VOLUME:L ... July 2024
LATEST NEWS
COMMISSIONER NOTES:
We have reached the half way mark of our season and the standings are showing a much clearer picture of who is competing for a playoff slot and who is not. We can see that no one has run away and locked up a pennant and all three races are pretty tight. The return of the "Wild Card" standings shows seven maybe eight teams fighting for those three slots. It's going to be a fun summer kicked off by two holidays.
Harwell division: 
Albuquerque back to the top with an awesome 22-5 (11-3h) month and have won 12 (6h) of 18 home/away series splits. The Horsemen have the best team OPS and 3rd best pitching staff that has given up the fewest homers. Nobody has a more extra base hits (358) or homers (153)... Atlanta in second 5 games back after going 15-12 (7-7h) in June and their series wins are also 12 (5h) of 18. The Black Crackers have a league best 125 steals and are fourth best in OPS and ERA... Kentucky 10 back, held onto third by going 14-13 (8-6h) last month which puts their series wins at 8 (5h) of 18. The Blue Grass Boppers, best in not hitting into GiDP's, are middle of the road in both OPS and ERA... In fourth it's Lancaster, 14 out of first by posting a 15-12 (8-6h) record last month and they have also won 8 (5h) of 18 in series play. The Lynx struggle to get extra base hits and have on bottom third team ERA... Uniontown, 17 games behind is last due to going just 11-16 (7-7h) last month. They have a series record of 7 wins (4h) of their 18. The Raiders are one of the best in dingers and are near the top third in OPS but in bottom third in team ERA.
Caray division: 
Syracuse still on top here despite a rather blah 10-8 (6-3h) month and it puts their series wins at 13 (7h) of 18. The Blue, one of 3 with 150+ HR, 2nd in steals, are 2nd in team OPS but middle of the road in ERA... Manhattan is six back of them after a solid 13-5 month and they're series record is 10 (6h) wins of 18. The Marauders are top third in OPS, way best in drawing walks and their team ERA is 5th best... In third and 12 out of first is Rochester after winning 11-7 (5-4h) in June and to end up with 10 (6h) series wins of 18. The Robins are middle of the road in team in OPS, commit the fewest errors in the league with a mediocre team ERA but a league best in giving up fewest HR... It's Laurel Highlands in fourth, 24 out of first who checked in at 12-6 (7-2h) last month and they've got 6 (4h) series wins of their 18. The Mustangs have one of the worst OPS marks, the fewest total bases and extra base hits along with an equally bad team ERA... Philadelphia in the cellar went 8-10 (6-3h) in June and they've got an awful series record of just 2 (both home) series wins of 18. The Quakers are bottom third in OPS, tied for fewest homers, one of the best in hitting into GiDP's and just an horrific team ERA that is likely from giving up a bazillon homers.
Allen division: 
This one has three teams within 10. Bennett Run moved into first on a solid 16-11 (6-7h) month and their series record 10 wins (5h) of 20. The Boilermakers have a top five OPS, league best total bases and runners on base along with a middle-ish ERA... In second is Sarasota and 4 games back after an ugly June record of 8-19 (4-9h) and now in series' they've won 8 (6h) of those 20. The BucO's are close to the bottom third in OPS but league best in triples and the 2nd best ERA in the league... In third and only 7 out is Ottawa who were 8-19 (5-8h) last month and they're series record is 10 wins (7h) of 20. The Fat Cats have the best ERA in the league and almost the worst in hitting... In fourth we find Burnsville, 22 out of first on a 9-18 (3-10h) June mark to put their series play at just 3 wins (2h) of 20. The Blaze are in the bottom third in hitting and almost bottom third in ERA despite the terrific home ERA... In the basement it's Iron City 25 from first after going 8-19 (2-11h) last month and they've got 3 series wins (not one at home) of their 20. The Houserockers OPS is dead last and the pitching ERA is not very pretty.
Stats-Player: 
Logan Webb (Ott) quite a bit better than anyone else in ERA, one of the best in WHIP, K/BB ratio which has given him a nice 9-2 WL mark. Justin Verlander (Man) the league leader in wins, is 12-4 over 16 starts and getting lots of run support. Clayton Kershaw (Ott) is 2nd in ERA, tied for 3rd in wins, top five in K's and a league best WHIP. Spencer Strider (Atl) with a huge lead in K's and top 10 ERA. Sonny Gray (Atl) is top 5 in ERA and tied for 2nd in wins. In the bullpen Josh Hader (Syr) has a 13.2 K/9 ratio that's carried him to the lead in saves, one better than Adbert Alzolay (Atl). Hunter Brown (Phi) is just a touch more horrible than Charlie Morton (Utw) for worst ERA. Johan Oveido (Iro) has lost more than anyone but his ERA is 3 runs better than Brown..... In batters box it's still a Ronald Acuna Jr (Atl) and Shohei Ohtani (Syr) show. Ronald has a league best in average, hits plus steals while Ohtani has is tops in OBP, slugging, OPS plus RBI. Beyond those two in the MVP battle it's Matt Olson (Bur) putting on a homer show and has ripped 52 extra base hits (16/1/35). Corey Seager (Ben) is having quite a year. He's top 10 in average, 2nd in OBP, slugging and OPS. Freddie Freeman (Syr) top 10 average, OBP, RBI and 2nd in hits plus a league best in doubles. That sound you hear is from Jack Suwinksi (Ott) while whiffing 35% if his AB's (119/344). I'd say Josh Bell (Phi) is struggling this year hitting 143 (37/259) at bats.
Stats-Page Two:
Franciso Lindor (Roc) and Ronald Acuna Jr (Atl) have scored 64 runs... Yandy Diaz (Alb) has been caught stealing 5 of the 6 times he tried it. Lane Thomas (Ben) has also been nailed 5 times which has never happened to Esteury Ruiz (Syr) over 46 attempts... Andres Gimenez (Ken) has been hit 13 times in 299 plate appearances which still hasn't happened to Juan Soto (Man) in 389 pa's... Four players have 5 sac flies and four others have 1 sac bunt... Xander Bogaerts (Bur) has hit into 15 doubleplays while Keibert Ruiz (Atl) has 0 in 217 ab's... CJ Abrams (Utw) with 18 is the best we have in making errors... Victor Caratini (Iro) has zero extra base hits in 59 at bats and his team mate Nolan Schanuel has 1 in 70 at bats... Amed Rosario (Sar) and Eugenio Suarez (Utw) have 500 batting averages (1/2) while four players are hitting 000 with Brenton Doyle (Ott) in 3 at bats. Also in the Ozone is Brendan Donovan (Atl) with 077 (2/26)..... Colin Poche (Atl) has a 2.5 H/9 rate (8h/29.0ip) and his team mate Garrett Whitlock is 18.6 (22h/10.7ip)(Atl)... Adam Ottavino (Man) has a 0.51 WHIP in 27.3ip and Taj Bradley (Phi) is at 2.27 in his 56.0ip... Felix Batista (Bur) has whiffed 39 in 20.7ip for 17.0 k/9 rate... Edward Cabrera (LHi) has walked 55 in 91.0ip... Kyle Gibson (Man) has served up 26 gophers... Lance Lynn (Alb), Kyle Hendricks (Lan) & Zach Eflin (Sar) have 2 shutouts... Ryan Pressly (Ott) plus Cionel Perez (Bur) have been in 48 games... Among the 30 undefeated pitchers Michael King (Syr) is 7-0 and going to the other end there are 29 winless pitchers, Jack Flaherty (Bur) is 0-11... Adam Ottavino (Man) has a league best 0.66 ERA in 27.3ip and dead last is Garrett Whitlock (Atl) at 10.12 in 10.7ip
... IMPORTANT DATES ...
- July 29-31st (Mon-Wed): In-season trade window
- October 1 (Tue):Playoffs begin
THE SHOW
On June 18th Willie Mays died. For myself, sadly he represented the last player who brought back memories of my teen years. Sure I liked Mickey Mantle more but I was quite aware that Willie was an incredible player. He certainly is one of those you'd use as an example of a "five tool player". The baseball world has reminded us of his awesome statistics but for me, two things I learned about him that I didn't know. One his about the "Say Hey Kid" nickname. That came about during his 1951 season, thanks to Barney Kremenko, a New York Journal-American sportswriter. Mays would regularly say, "say who, say what, say where, say hey" and Kremenko started using "Say Hey". The second is what now is recognized as his MLB statistical rookie season 1948 with the Birmingham Black Barons who happened to play at Rickwood Park. He only played, as a center fielder, on weekends for only 13 games with 48 plate appearances. Zero homers, only one steal with a slash line of 233/313/326. What is special is after that short season, he went back to high school for the next couple months and the following year to graduate. Yeah, he was still a junior in high school when his career began as a 16 year old. Because he was paid $250 a month, he was banned from playing on his high school team. After graduation in 1950, the Barons sold his contract to the NY Giants for $10,000.
Imagine hitting a ball, 460 feet and it's a double play! Vic Wertz knows the feeling.
- Thirteen years he played in at least 150 games
- He 50 homers twice and 40 four times
- Five times he had double digit triples
- Five times his OPS was 1000+
- Six times his total bases were 350+
- Six times he slugged 600+
- Ten times his OBP was 390+
- Twelve times he had more walks than strikeouts
- Gold gloves; 12 in a row
- He lead the league in steals four times
- In 1971 he lead the league in walks 112 and had 23 steals, at age 40.
- He hit 660 homers despite losing most of his age 21 and all of age 22 years to military service
- MVP in 1954 and 1965 plus four other years in top 3
If you can't read this stat image go here: B-ref/Mays
1954 card, 1965 card, 1959 topps
He was quite a man.