Injuries and Kansas City's resurgent performance have Eureka singing the blues. Top setup man Dave Goodwin was lost for the season with an elbow injury requiring elbow ligament reconstruction surgery. Twelve days later ace Anthony Atkinson was lost for the season with the same injury. Secondbaseman Clement Milford, who was struggling to the tune of a .219/.240/.333 slash line and was sent to the minors to regroup, then broke his knee cap. Prognosis? Also gone for the rest of the season.
The pitching has not been as dominant as last year, and the offense remains inconsistent. There are some quality performances, however. Pat Short has been valuable in the setup relief role, and reigning TML Cy Young award winner Jake Nelson has stepped into the ace role. First baseman Dwayne Hatcher has come into his own, batting .319 with 20 home runs and 63 RBIs at the All Star break. This somewhat makes up for the performance of Jack Watson, who has slipped from .322/.359/.603 a year ago to .229/.281/.382 this season. John Jones, a 23-year-old called up and slotted in at secondbase when Milford was sent to AAA, has started this season batting .344, with a .431 OBP. He has been put in the leadoff spot against righthanders. Round 2 draft pick Will Harris came up to play CF against lefties and be the 4th outfielder against righthanders. He has a .350 OBP in the early going, with 5 SBs and 12 runs scored in 20 games.
It remains to be seen if Eureka can keep up with Kansas City. The pundits all think they will not, but this team has heart, and came back to win the division last year on the last day of the season.
In other news, in the International Complex is a group of nine young men who have potential, but not a lot to show thus far. In keeping with the developmental focus, 6 of the 9 players are pitchers.
No comments:
Post a Comment