The Gnarly Rager : 95.6 - August Players of the Month

[7teen]

The Surfers just wrapped up a 13-16 month of August, their worst month of the season. It isn't good to be playing bad baseball at the end of the season, especially when your Pythag record suggests your really not as good as your record indicates. Nontheless, the Surfers still hold a comfortable 9 game lead in the division heading into the final month of the season.

Here are the Long Beach top players within the organization for the month of August...

Hitter of the Month

Brian Fantana
This is probably an excuse not to give the award to Ted Sale again. Sale had numbers worthy of being the POTM for August since he led the team in slugging, homeruns, rbis, hits, doubles, and runs scored. However, Fantana played pretty darn well and has emerged as a starter on the club after being on the bench for the start of the season. In August, Brian hit .388/.449/.537. He was 3rd on the team in hits (2 shy of the team lead) and first in average and on-base percentage, despite getting over 30 fewer at-bats than Sale.

Pitcher of the Month

Alfredo Alvarez
It isn't difficult to find the reason for the poor month of August by the Surfers. The starting rotation continues to be a weak spot for the club. But while the starters struggle, the bullpen continues to be one of the best in the MBBA. In August, the pen was led by Alvarez who logged 11 innings of relief in 8 games, going 1-0 with 2 saves and posting a 0.82 earned run average. He struck out 10 in the month and didn't walk a batter, posting a WHIP of 0.82.

AAA Player of the Month

Cleo Blanco
Why I have this 17-year old in Triple-A right now is beyond me, but the youngster didn't seem to have a problem with it in August. In 5 starts, Blanco was a perfect 5-0 with a 1.48 ERA for the month. He pitched 42.2 innings, walked 13 and struck out 21 with a 1.05 WHIP. He is 7-4 with a 2.55 ERA in 106 innings pitched this season.

AA Player of the Month

Dave O'Brien
The Double-A season ended in this past sim so we have some pretty skewed stats over the 9 games played for the month. O'Brien hit .343/.361/.743 in the month for an OPS of 1.104 to lead a quartet of Flying Squirrel players to post a 1.000+ OPS. He led the team with 3 homeruns and 9 rbis.

A Player of the Month

James Gines
Like the Double-A season, the Single-A season also concluded. Gines played in just 9 games in August, but hit .333/.550/.481 in those 9 games with a homerun and 6 rbis. He drew an amazing 12 walks compared to just 2 strikeouts.