As the San Fernando Bears take on the Portland Lumberjacks for the final three games of the 2062 season while tied with the Vancouver Mounties for the last wild card spot they’ll depend on five players who made their BBA debuts this year.
2B Jose Reyes
Reyes was written about at length in this TN post, so I’ll just summarize: he was an all-star earlier this summer and continues to bat .333. His 3.4 WAR would have him in the mix for Frick League rookie of the year in a normal season, but unfortunately 2062 has been perhaps the largest infusion of offensive talent into the league I’ve seen since I started back in 2051.
RP Carlos Williams
The 22nd overall pick in the 2062 amateur draft only needed 9 innings in AAA to prove he’s already a big league talent. The 19 year-old Williams has benefitted from a .243 BABIP at the BBA level to produce his 2.08 ERA. It’s also worth noting he walked 14 in his first 17.1 innings pitched and has a 19/6 K/BB ratio over his last 26 innings. While we’re somewhat limiting his innings to protect his teenage arm, he remains an important setup guy for us as we eye the postseason. He could take over the team's closer duties as early as next year.
RP Duane Bishop
Bishop has seemingly been around forever since we acquired him from Rocky Mountain in 2056 in a deadline deal. He’s toiled away in the minors for years and finally gets his chance to stick in the SFB bullpen as a middle reliever where he has a 4.91 ERA so far in 3.2 innings.
C Pepe Rodriguez
We’ve liked Pepe’s left-handed bat for a couple years now and his outstanding defensive dev lab result this past offseason solidified the decision to add him to the 40-man roster. He was crushing AAA pitching to the tune of a .325/.392/.516 slash line so we added him to the BBA roster for a September cup of coffee. With a .446 OPS the trial hasn’t been a success, but he hit a home run last week and started the first game of the Portland series. Don’t expect him to start again this season.
SS Jason Steward
The most important member of this group for the final three games might just be Steward. With Qutuz Mahdi struggling in the second half and currently slowed by a day-to-day calf strain we’re going to start Steward every game to end the season. So far in 9 games he’s only hitting .179/.233/.286 but has positive WAR thanks to his elite defense. We figure if Mahdi isn’t going to hit and his defense is hampered by the injury we might as well play the elite defender and any hitting Steward does will be gravy. Steward is also trying out to be in the mix as a starter in 2063 with the possibility of Mahdi sliding over to second base as he ages. He'll be out of options.
