Edinburgh News - 2028-05-01 - 'Week Four"

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Edinburgh News - 2028-05-01 - 'Week Four"

#1 Post by Vic »

By Hamish Campbell
Evening News Staff Writer
2028-05-01

The Big Picture
After a dismal 2-4 showing in Week 3, the Scottish Claymores closed out April in a blaze of … well, not glory, exactly. More like, not terrible …

And that’s how you should probably categorize a 3-3 week against the struggling Kentucky Thoroughbreds. Not good, certainly. Not exactly bad, either. Just OK.

So, hello mediocrity!

Not exactly the best of rallying cries, but the Claymores will take it – for now, at least.

The pitching has been woeful – ranked dead last in the Imperial League – but offset at least a bit by an offense that scores runs at a decent clip (120 through April, tied for 2nd in the league). What’s concerning, though, is that offensive production stats that contribute to runs scored (things like hits, on-base percentage, extra-base hits) have dipped.

Scotland ranks 8th in the league in batting average, and 6th in OBP and slugging. It’ll need to do better than that if it hopes to stay in contention this season. Competing with powerhouse Havana is pretty much just a fever dream of General Manager Vic Caleca, but keeping pace with the improved San Juan Coqui for second place in the division and (dare we say it?) a wild card berth is at least in sight right now.

Dream big, Claymores!

A mediocre Week 4 was a start, but we’ll need more.

For the record, Scotland currently stands at 12-13, in third place, 5 games behind division leader Havana, 1 behind second-place San Juan, and 2 ahead of last-place London.

Player of the Week
We’re going with veteran starting pitcher Francisco Robles, who made a little Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance history this month: on April 8, he fanned West Virginia DH Tony Figueroa to record his 2,500th major league strikeout.

In the three games since then, Robles has notched another 5 Ks, to stand at 2,505 for his career. That puts him in 6th place on the list of PEBA’s all-time strikeout leaders, just 25 behind Carlos Rivera, who’s currently pitching on rehab assignment in the Aurora Borealis minor league system.

Although Robles, in his 17th season, is no longer the strikeout machine he was at his peak, he still gets his share – 147 last season in Florida, and 148 the year before that. So, while the all-time lead (3,349 held by Markus Hancock, who played most of his career for the Tempe Knights and Bakersfield Bears) is likely out of reach, Robles has a reasonable shot at third place. That number is 2,650, currently held by Dean O’Monahan, who played much of his career for the Charleston Statesmen.

“It’s humbling to be talked about in the same breath as all-time greats like Dean and Markus,” Robles said this week. “I have been blessed and lucky.”

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a wicked sinker, either.

Postscript: Robles is closing in on another milestone, too: he’s just 10 appearances away from pitching in his 500th game.

Game of the Week
We’ll go with the offensive onslaught the Claymores unleashed against Kentucky on April 29, banging out 18 hits on the way to a 17-6 thrashing of the Thoroughbreds in front of a near-sellout crowd at The Castle.

Every Claymore who appeared in the game had at least one hit. In fact, everyone but Naomi Honma had at least two – and Honma still had a busy day on the base paths, scoring three runs via a walk, an error and a home run.

Notable performances included 2B Yeong-hun Kim’s first-inning grand slam; Manuel Majia’s three-hit game after subbing for injured DH Yosuke Imai; and 3B Bob Swift’s first homer as a Claymore in the fifth inning.

With all that going on, it was hard to pick a player of the game, but “Mr. Slam” himself (Kim) came up with it. (In case you missed it, Kim’s only other homer of the season also was a grand slam, on April 15 at New Orleans).

All we could think after the final out was, “Hey guys, save a few of those runs for May!”

Stat of the Week
This week’s statistic isn’t actually kept by PEBA, but it’s one that Claymores Manager Hayato Sasaki (a stat-head of some reputation) keeps informally: Pure Quality Starts.

As you might guess, it’s a pitching stat – devised by sabermatician and fantasy baseball guru Ron Shandler – that essentially gives pitchers credit for exhibiting certain key skills in each of their starts and, over time, gives you a snapshot of their consistency.

A pitcher earns one point for each of the following:

1. He must go a minimum of six innings, which measures stamina. If he goes less than five innings, he automatically gets a PQS of 0, regardless of whatever other point he might produce.
2. He must allow no more than a number of hits equal to the number of innings pitched. This measures hit prevention.
3. He must strike out a number of batters that's no fewer than two less than the number of innings he pitched. This measures dominance.
4. He must strike out at least twice as many batters as he walks. This measures command.
5. He must allow no more than one home run, which measures his ability to keep the ball in the park.

A perfect PQS score is five, Shandler says, and a pitcher who averages three or more of these per season is doing pretty well.

Think of this as a quick and dirty version of the quality start, if it helps.

All of that said, how are the Scottish starters doing by this measure? Well, here’s how their starts have stacked up so far:

Francisco Robles: 3, 3, 3, 3, 4.
Carlos Perez: 2, 5, 3, 2, 4.
Kazuhiko Nishiyama: 0, 4, 1, 3, 3.
Soichiro Ogawa: 0, 4, 1, 0, 5.
Terry Dumont: 2.
Jorge Vázquez: 1, 0, 3.
Robinson Herrera: 2.

What this tells you, at a glance, is that Robles has been the most consistent of the Scottish starters, which is certainly true. None of his starts has been awful, while just one (his most recent) was close to excellent. It also tells you that Ogawa has veered wildly between abysmal and terrific – also demonstrably true.

Finally, it tells you that – outside of Robles – this starting staff has some serious work to do if it’s going to approach respectability.

True with a capital T and a few hundred exclamation points.
Last edited by Vic on Sat Jan 26, 2019 3:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Vic Caleca
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Re: Edinburgh News - 2028-05-01 - 'Week Four"

#2 Post by Borealis »

Claymores wrote:
Player of the Week
We’re going with veteran starting pitcher Francisco Robles, who made a little Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance history this month: on April 8, he fanned West Virginia DH Tony Figueroa to record his 2,500th major league strikeout.

In the three games since then, Robles has notched another 5 Ks, to stand at 2,505 for his career. That puts him in 6th place on the list of PEBA’s all-time strikeout leaders, just 25 behind Carlos Rivera, who’s currently pitching in the Aurora Borealis minor league system.
Rivera is currently on a rehab assignment - something that feels like he's done before with Aurora, as he's never quite had the consistency the Borealis had hoped for when they traded Romano to Amsterdam for him.

What's amazing about that list is 'Moondog' at #4 - who has pitched in relief the past 4+ seasons - If he had stayed a starter, he'd be threatening #2 - if not sitting #2 at this time... Ah, 'Moondoggie'... I still dream - Florida snagged him right before me back in our first draft of 2011... Ended up with this guy, who wasn't a bad bird at all...
Michael Topham, President Golden Entertainment & President-CEO of the Aurora Borealis
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Re: Edinburgh News - 2028-05-01 - 'Week Four"

#3 Post by Vic »

I’ll change the reference to Rivera so it’s clear he’s not toiling in the minors full time ... look forward to his return so he and Francisco can battle to move up the list!
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Re: Edinburgh News - 2028-05-01 - 'Week Four"

#4 Post by Borealis »

Claymores wrote:I’ll change the reference to Rivera so it’s clear he’s not toiling in the minors full time ... look forward to his return so he and Francisco can battle to move up the list!
That would be nice if he did come back and pitch well... we're going to need that!
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