Monday, May 12, 2008

Early surprises around The Bigs

We're only about 23 games into the season but now is a good time to take a look at some eye-popping performances around The Bigs to this point in the season. We'll preface all of these performances by saying "It's still early, but..."

Marvin Broadhurst leads the world in hitting and on-base percentage
Tabbed as a key addition to Fargo in the preseason previews, Broadhurst has been the team's offensive MVP to this point, leading The Bigs with his .433 AVG and .521 OBP. He's also been excellent behind the plate where he has thrown out 43% of would be base stealers this season, second in The Bigs to Las Vegas' Mendy Sung (48%). The offensive numbers will drop off (they have to, right?) but for $2 million he looks like the steal of the free agent market to this point in the season. The Dirtbags as a team are hitting .293 (second in The Bigs) just one season after being the worst offensive team in the world. They're not necessarily scoring a lot of runs (114 to this point) and that number is guaranteed to not be so high by season's end, but it's a nice sign of life from the bats that the Fargo pitchers surely appreciate.

San Juan Dead Bunnies showing some life
After finishing last in the NL South last season (albeit with a winning record) and predicted to be a seller at this year's trade deadline, the Dead Bunnies are off to a 14-9 start and appear poised to make some noise in the South this season. Buzz Linden and Jordan Jerzembeck lead the pitching staff which has shown improvement and has been the big difference this season. Last year's best offensive team in the NL is again doing it with the sticks, led so far by big numbers from Mike Henderson.

Kerry Barber can't be touched
Literally. Boise's Barber has posted a 2-0 record with a 0.60 ERA and 0.80 WHIP in four starts so far this season, including a complete game shutout of the Atlanta Bandits in his second start of the season. In fact, Barber didn't even allow a run through the first 17.1 IP of the season. Batters are hitting a mere .157 with a .186 slugging percentage against him. I would guess that these numbers will balloon up eventually (I know, I'm going out on a limb) but what a start for Barber.

Walk right this way Mr. King
Toledo's Bret King has been the definition of a patient hitter so far this season. In 23 games so far, King has an OBP of .443 and has walked 26 times (half the number of walks drawn by the entire Atlanta team). I don't know exactly what that projects out to be over an entire season (I was told there would be no math) but I know it's a lot more than the 115 walks he drew last season. This is one trend I wouldn't expect to fall off. Also of note, Nashville's Gregg Black and his moustache have walked 21 times this season making him the only other player to top the 20 walks mark to this point.

Cubbies making some noise. The Dragons? Not so much.
They finished dead last (by a lot) in the division in season 1 and have been predicted to do the same this year but if the Chicago Cubs aren't good, it's news to them. Fourth in the NL in runs scored plus a much improved pitching staff has equaled a 13-10 start for Chicago. They sit just two games back of Fargo in the North while last year's wild card representative from the division, Cincinnati, has stumbled a bit out of the gate at 10-13. Cincy's team ERA of 5.51 is the main reason for the team's poor start but with a solid staff led by All-Stars Manny Christians and Bernard Robinson we suspect they'll turn things around. Whether the Cubs can maintain their hot start remains to be seen.

Gerald Thompson the new Todd Jones?
The Gamblers certainly hope not but last year's AL Fireman of the Year hasn't exactly been on fire thus far. Vegas' 23-year-old closer, who converted 39 of 42 save opportunities last year with a 3.48 ERA, has an ERA of 11.37 and a 2.53 WHIP in nine appearances so far this season. He has however converted all five of his save chances, it's just that they've usually been pretty interesting. Vegas fans everywhere are searching for their heart medication.

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