Harry Lyerly and the Denver Brewers of the WPK

[BirdWatcher]

Let's take a look at current WPK standings as we get the month of July started:


The reigning WPK champs, the Jacksonville Wolf Pack, have been playing great lately and have finally overcome the Philadelphia Mud Hens for first place in the SJL. Third place is occupied by another one of the most successful teams in SJL history thus far, the Washington Night Train. Another formerly great team, the Columbus Whalers, are nestled comfortably in last place and have already lost 50 games.

The Brewers, of course, lead the MGL with, as predicted, the Brooklyn Aces and the L.A. Spinners competing to catch up with them. What was not predicted was that the Charlotte Spinners would be breathing down the Brewers necks in second place. (They were predicted to finish in the middle of the pack with a break even record.) But also as predicted, the San Francisco Velocity are the worst team in all of the WPK.

[BirdWatcher]

For much of the 1974 season the Philadelphia Mud Hens have been in first place in the Shoeless Joe League, only recently having been over-taken by reigning champs Jacksonville.

This seems like a good time to take a look at the Philadelphia franchise.

History/Overview: The Mud Hens have had an up and down history thus far with more downs than ups the past four seasons. The highest they have ever finished is second place, which they have done twice (1965, 1967) with the second of those being the season they posted their best record (95-67.) They play in a big market but have a rather fickle fan base. Their operating budget is pretty middle of the pack while their current player payroll is on the low side. The owner, Corey Wenzel, has the reputation of being so impatient as to be considered unmerciful, but at least he takes a hands-off approach to baseball decisions.
This year's club has been largely successful due to a strong starting rotation. Overall, the Mud Hens are first in runs against in the SJL. They have good team hitting but are under-powered. They rarely steal bases but are quite effective running the base paths otherwise.



The Ballpark: The Mud Hens play at spacious Sunoco Field at the Old City. The park seats up to 50,800 fans but they are only 4th in the SJL in attendance thus far in 1974. Sunoco Field favors pitchers and runs very deep in right field- 390 in right center, 380 in dead right- but if you can poke it down the right field line the seats are a cozy 324 feet away.


The Face of the Franchise: Some would probably say that veteran first baseman Nate Bennett is the face of the Philly franchise as he is probably the most storied player currently playing in a Mud Hens uniform. But the reality is that most of Bennett's best years were as a Boston Berserker and he just joined the Mud Hens last season. In fact, Ryan Pope is the player most beloved among Philly fans. The 27-year old left-fielder has played his entire career thus far for the Mud Hens, is a career .309 hitter, and is the favorite of the fans for his blue collar approach to the game. Unfortunately, for all of his talent as a hitter he is a rather mediocre fielder and has a hard time staying healthy enough to stay in the lineup full-time. Last season was the first in his career where he started more than 112 games. Pope is having a strong season in 1974, tied for the league lead in RBI with 57, third in the league in batting average at .351, third in total bases, and 7th in WAR among SJL batters.


Greatest former player: While one could make an argument for power hitting first baseman Nate Kuykendall, who played for the Mud Hens from 1965 through 1969, I'm going to go with possible future HOF pitcher Chris Hernandez. Hernandez was a Mud Hen for just 4 seasons (1965-1968) but he was great from the get-go, being already 29-years old when the league formed, led the SJL in games started twice as a Mud Hen and in WAR during his 1966 season at 9.3. This is the highest WAR season of his illustrious career. And in some ways his 9 WAR 1967 is even more impressive: 19-6 record, 2.25 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 143 ERA+, and amazingly only 1 HR allowed over the course of 272.1 innings pitched.

[BirdWatcher]

The Charlotte Sting, hot on the tail of the Denver Brewers, today traded for one of the original Brewers, Ruben "Streak" Souffront.
The Sting sent two-time Gold Glover David Flesh to Columbus in exchange for Souffront. Flesh had played with Charlotte his entire career and helped them win a WPK championship in 1972, when he was an All-Star and put up 5.4 WAR. Flesh has also won Gold Gloves at both shortstop and second base earlier in his career and remains a dynamic defensive player but is only mediocre at the plate. With plenty of depth in the middle of the infield Charlotte could afford to let Flesh go but they also have good outfield depth and it is hard to know how they might use Souffront.


Still it will be interesting to see how Souffront, who is having a very good season at the plate, though in a limited role thus far, might affect the pennant race which might end up involving his new team and his old team.

[BirdWatcher]

The Portland Wild Things, who were the MGL champions in 1967 and 1968, have finished in last place the last 3 seasons.

It appears that 1974 should be the year when they start to rise out of the cellar and try to begin to re-take their place among the first division teams of the MGL. And they are off to a pretty decent start this year, coming into the four game series with Denver in 6th place, but a game over .500. They have possibly the best hitting shortstop in the game in Chris Tobin (he isn't the rangiest fielder, but overall he's quite acceptable), added a great captain this past off-season when they signed free agent slugger Cody Kane, have a solid but injury prone second baseman in Ryan Lovelady, and have a fairly deep and not untalented pitching staff, particularly a respectable bullpen.

And in game 1 of their series against the first place Brewers they showed signs of what might come in their future as they handed the Brewers a decisive 8-0 thumping. They really pounded young Justin Peacock hard, hitting 3 homers against him, scoring all 8 of their runs (6 earned) on 12 hits in the 5 1/3rd innings he pitched. Peacock drops to 3-1 with a 4.08 ERA. Jeremy Walker, recently recalled from AAA Chester to replace the demoted Eric Marino, pitched a fine 2 2/3rds innings to finish things up but the damage had already been done. Josh Schaeffer (.315/.429/.420) went 2 for 4 in the loss, hitting his 8th double of the season.


The Brewers bounced back in game 2 to get a narrow 5-4 win, scoring the bulk of their runs in the last 2 frames. Erik Sloan didn't pitch poorly for his 7 innings- giving up 3 runs, only 2 earned, on 9 hits while striking out 2 and walking none. Although Sam Pruiett did give up 1 run in his 2 innings, he was held off the late Wild Things rally to get his 2nd save (with a 2.37 ERA.) Sloan got the win to improve to 7-6 with a 4.18 ERA. Andrew Kennedy (.324/.359/.398) went 4 for 5 in the victory, scoring a run and driving in another. But the big blow for the Brewers was a Joe McPhillips (.288/.366/.510) 2-run HR in the 8th inning. McPhillips also drew a pair of walks in the game.


The visitors managed another 1-run victory in the third game of the series, holding on to win 3-2. Steve Green gave the Brewers a fine start, allowing just the 2 runs on 5 hits over his 7 2/3rds innings, striking out 5 and walking 2. Green improves to 8-5 with a 4.05 ERA. Liann-wei Hua got his 11th hold of the season (1.93 ERA) and Jaden Francis his 11th save (0.78 ERA.) The suddenly hot hitting Andrew Kennedy (.327/.362/.404) was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI and hit his 14th double of 1974. And Zacarias Martell, whose wonderful rookie campaign has made him the defacto starting catcher over 3-time Gold Glover Kevin Curtis, was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI in the game. As surprising as it is that Martell has a .301 batting average at this stage of the season, it is his .404 OBP that most impresses the Brewers management. He is on pace for a solid 3.3 WAR season.


And then, for the third game in a row, the Brewers get a 1-run victory over their hosts to take the series three games to one. With ace Cheol-han Lee on the mound, the Brewers gave up just a single run and won 2-1. Cheol-han lasted 8 innings, giving up the 1 run (unearned) on 5 hits while striking out 5 and walking 1. Lee improves to 8-4 with 2.72 ERA. Jaden Francis uncharacteristically walks the only 2 batters he faces in the 9th, but then lefty Liann-wei Hua comes in and bails Francis and the Brewers out for his 5th save (1.83 ERA.) For the second time in the last 3 games he has started, John Flores (.384/.423/.712) hits a pair of triples. He also drives in 1 of the 2 Brewer runs. Bobby Erbakan (.312/.379/.498) went 2 for 5 and drove in the other run.


With the series victory, the Brewers are now 3 games ahead of the second place Charlotte Sting, 8 games ahead of Brooklyn, and 10 games ahead of the slumping L.A. Spinners, Denver's next opponent on the road.

[BirdWatcher]

This just concluded 4-game series at Portland illustrates one of the realities that has helped drive the Brewers success in the first half of the 1974 season: a very good bullpen.

The Brewers lead the MGL in bullpen ERA at 2.86 while sitting just at 5th in starter's ERA at 3.58.

Let's look at the core of that Brewers 'pen:

1. Jaden Francis. Francis was the Brewers first round draft pick (16th overall) in the 1965 draft. And for the past four plus seasons he has been a key member of the bullpen. But never has he had half-season stretch like the one he has had thus far in 1974. He has a record of 2-0 with 11 saves (1 blown save), an ERA of 0.78, a WHIP of 0.83, and an Inherited Runners Scored percentage of 11.1%. He has inherited 9 runners and only 1 has scored. He has a FIP of 3.26 with a FIP- of 79. Now, on the other hand, his BABIP against is only .179, his K/9 has dropped significantly from past years, and it is likely that he can't sustain the numbers he has all season.


2. Sam Pruiett. Pruiett was chosen in the 2nd round of the 1966 draft by the Philadelphia Mud Hens and came to the Brewers organization in a mid-season trade in 1968, along with veteran starting pitcher Lani Malolu (who would suffer a season-ending injury in his second and last start as a Brewer), in exchange for now retired center fielder Zack Banks and a no-name first baseman currently languishing in single A for the Philadelphia organization. Pruiett came into his own in the Denver bullpen last season and at last report looks like a strong All-Star candidate this season. In addition to his 5 win- 0 loss record and 2 saves, 2.37 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, Pruiett has allowed just 5 of the runners he has inherited to score (22.7%). His BABIP is also low (.238) but not to the extreme as Francis, and his FIP is nearly identical to Jaden's (3.25, FIP- 79).


3. Liann-wei Hua. Hua is the left-handed anchor of the bullpen staff. Many consider him the most talented member of the 'pen but he hasn't yet fully come into his own as a Brewer. He did put up very good numbers from 1969 through 1972, and probably deserved more credit than he got. Then he had a disappointing 1973 campaign. But he is back to impressive numbers again this season, especially when considering that he has inherited 29 runners and allowed only 4 to score (13.8%). While he has just 5 saves, he does lead the team, and indeed all of the WPK (by a wide margin) in holds with 11. His BABIP is a pretty reasonable .264, and his FIP of 3.52 and FIP- of 85 are good indications of his quality this season.


4. Jordan Stephens. Setting aside the fact that Jordan has raked at the plate this year (he has 0.8 WAR with just 34 plate appearances), it hasn't actually been that successful a season for Jordan. On the mound, he had some rocky performances early in the season though he has been pitching better of late. His basic numbers aren't bad: 3 wins, 1 loss, 5 saves, a 2.83 ERA. But his WHIP is a bit high at 1.34, he has allowed 5 of the 12 runners inherited to score (41.7%), his FIP is 4.59 with a poor FIP- of 111. And his BABIP against of .270 neither indicates great good or great bad luck.


5. Eric Johnson. Johnson has mostly been a starting pitcher in his career (mostly as a minor leaguer) but hasn't started a game yet this year, instead pitching long relief out of the Brewers bullpen. He has won 1 game and saved another. His ERA of 3.10 is respectable and his WHIP of 1.10 is absolutely fine. He has allowed 3 of the 9 runners he inherited to score, for a not tremendous 33.3% And his FIP of 4.61 and FIP- of 112 along with his BABIP allowed of .225 would indicate he's been pretty lucky thus far.


So these are the five who have carried the bulk of the load in the Brewers 'pen this year. And looking more closely it appears that the second half might see some regression for this group, although both Sam Pruiett and Liann-wei Hua may indeed not see much drop off and even though Jaden Francis inevitably will hit some rough spots, he has been so spectacular that he could still end up with fine numbers for the season. And it should be noted that there are several very talented bullpen arms in waiting down at AAA (and even AA) who could be called up later in the season, including Eric Marino who still profiles as a possible dominant stopper even though he struggled in the early going as a member of the Brewers 'pen.

[Palaaemon]

Bird,

It appears that your bullpen that you have shown (and I suspect the relievers you have not and your rotation as well) have greatly benefited from your superb defense (minus one alleged error machine - perhaps a trade this year? Change of scenery for him?). Their FIPs being quite a bit higher than their ERAs meaning of course defensive assistance. There is one small issue being that FIP is biased against pitchers that do not throw a lot of strikeouts which the Brewers are guilty of, and as a whole I believe that the league is affected by lower K/9 totals.

None of those issues are inherantly positive or negative, they just are what they are as a result of factors in your league. Just observations. It does seem however that if you were to lower your defensive standards you might notice some negative results from your pitchers. How much? Too many factors to calculate. Good thing though, I don't see you changing your philosophy anytime soon

[Palaaemon]

Bird,

Would you please post an updated copy of Bobby Erbakan's profile please and do a write up on his career from your point of view. If you remember he is my favorite player on the Brewers. I believe he is quietly having a good year. Thank you in advance bro!

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Palaaemon

Bird,

It appears that your bullpen that you have shown (and I suspect the relievers you have not and your rotation as well) have greatly benefited from your superb defense (minus one alleged error machine - perhaps a trade this year? Change of scenery for him?). Their FIPs being quite a bit higher than their ERAs meaning of course defensive assistance. There is one small issue being that FIP is biased against pitchers that do not throw a lot of strikeouts which the Brewers are guilty of, and as a whole I believe that the league is affected by lower K/9 totals.

None of those issues are inherantly positive or negative, they just are what they are as a result of factors in your league. Just observations. It does seem however that if you were to lower your defensive standards you might notice some negative results from your pitchers. How much? Too many factors to calculate. Good thing though, I don't see you changing your philosophy anytime soon

Yes, this is a good point. If anything our defense is even better this season than it has been the past few seasons. Having Joe McPhillips regularly manning center field while Ryan Rodgers pretty much strictly plays one of the corner outfield positions really has helped. And other than Mike Foster at third base (who is quite adequate) the infield defense is pretty spectacular, especially with superb back-ups Oscar Vargas and Joe Willemse. Our biggest committer of errors- Chad Brown- hasn't played as regularly this season though he has been playing more of late, especially as his bat seems to have come to life. And with Brown, to a certain extent his gaffes are counter-acted by his very fine range.

The strikeout rates though are something I realized last night I have to look at more closely. My sense is that K's are simply down league-wide. The Brewers pitching staff still leads the league in K's (to the best of my memory, not being in front of the game right now). Granted, this is largely driven by the starting staff, with Harry Lyerly once again leading the league in K/9 (if I recall correctly, at 7.9) and Steve Green being right behind him. But I'm thinking that on the whole the relief staff having lower K/9's overall is more about league trends then any change in their talent for missing bats.
And walks seem to be down a bit too.

A few of our prospects in at the higher levels of the minors are likely to be greater strikeout machines but also have some control issues. Time will tell whether they will achieve success at the big league level.

Thanks for being such an attentive follower of the WPK! I really appreciate your thoughtful comments.

EDIT: Ah, one other thing I meant to mention. You are absolutely spot on, of course, about the meaning of the FIP numbers for these pitchers. But that is also why I shared the FIP- numbers, which for the big three (Francis, Pruiett, Hua) are quite good. It should be noted that the Brewers play in one of the better hitter's parks in the MGL (we haven't hovered near a team batting average of .300 for the past season and a half just because we have great hitters ) and that offense appears to be (again, need to take a deeper dive look at this later) up league wide. (My sense is that offense is stronger in the MGL this season than in the SJL.) So even if those ERA's are unsustainable, these three at least could still remain significantly better than league average. Though again, that crazy low BABIP for Francis is a bit concerning.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Palaaemon

Bird,

Would you please post an updated copy of Bobby Erbakan's profile please and do a write up on his career from your point of view. If you remember he is my favorite player on the Brewers. I believe he is quietly having a good year. Thank you in advance bro!

Absolutely. I will try to get that done tonight.
It is true that Erbakan, while not having the flashiest numbers on the team (see Ryan Rodgers, Mike Foster), is quietly having a great all-around season and is near the top of the league in some of the measurements that reflect that (WAR, WPA, OPS). He is hitting for average, gets on base (including a propensity to get hit by pitches which he has displayed his entire career), is hitting for more power than he usually does, has good speed on the base-paths, and almost surely will win another Gold Glove for his work at first base.

[BirdWatcher]

As requested, let's take a look at the Brewers career (and some guesses about the future) of first baseman Bobby Erbakan.

The background:
Bobby Erbakan was chosen by the Brewers in the 27th round of the WPK inaugural draft as a 17-year old outfielder, raw but with great potential in the eyes of the Brewers head scout, Nick Meskill. Erbakan profiled with a very good hit tool and the potential for above average power and great contact skills. It was thought that he would draw an above average number of walks and likely rarely strike out. He was felt to be an above average runner and base-stealer, but not top of the line. And he looked like he would have good range and an above average arm in the outfield but be error prone.
He struggled between two levels in his first professional season (short-season A ball at Jersey City and A ball at Bainbridge.) But then his bat really came to life in the Arizona Fall League that year in spite of him being used mostly, and surprisingly (pun sort of intended as he was playing for the Surprise Saguaros) at third base. Erbakan then hit very well in 1966 at three levels and found himself by the end of the season, at the age of 19, playing with the AAA Chester Big Stick. He started the 1967 season at Chester again and continued to play well, earning his first big league promotion later that season. He didn't shine that first partial season with a slash line of .205/.241/.323, a WAR of -0.2, but he did show some signs of his potential by hitting five doubles, 2 triples, and 2 home runs in his 133 plate appearances.
It should be noted that by that point Erbakan had been moved to first base by the Denver brain trust. As has pretty much always been the case, the Brewers had a surplus of outfielders but few decent first base candidates. It was believed that although his arm on the infield was just average, in every other way Erbakan had greater defensive potential on the infield than in the outfield.
And while Erbakan didn't set the league on fire in his early years, he was now in the big leagues to stay.



His Brewers career (thus far):
Erbakan earned a reputation as a world class defensive first baseman long before he would get any credit as a good hitter. He won his first Gold Glove award in 1969, at the age of 22. And he's won one every season since then. And while Erbakan was not a bad hitter along the way, he really didn't have a breakout season at the plate until this past season (1973) when he had a slash line of .346/.402/.473. His 4.2 WAR in 1973 wasn't quite his best yet as the year before he put up 4.8 WAR. His career high in home runs came in 1971 when he hit 21, though he seemed to sacrifice some doubles in the process, hitting an uncharacteristically low 13 that season.

So what about this year, as we have recently passed the half-way mark? While Erbakan's batting average and OBP are lower than last year his SLG is up as he is on pace for his second best HR season and his highest double total. He is 2nd in the league in RBI at 59 and on pace for his first over 100 RBI season. He is 5th in the MGL in WAR, tied with teammate Ryan Rodgers at 3.2. He is 6th in the MGL in ISO at .186 and 6th in wOBA at .400. His WPA of 2.87 is 2nd in the MGL to Phoenix slugger Ju-ao Ju at 2.90. (And this isn't a complete list of categories he is in the top 8 in the league in.)
Defensively he is first in fielding percentage, first in Zone Rating, second in Defensive Efficiency, fifth in Range rating, fourth in assists,etc. In short, it will be surprise if he doesn't capture his 6th straight Gold Glove at the end of this season.
He is on pace to end the season with a 6.6 WAR, which would be by far the best of his big league career.


What about the future?:
Well, the first thing to note is that he is signed with the Brewers through the 1979 season, when he will be 32 years old. He appears to be a bit of a late bloomer and has blossomed in the past few seasons. How long will his peak last? Well, he doesn't profile as a particularly durable player but he hasn't experienced a great deal of injury issues in his career either. The injuries he has sustained in the past several years, none terribly serious, have all been issues with his back. (He experienced some back tightness earlier this season, but only missed a couple of games as a result.)

Is he a future Hall-of-Famer?:
Before even doing any research or serious evaluation of this question, my first instinct would be, probably not. He feels more like one of those Hall of the Very Good guys.
Now, doing a little more fact gathering doesn't really change that impression. Granted there still could be quite a bit of career left ahead of him and he may only now be heading into his best years, but at this stage he has a HOF Monitor score of 14.5. He's never led the league in any significant category. On the other hand, in addition to his 5 Gold Gloves, so far, he is also a 2-time All-Star and was a significant member of the 1970 World Championship Brewers team. The 1974 All-Star teams won't be announced for a few more days but at last count Erbakan easily led the MGL first baseman in the voting and almost surely will earn his 3rd All-Star designation soon.

Now this next part is stepping outside of the reality of the WPK so be forewarned. I started thinking about what MLB players, first baseman in particular, might Erbakan be similar too. As an athletic, excellent fielding first baseman who doesn't hit for power as much as usually would be expected for the position, I started to wonder how Erbakan matched up with Keith Hernandez. Using Bill James Similarity Scores method, I compared Hernandez age 20-27 seasons to Erbakan's up through July 4th of 1974. And for that comparable time period the similarity score was 905. Which is actually pretty strong; on the low end of the truly similar range. Now it should be noted that even though the similarity is strong, Hernandez was better in more categories. Erbakan has hit a few more HR's, stolen a few more bases, and struck out a handful fewer times, but other than that Hernandez was superior in every category. And at this age Hernandez had won an MVP award. On the other hand, he had one fewer Gold Gloves than Erbakan (and Erbakan will probably add to that advantage at the end of the season) and they are equal in All-Star game appearances (again, likely to change soon.) Hernandez would play many more years, earn more Gold Glove awards, more All-Star selections, contend for a few more MVP awards (though not winning any more), and, of course, is not in the Hall-of-Fame.
Still, if Erbakan can have a Keith Hernandez-like career in the WPK, that's nothing to be ashamed of.

(I also wondered about his comparison to Wally Joyner. Short answer: similarity score of 884. Pretty similar. Joyner hit for more power and hit quite a few more doubles, walked quite a bit more, drove in a lot more runs, stole fewer bases, hit far fewer triples. But he won no Gold Gloves and was an All-Star only in his rookie season. I suspect Erbakan will be more Hernandez than Joyner when all is said and done.)

[BirdWatcher]

With the 1974 All-Star break just 1 day away, the final results of voting have been released as well as the final rosters for the All-Star teams.

Let's look first at the final voting results for the MGL:




The Brewers have several players named as starters by the voters: Bobby Erbakan easily outdistances his nearest competitors to be named the first base starter. It is the third All-Star game in his career. Joe McPhillips not only will play in his first All-Star game but he was easily named the starter at center field. I think the biggest surprise here is that future HOF'er Felix Lopez, an 8-time All-Star, didn't even make the top 3 at center field in the voting. Lopez, at age 31, is still a fine player, but he is certainly not the player he once was. On the other hand, Ryan Rodgers, at age 35, is named the starter in right field, finishing with the second highest vote total in the MGL, after Portland's superstar shortstop Chris Tobin. Another veteran Brewer, likely headed to the Hall-of-Fame eventually, Cheol-han Lee was the top vote getter among starting pitchers.
Mike Foster finished in second in the voting for third base, though a distant second behind the great Jesus Hernandez of L.A. Reliever Sam Pruiett finished in second among relievers and Jaden Francis finishes fourth.

[BirdWatcher]

And the results in the SJL:




It's not a surprise that Eric Buonopane won out among catchers as he is by far the most talented catcher in the WPK. On the other hand, many who follow the league believe that for this season, at least, Jacksonville's Bryan Wojtach, who is on pace for a 4.9 WAR season (topping Buonopane's projected 3.2 by a good amount), deserved to be the elected starter.
Two of the elected starters- first baseman Kurt Penn and shortstop Bud Lindsay- will not be able to play due to being out with significant injuries. Penn is actually expected to be ready to play after the All-Star break but Lindsay won't be back until Spring Training. The voters had a tough choice to make at third base as Pittsburgh veteran Trevor Leach is having one of the better seasons of his excellent career but Jesus Casiano is a no-doubt future Hall-of-Famer, and, well, Jesus Casiano, and 26-year old Boston star Kasey O'Neil is also having a fine season. The voters got it right- Leach definitely deserved this. But it means going against muscle memory and voting for Casiano because...he's Casiano!
And what a competition at right field between Boston's Justin Vargas and Jacksonville's Ricky Salinas. Both are very good players in the prime of their careers having what are looking like career years. (Vargas is on pace for a 7.2 WAR season, Salinas 8.3.) Salinas is a 4-time Gold Glove winner, the most recent just last season and arguably has the better numbers this season. But Vargas is a former MVP and probably has better name recognition. Both are worthy All-Stars.

[BirdWatcher]

And now the final rosters for the 1974 All-Star game, starting with the SJL:



The Philadelphia Mud Hens are the team most well represented on the roster with 7 All-Stars. Their ace starting pitcher this season, Herschel Bates, is named the SJL starter in his first All-Star game at age 26. Bates is 11-2 with a 1.93 ERA. He has already equaled his best win total for a season. Other than starting pitcher Jeff Tribble and outfielder Ryan Pope, who are going to their 2nd All-Star game, all of the Philly players were first time picks.
But that's not really a surprise, given that 14 of the SJL players on the AS roster are first-timers. Another 9 are playing in only their 2nd game (well, not all are actually playing as a few of these players are on the IL.)
The most experience All-Star on the squad is Trevor Leach, who will be playing in his 7th mid-season exhibition.
Catcher Eric Buonopane is next with his 5th All-Star appearance at age 27.
Jacksonville, Washington, and San Antonio each had 5 players named. Last place Columbus was the only team with only a single player named to the roster and that would be 37-year veteran right fielder David Beane, going to his 3rd AS game.

And the real shocker: Jesus Casiano was left off the roster. In his great career he's only been left off the squad two other seasons: 1969 and 1971.

[BirdWatcher]

And finally, the All-Star roster for the MGL:




I guess it makes sense that the first place Denver Brewers have the most players named to the team at 8. Next best are L.A. and Phoenix at 5 apiece.

Five of the Brewers named are going to their first All-Star games. Of course, Joe McPhillips was voted in as the starter in center field. And it's not surprising that Mike Foster and Sam Pruiett, who both finished second at their position in the voting, make the squad. But Jaden Francis has to be wondering what he did to be left off while his teammate Jordan Stephens got named. (How much did Stephens offensive prowess factor in?) And hey, look at this, rookie catcher Zacarias Martell got noticed! How great for him.
For Bobby Erbakan this is All-Star game number 3.

But let's shift gears a bit before we talk about the other Brewer honorees. Because in the MGL there are a number of players who are have a great many All-Star appearances under their belts and are heading there again. And most of them are probably Hall-of-Famers. Starting with reliever Jamel McNeil, an All-Star for the 10th time! Then check out these three: Cheol-han Lee, Travis Johnson, and Jesus Hernandez- All-Stars 9 times each. These guys will be in the Hall. It's just a matter of when, not if.
Jesse Cibula, at age 27, makes his 8th All-Star squad. This one might be a bit of reach. At first I thought he might have made it as the lone representative of the pitiful San Francisco Velocity. But no, veteran teammate Antonio Sosa is headed there too and he really deserves it more. Cibula has had a wonderful career but isn't that impressive this year.
Going to their 7th All-Star game: Ryan Rodgers and Jose Santos. Also both probable HOF'ers.

(A little note about Brewer All-Stars: it's not my fault. No, really, I do my voting just days before the end of voting and most everyone I voted for who is a Brewer was already well ahead in the voting. I can't quite remember- I might have voted for Martell because really the catchers ahead of him in the voting weren't that great and I thought he deserved a bit of support. But I don't know how Stephens got there. And I didn't vote for Foster because Jesus Hernandez was so clearly superior to him. Cheol-han, Rodgers, Erbakan, and pretty much McPhillips too were all no-brainers. They were going to be there with or without my vote.)

[Palaaemon]

Bird,

Thank you for doing the player profile on Bobby Erbakan! As we have continued through WPK history I have watched him and hoped (projected) that he would have been a been a bit better power hitter and hit for a better average before last season. I had (have) envisioned yearly numbers of (all these numbers have no fixed # of PA or AB) 30-35 2B, 3-5 3B, 15-20 HR, 40-50 BB, 45-55 K, 15-20 SB, 3-5 CS, Line of .300+/.375/.500 .875 OPS, top of the line defensive ratings (resulting in what has happened with GG each year). Pleasantly surprising has been him getting voted to the all-star game twice in spite of some other really good to great first basemen around the MGL. I really thought his power had come around in 1971 but was cautious about it because of the random statistical years being rolled each year. Anything could happen, and it did. But then it regressed the next year and since has been steady.

It appears that this year, so far at least, he is having a real breakout year. I am rooting for him to have a strong 2nd half and finish strong. He deserves some recognition for what he has quietly done for the team through the years. Perhaps this is his year to shine!

Concerning player comparisons Bird. I saw that you did a comp between Bobby and Keith Hernandez. How close do you think a comp with Mark Grace would be? I was thinking they were both lighter hitting first basemen that can get on base and can steal some bases among other similarities. Please do a comp if you would and see how close they are. Thanks bro!

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Palaaemon

Bird,

Thank you for doing the player profile on Bobby Erbakan! As we have continued through WPK history I have watched him and hoped (projected) that he would have been a been a bit better power hitter and hit for a better average before last season. I had (have) envisioned yearly numbers of (all these numbers have no fixed # of PA or AB) 30-35 2B, 3-5 3B, 15-20 HR, 40-50 BB, 45-55 K, 15-20 SB, 3-5 CS, Line of .300+/.375/.500 .875 OPS, top of the line defensive ratings (resulting in what has happened with GG each year). Pleasantly surprising has been him getting voted to the all-star game twice in spite of some other really good to great first basemen around the MGL. I really thought his power had come around in 1971 but was cautious about it because of the random statistical years being rolled each year. Anything could happen, and it did. But then it regressed the next year and since has been steady.

It appears that this year, so far at least, he is having a real breakout year. I am rooting for him to have a strong 2nd half and finish strong. He deserves some recognition for what he has quietly done for the team through the years. Perhaps this is his year to shine!

Concerning player comparisons Bird. I saw that you did a comp between Bobby and Keith Hernandez. How close do you think a comp with Mark Grace would be? I was thinking they were both lighter hitting first basemen that can get on base and can steal some bases among other similarities. Please do a comp if you would and see how close they are. Thanks bro!

Ah, Gracie! I hadn't thought about that. I'll take a look as soon as I get a chance. (Should probably note that I am travelling to Michigan again so things might slow down here a bit for a few weeks.)

[Palaaemon]

Bird,

Family vacation again? I hope you get to spend some good quality time with the family if so!

One of the things that brought Mark Grace to mind when I was thinking of other possible comps for Bobby was their GG defense. They both can really pick it although Bobby is a righty and Mark is a Lefty. They also compare very closely (at this point) :

Bobby E. Mark G.
----------- ---------
World Series. 1 1
Gold Gloves. 5 4
All-Star Apps. 2 3

Bobby looks to be all but assured to be voted to the All-Star game this year. From the defensive stats you mentioned and his rankings he has a good shot at another GG at years end. I just mention these depending at what point you do the comp.

Take care and safe travels bro.

[stevem810]

Tough road trip in the middle of June. Amazing those bats went silent

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Palaaemon

Bird,

Family vacation again? I hope you get to spend some good quality time with the family if so!

One of the things that brought Mark Grace to mind when I was thinking of other possible comps for Bobby was their GG defense. They both can really pick it although Bobby is a righty and Mark is a Lefty. They also compare very closely (at this point) :

Bobby E. Mark G.
----------- ---------
World Series. 1 1
Gold Gloves. 5 4
All-Star Apps. 2 3

Bobby looks to be all but assured to be voted to the All-Star game this year. From the defensive stats you mentioned and his rankings he has a good shot at another GG at years end. I just mention these depending at what point you do the comp.

Take care and safe travels bro.

Yes, with aging parents and being an only child I try to get back to Michigan twice a year- generally once in the late Spring and once in October.

I'll take that look at comparing Mark Grace, for a comparable time frame in his career, to Erbakan soon. But yes, in some ways that aren't measured by James' method, there are certainly some clear similarities.
And Bobby was indeed named to his 3rd All-Star game, this time as the starting first baseman.

[BirdWatcher]

As requested I took a look at how Brewers first baseman Bobby Erbakan compares (using Bill James Similarity Scores process) to former MLB first baseman Mark Grace.
I also decided to take a look at a small number of other former MLB first baseman who seemed to possess some similar skills/attributes of Erbakan.

But first lets look at the Grace comparison: looking at a comparable period of time at the beginning of Mark Grace's career (1988-1993), I found that Erbakan and Grace achieved a similarity score of 920. In other words, they are very similar.
Now I should point out that Bill James would compare active players with retired players numbers at the same age as that current player but what I've actually done here is compare compare Erbakan's age 20 through mid-age 27 season to Grace's age 24 through age 29 season as Grace didn't hit the majors until age 24 and didn't have a shortened first season as Erbakan did and of course Erbakan is mid-season at this stage. So, a similar period of time and given that Grace remained a pretty productive player through his late 30's I think it's a fair, if flawed, comparison.
The biggest similarities: they hit nearly the same number of extra base hits though Erbakan has a bit of an edge in homers, they are almost identical in terms of RBI (Erbakan +2), they are fairly close in runs and hits, and quite close in SLG. Grace does have a pretty big lead in batting average (by 28 points), walked far more and struck out less. On the other hand, Erbakan stole more bases. At this stage of his career, Grace had 1 All-Star appearance (Erbakan is about to play in his 3rd) and had 2 Gold Gloves (Erbakan is at 5 and counting.)

But, yes, Palaaemon, good eye. Very similar looking players.

I also decided to look at the Mayor, Sean Casey, mostly for the possible offensive similarity. Looking at Casey from 1997-2004 (age 22 through 29), the similarity score was 868. Not bad, but given some of the other differences these two really aren't that comparable. Where they were closest was strikeouts.

So I started thinking about other fine defensive first baseman, like Erbakan, who were somewhat under-powered and played in a similar offensive environment.

What about J.T. Snow, for example. Looking at 1992-1999 (age 24-31), the similarity score is 900. A pretty good comparison. Now it should be noted that Snow hit quite a few more HR's than Erbakan and drove in more runs while stealing far fewer bases. He also walked a lot more while striking out a nearly equally greater number of times than Erbakan. But they were a bit closer in batting average than the other players we have looked at, were quite close in SLG, and had nearly identical doubles totals. At this stage of Snow's career he had 5 Gold Gloves and that is precisely how many Erbakan has, although Bobby will likely add another at the end of the current season.

Finally, I thought I would look at John Olerud. I was able to compare the same age range for Olerud as he came up to the bigs at age 20 in 1989. (So I looked at 1989-1996.) And while the results weren't quite as close as with Mark Grace, this was the second closest comparison I have found, with a similarity score of 912. Olerud had not won any Gold Gloves yet at this stage of his career, but he was a fine defensive first baseman and would win 3 Gold Glove awards later in his career. He had been a 1-time All-Star at this stage. And in spite of his tremendous 1993 season when he hit .363, their batting averages aren't far off (Olerud-.293, Erbakan-.276). Olerud and Erbakan are very close in hits and runs scored and driven in and almost identical in strikeouts. On the other hand, Olerud has a huge lead in walks and Erbakan a significant lead in stolen bases. They are closer in SLG than any of the other players compared to Erbakan.