The Cool Of The Grass 2050.10: Des Moines Competitive In Tough Schedule

[aaronweiner]

The Des Moines Kernels aren't ready for prime time yet, obviously. Going 2-4 in their first sim against Louisville and Nashville, however, is not the worst result they've ever had. The Kernels got solid performances from Alaric and a stellar one from Manuel Camacho in their first sim, and with a near-perfect performance by their bullpen they held tough with some of the better teams in the Frick League.

"That wasn't a cause for celebration, but we didn't embarrass ourselves," said Des Moines manager Ricardo Alomar. "We're hopeful that this is the beginning of a productive season."

Camacho was especially good for Des Moines. In eight innings against Louisville, Camacho pitched to contact and allowed just four baserunners and no runs. The righty was used only out of the bullpen in his first season in Des Moines, but the Kernels see him as a starting pitcher.

"The defense was really working for me," said Camacho. "I'm grateful for the opportunity and all the help that the team gave us defensively this offseason."

Not everything went well for the Kernels. Deron Alexander, the Opening Day starter, was absolutely reamed in two starts, throwing under nine innings total and giving up his trademark seven walks and nine runs. Admittedly, Alexander was supposed to benefit from the improved defense, but definitely did not, as his starts carried a .464 BABIP.

"We think Deron's going to do better as we gel as a defense," said Grant Davis, the Kernels' hitting coach. "We're still learning to play together."

The Kernels' defense was overall greatly improved over last year, and some of their pitching struggles are no doubt playing Louisville and Nashville, two teams that combined for almost 200 wins last year and were the #1 and #2 offenses in 2049, respectively. But no one is expecting too much too quickly.

"This wasn't going to be a minute one rebuild," said GM Aaron Weiner. "We were always going to have to kind of figure out where we were before we could move forward."

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