Lancaster comes crawling towards the end of May with a 13-33 record. It is the second worst in all of full season baseball. So you should see a fair amount of “bad” but there is also so “good” or at least some “not so bad” sprinkled in. Let’s take a look.
THE GOOD
The Hitters:
Eric Suttle joined the team in mid May from extended spring training. He has a hit in each of the six games he has started and is off to a .333 start in 8 total games. Jon Gaston has rebounded from a tough April (.232) to a strong May (.341). His power, which wasn’t bad in April, was even better in May. He went from 10 extra base hits in April to 17 in May. Jason Castro jumped his average from .278 in April to .292 in May. He knocked in 22 RBI in 25 games in May.
As a team, the JetHawks are supposed to have one of the most hitter friendly home fields in all of pro baseball. Maybe they just need more hitters for the park to be friendly towards. They have hit 101 doubles, good for 2nd most and they have only been caught stealing 18 times which is tied for 2nd fewest. (Of course you do have to be on base to be caught stealing). Just about every other category is in he bottom 4 in the league.
Individually, Jon Gaston’s 34 runs ties him for 6th in the league. His 4 triples tie him for 7th most. His 11 homers are good for 2nd most in the league. His 32 RBI place him at #10 in the league. Jon’s 100 total bases is the 4th most and his 27 walks ties him for 4th most. His slugging percentage of .625 places him in 4th place and contributes to his 1.021 OPS which is also in 4th place.
Jack Shuck’s 57 hits tie him for 5th most in the league. His 4 triples also tie him for 7th most. His 11 swiped bases is tied for 5th most.
Jason Castro has hit 16 doubles, good for 3rd most. His 34 RBI puts him in a tie for 7th most.
David Flores has hit 14 doubles, which ties him or 9th most.
Craig Corrado has stolen 10 bases which ties him for 7th most.
The Pitchers:
C. J. Lo got promoted to Corpus Christi after showing he was a man amoung boys. He struck out 12 in his 10 2/3 IP before heading for Texas and the DL. Jack Tilghman came up when Lo went to CC. He has appeared in 3 games thus far and has put up some positive numbers. He has struck out 12 in 8 IP. He doesn’t have the reputation of a strike out pitcher, so this is a bit of a surprise. Leandro Cespedes came of the DL and appeared in 4 games with 2 starts in May. In 17 IP, he produced an ERA of 1.59. He took the loss in both starts but both would qualify as quality starts.
The best thing that can be said about the Lancaster pitchers is they go out their every day and throw the ball to be hit. They have only walked 140 batters, good for 4th best and only hit 26, which is 6th fewest.
C. J. Lo had 5 holds before his promotion which is the 3rd most.
THE BAD
The Batters:
After a .356 April, Marcus Cabral has returned to earth with a .221 May. Christopher Jackson saw his average drop below the Mendoza line as he is wrapping up May with a .186 average. Craig Corrado also had a sub .200 May, he hit .189 and just broke a slump that gives him a .028 average in his last 10 games.
As a team, average (.260) and strike outs (357) are both the 4th worst in the league. I am not a statastician enought to know what the park adjusted average would I suspect it would be but it would be much worse.
Individually, Jon Gaston has accounted for 44 of those strike outs and that puts him as having K’d the 10th most in the league. Craig Corrado has been caught stealing bases 5 times and that ties him for 10th most times nabbed.
The Pitchers:
It’s bad. Really, really bad. Almost as bad as reading the the Talk Zone that Pravata is not going to be the king ferrett around SnS anymore. The JetHawks pitching staff is last in ERA, Runs, Earned Runs, Hits, Strike Outs and WHIP. They have given up amost 100 more hits, 47 more runs and 49 more earned runs than the second worst team. And this is just the end of May! This looks like a job for the young arms of Lexington.
David Duncan has taken the loss every time he has taken the mound. His 8 losses are the most in the league. He has also given up the 2nd most hits, the most runs, the most earned runs, and tied for the 9th most home runs surrended.
Christopher Hicks has given up 61 hits (t- 3rd most).
Jose Duran has given up 8 long balls (t-2nd most) and 31 earned runs (t-6th most)
Shane Wolf has give up the 9th most earned runs (29).