The Sunny Side 2018.4: 2018 Surprises (so far)

[cheekimonk]

The Sunny Side
1 July, 2018
Marquette, MI
**********************************

There have been some unexpected, pleasant surprises in Marquette so far this season. What is not surprising is that only one of them is a pitcher.

29yo RH SU Dean Williams (9/4/5 Ratings, 1 - 1, 1.23 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 18 K) : Williams was signed in the offseason as a free agent to a 2yr, $600k per deal to be one of the options of warm bodies in the Suns' yahtzee bullpen. In 2 seasons at AAA South Bend in the Madison Wolves' organization, Williams had tallied 10.14 K/9 so he had signs of being useful if not left in the game too long. He has proven just that with Marquette as their main setup man since Opening Day.

36yo RH 1B Jacob Brown (6/6/6/7/8 Ratings, .290/.359/.489, 7 HR, 28 RBI) : Brown's AVG has been hit or miss over his entire career, but he's aging into an OBP machine. He's also a flexible roster piece with the ability to play LF or RF in a pinch. For an offense that leads the FL in strikeouts, a guy with 19 BB to 19 K's stands out.

29yo RH SS Joe Brown (6/5/2/7/8 Ratings, .321/.381/.400, 3 HR, 45 RBI) : Brown has always been a guy you park at SS and stop worrying about defense (2017 at SS - 4.65 RNG, +2.4 ZR, 1.009 EFF) but his offense starting coming around last year and has improved even more in 2018.

26yo LH OF Fernando Cardona (5/6/3/7/5 Ratings, .311/.395/.437, 3 HR, 30 RBI) : Now here is a guy that came out of absolutely nowhere. With the trade of LHB Leon Sandcastle and the loss of a couple other lefty bats to FA, the Suns went into the season knowing they would have to toy with a few LHB in the outfield. Given a chance, Cardona - who can play any position in the OF - built on 2017 AAA numbers of .267/.368/.442, 4 HR, 6 SB and entrenched himself as the leadoff man vRHP.

27yo LH DH Alex Castillo (8/7/6/3/9 Ratings, .285/.322/.435, 7 HR, 32 RBI) : Looking at his 2017 numbers (.294/.337/.464, 14 HR, 64 RBI, 9 SB), perhaps Castillo's 2018 shouldn't be a surprise. Call it more of a relief that he is, so far, proving that last season's production wasn't a fluke. He has no answer for lefty pitching, but rakes righties.

24yo LH CF Matthew Sanders (6/7/5/4/5 Ratings, .315/.375/.425, 0 HR, 3 RBI) : Even with missing 10 weeks on the DL, Sanders - who can play any OF position and has elite speed - has been an excellent complement to Cardona in at least partially filling the void left by the departure of Sandcastle.

[trmmilwwi]

The Brown brothers are playing well!!