2060.21 Sim 5-What We Learned in April

[Krathan]

Sim 5-What We Learned about the Flyers in April

Lawrence Stewart might be experiencing a sophomore slump. After posting 4 WAR and a wRC+ of 111 in 2059, Stewart has -0.1 WAR and a wRC+ of 61 through the first month of the season. Is it a slow start or a concerning trend?

Dallas Dixon is still great and will be in Charlotte for a long time. Coming off of the two best years of his career, Dixon is once again on pace to be one of the better players in the league in 2060. He is currently on pace for about 5 WAR. The team also signed Dixon to a 4-year extension.

Jacquot “Bandit” Natta is playing better so far than he did as a rookie. As a position player/hitter, Bandit has put up more WAR than Dixon so far, with an OPS of .924 and a wRC+ of 148. He is also 1-1 with an ERA of 3.29, the second best mark in the starting rotation so far.

Jorge Trujillo has been one of the best players in the league. He is among the league leaders in BA, HR, RBI, 2B, SLG, OPS, and WAR among other things. He’s also played solid defense in left field after focusing on improving that area of his game in the dev lab in the offseason.

Miguel Montero has also been phenomenal. He’s on the Johnson League leaderboards in a number of categories as well, including BA, OBP, WAR, and WPA. He has also played outstanding defense, completing 5 Outfield Assists in his first month with the club.

Mike Cox has struggled to find success in Charlotte so far. His 24 wRC+, -0.6 WAR, and -1.3 ZR in CF are not what the front office was expecting when they traded their top pitching prospect for him.

Buwono Mainaky has been even better than last year. Coming off of one of the best years of his career, Mainaky has taken it to another level so far in 2060. He is currently 3-1 with an ERA of 1.27 and an impressive FIP- of 52.

Outside of Mainaky and Natta, the rest of the starting rotation has been somewhat inconsistent.

Jim Fleming started the year with 2 outstanding starts and has not been as good his last 4 times out. His FIP- of 91 is still solid despite his ERA ballooning up to 5.12 after allowing 6 runs in just 3 innings in his most recent start.

Little Johnny Rasmussen has allowed 5 or more runs in 4 of his starts. He also had a string of 2 starts in which he allowed 1 run in a combined 14.2 innings.

Mauro Mendoza allowed 5 runs in his first start of the year and 5 runs in his most recent start. The 3 starts in between were much better, as he allowed just 6 runs in 22.1 innings during that stretch.

The bullpen has not been great. As a group, they have 3 wins, 6 losses, and the 15th ranked ERA in the Johnson League at 5.24.

Qing-Lai Ou-yang was outstanding last year, going 7-2 with a 2.89 ERA and an ERA+ of 169. This year, he has an ERA of 15.75 and an ERA+ of 28 through the first month of the season.

Felix Comarco has an ERA of 8.00 through April.

On the bright side, Alejandro Chavez, who got off to an extremely rough start, has now completed 8 of 9 save opportunities and allowed a run in just one of his last 6 appearances. Despite having an ERA of 5.84 on the season, his ERA over his last 9 games is 1.59.

Jim Thompson who had a rough 2059, is off to a good start. He is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in 9 appearances through April.

The team has a winning record (6-4) against teams currently over .500 but a losing record (8-10) against teams with a losing record.

[BaseClogger]

Stewart is still hitting a shit load of doubles. ISO and walk rates are nearly identical. The whole story is BABIP. Should we project .352 like last season or .274 like his season to date? If we assume .300 it would make him more of a .675 OPS bat than the .804 OPS he had in 2059.

[Krathan]

I’m curious to see how Stewart’s season progresses for sure. His BABIP rating is a 7 so I would think he will improve in that area at some point but it’s hard to know for sure.