Sheffield Mountain Hares – First-Half Report
Logo by @20_range
Overview
At the midway point, the Sheffield Mountain Hares look like a classic high-variance club: a deep, relentless lineup, a rotation that veers between excellent and exasperating, and a defence that’s quietly become one of the team’s strengths. A handful of stars have clearly separated themselves – especially
Eskinder Ali, who is making a strong case as the club’s overall MVP from both sides of the ball.
Offensive Standouts
The headline story is the bat of Central African two-way star
Eskinder Ali. Despite being listed as a starter, Ali leads the club with
3.1 WAR, hitting
.323/.405/.609 with
18 HR, 50 RBI, 13 SB and 143 total bases. He’s been the most complete offensive player on the roster and sits comfortably above a 1.000 OPS.
Behind him, American catcher
Adam Koehler is having a superb first half:
.272/.343/.535,
17 HR and
2.6 WAR in 62 games. For a 6’8” catcher carrying a huge defensive workload, that level of production is enormously valuable.
The outfield has been a strength. Colombian right fielder
Jesus Morales is at
.290/.356/.460 with 7 homers, 18 steals and
1.9 WAR, while Moroccan centre fielder
Nsen Ngunda sits at
.270/.317/.443 with 23 doubles, 4 triples, 7 homers and 40 RBI (
1.5 WAR). Both combine solid bats with above-average speed.
On the infield, American shortstop
Jon Milz is matching his glove with the bat:
.271/.344/.402, 6 homers and
1.9 WAR. Australian second baseman
Rob Graham adds
.268/.330/.472 with 10 homers and 22 doubles, good for
1.1 WAR, while the corner mix of Swedish first baseman
Espen Aas (
.239/.366/.492, 16 HR) and Honduran slugger
Sergio Rutz (
.242/.328/.459, 18 HR, 15 SB) gives the Hares plenty of power options.
Underperforming Bats
The main underachievers so far are in the depth roles. Romanian third baseman
Dan Jula is at
.222/.296/.353, and Afghan first baseman
Abdul-Karim bin Jameel (
.274/.417/.393) is getting on base but with limited power. Veteran catcher
Drew Worsfold has struggled to a
.214/.244/.214 line, and
Yakov Tolochko is hitless in his tiny sample. None of these slumps are fatal, but they’ve kept Sheffield from having a truly top-to-bottom terrifying lineup.
Rotation & Bullpen
On the mound, the most consistent starting contributor has been English left-hander
Isaac Saville. He leads the staff in innings with
97.1 IP, posting a
3.88 ERA,
1.26 WHIP and
70 K, good for
1.3 WAR. His combination of decent strikeout numbers and strong hit suppression (opponents hitting just .238) anchors the rotation.
Workhorse Algerian right-hander
Yushua bin Saqr has thrown
80.2 IP with a
5.58 ERA but still grades out at
1.7 WAR, thanks to his workload and peripherals. Austrian starter
Alois Herzog mirrors that profile:
5.56 ERA,
1.3 WAR in 77.2 innings – frustrating run prevention, but enough strikeouts to retain value.
Central African right-hander
Eskinder Ali adds
1.5 WAR on the mound alone:
4.62 ERA,
67 K in 64.1 IP, and a strong
9.37 K/9 with a
3.70 FIP. In a smaller sample, Spanish starter
Rey Ochoa has dazzled with a
2.67 ERA over 27 innings and an opponent average of .188.
In the bullpen, Filipino closer
Nestor Barrios continues to be a rock:
6–2, 14 SV, 3.31 ERA, a tidy
1.10 WHIP and an excellent
3.55 FIP. Among the middle relievers, things are spottier, but Egyptian right-hander
Sarsour Burhan (4.24 ERA, strong strikeout rate) has shown promise.
Struggling Arms
The bullpen’s soft underbelly is clear: Colombian right-hander
Ivan Paez, Cuban swingman
Alex Sandoval,
Francisco Flores,
Seth Phillips, Chinese right-hander
Liu-chun Zhang and Japanese veteran
Mototomi Motoyanagi all carry ERAs between 5.2 and 6.8 with negative WAR. Too many free passes (Paez’s 5.69 BB/9, Motoyanagi’s 8.10 BB/9) and home runs have turned close games into uphill battles.
Defence & Fielding Standouts
Defensively, Sheffield have some genuine plus gloves:
- []Shortstop Jon Milz has been elite: over 629 innings he owns a [.978] fielding percentage, strong range and a +6.0 ZR, making him the clear anchor of the infield.
[]Second baseman Rob Graham has been a steady presence at second with a [.988] fielding percentage across nearly 600 innings.
[]Behind the plate, Adam Koehler has just one error and manages a heavy workload with a [.998] fielding percentage.
[]In the outfield, Eskinder Ali has been flawless in left (no errors, positive ZR), while Jesus Morales carries a perfect fielding percentage and a healthy positive ZR in right. Nsen Ngunda is almost error-free in centre and grades out well on range and efficiency.
On the flip side,
Sergio Rutz has a strong .996 at first but a negative ZR, and a couple of infielders (Jula at third, Abdul-Karim at second in a tiny sample) have leaked some runs. On the mound, Motoyanagi, Barrios, Paez and Herzog have all committed multiple errors, while Saville, Ali and Ochoa remain spotless.
Early Team Award Favourites- []Batter of the Year: Eskinder Ali – a 1.014 OPS, team-leading WAR and middle-order presence put him ahead of Koehler and the Morales/Milz tier.
[]Pitcher of the Year: Isaac Saville – workload, ERA and solid peripherals give him a narrow edge over Yushua bin Saqr and Eskinder Ali, with Nestor Barrios and Rey Ochoa looming as high-impact, lower-innings candidates.
- Fielder of the Year: Jon Milz – combines heavy innings at short with excellent efficiency and a big positive zone rating. Challengers include Eskinder Ali (error-free and plus in left) and Jesus Morales (clean, positive ZR in right), but Milz’s impact at a premium spot gives him the edge.