2057 - Mark Moon - The lefty bat hoping for a revival in Buenos Aires

[conman14]

There’s no guarantee with sporting comebacks, as the Buenos Aires Brisas GM Conor Swain is only too happy to joke about when talking about his time playing college football in the UK. “I lost several months of my second year to a nasty case of shin splints! I was never the same after that, and I missed a lot of playing time”, though he is also quick to point out that it was “probably the most pathetic sports injury you can suffer” and he was only ever competing for a higher backup spot on the depth chart. He is however putting his faith in one of his new signings going beyond the heights he hit in his previous career, after several years out of the spotlight.

Designated Hitter Mark Moon’s career looked over when he was released by Omaha in mid-2054. His story is a fascinating one - he lacked a defensive home, but since being drafted by Louisville in the 2045 Supplemental Draft, he became one of the most decorated players of his class in the BBA minor league system purely off the back of his bat, primarily as a masher against right-handed pitching.

He never possessed outright power, nor was he the highest touted prospect to begin with, but through hard work he showed a very productive bat in the minors, hitting above .300 at every level of the Sluggers’ system. His 2047 season in AAA looked to mark him out as one for the future – 33 home runs, 4.1 WAR and several awards, including a Platinum Stick, a Brewster Invitational MVP Award and 2nd to Koi Nualitea in the Steve Garvey Jr Award were all just reward for an incredible season.

Such a decorated season saw him promoted to the BBA roster in 2048, where he slashed .268/.315/.487 as a DH in 140 games, which was good for a 119 OPS+, and he was voted to the All-Star Game in his rookie season, having lit up the first half of the year. It was a solid if unspectacular start to his BBA career, but he did follow it up with an improved 2049, where in just 400 ABs he slashed .311/.371/.508 including 20 home runs. All the signs were there of a big bat who could take the top off a game.

In 2050 however, his progress seemingly ground to a halt. He slashed .255/.321/.415 in just shy of 400 ABs, which although it still put him just a tick above the league average, was not good enough for a DH who could only hit righties and with no defensive home. After another poor season in 2051, where he failed to impress for the Sluggers’ AAA affiliate in Missouri, he was subsequently released by Louisville before the 2052 season.

Moon split his 2052 between Jerusalem in the GBC and Omaha’s minor-league system, before he was picked up in the Rule 5 draft at the end of the season by the Montreal Blazers. Initially he had hoped to crack a BBA roster again for 2053, though he faced stiff competition for the left-handed platoon spot in during spring training. Eventually he lost out to Bastiao Fardos, who offered the defensive versatility that Moon simply couldn’t match, and he was returned to Omaha before the start of the season.

While Fardos went on to have an incredible 2053 season, breaking the 4-WAR barrier, Moon found himself languishing in AA, again failing to do any better than league average. A brief renaissance in the first half of 2054 saw him voted to the Ruper Horn Memorial League All-Star Game, but soon after the game he was released from the Omaha organization.

Out of baseball for over two years, Moon had consigned himself to the baseball scrapheap before receiving a call from Buenos Aires GM Conor Swain following the end of the 2056 GBC season. The Brisas were reeling from a poor year that saw them go 78-84, with a poor offense contributing heavily to their season.

Following a tryout, Swain was keen to lock him down and is under no illusions about what his best role is. “When you look at his career, you see exactly what his strengths are in hitting right handers. It just so happens that is an area that we struggled last season, we couldn’t find someone to hang our hat on. From what we saw at the tryout, Mark has lost none of the skills that saw him pick up the awards that he did earlier in his career. We believe he will elevate our offense.”

Swain also offered one further and slightly more curious tidbit on Moon. “I noticed as well that he wears the number 46, which is the uniform number that I wore playing football years ago! Maybe I need to go and dig out my cleats and try again! My hiatus from playing is a bit longer than Mark’s was though…”

[Dington]

Should fit right in with the GBC.

[Jwalk100]

Good write-up!

[Trebro]

Great article!

[RonCo]

I like these kinds of profiles. Always fun.

Great work.