That's What Cheesehead: 37.15 - Meet the Frick's Number 1 Offense

[7teen]

Some thought it was a recipe for disaster. Some thought (and stated) that the Wolves approach wouldn't work. Load up the offense and ignore defense? It's a backwards approach these days. But for a month, it has worked in Madison and is making things exciting for Wolves fans early in the 2037 season. So exciting in fact that fans are watching the Frick's number 1 scoring offense.

The offensive charge has been led by four key figures. The main guy has been the "overpaid one" Jon Mick (.339/.404/.686, 11 HR, 31 RBI). After a slow first week and a half, Mick hit a surge. So much of a surge in fact he claimed back to back player of the week honors and took home the Frick League's Hitter of the Month honors for April. Over his last 10 games, fans have watched "Porky" collect 16 hits with 6 homeruns and 14 RBI. "I've heard all the naysayers talk about this, that, and the other" said Mick. "Obviously I don't expect to keep up this pace but I can hit in case you haven't seen my past numbers. This team is shaping up to be something special I think. It's going to be a fun year."

Perhaps the biggest surprise early on to the offensive output has been 2nd year player Natanael Barral (.384/.465/.686, 5 HR, 17 RBI). Barral, the guy that has force the Wolves to get creative with the defense due to his ability, has stepped up early in 2037 and has become a force to be reckoned with. He actually leads the team with a 1.5 WAR and is third in the Frick in OPS with a 1.151 mark. "Barral has been a real shot in the arm" said Wolves manager Millard Davis. "I believe people knew he was a solid player, but no one really expected him to come out of the gate quite this hot. What has been real surprising early on is his ability to get on base and his defense at 1B. Both have been amazing early on."

It was the need to get Barral in the lineup every day that led Millard Davis to move Mons Raider (.380/.439/.463, 0 HR, 14 RBI) back to his normal position of 2B. The decision obviously opened up the critics who suggest Raider can't play 2B anymore and should be a regular 1B. Well, last we checked you can't have three 1Bs in a game so Raider moved to 2B and clearly the move has worked well in April. Raider is on pace for a WAR of over 8 this season which would put him into the Silk Award discussion if it held up. Raider is on pace for a BBA breaking 266 hits this season thanks to collecting 40 total in April and then collecting 6 more early on in May. And yes, he's still fast. He's swiped 27 bases in 30 attempts which has him on pace for 156 on the season. And yes, he's scoring runs too. He's tied for 2nd in the league with 25. He's tied with Mick for that spot!

But maybe the guy who is really stirring the drink this year is Elroy Hinson (.303/.373/.485, 4 HR, 10 RBI). Clearly his bat is better than the guy who played the position last year and the offensive production has clearly been noticed. Critics laughed over the signing this off-season (you did, I listened) but so far it's working in Madison. Hinson's leadership behind the plate and added offensive boost has fans thinking this team could really contend this season and perhaps compete in a division that has seen Yellow Springs really struggle early on and the Wolves keeping itself in contention with Omaha and Twin Cities through 28 games.

Clearly these 4 guys are off to some pretty hot starts and are likely to cool off at some point. At that point Madison will likely go into a swoon that sees the club forget all about in post-season aspirations. But damn, I have to enjoy this hot start.

Madison currently leads the Frick with 158 runs scored and a team OBP of .365. We are second in Average, OPS, Hits, and Extra-Base Hits. We are even 8th in homeruns which might not sound like much but we were dead last last year so we've found a little more power thanks to this offense first approach.

[RonCo]

Wolves are always dangerous.