Tempe Knights 2019 in Review
Wins 67 Losses 95 PCT .414 GB 40
Apr: 10-18
May: 16-12
Jun: 8-19
Jul: 15-10
Aug: 10-18
Sept: 8-18
2019 Tempe Knights Review:
2019 in Tempe was a tough one. They almost hit the dreadful 100 loss mark. Only one time in their history did they hit that mark and that was in 2007 in which they had put up a 45-117 mark. This years record has put PEBA rookie GM Rory “Maybe Next Year” Collins in the hot seat.
The ownership is furious and was expecting a winning record in Collins’ first season at the helm. Collins was reportedly yelling at Owner Chris Van Hauter in a heated exchange, that Tempe has only had a winning once in the last 5 seasons before he took over as the Knights GM. Van Hauter respond in a Hitler sounding voice, “well….well……I demand we have a winning season or it will be to the dungeon with you. I will not except that we have taken a place in the cellar while across the state, the Yuma Bulldozers were enjoying the post-season. Now I have to hear about it from Emma “Eephus” Span (Yuma’s owner) and Governor Jan Brewer. Who doesn’t even buy rounds after a day of golf. So Mr. Collins, when will I expect to see a winning team on the field”. The rookie GM was heard responding with “Maybe next year your highness……..maybe next year”………and…..”Dang you guys take this Knights thing too far don’t ya think”? Van Hauter replied “Out of my office“.
The Bigs
Lineup:
Despite the horrible record, Tempe had a juggernaut of a lineup in 2019. They were 1st in batting average @ .289, 1st in the all important OBP @ .345 and 2nd in the most important offensive stat a team can have runs scored @ 754. That’s 4.7 runs per game. So why weren’t the Knights winning? We’ll get to that in the next section.
3B Javier Padilla took home the SL batting title hitting .340 on the year. Padilla has hit .363, .334 and .340 with 600 hits and 303 RBI’s in his first 3 years in the Bigs. OF Tony Figueroa has been no slouch himself, hitting .314, .329 and .337 with 445 hits and 232 runs score in his first 3 seasons. Well really 2 ½ seasons since he was called up late his rookie year playing in 76 games. Other bright spots for the Knights is 1B Ken Knight who hit .299 with 102 RBI’s, OF Norm Bruce who hit .306 and rookie sensation OF Gonzalo Juarez who hit .306 in his first season in the Bigs.
The lineup was one of the best in the league. And they should be as tough or tought going into the 2020 season. Definitely something to build on.
Pitching:
Tempe’s pitching was as bad as the lineup was good. But worse. The 67-95 record lands squarely on the pitching staff, who was the worst in the SL. They were 11th in starters ERA @ 5.15, 12th in bullpen ERA @ 4.76 and the most important team pitching stat, were 11th in runs against @ 865. That’s 5.3 runs per game. I can’t believe I even said that out loud. And that’s in a stadium half the size of Arizona.
Bright spots, hmmm lets see…….I know I saw a bright spot here somewhere…….oh here….no that’s not it…….ok here’s one, Raul Cruz had a 2.63 ERA in relief……….ummmm, oh and Sergio Tinker, Tomas Medina and closer Dominic Belanger all had ERA’s in the 3’s. That’s all I got.
The staff is young and hopefully they’ll start maturing into some good pitchers. Hopefully they start next year.
Prospects:
Lineup:
Some of the Lineup prospects that Tempe is excited about is: 25 year old 3B Dwight Carver who hit .283 with 26 HR’s and 106 RBI’s for the AAA Waxers, 27 year old 1B Santiago Marino who hit .309 in AAA, 20 year old 2B Ivan Castro who hit .351 in Fairbanks (S A) and .304 for Calexico (A) and 21 year old C William Morgan who hit .304 in his first year as a pro in Calexico (A) to name a few.
Pitching:
Things look pretty bleak this year in the Bigs but Tempe has some hopefuls down in the farm the could help the Knights in the future and maybe even the near future. Some thought that the trade with the Connecticut Nutmeggers was just about P Clayton Lewis and P Gerardo Soto. But along with the deal came pitching prospect Bartolo Esquivel who pitched very well since coming over from the Nutmeggers farm system. Hopefully he will become the ace in the hole in the next year or two. He had a 3.40 ERA for Chandler (AAA) in 2019 but sources in the Knights organization said that they may keep him down in AAA for one more season to continue working on his control and his curveball.
The young trio of 23 year old Closer Luis Puente, 21 year old MR Geoff Lawson and 20 year old MR Juan Bravo look very good so far. Puente may get the call up in 2020 while Lawson and Bravo may stay down for another year. Lawson to work on his control and his slider while Bravo will work on his control as well. Down in the lower levels, 20 year old Jose Flores continues to impress the Knights organization in his climb through the farm. In 2018 he had a 2.29 ERA with a 0.98 WHIP for Fairbanks (S A) and in 2019 he had a 3.86 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP in Calexico (A) before being quickly called up to Quebec City (AA) where he posted a 2.87 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. He just might be a diamond in the rough.
On the not so bright side, Tempe’s first round and 6th overall draft pick 18 year old P Hector Rivera went down with a torn rotator cuff in July, which put him out for most of 2019. His recovery is going well at this point and is looking start the rehab in 6 weeks.
2020
With one of the best lineups in PEBA, Tempe hopes to build a pitching staff that can make use of the runs given to them by their offense. With a pretty young staff in the Bigs and some good young arms down on the farm they are looking at the glass half full. Even though there wasn’t much water in the glass in 2019.
