The W.P. Kinsella League random update thread

[BirdWatcher]

I'm not going to lie to you, this one makes me sad. (And isn't that part of what makes this game- OOTP, that is- great. A digital representation of a completely fictional baseball player is forced to retire prematurely due to an injury and I have an honest to goodness emotional reaction to the news.)


Jose Casillas was on the way to one of the finest seasons in his already strong career last season when he suffers a season ending injury on August 20th and requires elbow ligament reconstruction surgery. And now, about 8 months later, we learn that his recovery is not going well and he's stepping away from the game, at least as a player.




Casillas finishes his big league career with an impressive record of 211-152 with a career ERA of 3.83 and a WAR of 62.2. Although he never won a Harris/Lee award (formerly known as the Pitcher of the Year award) he did lead the league twice in strikeouts, three times in games started, and once in wins (when he went 18-8 in 1975). He had a 4-season stretch where he won 19, 18, 18, and 19 games respectively and had 9 WPK seasons where he collected at least 15 wins. He ends his career tied for 2nd All-Time in wins (with Hall of Famer Jake Harris), first in strikeouts with 2,300, sixth in games started with 451, ninth in complete games at 126, and tenth in WAR.

Casillas was a fan favorite, renowned for both his team loyalty and his great work ethic. But he often flew under the radar, being more consistent than flashy, and was named to an All-Star squad just twice. He does at least leave the game having been part of two WPK championship teams, having been part of the Washington Night Train's 1971 championship club as well as a member of the 1980 San Antonio Keys. He got to finish his career where he started, pitching parts of two seasons back in Washington. where he is beloved by the fans, who are in a sort of mourning today.
It would appear that Casillas will ultimately fall short of Hall of Fame induction, but he won't soon be forgotten. And many speculate that before too long another path in the game will open up for him, perhaps as a pitching coach.

[BirdWatcher]

The Denver Brewers, after having started the season by getting swept in a 3-game series in Portland against the Wild Things, turned things around to end the week with a 4-game sweep of the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings in OKC.

Veteran center fielder Joe McPhillips played a big role in helping them win the last game, an 12-10, 12-inning come-from-behind slugfest.



Give credit also to Russell Fleming, who continues his pattern from last season of getting big clutch hits. In this one he hit the 12th inning one-out, two-run double that put the Brewers on top to stay. And that just capped off a 4 for 6, 2 runs scored, 3 RBI, day in which he hit a pair of doubles.

The Brewers were in an early hole in this one as last year's winner of what is now called the Harris/Lee award (Pitcher of the Year), Eric Maisch, had his second rough outing of the season thus far. Maisch, who gave up 4 runs on 8 hits over 5 2/3rds innings in his first start (he did record 10 K's) against Portland, was even worse in this one- allowing 7 runs on 10 hits in just 4 innings pitched. Fortunately the bullpen was mostly good and the bats were booming (the Brewers collected 24 hits in this one, while the Diamond Kings had 18) and he was spared a second loss of the first week of the 1983 season.
Brett Taranto, who became the first batter to hit over .400 in a season (among qualifiers for the batting title) in 1982, went 4 for 7 and is off to a .464/.500/.607 start to 1983.



The Brewers got a much easier win in the first game of the Sunday doubleheader when Jim Atwell worked 8 2/3rds innings of shutout, 5-hit, 8K, ball.

[BirdWatcher]

The Charlotte Sting received a huge blow to their hopes of contending for the MGL East title this year when they lost their 26-year old closer Vinny Arreola, the reigning MGL Reliever of the Year and considered by many to the best at his position in the game, to a torn meniscus.



One saving grace is that they have a 22-year old flamethrower in their 'pen (though likely destined to be in the starting rotation eventually) named Matt Webster. The question though is whether the control-challenged Webster is ready to take over this crucial role. He appeared in 22 games in relief for the Sting last season and went 2-5 with a 4.95 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP. There is no doubt he has the stuff to blow batters away but he is very prone to wildness and the long ball. He is also rumored to be on the selfish side and not the solid citizen Arreola is.

[BirdWatcher]

With the vaunted Denver Brewers starting rotation off to a somewhat slow start, their 26-year old left-handed #4 hurler Austin Bond has now won his first two starts without allowing a run, earned or unearned.
Yesterday, in game 2 of a doubleheader (Tuesday's home opener having been called due to inclement weather in Denver), having seen rotation mate Bryant Cox pitch a fine 7 1/3rd innings of 1-run, 7-hit ball, striking out 7 and walking none in the opener, only to see his team lose 3-2 to St. Louis in 12 innings, Bond hurled a complete game shutout to lead the Brewers to a 9-0 victory in the nightcap.





And don't let the final score lead you to believe that there wasn't much pressure on Bond in this one. In fact, the home team had just a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the 7th and scored 5 of their runs in the 8th.
Credit rookie catcher Jesse Cooper for being a big part of the offense in this one, going 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 2 driven in and hitting his first double of the season. (It should be noted that the Brewers new catching combination of Cooper and second-year Brewer Willie Ortega, is off to a great start. Former Brewer starter Zacarias Martell remains without a club for the second straight season as for reasons unknown he has remained unsigned as a free agent and he has now been joined by Kirk Patnode on that list this season.)

[BirdWatcher]

Yesterday, Houston's 26-year old right fielder Matt Wright clubbed 5 hits, scoring 6 runs and driving in 3, to help his Cavaliers to a 13-4 win over the Jacksonville Wolf Pack.



That is noteworthy enough game but even more interesting as it feels like a near repeat of a game from a little less than three weeks ago when Wright also collected 5 hits, leading his team to a much closer 3-2 victory over Columbus.



What is perhaps most impressive is that the Cavaliers picked up Wright off waivers from the Washington Night Train in the off-season after the 1980 season. He then proceeded to win the SJL Rookie of the Year in the following season, putting together a .303/.330/.472, 4.3 WAR 1981 season. Although he regressed a bit in 1982 with a 1.8 WAR season, he did hit a consistent .312/.344/.438 with most of his WAR slide coming from a switch from left field to right field where his defensive skills are more suspect.
Still, when you add in 22-year old budding superstar (future MVP) Alex Raymos (.340/.443/.640) in left field and the talented (but injury-prone) Gold Glover Chris Heisler in center field, you have a talented trio of young outfielders in Houston. The Cavaliers are off to a 4-10 start in 1983, but the future is promising and if one thing is certain it is that the current woes can't be blamed on Wright, who is doing more than his part.

[BirdWatcher]

I don't use it.
Nothing against it- think it's a great idea for those who love to play out their games in a managerial role. Although I do play out all the Denver Brewers games, controlling only substitutions, I just don't feel the need for the granularity and added complication of using the warmup rule.

And so here we are, 16 games into the 1983 Brewers season, sitting at 8-8 and with a bullpen that is ranked 8th in ERA at 4.10. One of our owner's directives this year was to improve in this area. And since we were 12th last year, we have somewhat accomplished that so far.
But our left-handed stopper Jeff Mariani is off to a horrible start with a 10.12 ERA in his first 6 appearances. And others have seemed to struggle more than I expected as well.

Now, back to the title of this post.
Most of the way through our latest loss, while going in to substitute a pinch-hitter for our 2nd reliever in the game, it suddenly dawned on me that something looked different on the screen for some reason. And then it hit me, like a ton of bricks dropped from a giant crane that has been hanging over my managerial head for 15 plus games of the season- the stupid Warmup rule is turned on! Holy crap. How did I miss this until now.
My poor relievers- I've just been sending them out there cold, day after day, game after game.
I'd like to say rookie mistake. Except I am no longer anything like a rookie at this. So let's call it managerial senility.

Hoo boy.
Well, hopefully now that I figured it out our relievers will start to have better success.


(I wasn't going to say this yet- and it doesn't really have any direct connection to this silly mistake- but I have been thinking that this is the last season in which I will be both the G.M. and the on-field manager for the Brewers. I think it is time to hire a manager and just assume a more traditional G.M. role. Maybe I should have done that sooner, though. )

[BirdWatcher]

Chris Tobin, the 36-year old veteran star third baseman of the Boston Berserkers, yesterday joined the 2,500 hit club, becoming just the sixth WPK player to reach this milestone.



Tobin is a 2-time league MVP, a 10-time All-Star and 10-time Silver Slugger winner (all but the most recent coming as a shortstop). There is a good chance he will eventually be enshrined in the WPK Hall of Fame in Dubuque, Iowa. He already has the JAWS score (56.3) that would indicate at least a serious candidate and his WAR (65.5) is nearly there, while his 109 Hall of Fame Monitor score is not a sure-thing number yet but it wouldn't take much more to get it there. After a 6.9 WAR 1982 season he is only on pace for 2.1 this season but he remains an offensive force and is a pretty decent defensive third baseman as well. Although he is considered a bit of a jerk (selfish) he is known to have a good work ethic and he's durable.
It says here he likely eventually gets a plaque in Dubuque.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers 23-year old right-handed starting pitcher Eric Maisch is coming off a 21-4 1982 season which saw him win the Harris/Lee (formerly Pitcher of the Year) award in the MGL.

And he followed that up by getting off to a dismal start in the 1983 season, going 0-2 with a 7.03 ERA in his first 4 starts. In his 5th start, he was finally starting to look like the talented pitcher he is known to be, and headed into the 4th inning having not allowed a hit, having struck out 4 batters and walked just 1. And then, after getting the first batter of the 4th to hit into a groundball out, he could be seen wincing in pain on the mound. Brewers long-time team trainer Rusty Joseph and manager Barry Allen came out to check in on their young star hurler, and that was the end of his day. The Brewers won the game 5-0, getting strong relief from Paul Johnson (2-1, 2 saves, 1.06 ERA) and Brandon Veach (0-1, 1 save, 3.29 ERA), but they lost an Ace.



And, as it turns out, possibly the end of his season, with the most optimistic predictions being that he might be able to return to action in late August but realistically it is most likely that he might have a few starts at the tail end of the regular season after a bit of an extended rehab stint. The diagnosis of an arthritic throwing elbow also raises some fears that he may never have a season close to as good as the one he just had. But he is young and this is the first arm injury of his professional career. So the Brewers can only hope that the young man bounces back in 1984.

[BirdWatcher]

Entering May of the 1983 season, here are the standings:




As you can see, the San Antonio Keys and El Paso Dawgs both ended the first month of the season struggling a bit and saw the Chicago Fire, led by a pair of youngsters in 22-year old shortstop Pat Thompson (.353/.389/.441) and the SJL Rookie of the Month 25-year old left fielder Alex Martinez (.343/.375/.533), catch up to them in a virtual tie at the top of the SJL West standings. The Fire also have a young and talented pitching staff and appear to be a team on the rise. The same could also be true of their fellow expansion club (both entered the WPK in 1975), the Houston Cavaliers, whose budding superstar left fielder Alex Raymos (.341/.472/.707) was the SJL Batter of the Month.

Over in the SJL East, the reigning division pennant winner Washington is off to another solid start largely on the strength of the top scoring offense in the SJL. The Night Train's 36-year old veteran first baseman Luis Gonzales (.358/.430/.687) is off to a great start. And 39-year old right handed starting pitcher Mike Stagner is off to a 4-1 start (4.23 ERA) and with one more victory will get to 200 career wins. Philly is tied with Washington and has received very good pitching, with 22-year old left-handed starter Bill Hritz now 4-1 with a 3.35 ERA. In spite of a great start for superstar Matt Van der Heyden (.427/.561/.695), returning from an injury-shortened 1982 season, the formerly dominant Pittsburgh Roadrunners find themselves in last place with the worst record in the SJL. Chalk that up mostly to an underperforming pitching staff and poor defense.

Over in the MGL West, the Denver Brewers finish the month of April by winning 7 of their last 10 games to get into a virtual tie with Portland. Brett Taranto once again leads the MGL in batting average (.388), while left handed starting pitcher Austin Bond leads in ERA (1.95). Portland has allowed the fewest runs in the league with an excellent bullpen and a trio of excellent young starting pitchers at the top of their rotation. Their 23-year old second baseman Jon Lentz (.348/.370/.479) was named the MGL Rookie of the Month but they have mostly been without their Gold Glove shortstop Willie Romero, the best defensive player in the game, and their defensive numbers are noticeably down thus far.

Over in the MGL East, the Brooklyn Aces have the best record at this stage of the season in all of the WPK. Third baseman Andy Raley (.373/.385/.618), the MGL Batter of the Month, has been a bright spot in a lineup that has actually underperformed a bit thus far. 34-year old left-handed starter Joel Travino is off to a 5-0 start with an impressive 2.40 ERA. Baltimore's Sako Zakian, the MGL Harris/Lee award winner in 1981, is also 5-0 and has an even better 2.03 ERA and was named the MGL Pitcher of the Month for April. Detroit and Oklahoma City (last year's MGL East pennant winners) are trying to stay close as well with Charlotte and Montreal already, even at this early stage of the season, looking like also-rans.

A quick look at some of the basic stats for the Denver Brewers thus far:



Center fielder Joe McPhillips is off to a great start at the plate at age 34, though the signs are that his defense in center is eroding and he would be more suited for right field at this stage of his career. (Of course, that is the primary position for 3-time MGL MVP and 2-time Gold Glover Antonio Acuna, so that's a bit tricky.) The catching tandem of Willie Ortega (.333/.400/.352) and Jesse Cooper (.366/.400/.585) are off to a great start in their first year essentially sharing the job.

[BirdWatcher]

It seems like so very many years ago when a young fireballing Harry Lyerly took the WPK world by storm, winning the MGL Harris/Lee (then known as the Pitcher of the Year) award in 1970 at the tender age of 22 as a member of the Denver Brewers. The concern with Lyerly was always his propensity to give up the long ball as there was never any doubt about his dominant stuff, hitting triple digits in velocity often at that age. And while he would string together 6 plus mostly good (and at times great) seasons for the Brewers, his manifest weaknesses did eventually catch up to him. Since age 28 he has been in and out of the big leagues, mostly throwing his elite fastball by AAA hitters during those years. Now age 35, Harry is still humbling much younger minor league batters with his nasty stuff, even if he has lost a bit of velocity over the years. Yesterday he showed the world once again just how dominant he can be on occasion, hurling a 2-hit shutout as a member of the Philadelphia Mud Hens' AAA affiliate, the Louisville Mud Hens. Lyerly struck out 13 young overwhelmed batters while walking just one.



Meanwhile, the Denver Brewers got another excellent start from 26-year old left-handed starting pitcher Austin Bond who improves to 5-0 with a 1.96 ERA. In what has been a mostly disappointing early season for the Brewers, and with two of the three aces of the staff- Sadahige Kawasaki and Eric Maisch- on the 60-day IL and with neither expected back until very late in the season, if at all this year, and with the third ace, Jim Atwell, off to a 1-3, 5.04 start, Bond is the biggest bright spot in the rotation thus far. Bond did go 19-6 in his rookie season of 1980 and when healthy has been quite solid since, but before the season nobody would have predicted that more than a month into the season he would look like the staff ace.

[BirdWatcher]

At age 39, veteran right-handed workhorse Mike Stagner, the 1973 MGL Harris/Lee (Pitcher of the Year) award winner, became the 6th pitcher in WPK history to record 200 career wins. Five more wins this season would get him into a tie with Hall of Famer Cheol-han Lee and 9 more puts him into a tie for 4th place with Jason Wilson.



Stagner, the first overall pick in the 1966 amateur draft out of San Antonio College, is unlikely to ever be inducted into the WPK Hall of Fame but there can be no doubt that the durable ground-ball specialist has had a fine career and as a member of the reigning SJL East champs, the Washington Night Train, who are off to a strong start to the 1983 season, he is hoping for a chance to finally get a championship ring at the end of this season.

[BirdWatcher]

Austin Bond gets yet another victory to improve to 8-0 to start the 1983 season with the 3rd lowest ERA in the MGL at 2.45. In this latest win, Bond even contributed a 2-run double to his own cause. Although Bond is not the worst hitting pitcher in the league, he does carry a -13 OPS in 29 plate appearances this season. (It is the 7th double of his career- in 242 PA's- and he also has 2 career homers.)



The biggest offensive contributor was veteran left fielder Val Guzman (.304/.372/.503), who went 4 for 5, driving in a pair of runs and scoring once. At age 29, the hard-working clubhouse leader Guzman just continues to be one of the more reliable members of the team and even has seen his defensive metrics showing that he is having his best year in the field since 1979, after a few subpar seasons (-4.9 ZR in 1981, -1.0 ZR in '82).

This is probably the point where I should say that these are my two favorite current Brewers players. And probably my favorite reliever in the Brewers bullpen- 25-year old righty Paul Johnson- got the save in this one. Johnson, a Rule 5 draft pick by the Brewers in 1979, appears to be on the way to his best season as a Brewer yet. He is 3-1, has 3 saves in 3 opportunities, has a 1.91 ERA and 0.91 WHIP. Granted, his BABIP is unsustainably low (.220) but his FIP is a very respectable 3.27 (FIP- is 75), he has a WPA of 0.9 and only 2 of his 11 inherited runners have scored.

[BirdWatcher]

As we enter the month of June in the 1983 W.P. Kinsella League season, let's take a look at the current standings:




It comes as no surprise that the San Antonio Keys and El Paso Dawgs are once again at the top of the SJL West standings but it is nice to see the Chicago Fire get off to a decent start as they strive to have their first winning season in this 9th season as a team.
The Keys are again being led by the reigning SJL MVP John Mussaw, currently playing his original position of shortstop with team captain and future Hall of Fame shortstop Bud Lindsay currently on the IL with chronic back pain. 30-year old slugging left fielder John Freeman (.304/.397/.576) has hit 14 bombs as the cleanup hitter. The San Antonio pitching staff isn't great (though 25-year old control specialist Humberto Ramirez has emerged as one of the league's better pitchers) but their high-powered offense continues to keep them at or near the top of the standings. El Paso, formerly more of a pitching and defense first club, have become a better hitting team, with strong contributions from leadoff hitter (and centerfielder) Danny Hendricks (.294/.376/.438) and 26-year old rookie right fielder Josh Fitzpatrick (.312/.362/.406). On the other hand, two of their veteran starting pitchers- Shannon Petrik, who was 14-8 with a 2.86 ERA last season, and now Dan Bottom, 17-4, 3.02 in '82 and the 1974 Harris/Lee award winner in the SJL- are gone for the season due to serious arm injuries.
Chicago has received a big boost from 25-year old rookie left fielder Alex Martinez (.323/.364/.488), who was the SJL Rookie of the Month for both April and May and hits third in the batting order. Martinez hits right behind another exciting youngster, the 22-year old shortstop Pat Thompson (.351/.379/.455), who not only has Gold Glove caliber defensive skills but also looks like a future batting champ. With some good young pitchers also emerging for Chicago and the top-ranked farm system in the game, the future is starting to look bright for the Fire.
On the other hand, the Houston Cavaliers, who entered the league the same year as Chicago, in spite of seeing young likely future MVP Alex Raymos (.318/.448/.557) start to emerge as one of the best mid-lineup offensive forces in the WPK, suffered a 13-game losing streak until they finally won a pair of games to end the month of May.

Over in the SJL East, the Washington Night Train got off to a good start but recently have slumped and have relinquished first place to the Jacksonville Wolf Pack. The Columbus Whalers also are having what looks like a comeback season after falling to the basement last season. Meanwhile, Philly and especially Pittsburgh have been disappointing.
The story for Jacksonville has been a high-flying offense, led by 25-year old center fielder Tim Evans (.389/.436/.588) who is an early favorite for SJL MVP. While the team defense is excellent the Jacksonville pitching staff is not very good and might be what keeps them from getting to the post-season.
Washington is pretty well-rounded but their defense has not been great and this has likely led to the pitching staff underperforming their talent. Watch for 22-year old starter Dusty Swarthout (8-2, 3.90), who looks like a future possibly multiple-time Harris/Lee award winner. On the other end of the age spectrum, 36-year old first baseman Luis Gonzales (.383/.449/.649) just keeps rolling as he approaches 300 career homers.
Columbus continues to be a weak-hitting club with an excellent pitching staff. Mitchell Tharp, a 24-year old right-hander who was the 22nd player picked overall in the 1980 draft, is the likely future ace, even if his 2-3 record and 4.41 ERA don't seem to be evidence of that prediction. They have only the 17th ranked farm system and their top prospects are all pitchers. At some point Columbus is going to need to get some hitters.
It is probably time to mention 26-year old Pittsburgh first baseman Toby Noguchi (whose cousin Tetsuhiro Noguchi was a WPK relief pitcher for 8 plus seasons with moderate success, and retired in 1978). Noguchi has clubbed a WPK best 18 home runs this season and is on pace for a WPK record 57. Noguchi (.236/.298/.534) isn't a good player and is reportedly lacking in baseball intelligence. But there is no denying his ability to crush baseballs when he makes contact.

Over in the MGL West, in spite of a slow start, the Denver Brewers have mostly held first place, largely because the expected contenders are all off to slow starts. The St. Louis Redbirds have been the surprise club, but it should be noted that they are only 4 games over .500. So, a weak division at this point of 1983.
We'll talk more about the Brewers in the next post.
As for the Redbirds, they have been a pretty balanced club, ranking 6th in runs scored and 5th in runs against. Their offense is led by two injury prone sluggers in the middle of the lineup- third baseman Steve Whitehead (.304/.363/.490), who is a perennial MVP candidate when he can stay healthy, and left fielder J.J. Hebert (.288/.357/.536), who is a horrible fielder but a feared hitter in the clean up slot. Dan Clark (5-3, 2.36), a 24-year old left-handed pitcher has emerged as the #1 guy in the rotation and he does have great upside, with an elite level sinker and stuff but he will need to develop his other two pitches a bit more and he profiles with below average stamina (though at least durable).
The San Francisco Velocity, very possibly the most talented team in the MGL, have been hit with serious injuries thus far and are without veteran starting pitcher Dan Knauff for most of the season and currently have two of their dynamic outfielders, Matt Christensen and Brian Paul, on the IL and not expected to return until late June to early July. Staff ace Jon Harrington (8-3, 2.63) remains a bright spot.
The Portland Wild Things have generally under-performed but they are getting good production from 23-year old rookie second baseman (veteran second baseman Justin Ficklin is currently on the IL with a strained hamstring) Jon Lentz (.338/.378/.434), who was the MGL Rookie of the Month for April.

The Brooklyn Aces have gotten off to the best start in the WPK and lead the MGL East by 2 1/2 games over the recently surging Detroit Falcons. The Aces are 2nd in runs scored and 4th in runs against in the MGL but have a porous defense (-6.8 ZR). Veteran lefty Joel Travino (8-2, 3.55) is off to a great start while pitching 4th in this talented veteran rotation. Like Luis Gonzales over in the SJL, veteran first baseman Danny Salvador (.264/.378/.544) continues to roll along at age 35, leading the team in homers with 14 and just 3 shy of his 300th career dinger. But the MVP of the Aces is 28-year old center fielder Chris Caldwell (.310/.343/.537) who is one of the hardest workers in the game and an underrated star with a career slash line of .311/.357/.499 over 2,227 plate appearances.
Detroit has been on a hot streak of late and are best in the MGL in runs scored but their pitching staff is underwhelming, in spite of the presence of likely future HOF'er and 3-time Harris/Lee award winner Aaron McNally (4-6, 3.54). John Hemmah (.341/.411/.439), their 28-year old center fielder, continues to be one of the best on-base men in the league and a disruptive force once there (25 stolen bases with 6 caught stealing). They also recently added outfielder Eric Dougherty for a pair of prospects from the Denver Brewers and he is now slotted into the #3 spot in the lineup and off to a torrid start (.429/.429/.533).


A quick look at individual league leaders:

[BirdWatcher]

Let's take a look at some basic stats for the Brewers thus far in the 1983 season:








As you can see, veteran centerfielder Joe McPhillips is off to a great start though admittedly his days as a premium defensive centerfielder are in the past (-4.2 ZR in center). He still profiles as an elite defender on the corners but the problem is that the Brewers already have a Gold Glover (and 3-time MVP) in right field in Antonio Acuna and they need to keep Val Guzman's bat and running game in the lineup and he has nowhere to play but left field. Angelo Rivas (.225/.311/.325) provides fine late-inning defense (1.8 ZR) in center (as well as giving McPhillips days off against left-handed starting pitchers) but doesn't have the bat to start. And fifth outfielder Myles Ford (.391/.429/.543) has been excellent off the bench offensively, is very fast and also a fine defender. (This glut of quality outfielders led to the team trading away last season's 4th outfielder Eric Dougherty to Detroit on the 23rd of May.)

The catching tandem for the Brewers has been much more than could have been hoped for. Defensive specialist Willie Ortega has somehow hit .314/.371/.381 so far with a 3.77 CERA, though some of his defensive numbers has thus far been disappointing (23.5% of runners thrown out trying to steal). Young Jesse Cooper (.372/.406/.523) does not have a strong arm but he is considered a very good defensive catcher otherwise (3.41 CERA) and has the better bat of the two.

After starting the season on the IL, Dustin Moore (.306/.322/.431) continues to be a productive hitter and an even better fielder, shuttling between second base (2.2 ZR) and shortstop (0.4 ZR).

Starting shortstop Shawn York has been tremendous in the field (5.8 ZR) and anemic at the plate (.207/.255/.307, a wRC+ of 40, 30 strikeouts with only 8 walks, and although he is very fleet of foot he has also hit into 6 GIDP's).

With Sadahige Kawasaki out for the season and last year's MGL Harris/Lee award winner Eric Maisch having been lost for most of the season, the starting rotation has underperformed, with the exception of course of left-hander Austin Bond. Top prospect Mike Costa has been good and was awarded the Rookie of the Month honors for May but he has also been forced to leave two of his starts early this month due to nagging (non-arm related) injuries. There is some concern that in spite of his 6'6", 205 lb. frame Costa may prove to be injury prone.



The bullpen, which ranked 12th in the MGL last year in ERA, is much improved, in spite of the rough start for left-handed setup man Jeff Mariani. The bullpen ERA of 2.72 is currently the best in the MGL.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers fifth starter, Jose Corpeno, has been on a roll lately, throwing three straight strong starts including two complete game victories. His latest, yesterday, was a 6-hit shutout of the Montreal Royals on the road. But perhaps even more impressive than what the 25-year old durable righty did on the mound was what he did at the plate when in the 5th inning he hit a 2-out, 2-run home run. It was Corpeno's first big league home run and just the second of his professional career. The Brewers are a team with several pretty fine hitting pitchers. Corpeno isn't one of them. His slash line at all levels of pro ball thus far is .097/.115/.139 with an OPS+ of -30. Still, on any given day, in any given at-bat, on any given pitch, well, you just never know.





Much less surprising in the long ball department was Brooklyn's long-time slugging (and walking) first baseman Danny Salvador clubbing his 300th big league homer in leading his team to a 4-3 win over Portland.

[BirdWatcher]

The Montreal Royals' 24-year old right-handed starter Brent Gilliam yesterday threw the first no-hitter of the 1983 WPK season as well as the first in franchise history. Gilliam, the top pick in the 1980 draft out of the University of California San Diego, mostly pitched out of the bullpen for the Royals last season after a late-season call-up in 1981 during which he struggled to a 1-3 record with a 6.57 ERA. This year he has been a full-time member of the rotation, slotted in at the #2 spot, and is starting to fulfill his tremendous promise. Many around the WPK consider him a future perennial contender for the Harris/Lee award, with his impressive 6-pitch repertoire (his cutter/slider combination being his strongest pitches) and nasty stuff. He still needs some improvement in the area of pitch control and command, but with his strong work ethic and natural talent his dominant performance yesterday against Phoenix is likely merely a pre-cursor to many moments of glory to come.

[BirdWatcher]

At age 36, Washington Night Train first baseman Luis Gonzales joined fellow veteran first baseman Danny Salvador in the 300 home run club. Gonzales is on pace for the best year of his career and will be a free agent at the end of the season if the Night Train, the only WPK team he has ever played for, don't find a way to re-sign him. A Gold Glove winner in 1970, Gonzales days as a good defender are long past him but his bat remains one of the most dangerous in the game. His career slash line is .299/.364/.467 and in addition to his 300 home runs he also has hit 379 doubles, scored 1,083 runs, and driven in 1,348. Although he has a reputation as a selfish player, he is also considered to have a high baseball IQ and he has proven himself to be durable. He has one championship ring (1971) and would love to lead his Washington club to another at the end of this season.

[BirdWatcher]

As the calendar flips to July, let's take a look at the current standings in the WPK:




SJL West:

As has been true since they won 115 games in 1979 on the way to their first post-season berth (though they fell short of a championship that season), the San Antonio Keys remain the class of the Shoeless Joe League. They are led by 29-year old second baseman John Mussaw (.360/.431/.630, 6.8 WAR), who won the SJL MVP last season and is currently the frontrunner to win it again at the end of this season. Staff ace Steven Wells (10-3, 4.02) won the Harris/Lee Award in 1981 and is having another strong season.
The Chicago Fire look like a team on the rise, and rookie left fielder Alex Martinez (.321/.351/.452, 2.7 WAR) is a big part of that. Mike Low, a 23-year old groundball specialist with a devastating changeup, has pitched out of the bullpen all of last year and in 33 games now this season, but it has been announced that he will be moving into the rotation, which is where his future was always expected to be. He is 3-3 with 17 saves and a 2.22 ERA as the closer this year but it is in the starting rotation that he is sure to gain much glory as his career evolves.
Seattle has a number of talented young pitchers though several of them have injury proneness profiles that are worrying. They also are getting a fine season from 26-year old second baseman Jason McNeil (.326/.367/.458, 2.5 WAR), who in addition to having a potent bat is a strong fielder and excellent base runner.
El Paso seems to be on the decline but they have also been hit hard by the injury bug, including to star veteran pitchers Dan Bottom and Shannon Petrik, and 31-year old left fielder Pete Wiederkehr, probably their best position player. On the other hand, team captain and corner outfielder Jose Gutierrez (.333/.387/.500, 2.7 WAR) is having another great season at age 31.
Houston is now without the services of their budding superstar left fielder Alex Raymos (.323/.441/.574, 3.3 WAR) for a month (he has been out for about 2 weeks already) with a torn labrum. It's been that kind of season for the Cavaliers- signs of a brighter future being dimmed by present challenges.
As for the last place Milwaukee Cadets, like Seattle they have a stable of talented young pitching arms. But their offense is pathetic and their defense mediocre. Although their farm system is ranked 4th in the WPK, it is mostly on the strength of all those young arms. They need to find some position players to put behind them.

SJL East:

The Washington Night Train are once again at the top of the standings in the SJL East. Give a great deal of the credit to 36-year old first baseman Luis Gonzales (.372/.441/.657, 3.6 WAR). And 23-year old Dusty Swarthout (14-2, 3.36) looks like a strong Harris/Lee Award candidate.
The Columbus Whalers are having a modest bounce back season thus far. Their offense remains quite woeful but their pitching is back to previous high standards and they are tied in lowest runs against in the SJL. Bill Thompson (11-4, 3.31) and veteran 3-time Harris/Lee Award winner Luis Ramirez (4-5, 2.24) lead the way.
As for the Philadelphia Mud Hens, they haven't really done anything particularly well but they do most things well enough. Mike Florack (.300/.332/.452, 2.4 WAR), is not only a fan favorite but a fine defensive center fielder and the best all-around offensive threat on the team. Veteran 34-year old iron man pitcher Mike Hiatt (with 2 career no-hitters on his record) continues to be a solid performer and is 9-6 with a 3.18 ERA.
Much like they did in 1982, the Jacksonville Wolf Pack got off to a good start and have fallen back to the pack since that this season. 25-year old center fielder Tim Evans (.362/.422/.550, 3.9 WAR) is the best position player on the team and a legitimate MVP candidate. The pitching staff is weak but 32-year old closer Mike Mayberry, the 1981 SJL Reliever of the Year, remains valuable, having collected 19 saves in 24 opportunities with a 3.13 ERA.
The Boston Berserkers are getting an MVP caliber season from 26-year old first baseman Kyle Adams (.398/.458/.647, 4.7 WAR), a few other decent performances (#1 starting pitcher Justin Waller is 6-7 with a 2.99 ERA), but not a lot to get excited about overall.
And the once (recently) mighty Pittsburgh Roadrunners are once again struggling, largely because of poor pitching and very bad defense. Two-time MVP Matt Van der Heyden (.341/.472/.507, 3.0 WAR) is having a good season and 26-year old first baseman Toby Noguchi (.264/.327/.574, 2.5 WAR) is on pace to set a new single-season home run record in the WPK, as he projects to hit 58 while driving in 156 runs.

MGL West:

We will save the first place Denver Brewers for the next post.
The San Francisco Velocity have been quietly climbing back into contention. Staff ace Jon Harrington (11-3, 2.38) is an early favorite for the MGL Harris/Lee Award. Center fielder Greg Dohman (.305/.420/.469, 2.8 WAR) leads the way offensively (though he's a jerk in the clubhouse and a drain on team morale), and 34-year old closer Ben Bakeman is having another strong season, with 18 saves and a 1.58 ERA. The pitching staff isn't very deep and the lineup has some holes but they shouldn't be overlooked.
The St. Louis Redbirds have over-achieved a bit thus far (-12 run differential) but in 29-year old third baseman Steve Whitehead (.302/.356/.521, 2.8 WAR) they have a perennial MVP candidate, provided he can stay healthy for a full season (fragile). Left handed starting pitcher Dan Clark (6-4, 3.05), 24 years old, has nasty stuff, an elite level sinker, and profiles as durable with good makeup, but not a lot of stamina.
The Los Angeles Spinners, the richest franchise in the WPK, haven't had a losing season since 1970, but the past several have been pretty uninspiring and they only eked out 82 wins in 1982. They have the best catcher in the game in Jason Ott (.311/.367/.488, 2.8 WAR) and a rising star left fielder in 23-year old Chris Corley (.324/.365/.451, 3.1 WAR) as well as a durable and moderately talented left-handed starting pitcher in 26-year old Mike McLaughlin (10-5, 3.66) and they could certainly spend their way back into contention soon. But don't expect a great deal this season.
Having won a WPK championship just two seasons ago, the Portland Wild Things have been the biggest disappointment in the MGL this season. Willie Romero remains a supremely gifted defender (9.8 ZR at shortstop) and a sometimes dangerous hitter (.296/.339/.389, 2.2 WAR) and team captain and staff ace Joe Barbour (8-4, 3.29) can always be counted on, but although the Wild Things lead the league in Zone Rating, they don't do anything else particularly well and their offense has been quite poor.
The Phoenix Speed Devils have lost at least 100 games the past 3 seasons and at least 97 in each of the past 7 seasons. They are on pace to lose around 99 games this season. So, hey, they are consistent at least, right? Can't blame their struggles on 23-year old right fielder Luis Olivez (.377/.413/.558, 3.9 WAR), a strong first half contender for MGL MVP. Starting pitcher Kyle Elkins (1-11, 4.83) on the other hand, well, yeah he is one you can probably lay some blame on. As a team they are 4th in runs scored. But don't let that mislead you- they play their home games in a park that is an absolute hitter's haven, so anything lower than 1 or 2 in runs scored for this team is an embarrassment. Bad team. Farm system is ranked 2nd in the WPK though, so maybe eventually they at least won't be just fighting to not lose 100 games per season.

MGL East:

The Brooklyn Aces got off to the best start in the WPK this season and they still have the best record in the MGL. Their pitching staff is deep and decently talented and 24-year old closer Michael Tucker, who won the 1981 MGL Reliver of the Year award and is a fan favorite, is once again having a strong season. He is 5-2 with 19 saves (in 21 opportunities) and a 2.54 ERA. The offense is lead by 35-year old first baseman Danny Salvador (.260/.376/.532, 2.7 WAR) and 28-year old center fielder Chris Caldwell (.287/.331/.500, 2.0 WAR) and they have good depth in their lineup as well.
The Detroit Falcons, having seen their record roller-coaster a bit over the past 5 seasons (with the high point being their 88-win 1979 campaign) are once again playing well. Their offense is the big story as they lead in runs scored in the MGL and several other offensive categories as well. Unheralded 26-year old second baseman Phil Martin (.368/.406/.506, 2.9 WAR) is in the midst of a career year (in his 3 partial WPK seasons prior to this he put up WAR's of -0.1, 0.3, and 0.6). Poor defense has not helped the pitching staff. In a rotation that includes 3-time Harris/Lee Award winner and likely future Hall of Famer Aaron McNally, it is 29-year old Matt Regan (8-5, 3.49) who has had the most success.
The Oklahoma City Diamond Kings surprisingly took the MGL East pennant last year with a 87-75 record. They are on pace to be even a bit better than that this year, but with the division looking stronger it might not be enough for them to repeat. David Martin, the #2 man in the starting rotation, is having a great season with a 9-2 record and league leading ERA of 1.88. Antonio Briones (.266/.364/.370, 2.9 WAR, 11.1 ZR), the pride of Willemstad, Curacao, is turning into one of the best shortstops in the league at the tender age of 22. But as a team they don't get on base much, have very little over-the-fence power, and don't run the bases well. A mid-standings club is probably their lot in life.
The Baltimore Lords are a pretty good hitting club and a poor pitching club, which has been their profile for years. They do have a talented and durable 22-year old left-hander at the top of their rotation in Julio Michelena (8-6, 3.58) and then little in the way of good pitchers beyond that. Third baseman Jose Gandara (.319/.414/.510) getting his first chance as a starter at the age of 27 is turning into a leader both on and off the field and deserves more attention around the league.
The Charlotte Sting have very little venom. Former Brewer Eric Hammock (.344/.400/.560, 2.6 WAR) can sting the ball more than a bit but the offense drops off pretty precipitously from there. Justin Matthews (6-8, 3.18) isn't a bad pitcher, but with his tendency to allow flyballs and poor movement, not to mention his propensity for injury, he lives on the edge of disaster more than is healthy.
And finally, the last place Montreal Royals. In fairness, this is just their 4th year of existence, and in their first season (1980) they won the MGL East (granted, with an 82-80 record) and even went to the Kinsella Classic Series before finally losing to the much more talented San Antonio Keys. They are last in most offensive categories in the MGL and near the bottom in most pitching and defensive categories as well. 30-year old center fielder Nick Thompson (.286/.367/.506, 2.5 WAR) is having a nice little season. And Brent Gilliam (6-7, 3.55), who recently threw the only no-hitter so far this season, is starting to blossom and looks like a future Harris/Lee Award contender. But other than that, not much to brag about in Montreal. And with the 12th ranked (out of 24) farm system, it might be some time before the Royals find themselves in the post-season again.

[BirdWatcher]

The great Justin Vargas joined Danny Salvador and Luis Gonzales as players to reach the 300 career home run mark this season, and he did so in leading his team to an easy victory over the first place Denver Brewers. Unlike Salvador and Gonzales, who are possible borderline Hall of Fame candidates, Vargas is almost a sure-thing first ballot Hall of Famer. At age 35, Vargas is having a solid season for the Portland Wild Things though certainly far from the level of play of his earlier days, when he won the SJL MVP award in both 1971 (age 23) and 1975 (age 27) as a member of the Boston Berserkers. Vargas has put up 81 WAR over his 14 plus year career with a 67.1 JAWS score and 164 Hall of Fame Monitor score. He is a 10-time All-Star, 3-time Silver Slugger, 1-time Gold Glove award winner, in addition to his 2 MVP award seasons. With 382 career stolen bases he has one of the best speed/power tools combinations of his generation in the WPK.



Yesterday Pittsburgh's 25-year old center fielder Brendan Beaver became the second man this season in the WPK to hit for the cycle and the third in Roadrunners' history (the first two being the great Trevor Leach in 1969 and Bill Lechner in 1973). After a solid rookie season in 1981 (.250/.344/.347, 3.9 WAR), Beaver missed much of the 1982 season with severe shoulder inflammation and played poorly in his 23 games played for the Roadrunners (.219/.290/.281, 0 WAR). But the hard-working and speedy center fielder is on pace for a 4.6 WAR season in 1983 and certainly got some attention with his strong showing in the 15-5 victory over Jacksonville yesterday.



We have reached mid-season and the latest Top Prospects Lists has been published. For the first time in several seasons the Brewers have a position player in the top 100, with their recent first round draft pick, Nick Mull, debuting at #58 overall. Mull, a defense and speed first second baseman out of Austin College, is off to a .385/.419/.538 start in his first 11 professional games playing for the Rookie League Greensboro Bisons. While he doesn't profile as a future star player in the WPK, he likely has a floor of big league utility infielder and a ceiling of an above average big league starting middle infielder (his somewhat weak throwing arm likely keeping him at second in spite of ample range to play shortstop).

The number 1 overall pick in the most recent draft is also now the #1 top prospect in all of the WPK. Colin Radke, a wiry (5'11", 175 lb.) right handed starting pitcher out of Indianapolis College, has a 3-pitch repertoire, but all 3 (changeup, fastball, cutter) are big-league quality already and should develop into plus plus offerings (particularly his changeup). He is expected to have plus stuff with plus plus control and above average movement, but it is his movement that has the most improvement needed to make him a legitimate big league ace. Radke overtakes fellow Phoenix farm-hand, center fielder Dan Johnson, at the top of the prospects lists, with Johnson moving to #2, giving the Phoenix Speed Devils the top 2 prospects and 3 in the top 20, making theirs the best system in the WPK, slightly above the also very impressive Chicago Fire farm system.

The Denver Brewers system ranks 7th, with 5 starting pitchers in the top 100 along with second baseman Mull.

[BirdWatcher]

Nick Schroeder, the Brooklyn Aces 31-year old left-handed starting pitcher, is having what looks to be the best season of his career and yesterday he added a real gem to the mix, no-hitting the Detroit Falcons. It is the second no-hitter of the 1983 season in the WPK and the first in the long career of Schroeder, who was an All-Star in 1981 and has one championship ring as a member of the Denver Brewers bullpen in 1979.



Meanwhile, the SJL West first place San Antonio Keys found out a few days ago that they will be without the services of the reigning SJL MVP John Mussaw for what is expected to be up to about 7 weeks with a hamstring pull. Fortunately for the Keys they have 36-year old 8-time All-Star second baseman Jared Hancock on their bench and also have a budding star in 27-year old Ryan Campbell, who will get the majority of the starts in Mussaw's absence.



In other injury news, the Detroit Falcons, currently 2 games behind Brooklyn at the top of the MGL East standings, have lost their talented young 23-year old right handed pitcher Tom Ferris to a torn UCL. Ferris had been pitching quite well this season, largely from the bullpen, and is expected to be an important arm in the starting rotation in the future.