Maple continued tweeking their lineup in the month of May. From the ABL active roster; Incoming = Danny Burris, Billy Bishop & Jessie Clark and Outgoing = Rich Bussell & Jacques Carpentier. Maple was set on improving their middle infield which has been piece work for over five seasons. Bussell didn't stay long in Maple but, management was just not convinced after our slow start that we were a legitimate contenders in the ABL let alone the TML.
Maple went from 1st to last in the Billy Martin Division over the past month and currently sits 8 games back of San Francisco.
Maple is closely monitoring the progress of a couple of rookies this year: John "TOAD" Jones MR has been lights out; 3-1 Record - 19G, 18.2IP, 10HA, 6ER, 1HR, 13BB, 28K & 1.23WHIP; George Evans OF/DH had been hot until the past couple of weeks; 36G, 151AB, 12R, 40H, 10DBL, 2TRI, 6HR, 19RBI, 6BB, 35K, .265avg, .291obpct, & .477 slugging pct. The past couple of weeks Evans has struggled at a 7 for 43 clip! Maple management remains steady forward with these two youngsters.
Down on the "Farm"; we are very excited about our Triple AAA OF which features potential ABL players and maybe stars! - Brad Thomas (R5 pick in 2015), Floyd Lowery (Acquired earlier this year from Mile High), Martin Petersen (Acquired earlier this year from Nottinghamshire), Tee Wilson (R1 pick in 2014) & Antonio Alvarez (R2 pick in 2014). Joshua Goldberg the son of the owner also received a call-up to the big club in Maple to fill in the rotation while Nicolas Rodrigues spends some time on the DL. In Double AA Tad Williams appears ready to jump to Triple AAA soon. We would like to see some improvement in his 2B defense though. It may be while because after the Jessie Clark trade; Eric Rice 2B was demoted from Maple to AAA Astoria. In Single A 2B Tony Baird is having a great start in Kingwood, TX. Defense again is an area he must work on before taking the jump to Double AA.
Our Top prospects according to OSA sources is Subaru Kishita SP which was drafted this year in R4 and recently was promoted to AA from A. Manny Palma CL has tried to jump to AAA a couple of times but, appears set to finish the season in AA based on his recent stint in Astoria. Then there is Zeus "BIG THUNDER" Hallman our R1 pick this past season; who was drafted as a SP out of College (Arkansas) but, has been the CL in Kingwood Single A. Big Thunder has been terrific so far with a 2-0 record and 9 saves spotting a tiny 1.07 WHIP.
The rumor mill is swirling still in Canada as Frank Powers OF/1B, Vic Jennings who just returned back from the DL along with power hitting SS Doug Smith are all available for a contender this year.
The fans certainly have shown their approval so far this year with the changes. Attendance is up +1.0% over last season.
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