Sort of fun to have made it to a century of TWIWBL’s.

22 April, 2002

There’s just not a lot to write about yet–we have some injuries, we have some potentially impactful rehab assignments, and we have some early performances to track, but it’s all only 3 weeks old.

Probably the most striking thing is the lack of separation–other the abysmal start by the Indianapolis ABCs, who are 4-14, almost all of the league is held in pretty tight clusters around .500.

#Awards

Memphis‘ Ted Williams was named the AL Player of the Week, hitting .400 for the week with 6 homeruns, 13 RBI and 9 runs scored. Four of his homeruns came on a single Wednesday — 2 in a suspended game finished that afternoon, 2 more in the nightcap. Williams’ name will recur a lot this week, as the Red Sox OF is basically tearing the cover off the ball.

The NL Player of the Week is a far less well-known name: Kansas City‘s Mickey Welch threw 18 innings across 2 starts and allowed 1 earned run, giving him a 0.50 ERA with 11 strikeouts and 2 walks, including a complete-game 2-hit shutout of Brooklyn with a game score of 89, the best single start in the WBL this season.

#In The Minors

Elmer Smith (Los Angeles) took AAA Player of the Week honours at Las Vegas, Marquis Grissom (Miami) at AA Havana, and Pat Meares (Portland) in A-ball at St. Paul.

#Player Performance

In general, we list the top 2-3 in all categories, and we’ve usually seen the lists stabilize over the course of a season. It’s very early days, but a lot of the names here are quite familiar.

#Batters

The batting leaders have a Ted Williams problem, as The Splendid Splinter leads the WBL in batting average, on-base, slugging, runs, RBI and walks, and shares the homerun lead — 6 of the 9 categories outright, and a share of a 7th.

Williams shares the homerun lead with Philadelphia‘s Bullet Joe Rogan. Rogan, of course, is doing it while maintaining his spot in the Stars’ rotation. He doesn’t even qualify for the batting rate stats, making his 9 dingers even more impressive.

In addition to Gehrig below, HOM’s Judy Johnson, NYG’s Willie Mays, and CLE’s Arky Vaughan are tied with 2 triples each. KAN’s Cool Papa Bell and SFS’s Frank Grant lead the WBL with 5 SB each.

Roberto Alomar (OTT). 379/425/682. 1.3 WAR.
Pete Browning (HOD). 368/429/632.
Rico Carty (PHI). 389/424/759.
Ty Cobb (DET). 391/427/754. 27 H.
Carlos Delgado (LAA). 261/433/457.
Lou Gehrig (NYY). 318/416/758. 21 RBI.
Grant Johnson (NYG). 362/392/594. 10 2B.
Jackie Robinson (BRK). 301/338/521. 10 2B.
Charles Rogan (PHI). 327/375/904. 9 HR, 17 R.
Babe Ruth (NYY). 232/419/500. 17 BB.
Turkey Stearnes (SFS). 286/318/714. 8 HR.
Ted Williams (MEM). 443/568/967. 27 H, 9 HR, 19 R, 24 RBI, 19 BB, 1.7 WAR.

At the less glorious end, Los Angeles’s Dobie Moore has struck out 40 times in 48 games’ worth of at-bats and is hitting .100. Which is not a lot of return for Tom Seaver, who is pitching like an ace for Memphis.

#Pitchers

Ten hurlers have 3 wins. One of them, Portland’s Walter Johnson has been the best pitcher in the league by a distance, going 3-0 with a 1.65 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP. Johnson has done this before–he was the best pitcher over the first half of 2000 before fading a bit down the stretch.

San Francisco‘s Lefty Grove leads the league with 49 strikeouts and struck out 13 in a single start himself, the highest total of the young season.

#Starters

A very early list for sure.

Bob Feller (CLE). 1-4, 5.96. 32 K.
Dwight Gooden (LAA). 2-2, 3.86. 1.89 FIP, 1.0 WAR.
Lefty Grove (SFS). 3-1, 3.78. 49 K. 33 IP.
Walter Johnson (POR). 3-0, 1.65. 41 K. 27 IP. 0.73 WHIP, 1.94 FIP, 1.2 WAR.
Dennis Martínez (BAL). 3-0, 2.49. .178 BABIP.
Camilo Pascual (MCG). 3-0, 4.03.
Toad Ramsey (HOU). 2-2, 3.57. 0.9 WAR.
Charlie Root (DET). 1-1, 2.11.
Tom Seaver (MEM). 1-1, 2.01.
J.M. Ward (PHI). 2-1, 2.35. .158 BABIP.
Mickey Welch (KAN). 2-1, 3.62. 27 IP.
Vic Willis (LAA). 2-0, 2.37. 0.74 WHIP.

#Relievers

Too early for rate stats, so we’re looking at the leaders in saves and holds only for now.

Rod Beck (SFS). 1-0, 0.00. 6 Sv.
Dellin Betances (HOD). 0-1, 5.40. 3 H.
Chad Bradford (DET). 2-1, 5.00. 3 H.
Roberto Osuna (HOU). 0-1, 1.12. 3 H.
Jonathan Papelbon (MCG). 0-0, 3.86. 5 Sv.
Harley Young (BBB). 0-1, 2.16. 5 Sv.

#Hardest Shots

Five balls tied at 119 mph this week, from homeruns to singles to a groundout to short: Ted Williams‘s 3-run blast (there’s that man again), Jim Wynn‘s solo shot, Frank Grant‘s double, and Mark McGwire‘s groundball single all at least had positive outcomes. Not so much for Mickey Mantle, who laced a ball on the ground at the same velocity, only to be thrown out 6-3.

#Injuries

Three notable losses this week.

Brooklyn will be without Pedro Guerrero for about 6 weeks, which would usually elicit a yawn, but Guerrero had started the season strong, and leaves a hole in the Royal Giants lineup. Two other high profile names hit the DL as well: Miami’s Iván Rodríguez is out for for 5-6 weeks, and Houston will be without Tony Gwynn for 3 weeks or so.