Why did Maple Management look to improve at 3B?

Rosters have expanded in the ABL in season #10 - 2021.  Maple is in a great position to win the Billy Martin division in the TML.  Jersey and South Carolina are giving us a run but, a double digit lead this late in the season places the Marauders in an unique position they have never been in before.  This division usually comes down to the wire but, this year Maple has to decide to continue to plug away with the regulars are look to rest some players for the post season.  We are not counting a playoff spot until we pop the champagne but, with a magic # down to 16 we are close.  We have a tough game remaining tonight versus South Carolina who is 1 of only 2 teams we have a losing record with this year (Eureka is the other team).  Then we fly north to Jersey to face a strong team coached by a GM that actually spoke today or yesterday - I can't remember.  Then we continue to fly north home to face a team that we aspire to be after this season is over and that is an ABL Championship club.  Kansas City is still fighting for their playoff lives with a slim lead in the Wild Card race in the TML.  Maple would love to play spoiler here for sure.

So rosters expand and this is an exciting time of year.  So many players in the organization so many choices.  Some are personal & some are made with smarts.  Our first move prior to the SIM tonight is having Bill "The SINGER" Nelson, OF on a REHAB stint to Astoria, NY.  Bill is a critical player to our offense and we don't want to take any chances prior to the playoffs.  My second move was a sentimental one in calling up Don Strickland, 1B from Astoria AAA to the big club for his last hoorah! in the ABL.  Those original ABL GMs will remember his early days on Maple where he started his career as a R18 pick in the inaugural draft #423 overall.  Don had a dream first season, winning a gold glove, player of the week twice and rookie of the month.  Nobody expected him to hit .332 bavg with 20 homers that season!  Don will have some value on the team during the stretch run as his defense is still very solid and he will give some late inning rest to Blake Reynolds.  Our other moves included;  Archie Sardeson INF, Brian Daniels MR, Jake Robinson SP and Martin Jenkins OF being called to Maple for the stretch run.  This will be the last stunt with Maple for Archie as he will become a Free Agent in the offseason.  Daniels and Robinson are getting close looks for next years team.  Martin Jenkins was a highly touted player in our organization acquired from New York.  His OF defense will be a welcomed addition late in games.

So back to the title of this PR - why did Maple look at 3B before the trade deadline?

The answer is clearly below:

By Position (regular season games only)

Split G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS C 136 531 64 150 27 1 19 84 34 104 0 0 .282 .324 .444 .769 1B 136 533 80 140 22 1 29 80 46 120 2 0 .263 .327 .471 .798 2B 136 551 76 154 50 3 11 61 39 113 18 8 .279 .324 .441 .765 3B 136 494 60 109 18 6 7 41 34 86 9 5 .221 .276 .324 .599 SS 136 494 49 106 27 4 3 52 34 128 23 10 .215 .264 .304 .568 LF 136 527 85 160 34 4 24 83 44 92 10 4 .304 .364 .520 .884 CF 136 506 90 145 28 6 30 87 65 116 28 14 .287 .378 .543 .922 RF 136 519 80 154 22 10 9 71 54 38 16 12 .297 .369 .430 .798 DH 136 542 86 158 36 5 24 85 49 85 15 2 .292 .349 .509 .858

Good luck to everyone in the stretch run!

Maple in July finished at 14-10 and has started August in a disappointing 2-5 record.  Maple continues to lead the TML Billy Martin Division by 8 games over Jersey and the pesky Bombers of Sout Carolina by 10.  San Francisco is looking towards the 2022 season.

We haven't done well since being swept by Portland in a 4 game series, said #GOLDI.  Playing .500 ball the rest of the way may still get us in the playoffs though.  Like many other teams in the ABL, we have suffered through our share of injuries and when that begins to hit the consistency of the team is thrown off a bit.  Namely the hitting has been off of late and when our big guys get back we will be fine.  Pitching has no doubt been a blessing for us this year.  Gould, Nelson, Ramos and the sparkling pen have been simply awesome.

Some interesting statistics about Maple so far this year:

We have an upcoming series vs. South Carolina and what I have learned about our batters versus them this year is not so impressive.  We are hitting .215 against them the 2nd worst of any ABL team (SoCAL #1 @.194).  An important 4 game set tonight to see if Maple will hold server, take a bigger lead or will another team such as South Carolina bring some pressure to the race.

Maple is 61-5 after leading through 8 innings this year.  Maple is 3-31 after trailing through 8 innings.  Maple is 53-11 when we score at least 5 runs in a game.

Maple is a remarkable 19-0 versus the following ABL teams:  Cabo San Lucas 7-0, Brooklyn 3-0, Carolina 3-0, Seattle 3-0 and Duke City 3-0.

Prospects Watch:

CF Felipe Navarro has taken off since being picked in R2 #44 overall in the past years Amateur draft.  He started off in Single A and after batting .377 with a 1.100 OPS he was promoted quickly to Double A where he has settled in at .270 and .808 OPS.  Our scouts didn't see a lot of raw talent there but, we saw a hard working player that tries hard at everything he does in life.  He plays an excellent CF and can handle 1B too.  He also has top notch speed.

Maple Marauders Update

Big Club UPDATE:

Maple jumped out in front in the Billy Martin Division in the TML very early on and appear destined to win another division title.  We have a 7.5 game lead over Jersey and despite a recent tail spin the pitching should no doubt carry this club into the playoffs.  South Carolina and San Francisco are both double digits behind as we near the Allstar game.  Maple has had some lineup inconsistencies, however; we are getting healthier despite Bill Nelson OF going on the 60 day DL this past SIM.  What has been a great surprise has been our over matching pitching in both the starters and bullpen.  We are 1st in the TML in ERA, Starters ERA, Bullpen ERA, RA, HA, Opp AVG and Ks.  The bats though are pretty much in the middle of the pack if not lower in major hitting categories.

We are doing well equally vs. southpaws and RHP.  We are doing great in 1 run games 18-14 with our only poor record coming in Extra Inning games at 3-6.  Our Winning Pct though has been dropping each month from .750, .643 to .571.  In July we are sitting 2-1, .667 but it is still early.  We suffered a huge sweep vs. Portland that has sent the team in a bit of a tail spin at 3-7 in our last 10.

Our best bat has been Arama "Valley" Huanu OF, .332 AVG, 16 HR, 61 RBI, 9 SB.  Our best arm has been Maurice "Doughboy" Gould SP, 11-4, 2.34 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 8.46 K/9.  John Jones from the University of South Carolina (Gary thanks) - has been dominant in the CL role, 4-2, 2.09 ERA, 21 SV, 0.98 WHIP and 15.28 K/9.  The staff features 2 other star SPs in Jose "Smooth" Ramos and Jake "The Snake" Nelson each with ERA well below 4.00.

Amateur Draft Summary:

Round 1 #15 overall

Srinivasan Shubhashish, SP

He is currently starting in A Ball for Kingwood but, will most definitely anchor a bullpen in the near future for Maple.  He is elite in all categories including 2 elite pitches.

Round 2 #44 overall

Felipe Navarro, CF

He is currently playing in A Ball for Kingwood.  Not sure he will ever make it to the ABL level unless he improves his contact.  His defense at a hard to play position in the ABL may see him as a 4th OF type.

Round 3 #73 overall

Greg Green, RF

He is currently playing in A Ball for Kingwood.  We like his batting abilities and especially his power to all fields.  He needs to work on his defense otherwise he may end up as a DH only in the ABL.

Round 4 #99 overall

Wayne Soileau, 2B

He is currently playing in A Ball for Kingwood.  Very similar to Greg Green we love his bat and also his speed.  He will need to work on his defense if he wants stick with a middle infield position at 2B in the ABL.  If not, he might be a DH type player.

Farm System:

Astoria AAA is in 2nd place 3.5 games back while Sandy Springs AA and Kingwood A are both in 1st place in their respective divisions.  The Maple farm system has been one of the best in terms of results the past several years and this year we look to be in position once again to possibly send all three minor league affiliates to the playoffs.

The OSA ranks the players within our organization in dead last #24 overall.

Key players include:

Dustin "Bird" McMahon, 3B (#49 ranked) - acquired from Duke City recently, this hot corner man has been promoted to Maple and is seeing full time play.  A .521 OPS is not a great start by any means but, we are going to give him more than a fare shake at keeping this job.  To make room for him on the roster, Garrett Bennett was demoted to AAA.

Loeck "No Name" Jurgens, SP (#87 ranked) - discovered in the Netherlands and promoted to A ball from the International Complex this SP has been effective with very average statistics.  4-3, 4.32 ERA in 17 GS, WHIP 1.65.  We love his change up and control and based on that we feel he will be at the ABL level within the next 3 years.

Close but no cigar...

Maple's run at a league championship ended in 5 games vs. SoCAL.  We were just over matched by a better club in all areas.

It was a great run by a team that has rebounded nicely after a few seasons of horrible baseball.  The owner is happy, the fans are happy and more importantly #GOLDI is happy with the teams' direction for the 2021 season.

Maple ownership made $62+ M last year and set an attendance record at 4,559,305 fans.  Maple also set a team record for team batting avg at .283 and BABIP at .328.  The 2020 season was the 5th time in 9 years that Maple has made it to the playoffs.  The 4 time division champs made it in this season as wild card losing the division title to SF by 1/2 game.

We were very happy with the 2020 Amateur draft results as well.  Pitchers:  Durrani, Stroud, Hanson & Hastings all look to have a chance to make it to the ABL one day!

Meanwhile in the farm system, Single A Kingwood won their 3 straight league championship and AAA Astoria and AA Sandy Springs were eliminated in Round 1 of the playoffs.  It was the 2nd consecutive season in the ABL that the Maple organization sent 4 teams to the post season.  Last year we won 3 minor league titles and were knocked off in the ABL playoffs by Jacksonville.

One area where we have slipped is in the minor league rankings.  Maple currently sits at #24 with 0 points.  We have been promoting some of our youngsters especially in the OF to cover for injuries of late and have made some risky trades to improve now thus, this has hurt our overall minors system ranking in the ABL.

We are excited entering the 2021 season with stars ready to go;  Maurice Gould will again anchor the starting rotation with Jake Nelson as the #2 man.  The batting lineup is again loaded with Bill Nelson, Bartolo Valentin, Brad Thomas and Ronnie Talley leading the way.  Watch out for 2nd year players Pete Moore and Arama Huanu in the OF to step up big time in 2021.  Blake Reynolds at 1B and SS Sardeson now don't have to feel all the pressure in performing at a high level.

Maple makes it to the POST SEASON!

Maple needed 163 games to make it and they did!  After going 0-7 in the sim prior to the final week of the season;  the fans weren't holding their breath.  However; the team pulled off a 4-2 final week despite losing on the last day to end up tied with Kansas City to force a 1 game tie-breaker for the TML Wild Card spot.  San Francisco who was a dark horse all year came through with the Billy Martin Division title ending up 1 game ahead of the Marauders.

Maple had their best month in August going an incredible 21-6! but cooled off in September with a 15-13 record and then finally in October going 3-2 including the win vs. KC in Game #163.  This was by far the most balanced team we have coached said, #GOLDI after the win at home vs. KC.  The team in both hitting and pitching was in the top half of the TML including;  3rd overall in the ABL in FIP.  The acquisition of Maurice Gould SP really paid off this year as he led the ABL in Ks with 249 and WINS with 21!  Bill "THE SINGER" Nelson OF also tied Oliver North for the league lead in SBs at 60!  Very unusual to see individual stat leaders coming from Maple.

Jake #THE SNAKE Nelson pitched the playoff clincher for Maple in a 3-0 shutout win at home in front of 52,092 fans.  Jake was acquired from Eureka via trade the year before.  Jake (14-14) will now get a chance to face the team that dealt him away in Round 1 of the TML playoffs.

Maple for the 2nd consecutive season will have playoff teams at all levels in the ABL.  Astoria (AAA), Sandy Springs (AA) and Kingwood (A) all qualified by winning their respective divisions.  Last season the minor league affiliates all won their league titles but, Maple was eliminated in Round 1 vs. Jacksonville.

Maple poised for another division title....

Maple is starting to play some good baseball as we enter mid-August of the 2020 season.  The Marauders sit in last place in the TML Billy Martin Division at 4 games back of Jersey.  In addition to playing some better baseball through the summer months, they also have the experience of "being there" when it counts.  We don't expect Jersey to hang around when October comes along.  In August so far Maple has a 6-2 record.  In tonight's sim we have 4 at home vs. Jersey and 2 at home vs South Carolina.  This will be another big sim in this division with a target number of wins set to be 85 in order to win this division again this year.  The team has recently called up two future stars of the ABL in Pete Moore OF and Arama Huanu OF.  The free spot on the roster became available shortly after Marty Silver hit the DL before the trade deadline.

A great addition to the offense has been Bartolo "LEGACY" Valentin OF who probably will be a Super 2 this year and seek a big contract.  He has a 5.7 WAR after 91 games.  The big ?mark for him will be health.  He has missed big chunks of games before and has already seen the DL this year.  Watch out this year for the speed game from Maple who feature Top 3 SB man Bill "THE SINGER" Nelson with 32 swipes so far this season.

A great addition to the pitching staff has been Jose Ramos, SP who was recently acquired from Mile High.  He is on FIRE right now after his two impressive starts with Maple vs. Mile High and San Francisco going 2-0.  Quietly Maple is #2 in the TML in FIP as well.  Lets not forget about Maurice Gould, SP as well.  Maple may have its better staff since the inaugural season in the ABL.

Down on the farm, Maple's organization is in 1st place at the AAA, AA and A levels.  We have a ton of players asking for promotions but, nowhere to play them :-(  We were hoping to make 1-2 more deals at the deadline but, activity this year was "quiet".

We remain confident that we will be on top by seasons end in the Billy Martin division.  We have better hitting, speed and pitching vs. last years club.  We also feel with some luck we could be representing the TML in the World Series.

Maple heads into the Allstar break in 3rd place in the Billy Martin Division, 3.5 GB of San Francisco.  The team troubles vs. Southpaws is becoming a big concern for management.  Currently, Maple is 11-18 vs. Lefties on the season while 31-29 vs. Righties.  Maple also has been subpar on the road at 17-25 while 25-22 at home.  Our record vs. Lefties and on the road will need to improve if we are going to win this division again this year.

Entering the trade deadline, Maple will be on the market for a SP and will be looking to trade from one of the deepest farm systems in the league.

Maple for the first time, will feature two of its top prospects in the OF in Arama Huanu and Pete Moore due to injuries suffered by Bill Nelson and Marty Silver.  We are excited to see what these kids can do up with the big club.  Another surprise this year is the bullpen.  Currently, the pen is 3rd in ERA at 4.09 and improving each month.  Joshua Goldberg who struggled poorly as a Starter is showing signs of bouncing back for a decent year in the pen as a long reliever.  Kent Tukulve Jr. has also been a nice surprise.  Kent is the son of the former MLB submarine closer of a team called the Pirates.  I wonder what happen to that league?  I'm glad the ABL exists!

Maple overall is more balanced as a team so we remain confident we can make the playoffs again this year and hopefully get past the 1st round.

Down on the farm;  Astoria in AAA, Sandy Springs in AA and Kingwood in A ball all lead their divisions.  We have a ton of prospects ready for the promotion but, really no where to put them.  Our best SP prospects Rick Hill and Gabresilassie Cherono have pitched well.  Unfortunately, Rick "BOY" Hill went down with an injury last sim and will miss some time.  Good news is nothing serious about this injury the doctors say;  just a sore shoulder.

This years draft pick is turning heads - John Stroud in A Ball Kingwood.  Stroud has posted a 2-0 record in 4 GS with a 3.28 ERA in 24.2 IP.  We loved him out of College and was really happy to see him slip to us in Round 1 Supplement Pick #2.  This kid is a winner at Auburn and a former allstar caliber player.

We end July with some big series;  4 @ South Carolina, 3 H vs. Jersey and 1 H vs. San Francisco  prior to the Trade Deadline.