On the Lam, 62.2 - Power Surge in Texas

[trmmilwwi]

The 2062 season is still young but there is a trend happening in San Antonio that can’t be a coincidence. In the day and age of pitching and defense, the Outlaws have leaned heavily into power and the long ball. The last 10 years saw the team sit in the top third of the league in pitching and defense while the bats were fairly silent. While picking up scraps during free agency there just weren’t a lot of 5 tool players to choose from. Well, let’s be serious, the team really didn’t have any 5 tool players and the only top tier bat thatw as wearing an Outlaw uniform was a high contact, high batting average guy in Patrick Strolz who is currently swinging in Cairo.

Well, those days are over. 5 weeks into the season the Outlaws lead the Johnson league in home runs with 58 home runs in 33 games. They trail only the Des Moines in long balls as the Kernels sit at 59, one more than the Outlaws. It would appear that there may be a race to secure bragging rights for the long ball crown.

You don’t have to look far to see what caused the power surge in San Antonio (wow, Texas really fixed that electric grid didn’t they?!). The Outlaws daily lineup in the outfield consists of veteran ex-Kernel centerfielder Junior Cano, Jr., veteran homegrown Outlaw Shoin Yoshida in left and 21 year old rookie George Stickler in right. The three outfielders have hit 32 long balls on the year, almost 1 per game between the 3. The trio has more home runs than 10 Monty teams so far this year.

Legendary hitting coach and now Manager for the Outlaws, Johnnie Oh mentioned the trend after Junior, Jr had 4 homers in 4 games during the recent stretch of games, “Those guys in the outfield, man, they are doing it. I think those three will have more homers by the all star break than I had my entire career. Just unreal. Huge part of why we are making a push this year for sure. I am happy for Junior as he has taken it personally to show those Kernels what’s happening down here in San Antonio.”

Manager OH touched on a recent slogan trending on the socials. “Bring the Meatloaf” has seen a 325% usage increase in Texas and may just be catching on. When Junior, Jr was asked about it after his most recent power performance he just smiled and stated, “Tammy’s meatloaf is my favorite by far, none sweeter or more tasty.”