Maple Marauders Inaugural Season in Review

4,166,615 fans which ranked 7th in the ABL saw some exciting baseball this year in Maple.

Maple was more than 10+ games back at several different points in the regular season but, they never gave up and ended up catching San Francisco to win the Billy Martin Division by 2 games in the Thurman Munson League. Going 7-13 vs. SF did not help.

Maple overcame a slow start that was bombarded by injuries to their strongest offensive position entering the season; their OF. However; once everyone was back and healthy things start to get rolling in fine fashion. The last few weeks of the season though the team struggled and despite not playing their best baseball were able to over take SF who crumbled down the stretch.

Maple then went in to the post season matched up against favourite Boston. Maple played Boston very tough and lost in 7 games after having the series lead 3-2. Maple just couldn't get the key win in Boston in either Game 6 or Game 7. Despite losing out, we were happy with the way the overall season went on many accounts.

Great Performances:Frank Powers OF - Allstar - no big surprise here; 23 HRs, .367 BAVG
Don Strickland 1B - surprise here & his injury at the end of the year hurt, .332 BAVG, 20 HRs
Eric McSwan OF/DH - steady performance all season long. .299 BAVG, 34 HRs
Pat Sellers SP - steady performance all season long; 18 Wins
Roberto Martinez SP - Allstar - staff ACE pitched like one; 17 Wins, 2.37 ERA; 0.98 WHIP
Millard Marshall CL - Allstar - was one of the best in the ABL all year; 38 SAVES, 0.87 WHIP

Disappointments:
Anthony Shelton OF - missing 3/4 of the season due to injury; 14 HRs
Dave Krause SP - only winning 10 games

Top Prospect:
Ernie McCoy INF - he appears to be ready for Triple A, won't hit for power but, has decent contact and amazing speed (30 SBs).

Around the Minors:
Astoria, Sandy Springs and Kingwood all had disappointing seasons with only Astoria finishing above .500. Kingwood had several high level prospects but, never got going all year.

Financials:
Maple has approx $8M for free agents and approx $6M for extensions going into the offseason.

Quietly surprising the experts...

When you sit in varous club houses and in the stands of various ABL ball parks you are sure not to hear his name.  However; quietly Don Strickland 1B of the Maple Marauders is putting together a fine season!  Finally the experts in the ABL took notice by awarding him with the TML POW honors on July 30th.  This Round 18 pick is also a very sure handed first baseman and likely a gold glove candidate.  Some of his accomplishments this year include;

Saturday, August 25th, 2012

Don Strickland hits 2 home runs against the Cabo San Lucas Toreros, going 4-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored.

Thursday, July 26th, 2012 Don Strickland goes 4-8 against the Eureka Hornets, with 1 RBI and 0 runs scored. Wednesday, July 25th, 2012 Don Strickland goes 4-5 against the Eureka Hornets, with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Saturday, June 30th, 2012 Don Strickland goes 4-6 against the Jacksonville Jacks, with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Tuesday, June 19th, 2012 Don Strickland hits 2 home runs against the South Carolina Bombers, going 2-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Thursday, May 24th, 2012 Don Strickland goes 4-5 against the Kansas City Tornadoes, with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. On the season Don Strickland's stats YTD are: G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K AVG OBP SLG SB 130 541 178 18 0 19 78 38 115 .329 .372 .468 0

Maple makes some noise at the trade deadline...

 

Michael Anderson was claimed off waivers from SoCal.  Anderson will add much needed OF depth to an existing OF that has been plaqued by injuries.  Michael will play full time vs. LHP and will be on the bench as the 4th OF vs. RHP.

Derek Beimer was acquired in a trade with Minnesota.  Beimer will add some hitting punch to a linup that has been struggling to score runs.  Derek acquisition goes against Maple's typical player strategy in terms of the importance of defense, however;  based on what was reasonably available at the trade deadline the organization felt it should make the move.  Derek will be the starting SS and likely will be on the pine in the late innings if Maple is holding on to a lead.

Brad Austin MR was acquired from EUR in a last minute deadline deal trade.  Brad will add excellent depth to a pen that has been one of the best in the ABL this year.  You can never have enough quality arms at the ABL level.

Meet your Maple Marauder Allstars!

It was a great feeling getting the winning RBI for the TML!

I was very happy with my performance!

I had my good stuff tonight!

Maple fan cheered out loud for their three ABL TML allstars.  All three players were very worthy of a spot on this TML roster.  Frank Powers earned the game winning RBI in extra innings sending the TML to victory and rumors of some nice cash going into a rivals pocket (you are welcome Gary!).

Double 7 in a big slump!

My confidence is hurting...

Bobby Hall aka Double 7 is really in a big time slump.  He has 1 hit in his last 13 ABs.  He also has struck out 9 out of the 10 last games at least one time.  The key to his season has been taking some pitches and hitting with men on base.  On 1-1 counts he is hitting over .300 and with the bases loaded he his hitting .333.  His YTD stats are: 

G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	SB
70	268	54	12	3	4	36	15	73	.201	.264	.313	9

Single A Knights starting to turn things around...

4 wins in a row!

The early laughing stock of Single A ball;  the Kingwood Knights are on a roll winning 4 consecutive games in a row to improve to 20-61 overall and are a mere 33.5 games back of the Victoria Vikings in the San Diego Chicken Division.

Manager Joe O'Neil said, "early in the season we went with our youngster hoping they would lead the way but, as the season went on we realized they were not ready to make it full-time so we adjusted our lineups accordingly and lately platooning players has really helped us improve!"

I just wanted a chance to play!

Leading the way for the Knights of late is John Powers - OF.  This Round 98 draft pick is playing every other day now and has settled in nicely in the Knights outfield.  His YTD stats are: 

G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	SB
20	51	18	3	0	1	4	6	9	.353	.431	.471	0

Ed Nash "mashing" in Single A Ball...

We will get it together!

Ed Nash, 3B for the Kingwood Knights is starting to help turn the season around for the struggling A Ball team.  We have a lot of potential superstars that expected to start their careers at a higher level in the ABL so I think this has caused some morale issues early on on the diamond.  However, says Nash "we will get it together!"  In a recent game vs. St. Paul he went 4 for 5, 2 runs, 2 rbi and monster CF shot and also drew a walk.  His YTD stats are: 

G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	SB
18	35	10	0	0	1	4	6	6	.286	.419	.371	0