Maple continued their improvement with a solid 18-8 W/L record in July! Their final 4 games of the month saw them put up 48 runs in 4 games including 10-0, 10-0, 16-1, 12-6 victories over Georgia and a 3 game sweep of Jersey! We haven't seen that much offense from this team since the ABL started and we are excited! Also the ball is flying out of all ABL parks as the Marauders continue to rank #1 in bombs at 141! Anthony Shelton, LF - 25, Vic Jennings, 1B - 23, Eric McSwan, DH - 22, Anthony Lewis, CF - 18 and Dan Smith, SS - 16 lead the team. Vic Jennings set a team and tied a TML record with 3 homers in a game in July! Vic Jennings and Anthony Lewis both tied team records scoring 4 runs in a game in July.
Brandon Wilson has been stellar in the CL role. 6-2 W/L, 20 saves, 0.82 WHIP! Who is Millard Marshall? That is the CL that is out for the year and most likely his ABL career is done (95-97 fastball MPH down to 84-86 yikes!)
The team did get some bad news this month as starting catcher James Baker is out for 4 months/season with a broken kneecap (ouch!). Defensive specialist Jorge Rodriguez will take over the duties behind the plate meanwhile Alfredo Valdez C (AAA) received the call-up. Maple was rumoured in numerous trade talks for a catcher but, nothing really significantly improved our team over what we alread had imho.
Roberto "Styx" Martinez SP has also turned his game around. He is still under .500 at 6-7 W/L but, his WHIP is 1.18 and has taken over the ACE role again for the Marauders. Pat Sellers SP after his beating in the ALLSTAR game has taken the 2nd spot in the rotation and has dropped off a bit (WHIP 1.22).
Meanwhile down in the farm; Astoria (AAA) is competing for a division title for the first time sitting 1.5 games back in the B.J. Birdie Division behind Minneapolis. The Argonauts are also #1 in HRs hit and the bats are dangerous on this squad led by: Billy Greer OF, Kevin McConnell DH and Juan Juarez 1B. If they are going to make the playoffs they will have to continue to out score their opponents as the pitching staff is horrible ranking in double digits in almost every category including a team ERA over 5.00+. Sandy Springs Spartans (AA) is in 2nd place in the Junction Jack Division 8 games back of Carson City. Christian Taylor RF received a AAA call up at the start of August based on his torrid play; .338 bavg., 16 hrs and 80 rbi. The Starting Rotation is in big trouble so far and most likely will be the reason the Spartans will miss the post season this year (4.61 ERA). The Kingwood Knights (A) were the laughing stock of the ABL in Year 1 but, the team has come a long way to at least be competitive. This year after July the Knights sit at 46-56 and feel they are still within reach of their goal of hitting .500 for the season. This team has some speed (2nd in SB - 113) which is a desparate need for Maple in the ABL. Hopefully some of these speedsters make to the big team soon. Ariel Goldberg is having a great rookie season at CL with 17 saves. Joshua Goldberg who struggled in AA ball returned to A ball and pitched like an ACE in his only start.
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