Maple Organization update

Maple enters the All-Star break in 3^rd place in the Billy Martin division race, 8 games back of San Francisco.  Georgia will be hosting this seasons All-Star game.

Maple has been inconsistent since the Flipper trade with South Carolina.  We haven’t been able to string along consecutive winning sims in a long time.  44-43 record considering the trade of Maurice Gould, SP to Montreal might be well expected though.

Our best performer has been Jake Nelson SP, who was acquired from Eureka a few seasons ago in the deal that brought All-Star 1B to the Hornets in Braden Murphy.  Jake is 11-4, 2.63 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and an ERA+ of 191.  Without him, the season for the Marauders would all over by now.  Bartolo Valentin, CF is also having a decent year but, recently hit the DL with a sprained wrist.  Valentin is hitting .261, .365, .475, .840, 1.2 WAR.  34 of his 84 hits have been for extra bases.  His defense has been suffering with a -1.1 ZR rating so far this year despite only having 1 error.

Joining Valentin on the DL is Pete Moore OF so, the Marauders will showcase two new players vs. San Francisco in a critical 3 game series at home versus the division leaders.  Entering the active roster is Sal Ostendorff, RF and Felipe Navarro, CF.  Sal was acquired from PAX earlier this season in a trade that sent a couple of talented SPs their way.  Felipe was a R2 pick in the 2021 draft out of Kansas.  He had been listed as high as the #88 prospect in the ABL.  There are serious concerns if Felipe can handle ABL pitching but, there is no doubt about his stellar defense roaming the CF greenery.  We expect Ostendorff on the other hand to fit right in the lineup and contribute both offensively and defensively.

Down on the farm, the minor league system is doing fairly well.  AAA Astoria is in 3^rd place 3 games back, Sandy Springs AA is the division leader with a 55-34, .618 record and finally A Kingwood is in 3^rd place 5 games back and in striking range for another division title.  Kingwood has won 3 out of the last 4 Single A titles and has been division champs 3 out of the last 4 years.

Prospect watch includes; Maulik Shaw our show stopper at CL in Kingwood (A), George Bedford SP in (AAA) acquired in the Gould trade from Monreal, Dylan Butlin SP (A) an International Scout find out of England who had spent some time in the International Complex before being called up, Felipe Navarro CF who was just called up to the big club in Maple and lastly a SP named Landy Lu in A ball Kingwood, a Round 5 pick in the 2021 draft.  #18, #29, #57, #70 & #83 rests Maple as the 9^th best overall organization with top 100 prospects.

If Maple is going to catch SF (We simply ignore Jersey), the bats will have to wake up.  We are towards the bottom of the league in almost every category in hitting.  Then we will need our stellar pitching to hold up and be consistent.  We are near the top in almost every pitching category so far this season.  Defensively we are #2 overall in the TML and that should help in some close games down the stretch.  2 of our better hitters are out of our lineup heading towards the trade deadline this Tuesday so, there could a good chance we see a deal or two from #GOLDI as we finish the Tuesday sim.

Maple acquired Flipper! & sits in 2nd place behind SF

Maple enters the Amateur Draft in 2022, 4 games behind San Francisco in the Billy Martin Division in the Thurman Munson League.  Maple has been playing better ball of late after going .500 in April they improved to 16-11 in May.  Most fans expected a very tight Billy Martin Divisional race again this year especially when last year champions dealt Maurice Gould SP to Montreal.  Well, Maple as usual is never finished with the “merry-go-round” of transactions as they worked with division rivals South Carolina to land “Flipper” John Martin SP.  The Scouts didn’t like the trade from the Maple perspective as the price was extremely high, however;  we decided to take a chance here on Flipper based on his age.

Maple is 9-10^th in most batting team categories in the TML while 1-4^th in most team pitching categories in the TML and 1^st in team defense in the TML.  The batting has been getting better as the season wears on and so has the pitching and defense.  We hope to continue this momentum and trend into June.

Some bright spots for Maple early in the season have been 1) Ronnie Talley – GG winner from last year is hitting .330, 2) George Evans finally getting a chance to play full-time has 11 HRs and is tied for the team lead with Bartolo Valentin.  Valentin also leads the team in swipes with 14.  Pitching wise, Jake Nelson has been fabulous so far; 2.17 ERA, 7 Wins and 84Ks in 78.2 IP which are all #1 for the team.

Only one costly injury so far and that was to Arama Huanu OF, who at the time was hitting .321 with 37 RBI.

Down on the farm, Maple continues to field very competitive teams in AAA, AA and A ball.  Astoria (AAA) is 2^nd, 1.5 games back at 31-25, Sandy Springs (AA) is 1^st, 39-16 record and Kingwood (A) is 2.5 games back in 2^nd with a 31-25 record.

Top Prospects have been ever changing since the moves in the off-season.  However; we have some fantastic prospects up and coming to the ABL led by:  CF Felipe Navarro .287/.387/.500 in AA, 1B Adam Hounsell .232/.295/.311 in A, C Sean Clare, .226/.312/.401 in A and SP George Bedford, 11G, 1S, 37.1 IP in AAA to just name a few.  Also watch out for Mark Blackburn 1B, Maulik Shaw MR, Dylan Butlin SP and Wayne Soileau 2B

Attendance is down -13.6% so far this season and is typical of the cold early weather near Toronto.  We expect to close the gap as the summer approaches.

In the International Complex look out for one of our best finds ever in 3B Anastasio Rivero.  He is up to 2.5* potential and climbing.  This 16 year old from Venezuela should be a keeper for years to come.