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05/23/2061
The Maine Guides continue their turnaround as they go 6-1 to move five games over .500 and only two games out of the Ale lead. With a four-game sweep of New Orleans and taking two of three against Indy they are now 5-0 in June. The other top week was Seattle who went 5-1 as they move within a game of .500. More on the Pilots later. Finally we had New York and Pawtucket who each went 5-2. The Cyclones are only two games out of the Stout lead, while Pawtucket now leads Syracuse in the Ale by just a half game. On the other side of life Batavia and New Orleans went 1-6.
Power Rankings
1) Baltimore Bulldogs (122.0, +)
2) Montreal Exports (122.0, -)
3) Washington Bats (119.0, +)
4) New York Cyclones (116.9, -)
5) Phoenix Roadrunners (111.8, o)
6) Pawtucket Patriots (106.7, ++)
7) Maine Guides (105.6, ++)
8) Seattle Pilots (101.4, ++)
9) Syracuse Snappers (99.4, -)
10) Pittsburgh Millers (88.5, ++)
11) Dallas Drillers (87.3, ++)
12) Denver Bulls (87.0, o)
13) Toronto Canadians (85.0, --)
14) Windy City Blues (82.4, --)
15) California Kodiaks (80.3, ++)
16) Wilmington Wildcats (80.3, +)
17) New Orleans Voodoo (78.4, --)
18) Carolina Tobs (74.6, +)
19) Indianapolis Clowns (72.0, +)
20) Los Angeles Dinos (70.2, --)
21) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (68.2, -)
22) Hartford Whalers (68.1, +)
23) Batavia Muckdogs (67.5, --)
24) Philadelphia Freedom (66.2, -)
Performance of the Week
LF Jim 'Barber' Mjima - The 2050 IAFA was signed by New York for a cool $5,000,000 and has been worth every penny. This past week in a 12-2 win against Batavia he hit two home runs, drove in four, and scored four times. On the season he's now hitting .359 with 10 HR, 40 RBI as he dominates RHP from the designated hitter role. In his fifth season in the league he's a .290/.366/.547 hitter with 118 HR, 349 RBI, and a 148 OPS+. He's also just 27 years old.
Prospect of the Week
RF Tavares Wright - In the New York edition, Wright was the 45th overall pick taken in the 2060 draft by the Cylcones. At just 18 years old he's now in his first full season in the Rookie League. So far in 45 games he's hitting .391/.495/.941 with 24 HR, 69 RBI and a 217 OPS+. Somehow he's not even on the Top 100 prospect list. Scouts think he'll be a serviceable outfielder in the majors, but if this is any indication of his future we think he might be a little more than that.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. Here comes the Pilots. The organization has been dead silent this season after ending up 9-17 after the first month of the season. To their benefit they didn't blow it up, and after a 15-12 May, they are now 4-0 in June. At 28-29 overall they've also now moved into the final Wildcard spot in the Import League. They posted the second best ERA last month thanks in part to Joel Greer, Cayden Wittmeyer, and Preston DeGeyter. They are 4-0 with a 0.71 ERA over their last seven starts. Even though their offense still is struggling, there is hope once again. With a -2 PYT and an 11-20 record on the road we think the climb will continue.
2. Hats off to the Exports who put the smack down last month on the BLB. With a 23-6 record they dominated all and now have a 9.5 game lead in the Lager. Who is going to stop the champs? Next up is New York who went 19-10, while Baltimore went 18-10. Meanwhile poor Hartford went 8-19 as they lead all for the #1 pick of the 2062 draft. With the way drafts have gone lately we've seen franchises turn around in just a few seasons, so don't get too down Whaler fans. Some team leaders: Washington scored 172 runs (WC 91), Philly hit 44 home runs (PAW 16), Baltimore swiped 61 bases (NO 8), Montreal allowed only 89 runs (WAS 147), and opponents hit .231 off Denver (TOR/HAR .289).
3. Frank 'Slugger' Memmi was once the next best thing in the BLB. After entering the league from Italy in 2056 he was scooped up by California with a 6 yr/$126,000,000 deal a few weeks later. In his first season he hit .229 with 36 HR and 99 RBI. The next year he missed a month due to a thumb injury, but hit .234 with 29 HR and 83 RBI. Back for all of 2059 he hit .234 with 32 HR and 87 RBI. He opted out, had no suitors, and was re-signed by California for $27 million over three years. Memmi then fired his agent. He only played 21 games in the BLB in 2060 where he hit .320 with 2 HR and 7 RBI. In August he was released as the Kodiaks ate the rest of the contract. Once again with no suitors he sat unsigned until February of 2061 when Maine signed him to a one-year deal. So far in 55 games this season he's hitting .248 with a league leading 21 HR and 40 RBI, while being on pace for 58 HR and 110 RBI. The 32 year old is a huge reason the Guides are winning as he's also become one of the leaders on the team. Looks like a win-win for all.
4. Sol 'Scorpion' Djojohadiksumo (common spelling) was discovered by SDR scouts back in 2040 out of Thailand, when they were the Indy Racers. From the age of 17 to the age of 36 he played for the Racers/Rum Runners in every single minor league system. In those 20 seasons he was named to two All-Star teams while being a Designated Driver twice as well. Last month on May 22nd he was playing for the AAA Reno Railers against the Moscow Mules, where he had one hit and one RBI in four at bats. He was called into the managers office after the game, and much to the exuberance of his teammates, was told he was getting called up. He quickly grabbed a flight to Santo Domingo. The next day against New Orleans he had his first hit (a double) which drove in the Rum Runners only run in a 2-1 loss. He continued to rack up hits here and there, and on June 2nd was hitting .291 entering the game against Pawtucket. All though not starting, he pinch hit in the bottom of the 8th in a 2-2 game. After taking the first pitch, he smoked a Zachary Jackson fastball 401 feet for his first ever major league home run to give them the lead. The home crowd went wild, the dugout went wild, his family which had flown in from Sanpatong went wild. He then played left field in the 9th as the Patriots went down 1-2-3 to give the Rum Runners their 24th victory of the season.
5. What's on tap? This week is interleague as the Washington Bats get to test the best of the Ale. First starting June 6th they have three at first place Pawtucket (34-25), then starting June 9th they host Syracuse (33-25). These are the same Bats who lead the league in runs scored in May, and also lead the league in runs given up in May. Talk about exciting games in the capital. Streak wise Maine has won six straight, Seattle has won five straight, and New Orleans and Toronto have lost five straight. Meanwhile 41 year old Vin Edwards has a 17 game hitting streak. Signed May 12, the guy has only played in 18 total games. His first one he went 0-5, since then he's hit safely in every single game.
Stat of the Week
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| Highest Career Hit to Strikeout Ratio for Batters (Top 25 Players, Min 100 Career Hits) |
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