As we head into the final month of the season, the Maple Marauders continue to show signs of improvements and optimism heading into next season. A 16-12 record in August is their best monthly performance of the season.
BULLPEN & OUTFIELD:
Pitching especially the bullpen of late has carried the club to some exciting wins. Add in some new faces in the batting lineup and the right chemistry appears to be developing on the team. Maple gave some coffee time at the ABL level to some future players that will be looking to crack the starting lineup namely; Martin Petersen OF, Floyd Lowery OF and Brooks Petersen OF who is currently on the 60 day DL. The existing OF of: Billy Greer 34 HRs, John Powers .810 OPS who is on the 15 day DL and a rotation of youngsters including Antonio Alvarez are already young and performing at a good level in the ABL. There is a lot of depth in the OF position in this league so it will be interesting to see what moves are available to Maple in the off-season to improve their club at other positions.
DANNY BURRIS:
Danny is finally showing the reasons why Maple management brought him here. He is hitting .319 with an on base pct of .374 on the year for us. He is also flashing some nice leather at SS with ZR of +3.7 and only 5 errors and a .990 fielding percentage.
ROTATION:
Maple had to address their rotation last year which was one of the worst in the league. This year we had a very young, unproven and rushed staff that had its typical ups and downs as predicted. Maple sits dead last in the TML in SP ERA. The staff has some promise as indicated by being #1 in Strikeouts. So the stuff is there it is just a matter of gaining some experience to reach their potential. Three of the hopefuls have had a miserable season including; Jesus Ramirez who struggled right out of the gate and now has been demoted to AAA Astoria to work on his delivery. This phenom out of University of Florida will have to prove that he belongs in the rotation versus a potential change to CL or Setup man. Dave Blake was transferred to the 60 day DL after being moved out of the rotation to get some work in the bullpen. Shortly after this stint in the pen he went down with an elbow injury. Our staff and scouts didn't see this coming as his fastball didn't lose any mph. Dave just like Jesus may end up in the pen longer term. Lastly, we have Robert Osborne (no relation to Ozzy) who has been barking at the moon all season long looking to find his release point. He has struggled as a SP this year and did find his groove in the pen so going into the final month he will be given a chance to earn a job next year. We have a bunch of prospects in the farm system all around the same type of potential but, the organization is most excited about the recent acquisition of Rob Young from SF at the trade deadline. Young looks ready to maybe earn a shot at the rotation next season and will no doubt be promoted to AAA by seasons end. Rob is currently rated as the 48th prospect by the OSA in their top 100 listing. Rob is pretty consistent with his stuff, movement and control and features a fastball topping the radar gun at 98 mph and gets his fare share of ground balls. He has a nasty fastball and curve and hopefully his two other pitches continue to develop (Slide & Changeup) so he can be a future #1 or 2 ace rather than a middle of the rotation player.
YOUNG GUNS @ 1B.COM:
William "Cannon" Lee and Michael Knaus at 1B are smashing line drives all over the A level parks these days and the organization is simply "excited" to have them. Vic "Cold Pillow" Jennings has been just that this season "brrrrrr". He is likely going to test FA as Maple has already gone on record stating he will not be back next season. Maple is also excited to see Garrett Bennett at AA step up at 1B as well. He was acquired from Las Vegas this season in a trade. Expectations for Bennett are high over the next couple of seasons until either Lee or Knaus develop. Maple most likely will promote Bennett to AAA Astoria by seasons end.
NO BULL IN THIS PEN:
Maple traded a slew of lively arms from their strong pen this season and also has a stable of young nasty arms waiting in the wings to be called up to the big team next season. Some of the names you might see over the next couple of seasons include: Manny "Blitz" Palma who struggled at AAA and AA and is finally finding the right mechanics at A ball to gain some momentum in development. "We likely rushed him to early in his development", said Maple scout Alfonso Gil. Zeus Hallman was on a torrid pace this season in A ball Kingwood before starting to show signs of fatigue and eventually went on the DL proving he his no demi god. Team doctors are confident he will return in fine form and will compete again next year at the A level to be the shutdown closer he was at the beginning of the 2017 campaign. Maple already features some talented young arms in the pen who have been called up and are making a big splash in the ABL namely; John "Toad" Jones MR who will be on the TML ROY ballot with 118 Ks in 76.2 IP with a WHIP of 1.17. He only pitched 4.2 innings in AAA ball before the call up to the big leagues, after he was drafted from the University of South Carolina (Gary start recruiting locally!!).
NICKNAME NEEDED!:
Brad Thomas OF in AAA Astoria is putting together one of the strongest offensive performers of all-time at this level. Brad is hitting for average, getting on base and has shown some pop while posting a OPS of 1.021. He has to work on his defensive game and will never be considered a true 5 tool player with his lack of speed. Maple is very confident his future is bright in the ABL and have posted on their teams' website a contest to come up with a nickname for him! If you have any ideas please email me directly....
Overall, Maple looks to be heading in the right direction this season. Their team is playing much better towards the finish line, they rank #5 overall in minor league systems talent and their minor league teams at AAA and AA are contending for league championships.
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