Re: MLB The Show 19 Franchise Discussion Thread
30 games down and things are going much like it has the last couple of seasons. We sit at 11-19. Last in the Central and 2.5 games better than the Orioles for the worst record in the league. We have won 3 of our 7 series. Taking 2 of 3 from Cleveland and Toronto as well as a 3 game sweep of Toronto 1 week later.
The offense has been decent overall but had a terrible start to the year. We are hitting .251/.330/.390 (15th, 10th, 19th) we have 118 Runs (20th), 48 Doubles (15th), 10 Triples (1st) and 25 Home Runs (28th). Our 28 Stolen bases is 3rd best in the league but we have been caught 14 times (20th) and have a 66% Success Rate (11th). We are 9th in Walks with 113 and have struckout 217 times (2nd).
Ryan O'Hearn had a decent season in 2019 hitting .281 with 20 HR. He is currently on pace to hit pretty close to the same number of Home Runs but his overall numbers are much better hitting .352/.443/.533. His Walks are up slightly and he is striking out about 4% less. Jorge Bonifacio has been our 2nd best hitter. 324/.410/.544 with 3 homers. Most surprising so far has been Erick Mejia. Not a ton of ABs but he is hitting .354/.404/.417 in 48 AB. On the other end we have Nicky Lopez with a .176/.250/.222 line. Cheslor Cuthbert has been even worse at .130/.245/.174 and Bubba Starling is hitting .202/.287/.315.
Jorge Soler has been the only position player with a significant injury so far. Suffered a broken shin on April 24th. Expected to be out till mid to late June. We called up Samir Dunez to fill his spot. In 73 AB down in AAA he was hitting .342/.385/.616 with 6 HR.
The pitching has been a major let down through the first month of the season. We are 24th in ERA at 4.17. No complete games. 2 shutouts, Last in saves, and our 157 Strikeouts is last in the majors. We have 51 less than the White Sox in 29th which is the same as the difference between them and the Diamondbacks in 14th.
Brad Keller has been everything we could have hoped so far. 2.13 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. His FIP doesnt quite agree that he has been so good sitting at 4.29. Danny Duffy on the other hand has a 2.86 FIP in 34.2 IP. His ERA is at 3.89 with a 1.27 WHIP. Jorge Lopez has been the worst starter by far. 6.40 ERA and 1.73 WHIP in 32.1 IP. The bullpen has had some pretty mixed results led by Scott Barlow with a 1.89 ERA and 0.89 WHIP. Just behing him is Tim Hill with a 2.25 ERA and 0.85 WHIP. Kevin McCarthy with a 2.35 ERA and 1.04 WHIP and Josh Staumont with a 3.24 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. Ian Kennedy and Jake Newberry both have an ERA over 6 and Kyle Zimmer had an ERA of 9 before we sent him down. Scott Barlow came up on April 11th after we had a 13 inning game with a rain daily that caused us to use our entire pen.
Looking ahead to the future we are less than 1 month away from the 2020 draft in which we own the first pick for the second time in franchise history. The last time we had the pleasure of picking first was back in 2006. We selected Luke Hochevar which didn't turn out so well as he was a complete letdown as a starter before becoming a solid reliever over his last few years.
The first pick this year seems to come down to 2 players. 19 year old Starting Pitcher Alex Ito out of Japan and 21-year-old Catcher Kurt Bowles out of Ohio. Ito throws a 4 Seam in the low to mid 90s with a Slider, Change and a Curve. Can regularly go 7+ innings, Excels at limit walks while being above to well above AVG in every other area with elite movement on his pitches. Bowles meanwhile looks to be a .300 hitter with some pop in his bat as well as above AVG fielding and an elite arm behind the plate. Not sure yet which one we are going to go with. And still looking for some other options. But both would be ready pretty quickly and look to be pretty safe bets.
Another 30 games left before the draft starts. 19 of them will be on the road with 18 against teams at or above .500 and another 4 against the A's who are 1 game under .500. On pace for a 3rd straight 100 loss season. Could be seeing a few call ups soon with starters struggling and Bubba being near useless.
End of April - 2020
30 games down and things are going much like it has the last couple of seasons. We sit at 11-19. Last in the Central and 2.5 games better than the Orioles for the worst record in the league. We have won 3 of our 7 series. Taking 2 of 3 from Cleveland and Toronto as well as a 3 game sweep of Toronto 1 week later.
The offense has been decent overall but had a terrible start to the year. We are hitting .251/.330/.390 (15th, 10th, 19th) we have 118 Runs (20th), 48 Doubles (15th), 10 Triples (1st) and 25 Home Runs (28th). Our 28 Stolen bases is 3rd best in the league but we have been caught 14 times (20th) and have a 66% Success Rate (11th). We are 9th in Walks with 113 and have struckout 217 times (2nd).
Ryan O'Hearn had a decent season in 2019 hitting .281 with 20 HR. He is currently on pace to hit pretty close to the same number of Home Runs but his overall numbers are much better hitting .352/.443/.533. His Walks are up slightly and he is striking out about 4% less. Jorge Bonifacio has been our 2nd best hitter. 324/.410/.544 with 3 homers. Most surprising so far has been Erick Mejia. Not a ton of ABs but he is hitting .354/.404/.417 in 48 AB. On the other end we have Nicky Lopez with a .176/.250/.222 line. Cheslor Cuthbert has been even worse at .130/.245/.174 and Bubba Starling is hitting .202/.287/.315.
Jorge Soler has been the only position player with a significant injury so far. Suffered a broken shin on April 24th. Expected to be out till mid to late June. We called up Samir Dunez to fill his spot. In 73 AB down in AAA he was hitting .342/.385/.616 with 6 HR.
The pitching has been a major let down through the first month of the season. We are 24th in ERA at 4.17. No complete games. 2 shutouts, Last in saves, and our 157 Strikeouts is last in the majors. We have 51 less than the White Sox in 29th which is the same as the difference between them and the Diamondbacks in 14th.
Brad Keller has been everything we could have hoped so far. 2.13 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. His FIP doesnt quite agree that he has been so good sitting at 4.29. Danny Duffy on the other hand has a 2.86 FIP in 34.2 IP. His ERA is at 3.89 with a 1.27 WHIP. Jorge Lopez has been the worst starter by far. 6.40 ERA and 1.73 WHIP in 32.1 IP. The bullpen has had some pretty mixed results led by Scott Barlow with a 1.89 ERA and 0.89 WHIP. Just behing him is Tim Hill with a 2.25 ERA and 0.85 WHIP. Kevin McCarthy with a 2.35 ERA and 1.04 WHIP and Josh Staumont with a 3.24 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. Ian Kennedy and Jake Newberry both have an ERA over 6 and Kyle Zimmer had an ERA of 9 before we sent him down. Scott Barlow came up on April 11th after we had a 13 inning game with a rain daily that caused us to use our entire pen.
Looking ahead to the future we are less than 1 month away from the 2020 draft in which we own the first pick for the second time in franchise history. The last time we had the pleasure of picking first was back in 2006. We selected Luke Hochevar which didn't turn out so well as he was a complete letdown as a starter before becoming a solid reliever over his last few years.
The first pick this year seems to come down to 2 players. 19 year old Starting Pitcher Alex Ito out of Japan and 21-year-old Catcher Kurt Bowles out of Ohio. Ito throws a 4 Seam in the low to mid 90s with a Slider, Change and a Curve. Can regularly go 7+ innings, Excels at limit walks while being above to well above AVG in every other area with elite movement on his pitches. Bowles meanwhile looks to be a .300 hitter with some pop in his bat as well as above AVG fielding and an elite arm behind the plate. Not sure yet which one we are going to go with. And still looking for some other options. But both would be ready pretty quickly and look to be pretty safe bets.
Another 30 games left before the draft starts. 19 of them will be on the road with 18 against teams at or above .500 and another 4 against the A's who are 1 game under .500. On pace for a 3rd straight 100 loss season. Could be seeing a few call ups soon with starters struggling and Bubba being near useless.
. Dunn expressed interest in coming out off retirement but as a part-time player. Considered a questionable move by many, but new ownership quickly opened their arms to one of their a favorite players. He will trade playing time with 1B Derek Dietrich throughout the season.
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