This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 10.5 2028

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This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 10.5 2028

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By Hamish Campbell
The Edinburgh News
06-12-2028

The Big Picture
They must be doing it with mirrors.

The “they” we’re referring to are the Scottish Claymores, who have won six in a row, seized second place in the Trans Atlantic for itself, and even trimmed a game off of Havana’s lead in the past week.

All of this with no starting rotation to speak of – which is not hyperbole. No. 1 starter Francisco Robles, No. 3 starter Jorge Vázquez, No. 4 starter Kazuhiko Nishiyama and replacement starters Ernest Singleton and Mauro Rocha are all on the disabled list. Who’s left to pitch? A fine question with some pretty shaky answers.

That’s been offset by the Claymores bats, which have chosen a fine time to come alive, even with their best offensive threat (OF José Guillén) shelved on the disabled list. The team batting average (.262) has climbed to No. 3 in the Imperial League; OBP (.321) to No. 2; slugging pct. (.423) to No. 1; runs scored to No. 1; and home runs (75) to tied for No. 2.

Whether they can continue to overcome a starting rotation patched with minor-league scrubs and under-the-radar free agent signings, however, is an open question.

Havana, meanwhile, went 3-1 over the draft-shortened week to solidify its hold on the division lead and on the best record (42-22) in the IL. Lights-out pitching (No. 1 team ERA in the IL, No. 1 starters ERA, and No. 2 bullpen ERA) combined with strong offense (No. 2 in the IL for runs scored) leaves few questions about why they’re consistent winners.

San Juan and London stumbled a bit in the shortened week (the Coqui went 0-4, the Underground 1-3), but there’s little reason to believe either can’t pull themselves out of these minor tailspins.

It all adds up to a division race that just keeps growing more interesting with each passing week.

Havana Happenings
Top Draft Pick: Although Havana picked late in the first round, the Leones made out just fine in the PEBA amateur draft, snaring power-hitting OF Paul Oglethorpe with the 19th selection. Oglethorpe hit 22 home runs in 56 games for Ohio State last season, with 33 RBIs. An impressive output, and an impressive pickup that late in the round … Player of the Week: Speaking of impressive pickups, OF Claudio Hernandez broke out of a mini-slump last week to hit .300 and smack two homers, bringing his season total to 17. The offseason free agent from Panama leads the Imperial League in home runs. Game of the Week: We’ll go with Havana’s tense 1-0 victory on June 9 over the Arlington Bureaucrats, which showcased 7 innings of shutout ball from SP Juan López. He allowed only 5 hits, walked no one, and struck out 9 on the way to picking up Player of the Game honors. The lone run of the contest came in the bottom of the fourth inning when 3B Vern Duncan turned on the first pitch from ‘Crats starter Enrique Fonseca and ripped it 367 feet into the right field stands at Campos Peloteros. That, as it turned out, was all the Leones would need, as Havana’s bullpen took over from López after a 28-minute rain delay and shut down Arlington in the 8th and 9th.

Coqui Cables
Top Draft Pick: Atasuke Inoue, who pitched his college ball for the Hamilton Canada Terrors. Inoue has electric stuff, boasting an excellent fastball, slider and changeup. He compiled a 24-4 career record in college with a 1.39 ERA and an outstanding command ratio (K/BB) of 6.20. The prospect of Inoue joining the San Juan rotation a couple of years down the line already has division opponents nervous … The Week That Was: An uncharacteristically tough week for San Juan, which dropped the last game of its Kentucky series and then lost all three contests to what had been a seriously-slumping New Orleans squad. The Coqui were outscored better than 2-1 (21 runs against, 10 for) over the four games, and dropped to .500 for the season. A couple of bright spots: No. 1 - San Juan drew right around 40,000 fans for each game in the Trendsetters series, reversing a concerning down-tick in attendance over the past month or so. No. 2 – Mike Rose finally picked up his 8th home run in the June 11 5-1 loss to New Orleans. You may recall that Rose had a homer in each of his first 7 games of the season, but hadn’t hit one since. Game of the Week: We’ll spare Coqui fans the pain of reliving the last several days. Suffice it to say they were all pretty depressing …

Scottish Scoops
Top Draft Pick: Keiji Honda was a relatively safe pick for rookie GM Vic Caleca, given that the closer out of Peru’s Pontifica Universidad was also taken in the first round of 2025 amateur draft. Duluth, who took him with the 18th pick, didn’t sign him and Honda went back to school, where he impressed with an elite fastball and curve. He also throws a changeup, and Scotland is expected to at least experiment with Honda as a starter once he’s under contract … Player of the Week: There were plenty of standout performances last week, as CF Teruo Nagai, 2B José Escobido, and OF/1B Peter Casey all excelled at the plate. However, no one was more clutch than SP Roger Keller who was called up from AAA Aberdeen to help bolster the injury-depleted rotation. He took the mound on June 7 and allowed just 1 run on 5 hits to Hartford, yielding a single walk and striking out 7. Keller was one of a number of under-the-radar free agent signings Scotland has made in April and May, which have helped keep the team above water as starter after starter has gone down to injury. Game of the Week: Arguably, any of the four wins would be worth looking at, but we’ll go with the June 9 shutout win over London. Starter Soichiro Ogawa pitched 8 scoreless innings with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts while allowing just 3 hits to even his season record at 4-4. The only runner to even reach scoring position came in the top of the 5th when London DH Russell Guy walked and then moved to second on a single by 2B Gil Sterling. The inning died there, though, as the next two batters each struck out swinging. All of the Scottish scoring came in the first inning on a 3-run homer by RF Peter Casey. CL Ken Fisher came on in the 9th and nailed down the win by retiring the side in order.

Underground Utterings
Top Draft Pick: London took SP Duane Moss with the No. 5 pick in the draft, and it’s easy to see why: the Washington State University product put together an other-worldly senior season, going 9-3 with a 1.04 ERA and an eye-popping 10.71 Command Ratio (BB/K). He’s already under contract, too, with a $4.5 million signing bonus. Player of the Week: SP Clark Snow helped supply the lone bright spot with a win over San Antonio on June 7, which also is our Game of the Week. Snow, who was a high-profile off-season free agent signing for London, threw 7 strong innings, allowing 6 hits and just 1 run while striking out 4 and walking no one. The win brought Snow’s season record to 5-5, his 4th victory in his last 4 outings. During that span he’s dropped his ERA from 4.99 to 4.24, showing Underground fans why the team signed him to a $5.2 million contract. A 1st inning home run by DH Chris Jensen and an unearned run in the top of the 7th was all London needed for the win, as closer Gideon Byrd came on in the 9th to save his 13th game.

Where They Stand
On the morning of June 12, it’s 1.) Havana, 42-22; 2.) Scotland, 35-29, 7 GB; 3.) San Juan, 32-32, 10 GB; London, 30-34, 12 GB.

See you next week!
Last edited by Vic on Sun Feb 24, 2019 3:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Vic Caleca
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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 10.5 2028

#2 Post by Leones »

Scottish were very impressive this week not only did they put an 8-2 record on the boards, they're also on a 6 game win streak. SP Sochiro Ogawa was lights out winning both his starts with a 1.80 ERA/ 0.93 WHIP and 10 K over 15 innings.
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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 10.5 2028

#3 Post by Borealis »

The improvement over last season has been impressive!!
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