The PEBA Boondoggle - 2039

[Lions]

It has dawned on me recently that I enjoy looking up completely random, frequently meaningless, and potentially misleading pieces of PEBA trivia. It entertains me to know a random fact about a random player or team. Whether or not it's of any value is fairly immaterial. I will often share such findings and musings with the league in Slack, but that's not the best place for it. For one, it's impermanent and difficult to reference back. For two (does anyone actually say "for two?"), it doesn't lend itself to some of the longer form revelations that make things more interesting to me.

As such, I'm going to share them here in this thread. I guess it's sort of a blog, but it's not really about any one particular topic. I do hope that it encourages some conversation, even if it's just a reminiscing about a player you've long since forgotten. Since much of these things will be about players and situations involving other teams, I highly encourage you to chime in with your perspectives, which will probably be more informative on what was really going on than my speculations.

Lastly, if you have a curiosity about anything and don't know how to look it up, let me know and if I can I'll make a post about it here. You can just ping me in Slack if you like.

[Lions]

There are a lot of great players who have played a lot of seasons in PEBA. Through the 2038 season, we've got 18 players that have appeared in 20 PEBA seasons or more. Brad Davis is tied with CL Alfredo Aranda and SS Orlando Barrón at 22 seasons. Interestingly, all 3 of these guys played as recently as 2036. Barrón just retired, so that leaves Davis with the possibility of standing alone atop that heap if he can find a contract for one more year. He's still an FA as I write this, and I'm now sorely tempted to bring him back to Amsterdam.

Davis has played for 8 different franchises over those 22 seasons, while Aranda has played for just 2. We all know Aranda was Kentucky's closer for many years, but they released him after he posted a 5.36 ERA in 11 appearances in 2036 at the age of 42. He had a 7.39 FIP. Surprisingly, he was then picked up by another team for whom he pitched in 2 games, 5 1/3 innings, with a 1.69 ERA. Despite the huge difference in ERA, his FIP was 7.08. Bonus points if you can guess/know what team picked Aranda up. I'll tell you at the end*, but I'd be surprised if many people other than his 2 GM's know this... I certainly didn't.

Aranda came 2 games and 5.1 innings short of being the longest tenured PEBA player to have ever only played for one club.

So... who has played the most seasons for just one franchise? There are 4 players who are at 16 or more seasons.

#4 - 16 Seasons
This pitcher is 193-135 with a 3.22 career ERA. He's started all but 7 of his appearances and has 2458 strikeouts and 56.1 WAR. He is still active and currently signed to continue to pitch for the Crystal Lake Sandgnats. He was their #1 overall pick in the 2021 draft, so he is truly a one-franchise player. It's SP Jim MacCowan.

#2t - 17 seasons
Like Aranda, this player is a hugely successful closer who has over 600 saves and 100 wins to his name. Like MacCowan, he's still active. He was the San Juan Winter League's #1 prospect for 5 years running before being inexplicably released. Shin Seiki signed him to a $19 million dollar bonus and he was immediately the #3 prospect in PEBA. He was famously left unprotected in the 2021 Rule 5 draft where Havana nabbed him with the first pick. He was immediately an All-Star as a rookie and Ricardo Pérez has been the Leones' closer ever since.

#2t - 17 seasons
This player has really never been on my radar. Unlike MacCowan and Pérez, he's an offensive player, a first baseman who had some fine seasons in his prime. For the past 6 or 7 years, though, he's been hanging on as a bench player. Realistically, a bench player who doesn't offer much defensively frequently gets dropped by a team with title aspirations. This guy just helped his team win it all. Will Toyama keep Iván Juárez around as they look to defend? It seems likely he could get picked up if they do drop him, and he'll fall off this list if he does. He still can get on base enough to be a useful DH for a team.

#1 - 18 seasons
Crystal Lake, Havana, Toyama, and now we head over to New Orleans. Of the 4 players here, this pitcher is the only one that's already retired, which means that it's entirely possible that the others will have one of those career end cameos like Aranda did with Madison. New Orleans signed him after he was released by Puerto Plata Playas Dorada of the Dominican League. He had been their 4th round draft pick just 3 months earlier. A non-prospect when signed, he made his PEBA debut at age 20, as a starting pitcher. He spent 5 years in the rotation before being moved to the pen where he was an inconsistent closer. He would suffer injuries at various times. He was back in the rotation at 34 and 35, and then finished his career with 2 more seasons in the pen. I don't think José Martínez is much of a household name, but he was certainly a mainstay for the Trendsetters.

In case you're wondering, the highest WAR among players who've played for just one team are as follows:
CF Gordon Knopp (FLA) - 7 seasons, 82.5 WAR
SS Ricardo Mateo (HAV) - 11 seasons, 67.2 WAR
SP Nelson Anderson (CL) - 11 seasons, 62.3 WAR
SP Yakamochi Suitani (SS) - 14 seasons, 60.9 WAR (LRS stats excluded)
SP Ernesto Molina (FAR) - 15 seasons, 60.7 WAR
LF Ramiro Salinas (TOY) - 12 seasons, 60.3 WAR

*Aranda's career came to a close with the Madison Malts, having signed a minor league contract with a $67.5k bonus on August 13, 2036. He then got promoted for one last shot in the majors.

[Thoroughbreds]

Love this!

I took over Kentucky before the 2035 season. By that time Aranda had lost his closer's role as he had really struggled in 2034. Once we were safely in a playoff spot I put Aranda back in the closer's role so he could reach 600 saves -- he actually pitched pretty well. I kept him for a short bit in 2036 before letting him go - had I known he just needed a few more innings to be the longest tenured player with one team, I would have kept him for a bit.

Davis was on Kentucky when he reached 3000 hits and broke the all time hit record. He has a low work ethic, I always wondered how many hits he would have had if he put some effort in. :) Only 2 all-star appearances for Davis throughout his long career.

[Borealis]

Davis... Only 2 all-star appearances for Davis throughout his long career.

That's one of the amazing PEBA stats...

[Lions]

Davis posted 51.5 WAR for his career and made 2 All-Star games. So, 25.7 WAR/All-Star appearance. Definitely more of a compiler than a super star, but he was certainly a star. He is around 8th among the highest WAR/All-Star appearance players with exactly 2 All-Star appearances. The highest WAR/All-Star players are all one-time All-Stars, as would be expected.

1 All-Star Appearance:
SS Ken Keddy - 47.4 WAR
OF Tomás Flores - 43.1 WAR
SP Richard Neely - 41.3 WAR

2 All-Star Appearnces:
CF Pat Watson - 71.5 WAR (35.7 per) - not sure how many he missed due to injuries!
SP Carlos Rivera - 65.1 WAR (32.6 per)
SP Francisco Robles - 64.9 WAR (32.5 per)
- I didn't realize Rivera had more WAR than Robles... it's just 0.2, so basically negligible, but still.

3+ All-Star Appearnces:
SP Dean O'Monahan - 75.2 WAR, 3x All-Star, 25.1 per
SP Manuel Corona - 85.6 WAR, 4x All-Star, 21.4 per
LF/DH Pedro Rodríguez - 64.0 WAR, 3x All-Star, 21.3 per

Next highest WAR/All-Star and a 4x All-Star is SP Gunnar MacGruder
5x is 3B Marcos Sánchez
6x is SP Randy Smith

There have only been 23 players with 7 or more All-Star appearances.

Of these, CL Merlin Peters has the lowest WAR/All-Star appearance. He posted just 26.4 WAR in his career while making 7 All-Star games. The "top" of this reverse list is populated with relievers. 1B Alex Bothwell, with 34.0 WAR and 7 All-Star games is the lowest ranked offensive player.

[Lions]

I can't say that I have any recollection whatsoever of RF Jim McIntosh. The most natural reason, of course, is that almost his entire PEBA career happened during my hiatus as a PEBA GM. I left Amsterdam and PEBA behind after the 2022 season, then rejoined as Kalamazoo's GM in 2028. McIntosh debuted in 2023 after being a 2nd round pick by New Orleans in 2020. That's a reasonably fast ascendency... he jumped AA completely.

McIntosh was a power hitter from the get-go. It's what got him drafted. When he made his PEBA debut, he hit 44 home runs as a rookie. That's a record that has never been topped*.
McIntosh was challenged as a contact hitter. During that debut season when he hit 44 home runs, he hit .275, but it was all downhill from there. He had 3 seasons of sub-.200 batting averages, bottoming out at .183 in his final season. That was 2029 when Charleston picked him up and he hit 30 home runs. Despite 30 home runs, he managed a measly .603 OPS and was worth -0.7 WAR**.

McIntosh, with 74 home runs in his first and last PEBA seasons, is the player with the most combined between their bookend years.
#2 on the list is Rikiya Hamada with 68. Most remarkable is that he had 37 home runs as a 39 year old, which is a PEBA record. FWIW, Rob Raines holds the age record for home runs at every age 38 and up except for 39.

Anyway... all of this was spawned when I noticed that Orlando Jiménez had 43 home runs this year on his debut. He was a Rule 5 pick by Gloucester last winter from New Orleans. He has a remarkably similar skill set to McIntosh, so it'll be interesting to see how his career plays out.



*Technically, Gustavo Román hit 47 home runs as a PEBA rookie. However, Román was 37 years old and it was during PEBA's debut season in 2007. We're not counting that, since every player was a PEBA rookie that year, and it's hard to think of a 37 year old whose only season was the first year of the league as qualifying.

** Only José Lópes has posted a lower WAR while hitting 30 HR's. He was worth -1.0 WAR in 2012 with Omaha, but actually had a higher OPS and OPS+ than McIntosh's 2029. McIntosh was worth a little bit as a right fielder, raising his WAR.

[Lions]

1/20/2039
There are 6 teams in the IL Trans-Atlantic division and, right now, it appears that 5 of them are hoping to contend for a playoff spot in 2039.

London - The Underground sputtered around a bit in the first half of 2038, but eventually they figured out that since they're the most talented team in the division, they should start playing like it. I had a conversation around midway through the year with another GM and they suggested I had a good shot of taking the division. At the time, we had a similar record to London but I looked at their roster and just thought there's no way that we compare. On July 18 we were tied, and on July 31 we were still only a game or two back. We struggled more than I would've liked down the stretch and held on for the 3rd wild card, but it was clear to me that London was the class of the division even though they weren't quite showing it yet. I don't expect this year to be any different.

Scottish - The Claymores were sneaky good last season. I felt like we should've been able to hold them off for the 2nd wild card... felt like we weren't a worse team. Given that we finished just 1 game behind them you can chalk it up to bad luck (we were -7 in pythagorean record!). At any rate, they looked at last year and decided things were too close for comfort. They went out and signed Tomás Martínez to a large contract. Lorenzo Castanieda was a mid-season acquisition they've resigned. He was a big part of their second half surge. The outfield looks scary. Now they've traded for 2B Eric Nelson, who's one of the best hitting second basemen in the league. FWIW, Nelson has been traded 3 times now and hasn't even reached 3 years service time. Seems like no one and everyone wants him.

Amsterdam - The Lions are paying former SP Iwao Maruyama $40M to sit at home this season, and as such don't have much money to work with for bringing in players, but we're not exactly throwing in the towel either. If we were a 99 win team by pythagorus last year, then surely with a bit better luck we can come close to that this year. The pitching staff doesn't have any superstars, but they manage. There is hope that Richard Neely can provide some veteran presence to help the youngsters establish themselves. Offensively, the team has added 2B Jorge Morán via trade. They may have paid a bit too much for him, but he can play solid defense, will draw walks, and most importantly comes with a league minimum commitment. More notable, perhaps, were the extensions for aging stars Luis Cedeño and Pedro Rodríguez. Rodríguez is 38 but aging nicely. He passed 2500 hits and 250 HR's last year. Cedeño is now 41, and he looks like he probably could've retired after last year, but the team chose to keep him in hopes that he sells more tickets and can stave off old age another season. He also passed 2500 hits last year. This team seems to be hoping to simply repeat what worked and still come out ahead. Quite likely a bit optimistic.

Havana - Havana has missed the playoffs each of the past 3 years, although their 93 wins in 2036 would've gotten them in as the 3rd wild card in the expanded format. They dropped below .500 for a year, then were exactly at .500 last year, and look poised to improve with some of the young talent they've got. Offensively, the lineup is strong. SS Ricardo Mateo is the name everyone knows. 1B Ramón Francisco hit 38 home runs last year. RF Kolomon Amsel added 32 of his own. 3B Antão Crilanovich might be one of the least well known players that everyone should know about. On the mound, there is a lot to like for 2039. Volmer Buscher is the veteran leader. You can expect former 9th round draft pick Masahiro Maruyama to take a big step forward this year. Meiji Ishikawa will likely do the same. Jack Sosa is ready and will certainly be contributing this year even if he's not up to start the season.

San Juan - The Rory Soutar signing means that the Coqui add a 21 game winner to go with the one year contract they gave OF Pedro Flores. These two will complement youngsters Gerald Contaldo, Juan Borges, and bullpen ace Soseki Yokoyama, who was drafted just last June. The team still has Dracula and Adrián Fuentes in case you've forgotten. In the now wider opener wilder wild card race, it wouldn't be too surprising to see them in the mix.

Gloucester - The only team not making moves to compete this year. They''ll likely be content to rake in another top draft pick and build on their top 5 ranked farm system while the rest of the division beats up on each other.

The fun thing about about all 5 of these teams pushing for a playoff spot is that there's likely only 2 wild cards available. Kentucky will almost certainly get one of the wild card spots again. They were the 2nd best team in the IL last year, ahead of perennial powerhouse West Virginia, but with Florida in their division, they take a wild card. You also can't ignore potential wild card bids from the other two IL divisions. Hartford would be terrifying to face in the postseason if they can put enough offense to support the top 3 in their rotation and New Jersey never sits still. There's also the looming spectre of Charleston's farm system, which will arrive in PEBA eventually and start to disrupt all sorts of plans. At least a couple of Trans-Atlantic teams are going to go home very disappointed come next October.

[Borealis]

I love these analyses! Totally awesome and spot on (imho)! Keep it coming Frank!!

[Lions]

One of my favorite teams other than mine to check in on is the Manchester Maulers. I'm not entirely sure why... maybe it's the logo, maybe it's that I made my first trade with them, maybe it's the way they rub my belly when I roll over. Oh, sorry, I was just looking at my dog and got lost thinking about what was going on in his mind...

Anyway, I was looking at them and wondering what the odds are that, 1. Yasuyuki Agano will be on the opening day roster, and 2. he will hit 45+ home runs, thus setting a new PEBA rookie record for home runs!

The Maulers are kind of interesting in that their pitching staff was pretty terrible last year (11th in the IL in runs allowed) and their offense wasn't much better (9th in runs scored) but they have enough good players they could do some interesting things next year. I think that largely depends on whether or not Agano is on the major league roster. That probably depends a bit on how much they want to do interesting things next year.

They should get a full season from SP José Martínez, who was called up last July. Dong-hyun Pak was a fine closer, but can you imagine him with a change up, pitching out of the rotation, as a #2 (maybe even #1)? It can't be that hard to learn a change up if you've got a great fastball, right? It's just a different grip with the same arm action.

There are a couple more hitters on the farm that look close, then it seems like they have a bumper crop coming in a few more years. There's not too much in between, but maybe they can supplement with FA's. If Agano does come up, I'll be rooting for a bunch of home runs. Whenever he's not facing us, of course.

[Lions]

The 2038 Rising Sun division was pretty good. You had the PEBA champion Wind Dancers with 113 wins and the Ghosts a "distant" 8 games back with 105. Yeah, that's pretty good. Teams with 100+ wins that don't win their division aren't terribly uncommon in PEBA history (29 times), but only 7 teams have done so with more than 105 wins. The 2036 Thoroughbreds, with 112 wins, take the cake there. In 3rd place, you have Okinawa with 90 wins, which actually isn't all that uncommon in PEBA history, either, with 30 teams having done it. Heck, Amsterdam had 92 wins this year alone. The Evas finished 4th this year with 88 wins and, yes, that actually is somewhat rare. Only 6 other teams have done that. The Akira, of course, were not strong. They won just 50 games.

Still, the Rising Sun this past season was so good that their combined record was actually the 5th highest division winning percentage in PEBA history!

5. 2038 SL Rising Sun - .551
See above.

4. 2036 SL Rising Sun - .558
The top end of the division wasn't as strong in 2036 as it was this year, but the worst team, Neo-Tokyo, still won 73 games. The top 3 teams all had at least 96 wins. In caseSince you're wondering, two 3rd place teams have finished a season with 100 wins or more. The 2032 Wind Dancers and 2012 Bakersfield Bears. Toyama actually missed out on a wild card that year.

3. 2025 IL Seaboard - .566
Only 4 teams in the division back in 2025. The 4th place team was the Canton Longshoremen (Madison Malts) who were 81-81. That's actually the 5th best record in Madison/Canton history. Ahead of them you had Arlington with 90 wins, Hartford with 91 wins, and West Virginia with 105 wins. 2025 was long enough ago that this was the Alleghenies first 100 win season. They've had 11 since, including each of the last 10.

1t. 2026 IL Dixie - .568
1t. 2031 SL Rising Sun - .568
We have a tie at the top here, and you can see just how brutal the Rising Sun has been historically. They actually claim 8 of the 15 highest division combined winning percentages. It seems like there's never more than 1 rebuilding team here. This was the last year of the Rising Sun having 4 teams before the Ghosts joined PEBA. The following year, 2032, was the one mentioned above where Toyama won 100 games and missed the playoffs. The Ghosts had 35 wins that year.

The 2026 Dixie was led by Florida's 103 wins and Kentucky's 101. The four team division had every team at .500 or above, just like the 2025 Seaboard. San Antonio and New Orleans won 83 and 81 games, respectively.

[Trendsetters]

I love reading these. Thank you!

[Lions]

2039 Non-Roster Invitees to Spring Training:
I think this is accurate as of the start of ST. Naturally, teams can add guys as the spring progresses.

Arlington Bureaucrats
LF Scott Abercromby (26 yrs old)
1B Gabriel Cardoza (20 yrs old)
1B Juan Castro (18 yrs old)
3B Dae-hyung Chang (27 yrs old)
1B Luis Cruz (23 yrs old)
RF Travis Delaney (23 yrs old)
CF Wira Djojohadiksumo (20 yrs old)
RP Lense Ewijk (23 yrs old)
1B António Fuentes (24 yrs old)
RF António Gómez (26 yrs old)
RP Lyndon Hoath (26 yrs old)
SS Hikaru Ishida (23 yrs old)
LF Kenny Lafferty (22 yrs old)
SS Ben MacFadzean (28 yrs old)
LF Blake Morgan (28 yrs old)
SP Norris Neaves (20 yrs old)
RF Mitsuhide Nii (23 yrs old)
RP Keith Padbury (23 yrs old)
RF Jo Sato (18 yrs old)
SS Rafael Solíz (18 yrs old)
LF Gonzalo Sosa (23 yrs old)
SP Shane Wallace (19 yrs old)

Amsterdam Lions
LF Sergio Campos (29 yrs old)
C Manuel Cavaca (31 yrs old)
2B Rick Coughlan (34 yrs old)
SP Eric Elliott (38 yrs old)
2B Stan Joyce (35 yrs old)
LF Randy Laing (34 yrs old)
3B Enrique Murillo (27 yrs old)
SP Mito Nomura (37 yrs old)

New Jersey Hitmen
RP Nelson Altagracia (30 yrs old)
RF Doug Bryan (27 yrs old)
2B Vicente Cerda (25 yrs old)
LF Richard Childress (23 yrs old)
RP Salvador Fuentes (26 yrs old)
1B Alfonso Gonzáles (31 yrs old)
2B Randy Mossop (21 yrs old)
RP Gerard Peterson (31 yrs old)
1B Steve Ricks (27 yrs old)
3B Miguel Rodríguez (27 yrs old)
LF Emílio Soto (29 yrs old)
SP Ken Stewart (23 yrs old)

Charleston Statesmen
LF Igmi Atsu (21 yrs old)
RF Víctor Bernal (18 yrs old)
LF Wes Carlson (20 yrs old)
1B Jean-Michel Clément (19 yrs old)
2B António Elizondo (20 yrs old)
1B Orlando González (21 yrs old)
RF Wilson Guerrero (22 yrs old)
SP Chris Hanson (21 yrs old)
SP Kiyomasu Hasegawa (20 yrs old)
SP Luis Hernández (18 yrs old)
3B Zong-ming Kun (19 yrs old)
CF Graham Manning (18 yrs old)
SP Tony Méndez (21 yrs old)
SP Juan Menéndez (21 yrs old)
RF Michael Núñez (22 yrs old)
DH Willem Rollings (20 yrs old)
SP Manny Rosales (18 yrs old)
SS Iemitsu Tada (18 yrs old)
LF Octávio Torres (18 yrs old)
SP Zachary Walker (19 yrs old)
SP Tadakuni Yoshida (18 yrs old)

Florida Farstriders
RP Jorge Gallegos (23 yrs old)
C Tom Parsons (35 yrs old)
LF Robby Rollins (23 yrs old)
SP Naohiro Seki (21 yrs old)
SP Erik Watson (36 yrs old)

West Virginia Alleghenies
C Derek Daniels (23 yrs old)
C Juan Delgado (26 yrs old)
C Jesús Morán (25 yrs old)
C Gi-hyuk Paek (24 yrs old)

Madison Malts
RF Adolph Glotz (20 yrs old)
SP Misao Okada (22 yrs old)

Crystal Lake Sandgnats
SP León Vega (24 yrs old)

Fargo Dinosaurs
C Harris Albury (37 yrs old)
2B Francisco Cruz (21 yrs old)
CF Dermot Elsmore (27 yrs old)
2B Jorge Fernández (22 yrs old)
SP Carlos González (22 yrs old)
2B Tamuramaro Kichikawa (23 yrs old)
SP Hyun-seung Kim (25 yrs old)
RF Marco Korsel (23 yrs old)
1B Caden Maynor (32 yrs old)
3B Boyd Nelson (23 yrs old)
LF Mario Ramírez (35 yrs old)
SP Gonzalo Reyna (23 yrs old)
LF David Sims (23 yrs old)
1B Yen-ti Wang (18 yrs old)
CF Han-soo Yi (21 yrs old)
CF Min-han Yu (21 yrs old)
C Zhang-sung Zhou (26 yrs old)

Kalamazoo Badgers
C Will Carroll (33 yrs old)
LF Dae-su Hwa (22 yrs old)
1B Sadahige Kouki (22 yrs old)
CF Andrew Lyle (18 yrs old)
RP Yasunobu Suzuki (23 yrs old)

Aurora Borealis
C Ben Corson (30 yrs old)

Tempe Apollos
1B William Docherty (22 yrs old)

Niihama-Shi Ghosts
RF Arturo Carolino (23 yrs old)
C Lonnie Dooley (24 yrs old)
C Shojiro Samurakami (22 yrs old)
3B Harley Schneider (40 yrs old)

Shin Seiki Evas
2B Mark Ash (23 yrs old)
Havana Leones
CF Donald Davis (32 yrs old)
2B Bryant Hawkins (35 yrs old)

Scottish Claymores
C Juan Kent (22 yrs old)
3B Júlio Luna (21 yrs old)
RF Randall Perry (26 yrs old)
C Jack Thompson (22 yrs old)

Toyama Wind Dancers
3B Troy Davis (23 yrs old)
SP Samuel Garrison (24 yrs old)
LF Pedro Hurtado (23 yrs old)

[Borealis]

Good Ol' Ben Corson - because you always should have a 3rd catcher during ST...

[Lions]

A handful of outstanding spring 2039 performances...

Hitters:
LF Bernardo Romano (BAK) - Romano hit .419 with 5 home runs to lead the Bears' offense this spring. 2039 will be the 25 year old's 4th full PEBA season. He hit 28 home runs last year, so the power is real. 28 home runs sounds like a lot, but was actually only good for 35th in the SL last season! His issue is contact. He doesn't hit the ball enough to take advantage of the power, but maybe that's on the up based on this spring.

1B/DH Azhar Gandapur (AMA) - Gandapur hit .400, going 14 for 35 over 19 games. He didn't hit the ball over the fence much, with just 1 home run, but he was among the league leaders with 8 doubles, and that'll play in Amsterdam. The question is whether or not he will. He's 24 years old and yet to play above single A and like Romano strikes out too much. The other problem is that the Lions have future HOFer Luis Cedeño back at first base, an injured (possible HOFer) Pedro Rodríguez slated to be back at DH in 2 weeks, and righty mashing DH Declan Wanlace* ahead of him in the minors. Wanlace, who's also eager to make his PEBA debut, had a 1.093 OPS this Spring, third on the team behind Gandapur's 1.131.

3B Sadaharu Okamura (GLO) - Once one of the top WIL prospects, 23 year old Okamura is trying to mash his way into the PEBA. He hit 31 home runs across 3 minor league levels last year, including 15 in AAA, and was one off the spring lead with 6. He had 1 walk and 14 K's, too, so whether or not pitchers give him anything at all to hit (they shouldn't!) will determine how well he'll fare. Maybe he can get an invite to a home run derby. At worst he'll have Joe Bauman's career.

1B Iván García (MAD) - García scored 22 runs this spring, 5 ahead of Michael Roberts for the most in the league. He hit .410 and found a power stroke we didn't really know he had. He does have great gap power, that we've seen before. He wasn't offered arbitration by London after 2037, spent all of last year in the minors, and is now on a 1 year make good contract with the Malts. They've got Augusto Castaneda, but García's really the only solid defensive option at first. His spring stats should give them reason to think they can, at least, roll him out there to start the season.

RF/DH Shinsui Sato (PS) - The Codgers made a lot of moves over the offseason to improve the team, and are a favorite pick as one of the most improved teams of the offseason. Sato was a 6th round pick of the Codgers back in 2034 and, as such, has always had to make an extra effort to prove himself. Perhaps all these moves have him motivated to do so once again, as he hit .429 with 11 extra base hits, 14 RBI and a pair of stolen bases this spring. Like Gandapur, he hasn't played above single A. He's also got options remaining and the major league team has other guys who look similar or better on paper. Don't be surprised to see him sent down, but if he can keep his spring momentum going in the minors, he might be back up sooner than you think.


* Jay-FLA - please stop pitching Dan Wallace against us. Every time I see D. Wallace in a box score I think it's Wanlace and I wonder why he's winning games for the other team!

[Lions]

Note: A quick FYI that I had to update the previous post as I didn't realize StatsLab wasn't up on the latest stats yet. I've kept the players the same as each is interesting in their own right.




And now, a handful more of outstanding spring 2039 performances from the mound...

Pitchers:
SP Brant Haines (PS) - Haines is the Codgers' #8 prospect as of this writing after being a 2nd round pick in 2036. He's never made the PEBA's top 100 prospects list, but the team is going to need great things from him if they're to take the big leap forward they're hoping for. Spring Training will certainly give them optimism that it is on the way. After 6 starts in 2038 with a 4.10 ERA, Haines went to winter ball to work on his changeup. It's now one of this best pitches, and his spring numbers reflect the improvement. In 5 spring starts he was 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA and 21 K's in 26 innings. His WHIP was just 0.77. Yeah, he's ready to go.

RP Fortunato Carona (FLA) - The last thing the rest of the league needs is for the Farstriders to have another young player come up and perform well. Carona has pitched out of the bullpen each of the past two seasons, but he's still just 23 years old. This spring he's been particularly rude to opposing hitters, striking out 20 in 13 2/3 innings, posting a 0.66 ERA and a 0.66 WHIP.

SP Misao Okada (MAD) - Okada's final spring numbers were a 3-1 record, 1.88 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and 16 K's in 14 2/3 innings. The spring workload is a bit light, so it leaves a bit to the imagination, but the results set that imagination in motion. A former 5th round draft pick out of Delft in 2037, he's only got 70 2/3 professional innings under his belt prior to this year. He's pitched at A, AA, and AAA, all out of the bullpen, but he's never had a bad season. The commitment to use him in the rotation this spring is opening eyes, and he's got three high end pitches that should help him last deep enough in games to warrant that rotation spot going forward.

SP Ding-bong Zhu (CST) - We finally got a taste of what Zhu is capable of last summer when he made his first 8 PEBA starts and went 1-3 with a 1.69 ERA. A little run support, please? This spring, he's seen his inning severely limited as he's started 4 games but only thrown 11 innings. That in consideration, he's given up 10 hits plus walks while striking out 10 en route to a 0.82 ERA. Charleston's prospect wave is no longer coming. They're here, they're starting to play well, and they're only getting better.

SP Ernest Smith (TEM) - Smith was decidedly average last year as a rookie, but things have been quite impressive this spring. He went 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA, 15 K's in 14 1/3 innings, and a 0.91 WHIP. If you're just notice him now, it's likely because you don't pay much attention to 10th round draft picks. Smith's rise has been exponential of late. He wasn't one of those players who caught scouts' attention, but he pitched well throughout the minors. Recently, people have noticed just how good all three of his pitches are. His slider is developing into an elite offering while his fastball and changeup are already getting rave reviews.