November 11, 2038
Over their history, the Las Vegas Hustlers have traditionally been a franchise of veteran players. Some, in fact, have teased the Hustlers roster construction by calling them "old guys" over the years. A funny thing happened on the way to an unexpected berth in the 2038 Landis Memorial Series in Vegas, however. Rookies were making big impacts. "We haven't seen this in a while," GM Matt Rectenwald said. "These kids are alright."
21 year old Sancho Castillo wasn't expected to be a factor this early. As he started the year in Milwaukee (AAA), the Hustlers prepared to roll with Antonio Cruz as the primary third baseman in 2038. They expected uneven performance from Cruz at the plate but with those inconsistencies spilling over to the field, the Hustlers summoned Castillo in late April and handed him the keys to the hot corner. "We expected solid defense from him, nothing more," said Rectenwald. That's exactly what they got, though at times Castillo flashed at the plate as well, especially with a hot June. Castillo slumped at the plate in the second half and into the playoffs, but overall the Hustlers and Castillo view his rookie year as a success. "I played 184 games this year, and I've never played that much before," Castillo said. "I need to spend the offseason getting better prepared for the stress of a long season, but I definitely feel like I belong."
Similar to the quick change at third base, the Hustlers were swift to make a decisive move with their center field situation. When Antonio Cortez failed to seize his chance at the CF job in April, the Hustlers installed Carlos Camacho as the starter, designating Cortez for assignment. This left a depth hole primarily at backup CF, but the Hustlers were also seeking versatility from that 27th spot on the roster. Enter Bart Cluett. The 24 year old Canadian was a perfect fit for the role that roster spot entails, which is to serve as a versatile piece that can be used as a defensive replacement when needed. Cluett spent the whole rest of the season on the big league roster, appearing in 43 regular season games and 13 playoff games, though only recording a total of 32 official at-bats. "That's a tough role," said Rectenwald, "and not everyone can do it. We've had guys have long careers with us in this type of role and we think Bart can as well."
On June 9th, the Hustlers selected college outfielder Tom Rudge with their second round pick (61st overall) in the 2038 Amateur Draft. Four days later Rudge signed a contract with a signing bonus of $460,000 and joined Reno (AA), a giant leap from college ball to the second highest minor league level. "We felt like he was advanced, and we wanted to see what he was made of, frankly," quipped Rectenwald. Not only was Rudge up to the task, he absolutely crushed it. In 35 games with Reno, he slashed .364/.447/.697/1.144 with 11 doubles, 3 triples, 9 homers and 25 runs batted in. The Hustlers decided to promote him to Milwaukee (AAA) and give him some exposure to the left field position. While he didn't hit well during the 16 games at Milwaukee, he played flawless defense in left field. With the Hustlers pitching staff struggling, Vegas was thinking about a new outfield configuration. Their analysts had determined that in the Hustlers park, the left fielder was actually more valuable than the right fielder, and more range was needed in left field to cut down on gap hits. After studying their roster, they made a ballsy call to bring Rudge up to the majors at age 19 with only 51 games of minor league experience and just a couple months out of college, and hand him the everyday center field job, moving Camacho to left field. He acquitted himself well from the get go, with a solid August. It was his huge September that surprised even the front office. Rudge hit .305/.402/.695/1.097 with 9 doubles, 2 triples, 8 homers and 17 RBI in 95 September at-bats and now frequently found himself slotted in the #3 spot in the Hustlers lineup. "We thought we were getting a good player and someone who would help us in the future, certainly, but if anyone in the front office tells you they expected this, they're flat out lying," joked Rectenwald. During the Hustlers' improbable run to the Landis Memorial Series, Rudge continued to come up huge, slashing .274/.333/.411/.744 and leading the Hustlers with 16 RBI in the postseason. All of the early success hasn't gotten to Rudge's head, either. "There's a lot of things I need to work on going into next year," Rudge explained. "I need to get better against right-handed pitching (.763 OPS vs. 1.302 against LHP), i need to strike out less (37 K in 148 regular season AB, 26 K in 95 postseason AB) and I know I can do better in center field next year (-0.1 ZR at the big league level)."
As the Hustlers reached the All-Star break, they were looking for a boost to their bench and to their lineup against lefties. Cruz wasn't getting the job done, and Richard Wishart was suspended for a few games and also had a injury later in the month. Looking into their minor league system, Rectenwald had been keeping a close eye on his 2035 first round pick, Raul Alilea over the past three and a half seasons. "When we drafted Raul we really thought it was key that he grew as a second baseman and we also weren't sure if his bat would play as an everyday guy," Rectenwald said. "We gave him every opportunity to play second base and play everyday throughout the system, and we saw flashes along the way, and plenty of set-backs as well. Last year he dominated at the Class-A level, but when we promoted him to AA he struggled. It was a huge debate internally of where to place him this year, and ultimately we decided that three years in it was time to challenge him so we assigned him to Milwaukee (AAA). It ended up being the right call." Indeed, Alilea responded to the challenge, particularly at the plate where he slashed .340/.401/.565/.965 with 26 doubles, 12 homers and 46 RBI in 294 plate appearances. In the field, he continued to struggle at second base for most of the season but seemed to grow more comfortable as the season wore on. Then the Hustlers called him up. "I wasn't expecting to get a call this year, and I was so happy to contribute in any way," said Alilea, who garnered rave reviews from his teammates for not only his play but particularly his clubhouse presence and energy. His contributions were, as expected, primarily against lefty pitching (.320/.388/.520/.908 in 75 regular season at-bats). Perhaps most impressive was his play at second base in the big leagues, where in 17 games he had a -0.4 ZR, by far the best showing from him at any level at the second base position. Not too bad from a 20 year old three years removed from the high school level.
The future looks bright with these three youngsters in Las Vegas. Minor league prospects have taken notice as well, and there are a few players in particular who could end up being productive rookies for the Hustlers in 2039. Rectenwald made a point to single out four particular prospects as candidates to help the big league team next year.
"We think Mike England is poised for a big jump next season," Rectenwald said. "He absolutely tore up the FPL, won the Platinum Stick Award as the SS there, and can play all over the field. With Cruz probably heading to free agency, there will be an opening as a reserve and he'll compete with fellow infield prospect Phil Logan for a potential big league job in Spring Training. We like Logan a lot, both for his defensive versatility and his sneaky good bat. Another guy who really helped himself in the FPL is outfielder Francisco Mendez. After he bombed at the AAA level last year, it was crucial that he fared well in Florida in order to earn a 40-man roster spot and he did just that. He'll be firmly in the mix for a reserve outfield spot. Just like Mendez, righty Senzo Kobayashi also earned a 40 man slot after a solid minor league season and a exceptional FPL effort. He'll be in the bullpen mix."
