Neat Stuff, Post-Sim Thread: 2031, Season 25

[Borealis]

Well, a 5-1 week on the surface sounds neat - averaging 5-runs a game - and Aurora even hit 7 HR (nearly half of what they hit all season), with a team .291... The ever skeptical front office on The Front Range prefers to take it all with an ounce of perspective: If you are a contender, you must beat the teams you should, and with no disrespect to the Malts & Warriors, that's what Aurora did... I guess that's a Neat...

- After surviving April (12-9), the Borealis are 11-6 in May, but those 11-wins come by way of: three extra-inning wins - one in 14 and the other in 16 (there was also a loss in 14); four, 1-run wins, including all three v. Duluth, and three, 2-run wins; the lone blow-out, a 10-1 win over Madison was highlighted by one of the individual Neat stories...
- Jose Torres, who was so poor last season that he eventually lost his job, has been off to a stunning start, and that included a pair of home runs in that 10-1 win, with 5 runs scored... He's hitting .278 with 10 HR and 20 RBI on the year...
- Also coming off a good week, Domingo Gutierrez, was 5-12 and is leading the team at .329 as he has taken a firm hold on the starting catching job. With 'Fido' struggling at .231, once again the pair have yet to settled on who is starter and who is the back-up - and as in years past, this continues to be a fluid situation... It's a Neat for Aurora, and perhaps a Not So Neat for those who weren't willing to offer up in the rumored trade discussions...
- 'Litterbug' is hitting at a struggling .237 - and that's AFTER his 11-25 week, with a pair of doubles and a pair of triples... Also looking like he's rounding into form is Harry Hutchins, who was 7-22 with a pair of triples as well, and a homer - that leaves Harry at .262 for the year, along with 15 SB in 17 tries... Also off to a good start is Mike Barton, hitting .305 for Aurora...
- Not Neat, offensively, is Roy Duke, at a buck-92 - and that's after a more productive week at 5-16 with 2-2B and a triple... John Dickson is hitting .213 on the season - despite 6-2B, after a 4-24 week - having Aurora rethinking their infield situation - once again...
- Bob Burns picked up four more saves on the year (15 overall), after blowing a save in his first outing of the week - allowing a Geoff Lawson homer to tie a game Aurora would win in the 10th (Torres HR). Despite the saves, the 1.93 ERA and only (?) 2 BS, he continues to make things interesting...
- Making things interesting - in a good way (so far) is Man Sim, who picked up his 5th win in 7 starts, allowing just a run to the Malts in 7 IP, dropping his ERA to 2.88. One of Aurora's big concerns when they signed the former WIL star, was the 24+ HR per he allowed over the last three seasons. Those WIL parks must be pretty Cracker Jack-ish - he's allowed one thus far for Aurora...

Down on the Farm
Right now, the most intriguing story for the Borealis is Gabriel Rodriguez, the 32nd overall pick from last year's draft, who skipped A Ball, and player in 32-games for Gatineau and hit .376, then getting the AAA promotion when Brandon Johnson got hurt and Ricardo Zamora recalled. In six starts this week he was 9-27, with 3-2B and a homer

What's on Tap
The Borealis finally delve deep into the Desert Hills - the Codgers have been their only divisional foe up to this point, with a trip to Bakersfield for four - and their first look at Mendoza and Carter in 2031. The Bears' pitching has been solid, as usual, but much like Aurora has done for most of the year, their hitting has left a lot to be desired... After their tangled with the Bears, it's back to Northern Lights to finish May with the Yumans, Reno and Bakersfield, with June beginning with a trip to the Desert portion of the DH to face the Arroyos and Zephyrs...

[Alleghenies]

Observations from last sim.

Carlos Ryan has realized it is his contract year. Man is on fire!!
In his first at-bat ever Shunsho Tanaka hit a home run to get the lead and win the game in the top of the 11th.
Bill Rice on my team also blew a save on his birthday, just so he could get his first major league win that day.
Sad to see Hector Gallo have a career ending injury trying to recover from his old injury.
Pat Watson got hurt for Fargo for 4 weeks, so it will be interesting to see how they do without him as in the past they struggled to play .500 without him.
Hutchins got hurt for Aurora for a few weeks, with them in first and it a close division it will be interesting to see if he can keep it going without him in the lineup.
After their hot start Manchester is cooling down a little.
Madision's fans should be happy with how that team is performing compared to last season in Canton.
I don't think we have been this far in the season and a non-expansion team have a worse record than Yuma in a long while, now there is 2 with another a half a game away. Go BOB!!!
Won't happen for a while, but it will be interesting to see where the Rising Sun teams do against each other. I know SS is 3-1 vs the division, so I am assuming the others haven't played each other much...



Impressed with my team's record with all the major injuries I have had this year. We just got Don Mercer back after being out 6 weeks, Raul Cruz is out about 2 more weeks including rehab for a total of 8 weeks out and Bang You is out for about 5 weeks.
My minor league teams keep cruising. I need to find a way to get my AAA SP into my PEBA team.

[Lions]

Mike Ryan's no-hitter against Manchester is definitely neat. He struck out 8, which is twice his season high prior to that game. The two walks he allowed prevented it from being a perfect game, and it's a bit ironic considering that he hadn't walked a single batter in his previous 3 starts. That's actually he's biggest strength. The question of whether or not he would have a perfect game ended VERY early. One of those walks was to former Badger Andrew Sterling, who walked as the 2nd man to the plate.

Outside of the PEBA, Tommy Martinez pitched a 10-inning no hitter for East Carolina back in April.

Some other random facts about PEBA no-hitters:

• Bakersfield has 6 no-hitters, including 3 perfect games (the 3 most recent games too). No other team has more than 1 perfect game.
• Amsterdam has now tossed 5 no-hitters in franchise history (1 of which came when they were still the Connecticut Nutmeggers)
• Florida and Aurora are tied in 3rd place, with 4 no-hitters in their history.
• Those 4 teams, who have a combined 19 no-hitters between them, saw those games pitched by 19 different pitchers.
• No player has tossed 3 no-hitters, but 4 of them have tossed two, including Manuel Corona (GLO), Hisashi Kokan (AMA, NO), Julian Thomas (NJ, DUL), and Antonio Rivera (AUR). Corona's were in consecutive seasons, with the other pitchers having theirs 5-6 years apart.
• Julian Thomas is the only pitcher with more than 12 strikeouts in a no-hitter, and he did that in both of his, with 13 and 14 K's.
• Bartolo Esquivel's no-hitter for Tempe in 2021 included 7 BB's.
• Salvador Cantu's 2029 no-hitter with Amsterdam is the only one in which the pitcher walked more batters than he struck out (4 K's, 5 BB's).

The real shining star was Man-loon 'Just Call Me Man' Sim, who had a complete game shut-out against the Akira - and nearly a no-no, except for that lead-off single by Grier

He walked the very first batter he faced in his next start, but got an out after that, so he had what I've seen called a "hidden no-hitter", which is 27 outs without allowing a hit but spanning multiple appearances.

[Borealis]

With the excitement of the draft no in the rear view mirror, attention is turned back to the rosters and the grand shuffling begins. On The Front Range, that had already begun, as Henry Cluett has been recalled, of sorts, to make his regular season PEBA debut - note, not his Big League debut, as he pitched in the 2030 postseason for Aurora. Cluett will take 'Tugboat's spot in the rotation for a turn, as Smith deals with a little nagging somethin-somethin. Cleat's immediate future may hinge on how he fairs v. Okinawa in game 2 of that series... Also heading back to Aurora is DH/1B Brandon Johnson, who returns from a rehab assignment, just as Hutchins and Martin spend time on the DL. Johnson will DH, while Zamora takes the outfield spot - hitting .280 with 14 SB already, in 82 AB...

At Thornton, where yet another horrible year is underway, the news is the arrival of two stalwarts from Gatineau: SP Ryan Tate and 1B Raul Munoz. Tate fills the spot vacated by Cluett, after a 2-5, 3.12 run to begin the year (12 starts). Tate now joins Batista, Clark, Morales and Cluett - all a short drive down the freeway and into the future rotation of the Borealis. With the expected retirement of 'Tugboat' and the potential bolting of Esquivel (in the same vain as Turner), those five are expected to compete for those two rotation spots... Munoz, last years 15th overall selection, is looking to rapidly be upwardly mobile, after neither of Gatineau's top players this year made the All-Star team. Thus far Munoz is hitting .309, with 25-2B in 57 games, and he's expected to give Torres a run for his money - if not late this season, certainly next Spring... The other top performer at AA is the 'Hyena', Yellel Twia, the muscular South African, who is 3-1, with 15 saves and a 0.98 ERA - after a combined 1.25 ERA at Mokule'ia and SLRC last year. He's jumping right into the closer role again for the FasTrax, while not as sexy, but equally effective, Washichi Yamada, the 2nd round pick in 2029, will resume his set-up role after a 2-1, 1.84 ERA in 15 appearances with the Balloonists...

Of note at A Ball, SP Lorenzo Lopez will get a promotion from Short A after 3 starts for the Oceanic. He posted a loss, with a 3.24 ERA, but the scouts are confident he's given Mokule'ia all he can give them...

What's on Tap
As the Borealis sort through the draft bounty - if it can be called such, reeling from the three-game sweep at the hands of Reno - and dropping out of the division lead, Aurora hosts the Shisa and Warriors at Northern Lights, before an odd trip to Japan - at Okinawa and Tokyo, home to face Palm Springs, then back to Japan for four with The Evil Evas to end the month, and a pair at Toyama just for kicks to start July... No Neat in any of that...

[Alleghenies]

Well last sim was technically the draft. We had a decent draft. Both my college outfielders I drafted aren't being signed, but other than that pretty happy with my draft.
Overall I think the draft wasn't as strong in the past, but the top was pretty heavy, but a little bit light for the mid-rounds. Will there be gems found? Sure, but I think it will be harder to find. I was comparing the players of this draft to a few past drafts, the one thing that will be interesting is all the new HS we have as there is many more now, so in OOTP23/24 will be cool to see if they got good enough.
Just my thoughts.

[Arroyos]

OF Ken Schitt signed with Yuma, which should evoke some interesting newspaper headlines tomorrow morning.

SCHITT HITS FOR THE FANS

YUMA'S HOPES TURN TO SCHITT

[Zephyrs]

In the not so neat category, Steve Boyer has been a disappointment so far this season. The 27 year old has dropped 252 points from last season's OPS. There is certainly time for him to turn things around but getting anywhere near 50 home runs is highly unlikely.

[Lions]

SP Jarred Joseph, who spent all of last season in Amsterdam, threw a no-hitter for AAA Eindhoven. It could have been a perfect game if not for an error that he committed.

[Fishermen]

Eh, this season has been tough for Hartford, I was happy to see a lot of Ws two sims in a row but I get thrown back to .500 ground in just one sim after that. Some of the batters are really struggling to hit for me this season and my pitching aren't that great either. Was hoping for another wildcard run but I am not super positive now.

[Lions]

I suppose it depends a bit on your perspective, but seeing Neo-Tokyo and Kalamazoo leading their divisions, ahead of Shin Seiki and Crystal Lake, qualifies as pretty neat in my book. While Shin Seiki looks strong and it's just that the Akira are playing well, the Sandgnats look a bit lost right now. I don't really expect that to continue, and the Badger pitching staff could use some help, but it's fun to see some different teams in contention nearly 3 months into the season.

[Borealis]

I suppose it depends a bit on your perspective, but seeing Neo-Tokyo and Kalamazoo leading their divisions, ahead of Shin Seiki and Crystal Lake, qualifies as pretty neat in my book. While Shin Seiki looks strong and it's just that the Akira are playing well, the Sandgnats look a bit lost right now. I don't really expect that to continue, and the Badger pitching staff could use some help, but it's fun to see some different teams in contention nearly 3 months into the season.

Not to mention Reno just a half game back in the Desert Hills...

Just a few Neats (and maybe a Not So...):

- Ricardo Zamora hit .476 on the week, including a cycle against Okinawa, and he had 8 XBH of his 10 hits, including 5 HR, to earn the SL PoW honors... Neat!!

- Henry Cluett was 2-0 with 3 runs allowed in his 13 IP - holding the tough NT line-up to just a run in 7 IP... Neat-O!!

- Not So Neat is where Roy Duke lies, just 4-22 on the week, and just .203 on the year - after 69 SB last year, he has 10 this - of course you can't steal if you aren't on base...

- Also Not So Neat is 'Tugboat', who seems to not be able to find the dock, gave up 10 H and 5 R in 2.2 IP v. NT. He's 4-4 with a 4.68 ERA, and has allowed 3 or more runs in 9 of his 13 starts - I bet he had a stretch of multiple years without allowing that many... Just a hunch...

[Zephyrs]

Adrian Fuentes is hitting the cover off the ball. His .818 OPS is his highest since his rookie season. Fuentes is also putting up some great defensive stats. I am starting to think rookie Leonard "Ratchet" Inman might be the real deal. He has a .977 OPS in 112 at bats. I am going to try and get him more playing time to see if he holds up.

[Lions]

Quite a sim with a 3 HR game from Marcos Sanchez, a cycle from Maxime Plomondon, and a no-hitter by Yakamochi Suitani.

[Hitmen]

Quite a sim with a 3 HR game from Marcos Sanchez, a cycle from Maxime Plomondon, and a no-hitter by Yakamochi Suitani.

Tha Sanchez signing continues to make me a happy camper. Now I just need to continue to build the team around the new core and hope for the best. But he’s been a much needed shot in the arm.

[Ghosts]

23 y/o SP Cesar Silva, the first and only WIL winter ball attendee, made his 2031 debut recently. He got crushed, repeatedly. This last sim was his last chance to maintain his roster spot. He responded with a one hitter against the WIL-leading Fishermen. 9 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 7 K.

Pretty neat.