Out of the Shadows: The Eclipse League

[luckymann]

The stars of today:

And tomorrow:

ShoTime wins the HR Derby, beating Jose Abreu in the final, while Ken Singleton leads the Fleet Conference to another ASG win.

[luckymann]

Perhaps not for the pitching fraternity, but for sheer excitement factor and star billing it'll be tough to beat.

[luckymann]

For those who prefer pitching duels, this one featuring two of the EL's best - the all-time wins leader (CC, 166) v the all-time pWAR leader (Dandy, 75) - lives up to expectations.

[luckymann]

In the seven EL seasons to date, just four teams have won 100 or more games, with the 1970 Black Yankees' 103 the most of any. As we pass the 100-game mark of this 1975 season, the Buckeyes sit at a remarkable 71-28, projecting them to 116 wins. They, of course, have complete control of the WC National with a 17.5-game lead. Both the Dodgers and EGs are also looking strong but still have plenty of work to do, while nobody seems to want to win the FC National and it looks set for a humdinger of a stretch run.

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Danny Tartabull (Giants) 398 / 5 HR / 17 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Hideo Nomo (Giants) 5-1 / 2.06 / 39 K / 48 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Hideo Nomo.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Pepe Mangual (Buckeyes) 350 / 2 HR / 16 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Shohei Ohtani (Buckeyes) 5-1 / 3.78 / 57 K / 50 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Ervin Santana (Motown Stars) 2-2 / 2.86 / 24 K / 44 IP.

In the TL, Brooklyn and Atlanta are trying to break clear but haven't quite managed to do so just yet. Both Francis races look like they'll be beauties.

In a case of careful what you wish for, Dwayne Murphy - seemingly well on his way to smashing the single-season HR record, needing just 13 to do so - is called up to the parent club. I somehow suspect he'll be OK with that.

[luckymann]

ShoTime and El Inmortal aren't the only guys who know how to light things up double-time.

[luckymann]

Not the greatest season for the Crawfs so far with them unlikely to figure late, but Darrell Jackson and Lou Whitaker give them a night to remember here - the first Perfect Game in Eclipse League history and a cycle to boot.

[luckymann]

Baseball's a funny old game. You can toil away at it with fair-to-middling and totally acceptable results for season after season and then, BOOM! - everything comes together like it has in the 1975 Eclipse League season for Cleveland's Andy "Pullman" Porter.

Born in Little Rock AR in 1911, Andy spent 15 seasons in the NeL from the early 1930s thru the late 1940s, almost exclusively for the various iterations of the Elite Giants franchise that is most closely aligned with Baltimore, but was based in Columbus, Nashville and Washington prior to that. His was a career in three acts, really - an early stint with these proto-EGs, a three year sojourn in the Mexican Leagues with some time also spent in the Cuban Winter League, then back to Baltimore and the NeL during the pre- and WW2 years.

Seamheads allots him a career 81-75 record and an ERA+ of 110, with 43 of those wins coming in NeL games. With his MLEs, Eric Chalek extrapolates that to a 26 pWAR career with 178 wins.

Andy lived to the ripe old age of 99.

In the EL, the Red Sox drafted Andy 237th overall in the 1968 Inaugural Draft, and he stayed in Memphis thru 1971, going 59-70 and never really hitting any great heights. He was traded in the 1971 offseason to the ABCs and spent just the 1972 year with the ABCs (winning a TL ring with the Clowns) before signing as a FA with Cleveland in '73.

His improvement since joining the Buckeyes has been nothing short of remarkable, the sort of transformation that makes GMs lose both sleep and gainful employment. He joined Cleveland a 63-72 pitcher with an ERA+ under 90. As a Buckeye in 1973-74, he went 36-25 with nearly 10 pWAR and was a member of the '73 Championship squad.

This, it seems, was just the opening act for 1975. At the time of writing, Andy sits at a stunning 20-2 - three wins more than any other pitcher - with an EL-best ERA of 2.45. He, ShoTime and the "Pride of Havana" Dolph Luque give the Bucks arguably the best 1-2-3 pitching combo in the EL, and have been a major reason why Cleveland has utterly dominated the WC National to this point, with a 79-37 record that leaves them nearly 20 games clear and almost guaranteed of another playoff run. Andy has also earned his second All-Star appearance and notched his 1000th career strikeout in the EL.

His contract with the Bucks runs out after this season, and I'll be very interested to see what they do with him now that his stocks have risen astronomically.

[luckymann]

Things are certainly getting interesting, with both Fleet Conference races set for thrilling conclusions and a bit of a stumble by the EGs just leaving the door ever so slightly ajar in the WCA. While the Buckeyes have cooled off a tad, they are home and hosed and still on pace for 110 wins.

• FC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Barry Bonds (Red Sox) 292 / 9 HR / 23 RBI.
• FC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Carlos Zambrano (Crawfords) 4-1 / 1.26 / 45 K / 50 IP.
• FC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: William Nash (Giants) 3-2 / 3.05 / 5 SV / 23 K / 20.2 IP.
• WC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Aaron Judge (Liberty Stars) 366 / 5 HR / 18 RBI.
• WC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Andy Porter (Buckeyes) 6-0 / 1.43 / 27 K / 50.1 IP.
• WC ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Miguel Cabrera (Grays) 255 / 8 HR / 19 RBI.

Meanwhile the TL sees little change from last month, with none of the races done and dusted just yet.

• CAC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Gary Redus (Black Crackers) 354 / 8 HR / 22 RBI.
• CAC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Chris Archer (White Sox) 4-2 / 2.74 / 29 K / 46 IP.
• FRC BATTER OF THE MONTH: Ty Gainey (Cubans) 340 / 3 HR / 21 RBI.
• FRC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Roy Branch (Tigers) 4-1 / 2.42 / 25 K / 44.2 IP.

[luckymann]

Memphis continues its moonwalk in the FC National, with the West now a couple games ahead of them. Still a chunk of time for them to turn things around, but this loss couldn't have come at a worse moment - Frijolito has been a vital cog for them both at and behind the plate.

I can't shed too much light on Jose Agustin Rodriguez. He spent most of his career playing in his native Cuba (where he was eventually elected to the HoF), with just three seasons' entries for him on Seamheads, who designate him primarily as a pitcher. Of those, only the 1922 season with the Cuban Stars West was in the NeL and he does not figure in EC's MLEs. Jim Riley does cover him sparingly, describing him as glove-heavy.

All of which is completely at odds with how he imports into the game, as you can see here - as a high-contact excellent-hitting catcher (clearly based on his 1918-19 season with Almendares). He does get some pitching ratings but not good enough for him to be used in a two-way capacity.

In the EL, JAR was taken very late in the 1973 Draft - fifth last, in fact - 96th of 100! This might turn out one of the league's more astute / lucky acquisitions if his early performance as any indication, with him already having accumulated more than 6 bWAR in a season and a bit and hitting around 300. Ratings project his power to develop, in which case he'll become elite.

As always, we'll keep an eye on him and revisit down the track.

[luckymann]

Well I liked that little storyline earlier in the season about Pop's disgruntlement at Hilldale, but it and he went nowhere and the A's are having the worst season in the club's history and he's still carving it up on occasion, as he does here. One has to presume that, come FA declarations, he'll be among them, given his contract is set to expire.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

In arguably the game of the season, the AGs show some of the fighting spirit that has been lacking in yet another disappointing EL campaign to come back from an 0-6 deficit to the Mons, score a single run in each of the 4th thru 9th frames and win it 7-6 in spares.

[luckymann]

The battle between the two Cuban clubs carries extra weight this year for the West, who find themselves leading the FCN well down the stretch.

All of which would make this sweep just that little bit sweeter. It leaves them ahead 5 to 3 in the series score.

[luckymann]

Tight races across the board but in the end no late drama.

Here are the final Top 20s by WAR.

So the Wolves will be shooting for a threepeat, while a win by any of the other three would be their first.

[luckymann]

Brooklyn and Detroit each barely raise a sweat to make it into this year's TL World Series in a rematch of the season before last.

[luckymann]

A big game for John in a big win for the East - a rare highlight for both in another tough season.

[luckymann]

No denying the Wolves as they take their third straight TL title in six.

[CubMariner]

That was really an amazing season of parity. 60-84 wins being the range from bottom to top...very balanced league!

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by CubMariner

That was really an amazing season of parity. 60-84 wins being the range from bottom to top...very balanced league!

The Transit League is fascinating, mainly because this save carries very little flab, player wise. Only 100-odd coming in every season so positions are at a premium. If you go back a few posts, you'll see just some of the pretty decent players stuck down there.

From 1976 onward, I'm increasing the Draft rounds from 5 to 6 and the players coming in to 175, including those entering as FAs. I'm also going to tick short-term injuries up to NORMAL from LOW and see how that goes, although I'll be flicking it back if things start going crazy with guys dropping like flies and keeping long-term injuries set to the minimum. Ideally, this will just mean the odd guy getting a niggle and missing short stints thereby opening up the bottom few slots on the EL rosters for some of these fringy guys to get more licks.

[luckymann]

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