Going Undergroud - a London Underground blog

[Nigel]

June 20th, 2017

After a bit of a bit of a slump we finally produce a good week (4-1) to get right on the coat tails of the Hitmen again. You can certainly say the upturn in fortune was due to the pitchers rather than the batters.


Decheng's 1 for 18 didn't impress

In a poor week four of the main hitters went a combined 7-63, an average of less than .150, the ‘star’ of which was Decheng Wen who went 1-18 with his one hit being a home run! Trending the other way was Leonard Ramsey who hit two of our five homers for the week and Chris Long who, hitting at a .421 clip, kept a 21 game hitting streak going. A combined team average of .204 and just eight XBH for the week would have normally had the fans wringing their hands but ….

In a good week for the pitchers opponents only hit .178 off the pitching staff whose combined WHIP was .078. Miguel Rosa was commanding against Manchester and came out with his first complete game of the season and his first shut-out since 2015. A normal weakness of the underground we only gave up three long balls and six walks for the week. Luis Mora was called upon three times, pitched three innings and gave up nothing while earning two saves. Bryan Bedell also picked up a save in a 1.1 innings outing in which no-one hit anything off him.


Miguel walked none while striking out 6 in his first shutout since 2015

The farm is playing like a system ranked 20 out of 24 at the moment, only the Dover White Cliffs have a winning record (35-24) although Worcester is only three below .500 (34-37) helped by the considerable numbers of players with PEBA experience on the roster. Montreal (29-42) are in a funk for the second year running while Maui (2-5) have only just started their season last week and are bound to improve once all the 2017 draftees report.

[Nigel]

June 28th, 2017

With a 5-2 week we continued our revival and scraped past New Jersey to lead the IL by one game. Chris Long had a fine opening game of the week sending two balls into the stands, walking twice and getting a sac fly as well. All that drove-in six runs, kept up his hitting streak and put him one away from his third straight 10+ homer season, Hiroyuki Nii also played well, pitching his first complete game of 2017 as the Underground beat the Nutmeggers by 9-3. In Chris’ second game of the week he extended his hitting streak to 23 games with his first AB, the second longest streak in the PEBA this year before straining an oblique in a collision at 2nd which will probably see him out till mid-July.


Chris has a 23 game hitting streak and a .347 average in 2017

Bailey Rohr stepped into the breach though and the unsung hero of the utility role performed well the rest of the week at Short. Bailey is now in his fourth year at the PEBA level for London, never claiming a spot of his own but always ready to step in wherever required. Last year he played in a career high 77 games and has a career .277/.300/.389 slash line.
Luis Mora’s recent good form took a knock as Charleston tagged him for a three-run homer, his first blown save of the year but Cates and Hobbs worked two extra innings to pull the game out for London who edged the Statesmen twice by a single run in the series to complete the sweep.

[Nigel]

July 4th, 2017

As we head into July the Underground sit pretty at the head of the IL, leading the Hitmen of New Jersey by four & a half games. June turned out to be the third straight winning month for us and two days into July we have hit the 50 win mark. Yesterday we opened a four-game series in New Jersey and were disappointingly edged 4-3 by the Hitmen, if we can turn that round in the remaining three games we will have opened a broad street between us and them.

We entered the New Jersey series on the back of a four-game sweep of Arlington. Twice we had to turn to Mora in the bottom of the ninth with just a single run lead but both times he came through. Our pitching staff has really stepped it up since mid-June. Hiroyuki Nii is on a five game winning streak & is on course for his first ever 20-game season while Luis Mora had a 33-save streak snapped had at the start of June (despite four losses in May which weren’t save situations) he dug-in with six saves throughout June. My tip for the IL Wunderkind award, Leonard Carver, didn’t get off to the best of starts in 2017 losing his first three starts but has bounced back and the loss against New Jersey was his first in 11 outings which included five wins.


Leonard has the IL rookie of the month awards for May & June

The rookie who has unexpectedly outshone ‘Snacks’ so far is Leonard Ramsey. Ramsey just beat out Joe Buchanan for the first base job in spring training and has set about the PEBA with relish this year. 2016’s September call up brought just four homers & a .193 average but in 2017 he now has 18 homers and a .292/.368/.527 slash line. He leads the team in homers and RBI as well as having a PEBA rookie of the week award on his mantelpiece alongside the IL Rookie of the month trophies for May & June.

News & Notes: Chris Long will be activated from the D/L during the All Star break and will have a short rehab spell in Worcester. Rule 5 draft pick Felipe Garza is carving a little niche for himself in leftfield and has a 14 game hit streak going. 21-year-old Juan Hernández was drafted 8th overall in 2015 to be the long term replacement for Chris Long reached Triple-A Worcester in June thanks to the injury call-ups to cover Long. Juan grabbed the chance to showcase his talents hitting .318/.423/.591 with one homer and five RBI in his first six games at that level. Our scouting team are most frustrated at the moment after both their first round pick, Steven Miller, and their second round pick, Logan White in the recent first-year-player draft have informed us, that despite being offered much more than they requested as a signing fee, they will not sign for us and head for college instead.

[Nigel]

After a long hiatus it’s time to get this blog back on the road with a very quick summary of what we missed in the back end of the 2017 season

Close but no cigar : London continued their nip and tuck with New Jersey in the last knockings of the season but eventually fell away and by the final day of the season they were 17 games adrift of the Hitmen. It was still a successful season though for the PEBA’s only European franchise as their 86-76 record was only four wins shy of the franchise record set in 2010 and equalled the second best tally achieved in 2015. Their third 80+ win season led to their second ever post season appearance as they finished nine games above Manchester in the race for the Wildcard spot.

Divisional Series goes to five games : It looked like a nailed on play-off upset when London opened the series in New Jersey and came away with 7-3 & 9-4 wins behind ‘Snacks’ Carver and Miguel Rosa. The Underground returned home needing a solitary win with 19-win ace Hiroyuki Nii on the mound. It wasn’t to be though as the Hitmen showed just why they have been the recent toast of the Pan Atlantic Division, Nii surrendered three runs in the fourth and that was all the visitors need as they clung on to win 4-2. With their ace vanquished London collapsed and New Jersey breezed into the Alliance tournament, defeating London & Bryan Bedell 13-6 to tie the division series before returning home to the States to seal a 3-2 series win by squeaking past Miguel Rosa 6-4. The saddest thing about the play-offs was the opening game marked the final appearance of Mitch Anderson in an Underground uniform. Mitch came in to relieve ‘Snacks’ in the seventh innings, pitched 11 pitches and blew his elbow out. With Anderson out of contract in the of-season and now facing a year lay-off with Tommy John surgery London announced after the end of the series that they had released him.

Down on the Farm : With a lot of London’s bright young hopes now featuring for the Underground it was a fairly lean year for the franchises farm system. Triple-A Worcester after a play-off appearance in 2016 dropped six wins & two places to finish third with a 71-69 record. The T’s best two batters were a tale of two players with seemingly no futures. Shortstop Lyndon Hodges topped the batting averages with a .308 average but is going nowhere with Chris Long ahead of him in the major league while Joe Buchanan’s 35 homers & 118 RBI means nothing with Ramsey’s brilliant rookie season at ML level. Pitcher Gabriel Álverez in his first season in the organisation was a whisker away from the T’s pitching triple crown. His ERA (3.04) & strikeouts (136) led the Worcester outfit but his 13 wins was equalled by thirty-year-old veteran Bubba Hennessey. Álverez will compete again in spring training for a spot in the Underground rotation but word on the street is that 23-yr-old Erwin Callahan, London’s first rounder in 2014, stands a better chance of grabbing that prized rotation slot.

Montréal Métros had another poor season in Double-A, a 56-84 record was one win better than 2016 but still 30+ games out of first place. The franchise’s Minor League batter of the Year, right-fielder Robert Jacobs, won the Métros batting triple crown hitting 31 homers, 104 RBI at an average of .308/.354/.574 and will join the Worcester T’s in 2018.


Jacobs, Minor League Batter of the Year 2017

Gene Hunter posted the most wins with a 10-10, 3.86 record but the real star was Erwin Callahan who posted a 7-6 record in 23 starts leading the team in ERA (3.74) and strikeouts (193).

A 61-67 record for the Dover White Cliffs in A-ball was two better than 2016 but still a dismal fourth for the third time in four years. Catcher turned left-fielder Jesús Navarro led the White Cliffs in averages, .282/.352/.504 and RBI (96) but his 27 homers was bettered by 30 in just 65 games by Oliver Garza who went on to hit 18 more for Montréal. 2015 sixth rounder, Luis Reyes, was the best of the pitchers. His 8-10 record meant he was one of three pitchers tied for a team leading eight wins but his 4.60 ERA & 154 K’s led the team.

Rookie ball club Maui Stingrays’ slumped to a 34-56 record, more than 30 wins adrift of first place. 24-year-old Nick Morrow, who had already been through three PEBA clubs & a LRS team, won the Stingrays’ batting triple crown with a .349 average, 36 homers and 84 RBI.


The well-travelled Nick Morrow

Tommy Webb, London’s 2017 seventh rounder, opened his professional career with a team leading 6-9 record while 15th rounder, Júlio Ramos, made waves too with a team leading 4.84 ERA as well as being second with 82 K’s.

[James Bowman]

I suppose better a ML playoff team and a poor minor league system than vice-versa!

[Nigel]

Off-Season Transactions

Early in November 2017 the Underground announced the release of two players. 29-yr-old Mitch Anderson was released after blowing his elbow out in Game One of the play-offs. He underwent Tommy John surgery and was expected to be out till early 2019. With his contract expired the Underground refused to extend and he left. Mitch had made 118 appearances (71 starts) for London, his only PEBA club, compiling a 23-29 record with four saves and a career 3.57 ERA. In 515 innings pitched he walked 163 batters while striking out 373. He had originally been drafted by London in the third round (62nd overall) in 2010 and pitched four shutouts in Maui during his first pro season. He was selected to the 2013 Great Northern League(Double-A) All-Star Game and made his PEBA debut at 25 in 2014. He went 0-5 with a 4.93 but the Underground stuck with him and he was in & out of the rotation over the next three years striking out over 100 batters each year before his injury ended his London career.
31-yr-old Glen Wallace was also released at the end of his second contract with London. Originally arriving in Europe from West Virginia in 2016 after being traded for a 10th round draft pick London hoped he’d become a reliable starting catcher but he never really made it in London. In the rest of 2016 he made 68 appearances hitting a disappointing .222 with one home run and 18 RBI. Never looking likely to supplant Al Murdoch as the main man behind the plate he played less & less in 2017 and when August saw the return of Luis Cruz from a two-year exile in Worcester the writing was on the wall. Cruz hit .336 in 40 games with three homers & 21 RBI and the Underground decided that the $1m needed to extend Wallace’s contract could be better used elsewhere. Glen has 534 PEBA career appearances with London, West Virginia & San Antonio hitting career averages of .254/.291/.355 with 27 homers & 161 RBI.

Late November saw London involved in 24 arbitration cases with Chris Long ($8.1m) and Tuo-zhou Yang ($4.2m) received the biggest, well deserved, contracts. The biggest surprise was the panel awarding Scott Morris an increase from the basic salary to $6m after an injury interrupted 2017. Two long-term members of the bullpen left as free agents after London refused to offer them arbitration. Both 32-yr-old Aaron Hobbs & 33-yr-old Ken Cates had reasonable to good seasons in 2017 but the size of their arbitration estimates and their ages led the Underground to non-tender the pair of them.



Cates & Hobbs leaving the organisation

Hobbs was an inaugural draft pick for London in 2007 and was in his second spell with the franchise after a two-year stint with Palm Springs. Resigned by London in 2016 following a year in the Dominican Winter League he went 1-2 in with a 4.24 ERA before his season ended prematurely after suffering a partially torn labrum in August. He posted an even better 7-3 record in 2017 with four saves & a 3.68 ERA but rumoured $7m demands forced the Underground’s hands.
Cates spent three years with London, his fifth PEBA club. After going 2-0 with two saves in just 11 outings in 2015 when his season was curtailed by a torn labrum. he went on to make over 50 appearances in each of the next two years going 3-7 & 6-4.

December saw 21-yr-old José Valverde drafted 16th overall by London in the Rule V draft from the Bakersfield Bears. José has spent the last three years at Chula Vista, Bakersfield A-ball affiliate, and will now spend 2018 in the PEBA pitching some of the 102 innings that Cates & Hobbs used up last year. José owned a 6-6 record with 38 saves and a 4.38 ERA in 105 A-ball outings. With a top rated slider & cutter topping out around 95-97 mph together with pinpoint control he could well develop into a reliable PEBA set-up man.
Also arriving in December was 24-yr-old minor league free agent pitcher, Juan Guzmán who was assigned to Montréal. Spending his first four years of pro baseball in the Mexican League Juan signed a minor league contract with the Bakersfield organisation in 2014. He spent three years bouncing round the levels before an injury filled 2017 encouraged the Bears to give up on him. He’ll be hoping to resurrect his career in Montréal starting in 2018.



Vélez & York the two main pieces in the Hernández trade

London’s first trade for a while came in January when London shipped top shortstop prospect Juan Hernández to Crystal Lake in exchange for a package of players including 26-year-old reliever Manny Vélez, 28-year-old catcher Dave York, 24-year-old minor league starting pitcher Kelvin Jones and 22-year-old minor league starting pitcher Robby Holmes. Vélez who has pitched 58 innings for the Sandgnats over the last two years will help Valverde fill the hole in London’s bullpen while York will join Murdoch & Cruz in a three-way fight for the catching role in spring training. Jones and Holmes will help restock the organisations farm pitching which has been depleted by the recent promotions to the Underground and the loss of Haines & Martin in the 2016 Rule V draft.

[Nigel]

March 15th, 2018

After getting dumped by New Jersey in five London came to camp with a steely attitude. There were few real battles to be fought for positions but even the ones assured of their places were looking to put the effort in.

@Charleston 10-5
V West Virginia 5-9
@Connecticut 7-5
V Gloucester 4-2
@ Manchester 13-5
V Florida 3-2
V New Orleans 6-4
@ San Antonia 4-3
V Kentucky 8-6
@ New Jersey 2-6
V Arlington 10-4
V Charleston 2-0

I know you shouldn’t read a lot into spring training form but a 10-2 start is just what the doctor ordered. It’s not the results that made the management so pleased but the manner in which the players achieved them. From the moment the Underground put a five-spot on the board in the very first spring training innings London approached it professionally and without five-run innings in the ninth against West Virginia & the fifth against New Jersey they might well have been 12-0.

With a glut of outfielders competing for the four available the London 2014 second round draft pick, Lorenzo Valenzuela came to camp determined to impress after failing in his September call-up last year. After going 3 for 3, stealing two bases and scoring twice in his opening game he is currently hitting .368/.435/.421 and has five stolen bases to his name. It might not be enough to win a 25-man spot but the 25-year-old will be there soon. Meanwhile Robert Jacobs’ spring is over, after having his first camp he failed to get a hit and will be among the first to return to the minors although he will get his first year in Triple-A. Chris Long after winning the 2017 IL batting crown is turning up nicely hitting .310/.333/.621 with two homers and 10 driven in.

Also in evidence so far this year is the solid defence that GM Laverick likes to encourage with the Underground only committing two errors so far as well as out hitting their opponents 124-94. Rookie Erwin Callahan, the Underground’s 2016 first round pick, has pitched well in his first two starts in a major league camp, only walking one batter while striking out 10, giving up five runs in his eight innings pitched on the way to a 2-0 record. The Underground also threw Rule V draftee, José Valverde, straight into pressure situations. Giving him early outings they handed the ball to him five times in the ninth innings, he was smoked for a three-run homer in the loss against West Virginia in his first outing and gave up a couple of walks in his second outing. After that he settled down and finished the first half of camp with 4 saves and a 4.50 ERA leaving the Underground hopeful that he can be a real contributor this year.

The first round of spring training cuts have taken place and five have been sent back to Worcester. Jacobs was accompanied by another first camper, pitcher Bob Glenn, as well as frequent flyers on the Trans-Atlantic route Lyndon Hodges and Wilson Vélez sent back to get the others more AB’s. The fifth departee was 23-yr-old Juan Pérez who arrived in the London organisation two years ago as part of the trade that sent Bob Adams to Bakersfield. We were sorry to hear of Bob’s r uptured Achilles that will keep him out of 2018

[Nigel]

March 24th

With the Underground’s 2018 spring training camp winding to a close there are still a few battles to play out. Three Catchers are still in camp fighting for the two berths and seven outfielders still look to grab their spots while fifteen arms are still competing for one of the 11 or 12 spots on the pitching staff. A poor middle period in camp dropped London’s record to 13-7 and the fans didn’t enjoy being shut-out two games in a row but management are fairly confident that the PEBA’s only European franchise will break camp ready to do battle once more for the Pan-Atlantic division.

The Battles update

The Catchers There really isn’t much to choose between the three catchers in camp at the moment. Newly acquired Dave York has had the bulk of the work in camp and has the only homer of the group. He also has three doubles & two triples but his slash line is only .208/.224/.417. Last year’s regular catcher, Al Murdoch, is hitting only .200/.333/.250 but has only struck out six times compared to York’s 10 while Cruz, who did well at the back end of 2017, is hitting .200/.294/.333 with very limited work so far. He does have two doubles and only four K’s though, he and Al will share the work in the last few games while management decide who is the odd man out.

The Outfield With seven competing for the three spots plus one or maybe two back-up slots completion is fierce. Fourth year veteran Tuo-zhou Yang has come to camp with a hot bat and is currently hitting .406/.487/.531 which combined with solid but unspectacular defence will probably earn him the centrefield role. Paco Shaffer has had two cup of coffee spells with the Underground but with just eight hits to go with his eight K’s his defence might not be enough to save him from another season in Worcester. Dan Truax & Felipe Garza have been sound with some spectacular defence plays as they were last season, Dan has the only two homers but both their averages need working on. Ralph Woods, the baby of the seven at 24, has had limited work to compile a reasonable .267/.313/.400 but will return to Worcester in the latest cuts to work on his defence. Dennis Carter expects to be back for his seventh year as a rightfield regular and play his 1,000th PEBA game this season, his defence has been one of the hottest in London in recent years.His averages are falling though and he needs to sort his running game out having been caught stealing on all four spring attempts after recording just a 43% success rate in 2017. The star of spring though has been Lorenzo Valenzuala, he came to his first PEBA spring camp with real determination. The former PEBA #47th prospect has hit .303/.368/364 and only struck out three times in 33 AB’s. Scoring ten times he has also a 100% steal record from six attempts. While Lorenzo probably will not get a starting job his speed and sound defence in left & right field could well land him a back-up role.


Lorenzo could make the 25-man in his first ST camp

The Pitching staff The only thing that GM Laverick has admitted so far is that Luis Mora will definitely be back for his seventh year as London’s full-time closer, in 10.1 spring innings pitched he has given up four hits, four runs, walked three while striking out 10. You can almost certainly pencil in Hiroyuki Nii (despite a poor spring camp), Miguel Rosa (ditto poor-ish camp) & Leonard Carver who has had a superb camp (just four hits and two walks while striking out 12 in 12 IP for a 0.75 ERA) into the starting rotation while Ángel Luján’s 15 K’s and 2.81 ERA will probably get him the fourth starting slot. That leaves rookie Erwin Callahan, Gabriel Álvarez and Bryan Bedell fighting for the last rotation slot. This could be some battle, Bedell has looked shaky at times and has walked eight batters in 12 innings but he’s only allowed eight hits, struck out 12 and owns a 3-0, 2.25 ERA spring record. Álvarez only has two starts so far but has allowed just one run and opponents have hit only .179 off of him, second best on the roster to Carver’s .103 allowed. 23-yr-old Callahan has gone from Northwestern Purple Haze to Underground spring training in two years but doesn’t look overawed, posting a 2-1 record with a 5.25 ERA. His control has been good, walking just two batters but he’s given up 16 hits in 12 IP with opponents hitting .320 off him. He might just need another year of seasoning at Triple-A Worcester plus a finishing school at winter ball before he wins a 25-man spot.
Bernie Jacoby could well be ticketed for the long relief/mopup position again but his BB/K rate has been nearing 50% and hitters have been teeing off on him this spring. Segio Dias and Manny Vélez have been the spring workhorses getting 12 & 13 games in, Sergio started off poorly but entering the last week of camp he had reduced batters to just a .175 average against him while compiling a 2.95 ERA. Alfonso Robles looks certain to be in the mix for his eighth year in the London bullpen thanks to opponents only hitting .176 off him and his command of the plate meaning he hadn’t issued a walk in camp. Pedro Pina hadn’t managed to get into enough games really while Jamie Camacho’s 50% BB/K ratio might see him heading for Worcester. Don Killy looks to have regressed a bit and has pitched shakily this spring.


José will be playing for the first time above A ball

Chad Fountain hasn’t had many innings either but has only given up two unearned runs in three outings while José Valverde, who has to make the roster due to being a Rule V draftee, has shown that the step up from A ball to PEBA level will not faze him. Despite being thrown into pressure situations and batters hitting .357 off of him he only surrendered two runs and earned four saves.

[Nigel]

March 30th, 2018

The careers of many baseball players end as the spring camps break up and head off for familiar pastures.There will be tears of joy as players unexpectedly make the big club, tears of despair as the realisation sinks that the dream is over for another year whilst for the unlucky few they will stand at the gates watching the lucky ones disappear before slowly turning to get on with the rest of their lives.

It was no different when the London camp broke and headed once more for Wembley Stadium. When I entered the office our staff were sat around arguing about which of our three catchers in camp would be the one to miss out. 30-year-old Luis Cruz had hit .263 in the end, thanks to a late rush, but it was the smallest sample size. 28-year-old Al Murdoch, the regular catcher for the last two years, had hit just over .200, had no homers and only two extra-base hits. 28-year-old Dave York, in his first London camp after arriving in the Juan Hernández trade, hit below the Mendoza line at .196 but had at least three doubles, two triples and a long bomb to show for his potential. The conversation was killed when I slapped the contract on the table.


William Berry's the new London catcher

“Gentlemen, we have a solution, Wilson Berry has signed our deal, we have a catcher that can hit close to .300 with double digit homers!” As the others read the contract there was a murmur about how much it had cost us for the next two years. Holding up my hand I silenced them again. “He may be our highest paid player now but he has to get 500 PA’s to get the second year and that’ll mean he’s producing. Catcher has been our Achilles heel in the lineup. How many rallies have stopped because up comes Murdoch and the third out?” That simple contract had proved to be the end of Cruz’s London career, his age was against him. Murdoch had just not shown any potential improvement and would head for Worcester while we would retain York as Berry’s backup. That left poor Cruz, waived to get him off the 40-man and no spot at Triple-A if he did clear waivers. 189 games he had managed for the Underground, hitting .226/.281/.303 with four homers and 68 RBI. He’d also accumulated 505 minor league appearances in five years in Double & Triple-A, 13 post season games for Worcester and he’d hit .350 in the Underground’s play-off series last year.

A more joyful task Hitting Coach Emílio Flores would have to do would be to tell Lorenzo Valenzuela that he had made the club for the first time. Drafted originally with the 7th pick of the second round in 2013 by the Canton Longshoremen he failed to sign and re-entered the 2014 draft where London drafted him two spots higher. Named the PEBA’s #94 prospect after his first pro year he climbed to the #47 spot before an injury hit 2016 set him back a bit. His first cup of coffee came last September where he was disappointed with four RBI and .185/.185/.296 in 15 outings. He came to his first camp fired up, showed great defence and hit .289/.349/.395 while scoring ten times & stealing six bags without being caught. The decision to keep him up was made a little easier by Dan Truax heading for the D/L after camp with back tightness but in all honesty he had outshone Paco Shaffer & Ralph Woods with his enthusiasm anyway. He’ll have a spell in the opening weeks to prove he can do the job and when Truax is activated another decision will have to be made.

Another Happy Bunny was Gabriel Álvarez who has grabbed the fifth and final spot in the Underground rotation. Hiroyuki Nii, Leonard Carver & Miguel Rosa had claimed rotation spots as expected while Ángel Luján had proved his fitness after last year’s six month absence with a shoulder inflammation. That left the last spot up for grabs, Bryan Bedell will be upset to lose out following posting a 3-1, 2.25 ERA record in camp but what cost him was his continued lack of control as he walked 11 batters in just four starts. 23-year-old rookie Erwin Callahan in his first camp after only being drafted two years ago started well and won his opening two games but the batters were sizing him up and he finished up giving up 12 runs in four games for a 6.75 ERA. He will return to Worcester and then probably winter ball for final seasoning. That sort of left Álvarez in the fifth slot by default, he too went 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA in camp but the difference with him and Bedell was Gabriel kept opponents down to hitting .209 off him. Also despite a loss of control in his final game where he walked four he was generally in command and walked just seven in four starts.


Álvarez gets first crack as London's #5 starter in 2018

London was fortunate in that given the general young age of the camp attendees all of those returned to Worcester had options left and were able to bypass the need for clearing waivers. Several of the players will not be so lucky next year and it will be a pivotal year in their careers. The main hardship this year was not felt by those players but by the Worcester players and a few in lower minors that ended up losing their jobs to make way for the final cuts. The most highest profile player to be released was Ernesto Burgos who had made 218 appearances for the Underground over a six year career. He was a career .234/.280/.340 hitter with 12 home runs & 64 RBI but had fallen out of grace with the emergence of Victor O'Sullivan. Burgos was limited to just 10 games with the big club in his final year and London ate his final year’s $756k contract. Amongst the surprises to be released were 28-year-old Dwight Thompson who had racked up over 530 appearances at Double-A & Triple-A hitting at over .300 at both levels but his power had disappeared in recent years. Left fielder, 26-year-old Dean Morrison was another who had 450+ appearances at the top two levels of minors but will never now get a cup of coffee with the Underground, squeezed out just by the number of outfielders in Worcester who have PEBA experience. 28-year-old Edgar Knight, picked up as an off season minor league free agent, leaves without having pitched in anger for the club. Heading for Double-A Montréal Métros is 29-year-old James Kennedy, the highest placed Englishman in the organisation. His dream of playing for the City of his birth appears to have evaporated as he gets further away from the PEBA.


Looks like James Kennedy's dream of the PEBA is over as he heads for Double-A

Two of London's pitchers who chose free agency in the off season have been fixed up with new teams, Ken Cates is currently assigned to Bakersfield's Short-Season-A ball club where he signed a minor league contract after demanding over $3m from us while Aaron Hobbs who wanted $7m to extend is now playing for $30,000 with the Zapopan Torrenas in the ABSF Mexican League.

[Nigel]

April 6th, 2018

London opened the new season will a home series against Manchester but it didn’t go as planned …

Manchester 4 London 3 A slow start for Nii and the Underground. Nii dished out hits liberally in the opening innings but the killer was the second-innings two-run bomb by Mauler’s Louis Crocker. Wilson Berry started to pay off his big contract as he led off the bottom of the third with London’s first hit of 2018, a double, and Garza almost drove him in next AB as only a good throw by the Maulers was able to get Berry at the plate. Nii finally settled down and Dennis Carter tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with the game’s second two-run bomb. London were motoring now, the hits were coming and Ramsey, playing despite having a tooth extracted in the morning, put the Underground ahead for the first time in the sixth. The game-winning moments came in the top of the eighth though, Nii walked the leadoff man, William McKee, and Mauler’s debutant catcher, Pepe Espinosa, made him pay by hitting the game’s third two-run homer.
London MOM: Wilson Berry – two doubles and a successful bunt in four AB’s on his debut.

Manchester 7 London 3 Leonard Carver showed some more of his promise in his first start of his sophomore season but the Underground batters couldn’t help him out. While Carver was racking up the K’s the London batters were returning the favour to Mauler’s Albert Bush. Decheng Wen was ejected in the third for arguing yet another strike out and single runs in the third & fourth put the visitors two up. Crocker’s solo homer in the sixth extended the lead in a game that was blown open in the seventh. Sergio Dias relieved Carver with one out and a runner on second and proceeded to give up a single, two walks and a double without getting an out to leave London 7-0 down. Manny Vélez came on for his Underground debut after arriving in the Juan Hernandez tradeand struck-out four as he held Maulers off the board the rest of the way. London just couldn’t take advantage of that, they sent eight batters to the plate in the eighth but could only score three as they opened the season 0-2
London MOM: Leonard Carver – 6.1 IP 4 R (3 ER) 1 BB 8 K

Manchester 2 London 7 The Underground faithful groaned as Pedro Maldanoda deposited Miguel Rosa’s first pitch of the day into the bleachers but Rosa came back to have the last laugh. Decheng Wen’s two-out homer tied the game in the bottom of the first and Nathan Carter’s two-run shot in the third gave London a lead they would not relinquish. Scott Morris drove in Chris Long in the fourth and three batters later scored himself on Garza’s single. Miguel Rosa had given up five hits since that first pitch homer but had kept them all away from the plate until his luck ran out second batter in the sixth when Pepe Espinosa put his second homer of the season into the London stands. Chris Long led off the bottom half of the innings by opening his 2018 homer account and repeated the feat in the bottom of the eighth to put the icing on London’s opening 2018 win. Rosa eventually went eight and a third innings, striking out eight and giving up just those two homers in seven hits while Vélez came on to get the last two outs without a problem
London MOM: Chris Long – Two homers, two RBI and a double in four AB’s as he stretched his hitting streak to 12 games.


Luján struck out 12 in this first start after six-months out with injury

London 8 West Virginia 3 Nathan Carter kicked things off with a solo homer second batter into the Underground’s first road trip of 2018. In the third innings the reigning IL Batting Champ, Chris Long, continued his hot start to spring by doubling in Nathan &Leonard Ramsey and by the time Alleghenies’ Ronald Harmon had legged out an infield hit for the home team’s first off Ángel Luján the lead was 4-0. London added two more in the fifth before West Virginia plated their first run in the bottom half of the innings. Luján was mowing them down and he had 12 strike outs when he left after eight with an 8-3 lead. Luis Mora came on to pitch a 1-2-3 ninth to square London’s record at 2-2
London’s MOM Ángel Luján – 8 IP 8H 3 ER 12 K


The reigning IL batting champ opened 2018 with a hot bat and a 13-game hit streak

Chris Long was the hot bat in the line-up after the opening week with a .588/.588/1.176 slash line as well as ten hits, four doubles & two homers in his first 17 AB's. Hiroyuki Nii, the Underground’s top strike-out king, who averaged 230 K’s over the last three seasons was the butt of the jokes at dinner after the opening game in West Virginia. His seven K’s on opening day was the fewest by a London starter in 2018 as the staff as a whole racked up 42 K’s in the first four games.

[Tyler]

Hiroyuki Nii, the Underground’s top strike-out king, who averaged 230 K’s over the last three seasons was the butt of the jokes at dinner after the opening game in West Virginia. His seven K’s on opening day was the fewest by a London starter in 2018 as the staff as a whole racked up 42 K’s in the first four games.

Now that is impressive!

[Lions]

Hiroyuki Nii, the Underground’s top strike-out king, who averaged 230 K’s over the last three seasons was the butt of the jokes at dinner after the opening game in West Virginia. His seven K’s on opening day was the fewest by a London starter in 2018 as the staff as a whole racked up 42 K’s in the first four games.

Now that is impressive!

We didn't have anyone strike out 12 like Lujan, but we had 43 K's in the first 4 games. So there.

Actually... Kentucky's got 9.61 K/9IP, which is easily the leader through 4/13/18.

9.61 - Kentucky Thoroughbreds
9.10 - Connecticut Nutmeggers
9.00 - London Underground
8.71 - Charleston Statesmen
8.28 - Reno Zephyrs
8.17 - Aurora Borealis
8.09 - Yuma Bulldozers
7.73 - New Orleans Trendsetters
7.58 - Gloucester Fishermen
7.43 - West Virginia Alleghenies
7.37 - Palm Springs Codgers
7.25 - San Antonio Calzones of Laredo
7.11 - Tempe Knights
6.97 - Fargo Dinosaurs
6.90 - Omaha Cyclones
6.85 - Canton Longshoremen
6.61 - Florida Featherheads
6.47 - Duluth Warriors
6.40 - Manchester Maulers
5.82 - Bakersfield Bears
5.79 - Arlington Bureaucrats
5.42 - Kalamazoo Badgers
5.20 - Crystal Lake Sandgnats
4.91 - New Jersey Hitmen

It's fun to see Felipe Garza catching on for regular duty with the Underground. I always wanted more out of him than he gave me, and my scouts don't like him as much as when he was in the organization, but he's a useful player.

I'll also be the first to say that I didn't expect Leonard Ramsey to continue what he did last year, and he's doing everything he can to prove me wrong. The pitching, on the other hand, is largely why I picked London to win it all this year, and they're doing everything they can to prove me right. Scary team these days. Wilson Berry has a .937 OPS without hitting a single home run. :eek:

[Nigel]

There's a few scary pitchers out there at the moment, the batters must be really tired of seeing the umpire bringing up his fist!

Hopefully Ramsey's injury won't hurt his production, it'll just encourage him to hit it out to save him running too hard on his foot

Garza has always been one step away from the hook but despite his inconsistencies he plays some good defence in left and although his bat does go through big slumps he produces some clutch hits when it counts

[Nigel]

April 12th, 2018

London 9 West Virginia 3 This was very much a game of miscues as the opening pitchers shared 11 walks, Berry got called for catcher interference and the Alleghenies chalked up three errors on terrible throws. In between great defence by London particularly by Tuo-zhou Yang kept all but one of Gabriel Alvarez’s six walks away from the plate and Long waited to his fourth AB to hit safely for the 14th game. The Underground scrambled in a run in the first but the real damage was the seven runs plated between the 6th & 8th innings
London MOM : Tuo-zhou Yang – walked twice, scored twice. Added a hit and twice robbed WV with outstanding defence

London 9 West Virginia 1 Once more London went station to station to get on the board in the first and although the Alleghenies tied it in the second it was Nii’s to win after three. The visitors had already plated one when Ramsey stepped up in the third, he added a two-run homer and the Underground led 4-1. Hiroyuki was back to his efficient best, went the distance with five hits, four K’s and just one run surrendered. London rubbed West Virginia’s nose in it in the eighth, Ramsey added his second two-run bomb before Wilson Berry picked up his first London RBI triple and crossed the plate a batter later. A three game sweep of the Alleghenies is nice but outscoring them 26-7 is nicer.
London MOM : Leonard Ramsey – 3 for 4 with two 2-run homers, five RBI and a walk

London 3 Kentucky 1 After walking the first batter, Tuo-zhou Yang, that Larry Schultz faced the Thoroughbreds couldn’t turn a double play and that cost them the game. Two batters later Leonard Ramsey strode to the plate and deposited his third consecutive 2-run bomb into the bleachers to effectively win the game. Schultz and Leonard Carver duelled it out allowing very few hits and striking out nine each over the first seven innings but it was 3-1 to London when Schultz departed. Mora came on in the ninth in his first save situation of 2018 and calmly sat the side down 1-2-3 for his 222nd PEBA save.
London MOM : Leonard Carver – hit two batters but only allowed two hits & one run over 7.2 IP with nine K’s


Luis Mora, in his 12th year with the Underground, now has 223 PEBA saves

London 5 Kentucky 2 On of the most memorable things about this game is Thoroughbred’s starter Rafael Rodriguez setting the IL regular season record for walks after he walked ten batters. The home side had lost this once again in the first innings when Chris Long, hitting safely for the 17th straight game, and Scott Morris both drove in runs. The only thing that stopped London being over the hill & far away was their propensity to hit into double plays, Berry being guilty twice, causing them to strand 13 runners. Ramsey left in pain after being hit by Floyd Davis in the sixth and the home side actually out-hit London 12-8 but failed to get any runners home till the last two innings. Chad Fountain got his first outing of 2018 in relief of Rosa’s effort. He loaded the bases with two out in his second innings of work leaving Mora to stroll out and strike out the final batter for an easy save.
London MOM : Miguel Rosa – gave up 10 hits in 7 IP but struck out 7 and only allowed one run.

London 16 Kentucky 0 Tuo-zhou Yang won the third game in the row for London in the first innings. This time he launched the second pitch of the game over the fences and that was enough for Luján. He struck out double digit batters for the second time in two 2018 outings while it was a thoroughly miserable day for the Thoroughbred pitchers. They walked nine batters including three with the bases loaded in the fifth which together with a balk led to an eight –run inning. Chris long struck out twice, walked three times and scored three times as his hitting streak looked in doubt but he came through in the top of the ninth when his double upped his streak to 18 and drove in the final two runs.
London MOM : Wilson Berry – 4 for 5 with a walk, scored three times and drove-in four

Gloucester 4 London 5 (F/18) In one of London’s longest ever games the fans got value for money as Bailey Rohr sent them home with a walk-off single and his first RBI of 2018 in the bottom of the 18th innings. George Arias had hit a 3-run homer off London starter, Gabriel Alvarez, in the top of the first but somehow despite walking seven it was still only 3-0 when he left in the fifth. Jesús Costa did his bit for the Fishermen striking out 10 but they couldn’t add to their run total before Dave York, on his first appearance of 2018, tripled and scored on Dennis Carter’s single in the fifth. Next batter Felipe Garza’s 2-run shot tied the game at three. Chris Long was still hitless when he led off the bottom of the ninth but after three K’s he could only produce a ground-out. Gloucester thought they had it won in the 13th when John Lee homered off Manny Vélez but Decheng Wen drove in Garza to tie the game in the bottom half of the innings. The procession of pitchers continued, London sent all seven of the ‘pen to the mound while Gloucester sent five. Carlos Guerera tied the IL regular season extra game record for hits with five, Chris Long came to the plate eight times and came away with just a walk to snap his 18 game hit streak while Fishermen’s lead-off man Chris Holmes went 0 for 10. Finally in the bottom of the 16th with the bases loaded and one out Rohr just sneaked the ball past Reynaldo Estrada at second to seal London’s eighth consecutive win.
London MOM: Felipe Garza – 4 for 7 with a home run and a double. He scored twice and drove-in two.

News & Notes: Leonard Ramsey’s x-rays showed he had suffered a fractured foot after being hit by Floyd Davis and he will be out till early May. The move of Ramsey to the D/L started a chain of promotions throughout the organisation and brought Joe Buchanan back for his third crack at the PEBA. He was once ahead of Ramsey in the organisation’s hopes but has so far been unable to hit with any consistency, as he approaches 30 this could be one of his last chances to entice another PEBA team to perhaps give him a chance of a full-time job.

Florida might lead the Imperial League with a .743 defensive efficiency but the Pan-Atlantic division is where all the hot defence is with London’s .703 mark only being good enough for fifth in the division. The IL pitching staffs have certainly started wearing the batters down with Charleston striking out 100 batters in 11 games, London 99 in 10, Kentucky 94 in 10 and Connecticut 91 in nine. Florida is going long ball with 13 long balls in their meagre total of 27 runs but London lead the IL with 14 homers and 68 runs scored in 10 games, 14 more runs than second placed Connecticut.


Hurley and Long, first-week player of the week trophy winners

There was a couple of trophies for the franchise in the opening week, last year’s IL batting champ, Chris Long, started with a hot bat as was rewarded with the IL player of the week award for hitting .500 in the first week with two homers and six RBI while London’s top prospect, Dave Hurly, picked up the Triple-A Appalachian Mountain League player of the week award for opening the season hitting .480 with one homer & seven RBI.

Worcester opened their season in Triple-A with a winning 6-5 record. Lyndon Hodges who impressed in his September call-up to London hit an impressive .457/.500/.739 with three homers & 14 RBI but at 28 and his progress blocked by Chris Long time is running out for him. Ralph Wood, who at 24 has already got 562 minor league games at all levels under his belt and 114 PEBA appearances in 2016, is working towards returning to Europe with a 2018 slash line of .326/.423/.512 with two homers & 13 RBI.

[James Bowman]

London 16 Kentucky 0

Gloucester 4 London 5 (F/18)

Everyone who attended that game got a VC.