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06/29/2054
We've been a tad busy and come back to find it 2053 again as the Drillers are back in first place. They went 6-0 this past week with sweeps of Pittsburgh and Santo Domingo, are now 18-8 on the month, and lead the Lager by two games over Wilmington. The next best week was Pawtucket who went 5-2. They are 16-10 this month and have closed the division gap behind Indy to only 2.5 games. On the flip side Philly went 1-5 (a win is a win), while Wilmington and New Orleans went 2-5.
Power Ranking
1) Dallas Drillers (124.4, ++)
2) Washington Bats (121.4, o)
3) Indianapolis Clowns (116.2, +)
4) Seattle Pilots (114.4, --)
5) California Kodiaks (113.9, o)
6) Pawtucket Patriots (105.5, ++)
7) Denver Bulls (103.8, -)
8) Carolina Tobs (103.5, o)
9) Wilmington Wildcats (101.8, --)
10) Hartford Whalers (97.8, ++)
11) Los Angeles Dinos (96.7, o)
12) Windy City Blues (95.9, -)
13) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (89.9, -)
14) Pittsburgh Millers (89.0, -)
15) Syracuse Snappers (87.0, o)
16) Baltimore Bulldogs (86.7, o)
17) New Orleans Voodoo (80.1, o)
18) New York Cyclones (75.2, +)
19) Maine Guides (73.0, -)
20) Montreal Exports (69.8, o)
21) Batavia Muckdogs (66.5, o)
22) Phoenix Roadrunners (57.0, o)
23) Toronto Canadians (53.0, o)
24) Philadelphia Freedom (39.8, o)
Performance of the Week
C Cato Flaig - The 1st overall pick of the 2047 draft is living up to the hype as the 24 year old has become one of the best, if not the best, hitting catcher in the league. This past week on June 26th against Montreal he had three hits, one home run, drove in an amazing eight runs, and scored twice in an 11-9 victory. On a first pitch fastball from Kingston Fry in the top of the seventh, he banged a grand slam home run to left, giving the Whalers a 9-7 lead. On the season he's hitting .316 with 5 HRs and 40 RBIs while starting 59 games behind the plate.
Prospect of the Week
CF Alexander Charter - The first overall pick of the draft just a few weeks ago has already played eight games in center for the Oysters, New York's Rookie League team. For his HS career he hit .303/.397/.594 with 50 HRs and 152 RBIs while starting all 160 games over four years. So far in the RL he's hitting .417 with 1 HR and 5 RBIs while also swiping two bases. Coaches love his work ethic and scouts say, "with his talents the light of Charter's star could be blinding." Wow...now that's something.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. Drillers outfielder Kyle 'Salesman' Olmsted got his 2000th hit this past week on June 24th against Santo Domingo. The 37 year old was the third overall pick by Philly back in 2038 out of the University of Texas. He's turned into a 6x All-Star and won the Stout Slugger in 2044 when he hit .302 with 45 HRs and 108 RBIs. Since then he's played for Maine, Seattle, New York, Santo Domingo and now Dallas. Congrats to the 'Salesman'. The big news for Dallas though is Jett Spear. In his last seven games he's hit .391 with 6 HRs and 13 RBI's. After hitting .208 in April, and .228 in May, he's now hitting .352 with 8 HRs and 23 RBI's for the month of June.
2. The Dinos are still stealing bases, playing defense, and breaking hearts. At 42-37 they are giving their fans heartaches every now and then, but eventually the steals and defense should pay off. They are first in the league for zone rating at +28.21, while also being first in wSB at +16.08. On the season they have stolen 148 bases in 168 attempts, good enough for an 88.1% success rate. On the other side of life Batavia has a ZR of -28.93 while Maine is last with a wSB of -9.90. Position wise no one is worse than Carolina and their centerfield of sadness. They have posted a ZR of -12.12 at that position thanks in part of Cameron Marry. The former fifth overall pick doesn't have the range or speed to play center, but at least he tries really hard.
3. Speaking of stolen bases what happened to Elias 'Clapper' Owen? He set the single season stolen base record with 96 in 2051. He then shattered his record in 2052 when he stole an amazing 115 bases. Last season he 'only' stole 79, and this year he's on pace for just 64. At only 24 years old he has 338 stolen bases, which puts him 60th all-time already. The gold standard of Richie van Luik currently sits at 934 for his career, 183 more than second place Preston 'Cowboy' Capps. Can Owen get back on his horse and possibly challenge 'Powder' someday? We think he can but he needs to get the green light once again.
4. Seattle has three sub 2.00 ERA pitchers. There are four total in the entire league. Paycen Bemis is 11-1 with a 1.85 ERA, Pierce Cosme is 8-2 with a 1.74 ERA, and Lukas Lorey is 8-3 with a 1.97 ERA. Meanwhile Cayden Wittmeyer, who we thought would win the Pale Ale, is 8-5 with a 4.23 ERA. After going 17-5 with a 2.55 ERA last season, he's bound to get hot sooner or later. Throw in 38 year old Kelani Encinia, an 8x All-Star and 2039 Pale Ale winner, and well this staff is stacked. No wonder the Pilots are 50-28 and tied with Washington for the best record in the league. They have been to four straight ILCS' and the streak doesn't look like it's ready to come to an end yet.
5. What's on tap? We get the ever fun Washington at California series this week. Currently the Bats lead the Kodiaks 2-1 in their season series, but one of those wins was a 13 inning 5-4 victory. The Kodiaks though start the week against the upstart Denver Bulls. Denver is 46-33 and in third place in the Brutal Bock. Their pitching hasn't been top flight, but offensively they are second in the IL in hits, and third in the IL in runs scored. They are last though in home runs, with only 49 total, so will they try and add a power piece to the puzzle? Streak wise Dallas has won seven straight, Joseph Brandon (SEA) has a 22 game hitting streak, Bernard Jen (HAR) has scored in seven straight games, and Cyril Castellon (CAL) hasn't lost in 15 starts.
Stat of the Week
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| Highest Percentage of Hits As Home Runs (Top 25 Players, Minimum 200 career hits) |
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