Before we get into the the meat of the recap, all of us here at Blazers Weekly and the Montreal Blazers organization want to apologize for missing the past two weeks. Due to technically difficulties, we were not able to bring you Blazers Weekly. (Rumor has it, a sponsor decided the Blazers weren't worth their price and pulled their funding. Yes, we know something like would never happen with the Montreal Canadiens.).
Joe Whitaker
José García
The Blazers did make a waiver claim this week, acquiring DH/1B José García off waivers from Las Vegas Hustlers. García is mediocre at 1B but with the Blazers not having a true DH, he should fit in perfectly.
Now, on to what you've been waiting for. Since we are now one month into the season, it's time to take a look at how things are going on in the rest of the organization. While Montreal is off to a surprise start (19-11, 2nd in Atlantic) how are things in the rest of the organization? We will start down in New Jersey. The River Rats are off to a 17-15 record. Good for 3rd in the Granville League East Coast division. The River Rats have 2 players hitting over .300. 25 year old Pablo 'Juice' Delvalle is batting .349/.375/.566 in 129 at bats. Just this week Delvalle won the RHML (AAA) GL Player of the Week Award.
Edmund Webber
Webber also leads the River Rats in RBI at 28. Which is 6 better than the previously mentioned
Oscar Banfi
On the pitching front, Oscar Banfi leds the teams in Wins at 5. He's off to a great start to his season going 5-1 in 6 starts with a 3.63ERA (3rd on team) and 40 strikeouts (3rd on the team).
30 year old SP Geoffrey Tran leads the River Rats in ERA at 3.38 and is also good for 3rd in wins (4) and 3rd in strikeouts (40). Starter Wang-fen Law leads the team in K's at 46. Unfortunately, that is the only bright side for Law. He's stats on everything else is mediocre. He has a 6.37ERA, a 1-4 record in 7 in 7 starts and a WAR at 0.7.
Luca Colman
The Mississauga Spartans (AA) is the only team in the organization that doesn't have a winning record. They sit at 12-20, last place in the Drake League Outpost Division. The Spartans have one player hitting above .300 and that is 20 year old 2B Luca 'The Hammer' Colman. Colman has a stat line of .328/.401/.418 with 8 stolen basis and a WAR sitting at 1.1.
The Spartans have 2 players sitting at 6 home runs, which is the team lead. 20 year old 1B Raúl Gonzáles is batting .212 / .277 /.398 with 31 strikeouts in 118 at bats. 24 year old LF Pepe Villanueva also has 6 home runs and a state line of .269/.309/.529 with 19 runs batted in (2nd on team). Villanueva's average also sits him at 2nd best on the team. Leading the team in RBI's is Peter Crocker. Crocker a 20 year old Left Fielder has RBI's with a stat line of .202/.269/.429 in 113 at bats with 5 homeruns. He's sitting at a -0.4WAR.
On the pitching front, starter Rien Bruggeman
Rien Bruggeman
The Spartans have two players tied at 34 strikeouts, which is the team lead. Reliver Félix Galló also has a 6.30 ERA and a 0-2 record over 19 appearances. Emile Longo is the other team leader in K's and aside from that he has a 7.29 ERA over 7 starts with a record of 0-4.
The Dearborn Heights Knights (A) currently sit at 18-14 and 2nd in the Baxter League Upper Midwest Division. One and a half games back from division leaders the Toledo Liberty.
Sparr Khianderson
Eduardo De Los Santos
The Knights have two players with 4 wins, which lead the team. 24 year old reliever Augusto Blanco has a perfect 4-0 record in 10 appearances. He has a 1.26 ERA across 14.1 innings pitched. Purwanto Rais also has 4 wins, with record of 4-2 in 6 starts. Rais also has a 2.89 ERA and 35 K's (team lead) across 43.2 innings pitched. Eduardo De Los Santos is the team leader with his 1.97ERA and a 3-3 record across 45.2 innings pitched in 6 starts.
Both the Nassau Jammers (S A) & the Oshawa Dodgers (R) start play later this month.