Maple has climbed back to 1st place in the Billy Martin Division through June 9th, 2019 of play. We are tied with Jersey meanwhile the other two teams San Francisco and South Carolina are not far behind at 1 and 3 GB. Maple has been very solid in Extra Inning games; 5-2 so far this season. Winning the close games is something we haven't done in recent years. We are also playing a lot better within the division.
Maple made a major trade to enhance their SP rotation by acquiring from Eureka Jake Nelson who is 3-1 on the year with a 3.32 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. He will face SoCAL in his debut with the Marauders next sim. Maple gave up promising hurler Pedro Perez who was ranked a top the OSA and also sent packing 1B Braden Murphy who had hopes of making the team within the next couple of seasons playing behind FA acquisition Blake Reynolds from Seattle. Murphy was also part of the $10M trade with Dallas. Maple trade winds are still swirling as management as made a decision to go4it this year and see how far we can ride this momentum. After the first three years in the ABL, Maple has not made the playoffs.
The Annual Rookie Draft has just been completed and Maple only had one selection in the first two rounds after acquiring FA Colin St. John (formerly with Las Vegas). In the first round with pick #3 - Maple took highly touted phenom Rick "The Franchise" Hill, SP from the CBL Calgary organization. The fans cheered #GOLDI, #GOLDI after making this pick. You have to appreciate the spirit of the 10th man in Maple. Hill only played one season in the CBL posting 117 Ks in 86.1 IP with a 6-4 record, 2.08 ERA and a modest WHIP of 1.23. He also was the main work horse in their Lester B. Person Championship Cup win. Unlike past drafts we didn't land a bunch of solid players that we have very high hopes in eventually making the ABL one day. Hill will be our make or break draft this year.
In the minors, all three teams are poised to win their divisions again, Astoria in AAA, Sandy Springs in AA and Kingwood in A ball all are in the lead or withing 1 game of the leader. A ton of players demanding a promotion with really no where to put them in general. We have been less patient with the veterans in order to give some of the youngsters a chance to move up in the organization.
Maple dropped to 4th overall in the Top Minor League Organizations after the trade with Eureka this past sim. The new entry into the top five for Maple is Zeus "BIG THUNDER" Hallman, CL in AAA Astoria. He sits at #51 overall and has 20Ks in 10 IP in AAA since his promotion.
Maple is looking forward to the next ABL event - International Free Agency which takes place end of June just prior to the ABL Allstar game.
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