[DoubleDub]

We are back with another season of the PBE Minor Leagues, Amarillo ended last season 4 games out of the playoffs. They finished the season on a pretty good run of form, my last article in this series listed out the players that Amarillo had lost during the offseason but also the players that they had gained during the offseason as well. The Dillos lost two of their best three bats from last season but there is more than enough talent to take over as we will see in the profiles below.

The PBE is a sim league with over 500 users to date, if you are looking for more information then please look at the first post in this thread. It’s still a great time for people to create, you would join the league as a waiver create and would still be able to play the full season before entering the Major League draft at the end of the season.

The Pitchers

Johnny Patey V2

Patey is the reigning Rookie of The Year in the Minor Leagues, he coupled that with being a late first round selection to the New York Voyagers in the recent Major League draft. Patey won 12 games last season and the scouting report on him is pretty straightforward - he doesn’t walk a lot of batters, he strikes out a lot of batters and throws straight gas.

Patey is a flamethrower but doesn’t let that impact his control too much, as per the flamethrower archetype he also makes sure to strike out a large amount of batters. He ranked in the top 5 in the league last season for his K/BB rate which shows how well his build clicked for him. He will be moving to the top of the Dillo rotation this season as they will look for him to continue his strong form from last season.

Patey accepts this pressure, when asked about his thoughts on the upcoming season he said: “At least a first round playoff series win or we blow the whole thing up”. Hopefully the Dillos come through and there isn’t a need to send any players to the Bad Place (Florida).

Jeronimo Ovechkin

The Boise Raptors prospect had a rough showing last season, he will be the first one to tell you that. But the humble as ever Ovechkin will leave out that he got no run support and was taking losses in games that he was pitching Quality Starts in. It started to come around for Jeronimo at the end of last season as he pitched well down the stretch.

Jeronimo will be taking the ball after Patey in the rotation this season and hopefully his strong Spring results are a sign of things to come. He pitched to a sub 2.5 ERA throughout Spring Training - the Dillos would love to count on that sort of production for the whole season.

Ovechkin himself is ready to bounce back this season, he grunted that “The Russian Machine does not break. I will throw the most innings in the league this season”. Amarillo will certainly hope this is the case with a relatively thin bullpen as we will soon see.

Wayne Wheeler

Wheeler struggled mightily last season, he ended up walking a lot of hitters for a pitcher who apparently makes his living with his control. He turned things around towards the end of last season including pitching well down the stretch of last season, this included a 3.80 ERA over his last 10 starts.

No longer a rookie, the Dillos will be looking for Wheeler to step up and help make the rotation a formidable unit that provides a strong showing no matter who takes the bump. When asked about the offseason, Wayne had this to say: “Zodiac & Joe know what they are doing, couple of good acquisitions during an offseason that we weren’t expecting much from. No excuses anymore, time to get a flag”. Americans need to tell Wheeler that you don’t get a flag from winning the World Series.

Anthony Simmons II

Simmons II was solid but not spectacular in the last Minor League season, with a 4.01 FIP and 2.2 WAR he was a dependable part of the rotation. He has continued this with a strong Spring Training that saw Anthony deliver a sub 3 ERA across his starts.

Simmons II is an example of a player that will need to step up for the Dillos if they are looking to make a run this season. With additional experience under his belt Simmons should be able to continue his Spring Training form over the course of the full season.

Crabstin d’Potson

A solid performer out of the pen for the entirety of last season, this season will look to be no different for d’Potson. However, he will be short of his partner in crime coming out of the pen at the back end of games - Duke Smith. With more pressure on Crabstin there will be an expectation that he sees more innings which he should be able to handle with more experience earnt.

He is the leader of a bullpen that is currently very inexperienced so there will be high expectations for d’Potson. If last season is anything to go by then he is more than ready for any challenge that this season throws at him.

Evan Earley

Well Evan Earley has gone ahead and made sure that I had to update this article at the 11th hour, a late waiver pick-up he will be placed onto the Amarillo roster right before opening day of Season 39. Earley, a junkballer from Houston, Texas has again shown that there is in fact a waiver god that listens to the prayers from Zodiac & Joe.

In Season 39, Earley will see work primarily out of the bullpen as I touched on earlier this is a major weak spot for the Dillos. Prior to claiming Evan, Amarillo were left with only one active user in the bullpen - Crabstin d’Potson. With Earley in the mix Amarillo will be able to get much more consistent innings out of their bullpen, after this season we will most likely see Earley move to the starting rotation when one of the Amarillo veterans are promoted to the Major Leagues.

When asked about his philosophy with baseball, Earley noted “well, the only thing promised in life is death”. No doubt that Earley will work hard to make the most of this opportunity that presents itself to him and to the Dillos.

Catcher & Infielders

Cash Thompson

If you caught my last article then you would have seen that the waiver gods smiled down on the Dillos when they were able to get Cash Thompson to fill a hole immediately after the Minor League Draft. In Spring Training Cash showed his worth, with a .357 batting average, 2 Home Runs and 10 Runners batted in as he stepped immediately into the middle of the lineup.

Thompson has big shoes to fill as Zodiac Bluesky made his way to the Big Leagues, this hasn’t intimidated Cash as he has made an immediate impression on his Dillo teammates. Thompson has mentioned that he is hoping to show the league who the next up and coming prospect is in the Minor Leagues.

JewThe TheJew

TheJew is the best returning bat from last season for Amarillo, his bat got exceptionally hot towards the end of last season as he made up late ground on Franklin DeMars who ended up leading the Dillos in most hitting categories last season. TheJew will man first base in what will most likely be his last season with Amarillo before he is called up to an improving Indianapolis squad.

The Dillos will be looking for more of the same from TheJew this season, he will take on the 3 hole that DeMars left vacant with his departure. With a lot of the star power removed from the Amarillo lineup it will be up to TheJew to step up and try to reach new heights this season.

Binker McTavish

McTavish was Amarillo’s first selection in the most recent draft, although this was a second round selection there is definitely the feeling that Binker will step up and produce right away for the Dillos. McTavish’s calling card is his ability to get on base, but this didn’t stop him from showcasing a bit of pop in Spring Training. In Spring Training he managed to hit .364 while slugging 2 Home Runs and bringing in 11 runners.

The Amarillo pitchers are happy to see Binker out there as well, with a natural 2nd baseman in the infield there will sure be better results for them also. McTavish enjoys the simple comforts of life offering up the line “I love the smell of freshly cut grass in the morning along with leather” when he was quizzed for a quote about himself.

Jake Mitchell

Mitchell nearly wrote himself into the history books last season when he nearly broke (Current GM) Zodiac Bluesky’s record for most walks in a season. Mitchell will no doubt have his eyes on that record when the season begins, Jake will be manning the hot corner for the Dillos as well as batting leadoff. Mitchell performed strongly in Spring Training, with a change of approach halfway through last season that has seen him become more patient at the plate.

Mitchell also has defensive chops winning a Gold Glove at third base a couple of seasons back, if he can bring this form back as well then the Dillos will have a formidable defense to back their starters. Mitchell will be under more pressure at the plate, with Bluesky moving onto the Toros he will need to shoulder more of the load at the top of the order to give bats like TheJew and Steiner a chance to bring him home.

Outfielders & Designated Hitter

Adelbert Steiner

Steiner joined the Dillo’s halfway through last season but made an immediate impression with both his bat and his glove. He found his way on base often when hitting which was paired with a few assists from the outfield, this was enough to earn Adelbert a couple of Rookie of the Year votes even though he played substantially less games than the others.

This season Amarillo will look to Steiner to be an integral part of the order, early indications show that Adelbert is tabbed to take over the clean up spot in the order behind TheJew while manning Right Field. Having Steiner take the step forward to be a consistent threat to Minor League pitching will be key for the Amarillo offense to be competitive this season.

Pelle Schuldiner

Pelle is coming off a stellar rookie year, he was named to the all-star game and he finished top 3 in both the Center Field Silver Slugger and Golden Glove. A first round draft pick in the draft prior to last season, Schuldiner was an instant performer for the Dillos. He occupied the middle of the order, hit at a steady clip and stole more than enough bases to be considered a true threat on the base paths.

Due to the aforementioned departures for the Dillo’s this season will see Pelle take up a more important role in the lineup. He will man the vacant two hole behind Mitchell, both Schuldiner and Mitchell get on base at a decent clip so the hope will be to have some ducks on the pond when the big bats come up.

Message from the Front Office

It’s tough to tie down the self-proclaimed “Greatest GM’s in league history”, but I was finally able to track them down. When quizzed on what they expected from the Dillos this season Zodiac exclaimed the following: "Any team that stands in our way will be sent to the burrow of misery, Dillo Dillo!”

The duo have worked wonders this offseason - they managed to get a trade that got an inactive pitcher that will give the team some much needed depth in the bullpen. The trade to still get the man (McTavish) they wanted at #16 while acquiring an additional pick was an absolute master stroke.

You may have been wondering where the rest of the squad is, well due to the limitations of the Minor Leagues (can be seen in an above post) it is very rare for a team to have a full roster of active players. The Dillos have a few inactives in our lineup and coming out of the pen who will be pivotal to the teams success but not worth a write up for the sake of this article not being more than 3,000 words.

From my point of view I think that the Dillo’s should make the playoffs. They now have a relatively experienced lineup and the pitching should go from being one of the weakest in the league to one of the strongest rotations. What happens in the playoffs? Well who the heck knows - that's up to the sim gods.

Dillo! Dillo!