Off Topic
#10 With a Bullet
August 14, 2045: YELLOW SPRINGS – 24-year-old Dave Lee took the mound and dominated the Valencia Stars this evening, throwing into the 8th inning, and striking out six hitters en route to a 9-1 victory, his 16th win of the season. On the night, Lee coaxed twelve ground balls, two of which his infield turned into double plays. The performance dropped his ERA to a skinny 1.99, which leads all of baseball among qualified pitchers.
His manager wasn’t quite so spare with his praise for Lee. “Dave is just getting better every time out, you know?” Sam Brewington said. “You can see he’s settled into understanding what it means to be a real player in the Brewster League, and it’s a lot of fun to watch.” Brewington’s assessment is borne out in the recent Top Pitcher Rankings that the league has been posting for the last season or so. Lee’s rank at the start of the year was #52, but he’s marched steadily up the ranks to 42 in May, 32, in June, 18 last month, and now #10. Another month like this and he’ll officially supplant Carlos Valle (who currently sits at #8 in all of baseball) as the team’s top-ranked Ace.
“That sounds fun,” Lee said. “But I figure if I do that, Carlos will just take it back.”
Nebraska Chatter Ensues
Naturally, a performance like this can get people to chattering, and this season is no different. Some fans think Lee should be in the conversation for the league’s Nebraska award. Admittedly, it’s a shade early for that. Stack his numbers overall against the Alaric Wullenwebers and James Brownings, and Danya Tchekanov’s of the world and you might come up a tad low overall. But it’s not far off. Add in Omaha’s Timo Dooley into that mix, and then pepper with the usual conversation about bigtime bullpen arms in Cornelio Lozano and Lorenzo de’Medici—both of whom are having good seasons again.
And, yeah, don’t totally count Valle out. The veteran has been flying under the radar for good reason, but nothing exists to say a big two months from any of these pitchers wouldn’t put them smack dab at the top of the pinnacle.
Including, of course, Dave Lee.
