The Hawaii Tropics finished the BBA regular season 91-71 which was good enough to finally win the Pacific Division by two games over the Bikini Krill. Hawaii was 44-37 at ‘Iolani Palace and played better on the road as they posted a 47-34 record. The Trops were 7-7 in extras and 23-20 in one-run affairs. The team hit lefties well and won 22 out of 41 matchups against lefty starters while going 69-52 versus righties.
The team came out of the gates running winning 18 of 27 in April before cooling off in May going 13-16. They picked up the pace in June and July with a combined record of 31-23. They hit another bump in the road with a 13-16 August but ramped up the offense again in September going 16-7.
The Hawaii offense led the Frick League in Slugging, OPS, wOBA, Runs, EBH, and Baserunning. The Trops were also Top 10 in all other offensive categories. The Tropic’s pitching staff wasn’t as effective as the offense but were Top 10 in ERA, Bullpen ERA, Runs allowed, WAR, Hits allowed, Opp AVG, BABIP, HR allowed and strikeouts. The defense had a Zone Rating of +2 good for 9th and 6th in Defensive efficiency at .698.
Hawaii went with no true starters for the entire season allowing pitchers to face a limited number of hitters then bringing in relievers. The strategy had its moments with good and bad days, but it was good enough to win more than it lost.
The Tropics used six pitchers in the ‘Starter’ Role consisting of Semih Gurani, Slobodan Omeragic, Daniel Thornton, Ruben bin Majid al Din, and Gheorghe Sollomovici. Omeragic made 15 starts for Hawaii but was released after going 0-4 in 52.2 innings with a 7.18 ERA while giving up 1.2 HR/9. Gheorghe Sollomovici slotted into the rotation and made 17 starts going 3-2 in 71.1 innings with a 3.53 ERA. His HR/9 was also high at 1.5, he struck out 50 (too low), walked 27 (too high) but allowed a .223 BA. Martin Garcia, Majid al Din and Daniel Thornton made 33 starts each with al Din and Garcia putting up 118 and 112 ERA+ respectively. Thornton was inconsistent but he did eat some innings. Semih Gurani is a shadow of his former self but made 31 starts and 34 appearances and threw 119 innings.
The bullpen is where the magic happened more often with three relievers throwing over 100 innings and all but Marty Pearce (83) over 100 ERA+. Rookie Alex Garcia was 13-3 out of the ‘pen while pitching 106.1 innings. He posted a 4.32 ERA and a 103 ERA+. Another rookie, Jose ‘Mr. Reliable’ Valle racked up an 11-1 record in 94 innings with a 3.93 ERA. Bob Westbrooks pitched 106 innings as a stopper going 5-7 with 17 saves and a 2.97 ERA with the team high in RA9/WAR at 3.3. The other stopper, Utkan Gocek, struggled all season going 8-9 with 19 saves in 76 appearances and 91.2 innings. His ERA was north of 4 at 4.32 but allowed a BA of .246. Reynaldo Trinidad pitched 102.1 innings and was 8-4 with a save while posting a 4.31 ERA. In the end, the bullpen was the problem as they struggled against the Twin Cities River Monsters in the Doubleday.
Hawaii’s offense was stellar with a great rookie season by Vicente ‘Yogi’ Martinez. There were great performances at the plate by the guys that squat behind it. Armando Medina and Jeff Appleton combined for 29 homers, 104 RBI, 161 hits, 34 doubles, 1 triple, 89 runs and 3.8 WAR. They gave Bob Webb time to develop in AAA Death Valley.
Lorenzo Holloway supplanted veteran John Harris at first and slashed .275/.349/408 with 12 homers, 68 ribbies, 32 doubles, 4 triples, scored 77 runs while playing average defense.
Mitch Wareham began the season at second and excelled defensively but his skills with the bat have deteriorated and was replaced by Julian Rivera. Hawaii sacrificed defense for some offense, and it worked as Rivera slashed .295/.312/.393 while his defense wasn’t as bad as expected. He was pulled late in games for the better fielding Wareham.
Jorge Dodd was awful defensively at third but showed massive improvement from his rookie season. Dodd slashed .265/.338/.461 with 30 homers, 20 doubles, 2 triples, 97 RBI and scored 94 runs.
The Captain, Carlos Schumann, was also better than last year as he slashed .299/.324/.458 with 8 HR, 38 doubles, 10 triples, 61 RBI, 71 runs and swiped 40 bags while getting thrown out just five times. Last season he put up 3.3 WAR but improved this season with 4.6 WAR.
In the outfield, last season’s Puckett winner in left Eric Owens struggled at the start of the season and took a seat behind Jose Ordonez and later, rookie Roberto Lopez. Owens finished the season with 17 homers and 72 RBI while stealing 14 bases but slashed just .248/.299/.435. Ordonez was pitching well in relief going 8-3 with a save and a 3.91 ERA and slashing .287/.347/.495 at the plate. He slugged 10 homers and drove in 51 but fractured his finger late in August. Lopez stepped up and slashed .283/.388/.357 with a homer, 21 doubles, 2 triples, and 25 RBI. He stole 24 bases out of 28 attempts, played solid defense and post 1.2 WAR in 93 games.
Carlos Sanchez had his best season yet for Hawaii at age 30. He put up 4.2 WAR with a career high 23 homers and 83 RBI. He stole 13 bases in 16 tries and slashed .270/.315/.461. He also had 43 doubles, a triple but struck out 131 times which is also a career high.
Vincente Mendez began the season on a tear and kept the offense going until later in the summer but by then Owens was heating up. Mendez hit 16 homers with 73 ribbies and scored 88 runs while slashing .271/.305/.446. He swiped 46 bags out of 50 and a 5.5 ZR in right.
The best was saved for last. Rookie Vicente ‘Yogi’ Martinez was the straw that stirred the drink. Martinez hit 41 homers, 54 doubles, 7 triples, drove in 112 runs, scored 109 and stole 17 bases in 19 tries. He slashed .340/.389/.1068 with a 182 OPS+ and 6.6 WAR. He filled in at first and all three outfield positions but for the bulk of the season he was the DH.
It was nice to have a season where clocks didn’t hide from me when watching sims but there’s still some work to be done. The acquisition of some starters is the primary goal in the offseason and some upgraded backups.
