railroad League, but they have split 3 of 5, leading to a 3-2 week this week to drop them out of the top spot. The Claws completed their sweep of Vault 81 (#18), which got good news that their star Aesed Hayjen is on his way back from injury soon. University Point then split series with Egret (#21) and Diamond City (#13). The Claws' pitching has been pretty bad, currently 11th in the SCA in Starters ERA (4.85). Star 1B Barker Cocoa has struggled to get on base outside of power hits (.233/3/8). If those two factors improve, the Deathclaws could run away with the SCA much like Nordhagen Beach did last season in the NCA.
#3 - FHE - The Yao Guai did not do quite as well as last week, going 3-2, but they did only drop a spot as they maintain a tie for the SCA's best record. FHE started and ended the week with losses--Jamaica Plain (#8) and Quincy (#11)--but had three wins in a row midweek, including a sweep of Goodneighbor (#10) and a split with the Gunners. Pitching has been the key to the Radbears' success, especially ace Bow Rome (1-0, 0.90) who has allowed only two earned runs in 20.0 IP but has not had much run support from a team that is tied for 7th in the SCA in runs scored (42).
#4 Nordhagen Beach - The Party Boys enter the Top 5 after starting 8th the first week, going 4-1 in Week 2. The Boys completed a weep of Lexington (#9), swept Fort Hagen (#6), and then split with Abernathy (#5), dropping the Sunday game to end their seven-game winning streak. Like last year, the Boys' success begins with their pitching, which is just as spectacular as ever with the least runs allowed (29), third-best Starters ERA (3.23), and top Bullpen (0.98) where they have only allowed three earned runs on the season so far. Ace Beachboy Nut (2-0, 2.81) had one "bad" game against Lexington where he gave up four earned runs in a win. He followed that up by holding the Adamantium to six hits and an earned run in 8.0 IP.
#5 - Abernathy - After starting 4-0, the Adamantium have now lost 4 of 6, but BNN has them #5 in the Power Rankings because . . . ? We writers do not get to make all the decisions, but we can talk about what Abernathy is doing right, winning games they should not. First, for the week, they went 2-3, with both wins being shutouts. They started the week by being swept in a completed series against County Crossing (#19), split at Salem (#15), and then split with the Boys in two pitchers' duels. The team is tied for 10th in runs scored (39) and 6th in runs allowed (38), indicating they should be below .500. SP Brad Westing (1-0, 3.21) has been their best player.
Highs: Roxbury (#12) went 3-2 on the week to be 5-5 after the first two weeks. Those wins include completing a sweep of Warwick (#16), splitting with Jamaica Plain (#8), and splitting with Atom (#7), all on the road. Even better is that they got ace Nuke Laloosh back from his opening day injury. He pitched well in his one game back, allowing two earned runs in 6.0 IP against the Red Rockets in a no-decision Rad Sox loss.
Lows: County Crossing (#19) was PAM's pick to be the NCA's second-best team after the Party Boys. Instead, they are sitting at 4-6 with a recurring problem each game: they cannot score. This week they went 3-2, but those wins all came when they scored five runs--5-3 over Abernathy, 5-3 over Sunshine Tidings, and 6-3 over Concord. Those are the only three of the four games they have scored five runs all season, including an opening day 7-5 loss to Fort Hagen. Their one other win was a 4-2 victory over the Adamantium. Because of this scoring difficulties, the Bugs are 12th in runs scored (32) and surviving by being 2nd in runs allowed (30). SP Whip Lashley (1-0, 1.57) has been stellar but also has two no decisions thanks to a lack of run support. Six of eight of County Crossing's batters are batting below .200, including their first four hitters in the lineup: Ajani Peacock (.163/0/0), Taygun Topaloglu (.103/0/2), Babs Rooth (.194/3/7), and Cy Thompson (.114/1/3). Biter Trout (.333/0/3) and Long Hall (.324/3/8) are the only two players hitting well.
Bats out of Hell: Someone had better let the Atom Cats' SS Jake Doucette know that he is not supposed to be this good. He was the 3rd overall pick in the 2297 CBO Rookie Draft, but he is looking like an MVP this season. Doucette currently leads the CBO in Batting Average (.514), OBP (.571), Slugging (.919), OPS (1.490), WAR (1.3), Hits (19), Doubles (tied with 6), Total Bases (tied with 34), OPS+ (287), and wOBA (.625). He is also second in extra-base hits (9), and third in ISO (.405).
Bats out of Hell II: Not that he has not been a good player in the past, but The Slog's LF Chris Van Benschoten is playing above his level to start the 2302 season. The former Vault 81 pick in the 2296 Inaugural Draft (14th round) currently leads the NCA in Batting Average (.450), Slugging (.775), OPS (1.286), WAR (1.1), Hits (18), Runs (12), Total Bases (31), and wOBA (.549). He is also tied for 2nd in home runs (4), 5th in OBP (.511), tied for 6th in stolen bases (2), 2nd in OPS+ (237), and 4th in WPA (0.61). And he bats 7th in the lineup for the NCA's top offense!!!
Minor League Report
BMU
Standings
Players of the Week
CA: SS Mike McDonie, Malden (CC), 4/7 (.571), 3 HR, 5 RBI
MA: LF Kern Rifleman, Cabot House (Atom), 12/17 (.706), 2 HR, 8 RBI, 8 R
GBRL
Standings
Players of the Week
NL: CF Toppie Gunn, Sanctuary Hills (LEX), 9/14 (.643), 2 HR, 6 RBI
SL: RF Vince Eller, Atomatoys Factory (DC), 6/14 (.429), 4 HR, 7 RBI