The 2048 minor leagues start up
We’re two weeks into the 2048 UMEBA season and the team’s Triple-A and Double-A affiliates are already back in action with the A ball teams about to join them this week. The prospects are making their way through the organisation and three years into the franchise the Front Office gamblers are already laying money on who could be the first draftee to make his UMEBA debut
Port Elizabeth
Port Elizabeth have always finished around the .500 mark each season but opened with a bang this year. A opening win streak saw them victors in their first five games before losing their last two games of opening week. Their best game came in a 15-3 win at home over Johannesburg. Ivan Thomas, who saw some time with Riyadh last year, hit his first homer of the year in this game and went on to manage 3-4 with two walks, five RBI and three runs scored. Ernesto Ramirez, another with UMEBA experience, also went 3-4 with two walks registering three RBI and two runs scored. 27-yr-old minor league free agent signing Karel Beerens won his first start for the franchise, pitching eight innings giving up seven hits, four walks and two runs only.
Former Riyadh lefty Ch’ang-chieh Xin made three outings out of the bullpen, pitching 10 innings and earning two wins with a 0.90 ERA and 14 strikeouts. Batter of the week was Ramirez who hit .462/.533/.769 in his opening four games, obviously keen to get back to Riyadh.
Santiago
It was a disappointing start though to Santiago’s campaign, only winning one of their first five games. The Tabaqueros have often been a decent side but this year they’ve really struggled to get going. Twice they’ve been shutout and they lost one game that went all the way to the 16th innings. Two walks and a single finally got the winning run home for Caracas, snapping a 2-2 tie that had been since the third innings.
Uberto Casale lost his first start of 2048 despite only giving up four hits and a single run in seven innings. He struck out seven batters but got no run support as Santiago went down 0-1. Felipe Chavez got the teams only win in his first ever start in Double-A ( he made 33 bullpen appearances last year). In seven innings he gave up just five hits and struckout eight as Tabaqueros went on to win 4-1. The real problem lay with only two of the starting batters hit over .200 and no-one managed a homer. 22-yr-old Martin Arkell in his first year at AA was the star of the first week hitting .364, walking twice and swiping two bags but failed to turn it into anything on the board
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