Trail Droppings 2038-3 Sophomore Success

[indiansfan]

Sophomore Success

The Calgary Pioneers didn’t having any rookies break in this season, but did have a bunch of sophomores who shined. Let’s rundown the main players.

RF - Francisco Medina - For Medina, 2038 was more like a rookie season. The left hander had played sparingly in several call ups during the 2037 season and wasn’t able to put together much hitting only .219. He was an opening day starter this year and boy did he get the job done. His bottom line - .271 BA, 39 HR, 115 RBI, in a park made for right handed bats. A surprise was that he fielded better than expected. Medina has been in the Calgary system since 2032 when they signed the 17 year old as an international free agent. He rating were a meager 5/5/4 that exploded to 8/10/6 last season. Patience pays off.

SP - Edwin Gilliam - No player on the team has gotten more trade inquiries over the past few years than Gilliam. This year showed why. He was among the league leaders early in the year before slowing down a bit later in the season. Still 15-9, 4.27 ERA, 1.24 WHIP in 223 innings is pretty good for a second year pitcher. The team is expecting him to continue to blossom this year.

SP - Jefferson Pierce - Right behind Gilliam in the rotation, Black Lightning lit it up this year with 213 strikeouts in 190 innings. His 10.1 K’s per game was second in the Frick only topped by another Pioneer. He pitched better than his 8-12 record shows, with a 1.27 WHIP. Maybe this year the team will score some runs when he starts.

SP - Lee Morgan - Before his injury Morgan was pitching lights out. In 26 starts he posted a 11-5 record, 3.77 ERA, 1.19 WHIP. With these 3 young starters backing up Cristobal Hernandez, the rotation looks strong for several years. The trouble will be paying them all. Morgan should be ready for Spring Training, when the team can see if his torn triceps will reduce his velocity.

SP - Carlos Rodriguez - Even though it was his 5th season, we are going to include Rodriguez here since it was his only as a starter. He came to Calgary as a Rule 5 pickup in 2034 and pitched well in 73 relief appearances. However, his control was an issue so he spent the next 2 seasons in the minors working on his control and trying to stretch him out into a starter role. Last season he was a dominant starter, 10-7, 3.46 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and had greatly improved his control. That fell apart this year, 5-14, 5.82 ERA, 1.52 WHIP. He led the Frick with 11.5 K’s per game, but he also led with 5.7 BB per game. The team moved him to the bullpen for awhile, until Morgan’s injury forced him back into the rotation. He will probably end up with an important bullpen role next season.

[jleddy]

Avoiding the ol' sophomore slump is huge towards development...great news coming out of Calgary!

[RonCo]

That core of starters will be hard to beat fairly soon. Gilliam and Pierce may be future Nebraska kind of guys.

[jleddy]

Gilliam and Pierce may be future Nebraska kind of guys.

Just saw Pierce's pitch repertoire and velo!

[RonCo]

The only thing that might hold Pierce back is that stamina. Should still be a star, though.

[indiansfan]

I’ve been pretty lucky with my young pitchers developing well. Plus I have 4-5 more in the pipeline.