[bpbrooksy]

Meet the Baltimore Barbers

As I created this league, I had the sense in my head that I would be taking over the Chicago Railers. I'm originally from Minneapolis, and partake in a die-hard Twins fandom, but it's too early to put a team there. I currently live in Chicago, so the Railers seemed like a natural fit. But as I set up the logos, the parks, and the structure of the league, I found myself increasingly drawn to the Barbers. I really dug their uniforms and logos -- which, in a league with no history, is really all you can go off of. It was an impulse decision, but I have chosen the Baltimore Barbers as the team we'll be going on this adventure with.

The Owner

The Barbers are owned by 52-year-old Allen Johnson, born in 1848 in a town called North Olmsted, Ohio. As owner of the team, he's expected to be a hands-off economizer with a focus on profit. As expected, he's pretty ecstatic about running a baseball team. He's a decently young chap, so we'll probably be operating under his direction for a while.

The Personnel

We will be putting a lot of faith in Arizona native Tyler Pease, the head of our scouting department. As this is a pure stats-only setup, we'll need to consult Pease for a second opinion when a peek into the advanced stats isn't quite illuminating enough.

The day-to-day management (read: someone to blame when I make poor in-game decisions) is 43-year-old Dominican, David Ortiz. He's a fan of smallball and staying under the radar.

The rest of the coaching staff includes bench coach Pete Ricard, pitching coach Joel Lamberth, hitting coach Will Ritter, and trainer D.J. Beltran.

Meeting the Team

All right, here it is. The moment we've all been waiting for. It's time to take a look at this roster.

PROJECTED STARTING ROTATION
1. RHP Jason Brockway
2. RHP Jason Mango
3. RHP Marcos Latorre
4. RHP Fernando Rios
5. LHP Jake Thompson

Two Jasons, and one of them is named Mango. I love it already.

Brockway was the third-round pick in the inaugural draft, due to a combination of his young age (26) and high velocity (a fastball in the high 90's.) He had an awful spring debut (five runs and only two outs recorded) but only gave up one run in his three subsequent appearances. He will be Baltimore's first-ever Opening Day starter.

Mango was selected shortly after Brockway. His pitches have a lot of movement on them, and he relies on deceiving hitters to induce weak contact to all parts of the field.

The remaining three are softer-tossing, run-of-the-mill middle starters. No gauge on them yet.

PROJECTED BULLPEN
Long Relief: RHP John Kahmann
Middle Relief: RHP Mike Lumaj
Middle Relief: RHP B.J. Perez
Middle Relief: RHP Andres Hernandez
Specialist: LHP Alex Martinez
Setup: LHP Jackson Rideout
Closer: LHP Jesse DeTar

First and foremost, back at it again with the brilliant names. Jackson Rideout is gonna be the kind of arm we can ride for outs. He's a groundball pitcher with a good couple offspeed pitches.To start the year, he'll be doing the setting up for fellow southpaw Jesse DeTar, who throws two pitches -- fastball, splitter -- straight over the top. He had six saves and an 0.93 ERA this spring, and is just 26.

Running it back to the front end of the pen, 27-year-old John Kahmann can throw nearly 100 mph, and will probably be the first guy to get a look should one of our starters go down.

PROJECTED LINEUP
1. LHB Mike Rice, 3B
2. LHB Juan Burgos, CF
3. RHB Mike Kirkendall, 1B
4. LHB Pedro Marquez, LF
5. RHB Alex Ariano, 2B
6. RHB David Sale, RF
7. LHB Vicente Torres, SS
8. RHB Octavio Comparan, C


The big name to watch here is second-round pick Mike Kirkendall over at first. Head scout Tyler Pease's assessment of the righty is that of a top-tier slugger with 30-homer power and excellent discipline. Impressively, 98th-round pick David Sale made the team out of spring training and can play all three outfield positions.

PROJECTED BENCH
C Alberto Angulo, RHB
1B Dan Tyler, RHB
IF Trevor McCord, RHB
LF/RF Adrian Brown, RHB
LF/RF Jeff Lomax, RHB


Turns out there are no switch-hitters on this entire roster, nor any lefties immediately available off the bench. Right off the bat, I will be seeing if we have any lefty catcher options in our minor-league system. Not that Angulo has done anything wrong, but it could be beneficial to the team to have an opposite-handed catching tandem.

Trevor McCord is gonna be a big help for the team, being able to man all four positions around the horn. He's more intelligent than he is athletic; a below-average hitter with below-average speed, but excellent defensive and baserunning instincts (at least according to Tyler Pease.)

That brings us to Dave Kolb. The 26-year-old 3B/CF was the Barbers' first-round pick in the inaugural draft, but fractured his tibia during spring training and will be out of action for at least a month. It's unclear yet as to whether or not Kolb will be a better infielder or outfielder, but perhaps some rehab time in the minor leagues will help us answer that question before he makes his debut. (A fun thing about pure stats-only is needing to actually see these guys in action before making judgments on them. I won't send him to third because he has a 65 rating or whatever - I'll be going off of the data from his in-game performances.)

Meeting the Affiliates

The Barbers have three minor-league affiliates. Like every other team, their minor-league squads are located in-state. They include the Triple-A Frederick Bees, the Double-A Rockville Beacons, and the Single-A Gaithersburg Ravens. Some early names to keep in your head are Zach Gieselman (ULB-AA) and Billy Shirey (ULB-A.)

The Ballpark

The Barbers will play their home games at the beautiful Harborview Park. An eight-foot wall wraps evenly around the outfield, which is 330 to left, 405 to center, and 330 to right. It seats 5,000 fans and doesn't particularly favor a certain handedness.

Next up...

The season is about to begin. Opening Day, and the dawn of the ULB, is on deck!