Tag: Jhonny Peralta

TWIWBL 28.0 – AAA Roundup, July 1st

On July 14, 2022

Another month, another quick trip through the minor leagues!

Featured Team: New Orleans Pelicans

The AAA affiliate of the Memphis Red Sox has the second best record in AAA, leading their division by 6 games. They’ve managed to keep their lead despite a fairly constant amount of churn as players move up and down with the parent club.

The Pelicans lead with their offense, with the near-constant presence of veteran Joe Cronin at 1B, 2B Dustin Pedroia, and OF Joe Kelley. Bob Brenly, Eddie Rosario, and Wayne Causey have all been strong contributors who, like Pedroia, spent a fair bit of time in Memphis.

Cronin leads the team in homeruns with 13, followed by Brenly with 11. Brenly has the most impressive slash line of the regulars, with his 299/342/664 giving him an OPS just over 1.000.

Joe Kelly (the other one–note only a single e in the last name) leads the way on the mound with a 6-3 record and a 3.36 ERA. Andrew Miller is 5-0 since his promotion from AA with an ERA of 3.03. The bullpen is anchored by Luiz Gohara, who has 14 saves and an ERA under 3. Gohara and Kelly each started the year in Memphis.

#AAA Leaders

If you are a devotee of OPS, the best batters in AAA have been Baby Doll Jacobson (Washington / Baltimore Black Sox; 1.114); Jung Ho Kang (Columbus / Wandering House of David; 1.042), and Joey Votto (Cincinnati / Indianapolis ABC’s; 1.000). Jacobson and Votto are both with their WBL clubs now. Those 3 are closely trailed by Merv Rettenmund (Washington; .996) and Al Kaline (Toronto / Detroit Wolverines; .984).

Kaline is 3rd in AAA in BA and OBP, and 2nd in hits while Rettumund is tied for the lead with 21 homeruns, and leads in RBIs and Rs. Aaron Judge (Norfolk / Philadelphia Stars), Jacobson, Benny Kauff (Hartford / New York Gothams), and Kevin Young (Louisville / Homestead) each have 21 HRs as well.

Finally, along with Kaline (3.3) and Rettenmund (3.1), Max Carey (Louisville) and Cliff Lee (Seattle / Portland) are the other AAA players with a WAR over 3.

Cincinnati’s Virgil Trucks has been, by far, the dominant starting pitcher, leading the league with a 2.05 ERA and a 10-3 record. Trucks also leads the league with 8 complete games and a 0.94 WHIP, and is second in the league with 167 strikeouts. Bob Gibson (St. Louis / Kansas City) trails Trucks with a 2.36 ERA and 9 victories and two other starters, AJ Burnett (Newark / New York Black Yankees) and St. Louis’ Jock Menefee also have ERA’s under 3.00. Burnett’s teammate, Lefty Gomez, leads AAA with 181 strikeouts in 115 innings.

San Jose’s Billy Taylor (San Francisco Sea Lions) and St. Louis’ Adam Russell lead AAA in saves with 21 and 20, respectively.

#AAA Awards

Rube Melton (Atlanta / Birmingham Black Barons) was the AAA Pitcher of the Month, going 4-0 with a 2.58 ERA, striking out 53 in under 40 innings; while Cincinnati’s Doc Hobitzell was the AAA Player of the Month, hitting .426 with 11 home runs in June.

AAA Players of the Week: Hobitzell twice, along with Steve Garvey (Montréal / Ottawa Mounties [since traded to the Los Angeles Angels]) and Cincinnati’s Jhonny Peralta.

#AAA Hottest Prospects (24 Years and Younger)

100 AAA PA/50 AAA IP minimum; must be in AAA now, or only recently promoted.

C: Cliff W. Lee (22, Seattle). 318/359/624. 20 HR, 56 RBI.
1B: Doc Hoblitzell (23, Cincinnati). 331/361/647.
2B: Juan Samuel (23, Norfolk). 294/347/569.
3B: Charlie Reilly (23, San Jose). 315/343/622.
SS: Asdrúbal Cabrera (22, Washington). 282/309/550.
LF: Joe Kelley (20, New Orleans). 261/379/523.
CF: Rick Monday (23, Montréal). 275/381/584.
RF: Al Kaline (20, Toronto). 340/410/574.

SP: Jake Peavy (23, Newark). 5-2, 3.44, 1.08 WHIP. Jock Menefee (24, St. Louis). 5-4, 2.75, 1.11 WHIP. Sam McDowell (24, Buffalo / Cleveland Spiders). 9-4, 4.80, 1.26 WHIP. Ralph Branca (22, Quebec / Brooklyn. 7-4, 3.43, 1.17 WHIP).

RP: Luiz Gohara (20, New Orleans). 3-1, 14 Sv, 2.73, 1.33 WHIP. Al Spalding (24, Hartford). 1-0, 4 Sv, 3.00, 1.00 WHIP.

TWIWBL 23.0: All-Star Weekend – The Futures Game

By mknn

On February 8, 2022

In All Star Games, TWIWBL

This game looks to be a bit of a mismatch: the sheer volume of talent on team USA is a bit overwhelming.

Tony Solaita of the World Team led off the inaugural Futures Game with a single up the middle off Bob Gibson, but a popout and a double play would end the inning without damage.

Fernando Valenzuela‘s opening frame didn’t go as well: Art Devlin singled and stole second, and then attempted to score on a base hit from Charlie Gehringer, but César Hernández‘ throw home was strong enough to nail him at the plate. Gehringer would score on a base-hit from Jimmie Foxx to put the USA up, 1-0.

Foxx was at it again in the bottom of the 3rd, scoring Devlin with a mammoth shot to left field, increasing the lead to 3-0.

Roberto Alomar greeted A. Rube Foster in the top of the 4th with a leadoff double. Alomar moved to third on a flyball to center by Shin-Soo Choo, and scored on a soft single from Sammy Sosa. Despite loading the bases, however, that was all the World team could muster, leaving the score 3-1.

Gehringer would drive in 2 more in the bottom of the frame upping the lead to 5-1.

And that would be it.

For the USA, Terry Forster, Frank Smith, Smokey Joe Williams, Jake Peavy, and Mike Adams combined for 5.1 innings of scoreless relief, while for the World, Steve Chitren, Jesse Crain, Moe Drabowsky, Arodys Vizcaíno, and Luiz Gohara closed the game without allowing a hit over the final 4 innings.

Foxx’s homerun and 3 RBIs were enough to walk away with the MVP Award, although Gehringer (2-for-4 with a run and 2 RBIs) and Devlin (2-for-2 with a run scored) each had an argument.

For the World, Tip O’Neill reached base 4 times, with 2 hits and 2 walks. It was a much worse day at the plate for Sosa and Hernández, each of whom struck out 3 times.

The idiotic choice by the AI to not select a catcher was impactful, as Abreu split time behind the plate with Jorge Orta, combining for 5 passed balls.

World 1 (Valenzuela 0-1) @ USA 5 (Maddux 1-0)
HRs: USA – Foxx (1).
Box Score

Roster Notes

The Wandering House of David and the Brooklyn Royal Giants each have 7 representatives in the game, and the Chicago American Giants have 5. Time will tell if that is an indicator of a strong talent pipeline or not.

Two of the players–the House of David’s Sosa and Los Angeles’ Carlos Beltrán–were traded over the all-star break. Both of them, along with San Francisco’s Sal Bando, Ottawa’s Alex Rodríguez and Roberto Alomar, and Birmingham’s Greg Maddux were recalled to the big leagues over the break.

Here are the full rosters, listing the level and WBL organization. Starters are listed in bold.

World Team Roster

Abreu was drafted in to catch, O’Neill as the DH, and López at 3B.

C: None. Whoops.

1B: Tip O’Neill (AA, Ottawa); Tony Solaita (AAA, Cleveland)

2B: Roberto Alomar (AAA, Ottawa); Jorge Orta (AA, Detroit)

3B: None, but both López and Hernández can play here.

SS: Luis Aparicio (AA, House of David); Bert Campaneris (AA, House of David, suspended); Jhonny Peralta (AAA, Indianapolis)

LF: Shin-Soo Choo (AAA, Houston)

CF: Carlos Beltrán (AA, Los Angeles); Héctor López (AA, New York Black Yankees); César A. Hernández (AA, Philadelphia)

RF: Bobby Abreu (AAA, Philadelphia); Willie Montañez (AA, Baltimore); Sammy Sosa (AAA, House of David)

P: José Capellán (AA, Memphis); Steve Chitrin (AAA, Brooklyn); Jesse Crain (AA, Ottawa); Víctor Cruz (AA, Chicago); Moe Drabowsky (AA, New York Gothams); Luiz Gohara (AAA, Memphis); Tom Harrison (AA, House of David); Fergie Jenkins (AAA, House of David); Sergio Valdéz (AA, Homestead); Fernando Valenzuela (AAA, Brooklyn); Arodys Vizcaíno (AA, Cleveland)

Team USA Roster

C: Cliff Lee (AAA, Portland); Mike Piazza (AAA, Brooklyn)

1B: Cap Anson (AA, House of David); Jimmie Foxx (AA, San Francisco)

2B: Charlie Gehringer (AAA, Detroit)

3B: Sal Bando (AAA, San Francisco); Art Devlin (AAA, New York Gothams)

SS: Ray Chapman (AA, Detroit); Alex Rodríguez (AAA, Ottawa)

LF: Bob Watson (AAA, Chicago)

CF: John Briggs (AA, Brooklyn); Kirby Puckett (AA, Portland)

RF: Dwight Evans (AAA, Memphis); Al Kaline (AAA, Detroit); Merv Rettenmund (AAA, Baltimore)

P: Mike Adams (AAA, Chicago); Terry Forster (AAA, Brooklyn); A. Rube Foster (AAA, Chicago); Bob Gibson (AAA, Kansas City); Greg Maddux (AAA, Birmingham); Jake Peavy (AAA, New York Black Yankees); Chris Short (AA, Brooklyn); Frank Smith (AAA, Chicago); Karl Spooner (AA, House of David); Smokey Joe Williams (AAA, Brooklyn).

Spring Training Preview: Indianapolis

By mknn

On June 19, 2020

In 2000 Spring Training, Team News

Barring injury, the starting rotation is set, but there are some unknowns in the bullpen where Norm Charlton, Francisco Cordero, and Lefty James are in contention to make the roster.
- The pitching has been strong, but Tony Mullane has struggled a bit allowing the possibility for one of several contenders to lay claim to the #5 slot. Johnny Cueto, Dolf Luque, and David Price are all yet to allow a run, so we’ll start with those 3.
  - Mullane has been sent to AAA, and Eppa Rixey is now questionable to make the rotation, with Bronson Arroyo, Paul Derringer, Dixie Leveret and Luque joining Cueto and Price in the running.
- Charlton, Octavio Dotel, and Cordero have all struggled in relief, while Clay Carroll has excelled.
  - Cordero and continues to be on the bubble, and the desire to reduce roster size has sent Charlton to AAA.
It’s clear that Johnny Bench and Jake Stenzel will both make the roster, but it’s not clear who will be the starter at C.
- Both have excelled, so still not clear. Ernie Lombardi has been recalled for depth.
  - Lombardi is also hitting very well: at this point, they’d like to keep all 3 on the opening day roster.
Joe Morgan and Miller Huggins are in competition at 2B, as are Piggy Ward and Ed Charles at 3B.
- Huggins and Morgan are still neck and neck. Given Menke’s ability to fill in at 2B, Lonny Frey is heading back to AAA.
SS is a mess: Dennis Menke and Jhonny Peralta have the edge to start, but a great Spring by either Barry Larkin or Dave Concepcion could leapfrog them.
- Menke and Concepcion lead this race, but nothing is settled yet.
Oscar Charleston looks like the real deal, but the OF is crowded. Performances this Spring should shed some light on how the team differentiates between Charlie Hemphill, Edd Roush, Pete Rose, Bob Bescher, George Foster, and Willie Montanez.
- Charleston has yet to show much of anything, and only Edd Roush is performing worse of the OFers. But only Rose has made enough noise to join Dave Henderson as a likely starter.
  - Charleston has improved dramatically, but other than Roush continuing to struggle and Rose leading the way, little is clear here.
- Montanez has been moved to AAA to clear some OF room (especially with Hemphill about to return from a few days off), and Chase Headley has been recalled to add some depth at 3B.
  - Headley has been very impressive, and is arguing for a roster spot.

	Near Definite	Likely	Possible	Long Shot
Starting Pitchers	Virgil Trucks Red Faber Willie Mitchell		Eppa Rixey Johnny Cueto Dolf Luque Paul Derringer David Price Dixie Leveret Bronson Arroyo
Middle Relievers			Octavio Dotel Lefty James Francisco Cordero
Setup		Rob Murphy Clay Carroll
Closer	Rob Dibble
C		Johnny Bench Jake Stenzel	Ernie Lombardi
1B		Joey Votto Hal Morris
2B		Joe Morgan Miller Huggins
3B		Piggy Ward Ed Charles	Chase Headley
SS		Dennis Menke Dave Concepcion		Barry Larkin Jhonny Peralta
OF	Pete Rose	Dave Henderson Bob Bescher Oscar Charleston	Edd Roush George Foster Charlie Hemphill Danny Hoffman