Moonshiners Monitor, Vol. 2.1: April 1998 review

[lchronister]

Things didn't look so well early in the year for Greenville, not with rightfielder Reddie Ray suffering a broken bone in his elbow during Spring Training and leftfielder Dan Manville spraining his hamstring just a week into the season.

However, the Moonshiners pulled together as a group and played better than .500 ball in April, going 15-12 despite those injuries and really poor months from three-fifths of the rotation.

The majority of the production lost to Ray and Manville's injuries was made up by the three outfielders who combined to replace them:

Sean Carter: .390/.457/.488, 8 2BH, 11 RBI, 14 R, 8 BB, 14 K in 82 at-bats
Dwight Smith: .423/.500/.730, 3 2BH, 1 3BH, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 7 R, 5 BB, 6 K in 37 at-bats
Jerome Walton: .429/.529/.500, 4 RBI, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 K in 14 at-bats

Walton (an offseason signee) and Smith (signed after Manville's injury as a quick replacement) didn't play a ton but were very successful when they did get their chances. Carter, who got a full-time corner-outfield spot after the two injuries, outperformed even the team's wildest hopes about what he could do with a starting job. Tony Tarasco also outperformed expectations, hitting .246/.348/.404 in 57 at-bats.

Most of the infield did a fine job picking up the slack at the plate in April, too:

Jake Urban: .291/.366/.658, 4 2BH, 1 3BH, 11 HR, 30 RBI, 30 R, 11 BB, 11 K in 117 at-bats (earning the team's Hitter of the Month honor)
Roman Empire: .388/.459/.561, 9 2BH, 1 3BH, 2 HR, 33 RBI, 38 R, 11 BB, 11 K in 98 at-bats (more than proving right the team's decision to give him the starting job from day one)
Earl Alleyne: .371/.464/.505, 9 2BH, 1 3BH, 1 HR, 19 RBI, 31 R, 16 BB, 13 K in 105 at-bats (still being the on-base machine he was acquired to be)

Not doing their part to help the team were three starting pitchers the team expected to be very strong parts of the rotation this year:

Corey Haim: 1-2, 8.23 ERA, 1.87 WHIP, 18 K, 5 BB, 7 HR in 27.3 innings / 6 starts (obviously suffering from the long ball more than the free passes)
Hipolito Pichardo: 0-5, 8.74 ERA, 2.25 WHIP, 9 K, 14 BB, 2 HR in 22.7 innings / 5 starts (obviously suffering from free passes more than anything else)
Ray Weighill: 1-1, 7.96 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 26 K, 8 BB, 5 HR in 26.0 innings / 5 starts (not obviously suffering from anything in particular)

The other two starters, though, pitched brilliantly:

Israel Martinez: 2-1, 2.48 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 35 K, 13 BB, 2 HR in 36.3 innings / 5 starts
Jay Lee: 4-1, 2.56 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 43 K, 7 BB, 6 HR in 45.7 innings / 6 starts (imagine how good his stats would look if he could have kept the ball in the park like Martinez did; he also was named the team's Starter of the Month)

Closer McKinley Washington also had a solid month, going 1-1 with 5 saves, a 2.65 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 15 K and just 2 BB in 17 innings / 11 appearances. This easily and obviously earned Washington the team's Reliever of the Month award.

[recte44]

Very happy that Alleyne has broken through. I'm strangely happy for guys like that, I had no place for them yet I want them to succeed. Earl is one, Edwin Dussault is another (though he's having a rough go of it in Montreal with injuries this year).

[lchronister]

I wish Alleyne had more gap power or speed so he could be a true No. 2 or leadoff hitter, but his OBP is too good to not put up that high (against RHP, at least). That has to be one of the best results-for-price trades I've made in any league