In baseball, players have slumps. It happens to the best of players just as it does to the worst of players. Some players are consistent than most. A player who falls into the consistent category is the Las Vegas Hustlers third baseman, Jake Urban. Throughout his 13 year MBBA career, Urban has never batted below .267 (last seasons mark) and has never had less than 23 homers in a FULL season. This career .280 hitter is batting nearly 100 points below that career mark this year, sputtering along in a season long slump to the the tune of a .188 average with 10 homers through 277 at-bats (73 games).
"I can't tell you how many hours Jake's spent in the cage, or how many hours he's spent looking at film," Hustlers hitting coach Dick Lotz said. "He's been here early, staying late, trying to get this done. Usually by this point in a players career they know how to break out of a slump, but Jake's been a rare guy who has never gone through a big slump."
Detractors are saying that it's his age. At age 36, he had his lowest full season batting average last year but huge power numbers (39 HR and 127 RBI). Scouts around the league still see Urban having all the same tools he has had throughout his career. "He's not losing skills due to aging, so we're not quite sure what the deal is right now," stated bench coach Randy Spratt, an MBBA Hall of Famer. "We're looking to find solutions for Jake, but it almost might be a case of trying to hard at this point."
Urban remains resolute. "The main thing is that the club has remained in the thick of it despite my lack of performance," Urban said. "The only thing I can do is to keep coming out everyday, and giving it my all."
Hustlers manager Elroy Futon has stuck with Urban in key batting slots throughout the season (184 at-bats batting cleanup, and 81 at-bats batting third). He tried him in the leadoff slot (where he performed well over the past two years) in the last sim, but got the same results (.182 average, .580 OPS). "The next thing I'm going to try with Jake is to put him down in the order, to take some pressure off," said Futon.
Urban signed a long term deal in 2003 that locked him up with the Hustlers through the 2011 season.