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What's To Come in the Bikini Outfield?
September 25, 2062 | Marshall Islands > All we can say for sure is that the 2062 Bikini outfield was repaired on the run, and that the front office's form of meatball surgery seemed to hold together a little bit. That said, 2062 was the year we learned for sure that the Mike Cox gamble was basically a bust, and that one-time prospect Fernando Bushy is unlikely to ever be able to play center field at the level needed to keep a big-league job.
This is not a good learning.
While the Bikini minor leagues continue to churn out relievers and a few interesting fillers, several of the club's main hopes for the farm system have not been brought to bear, and Bushy (who at one point had a 9 range, and would have been quite workable out there) is exhibit B (3B Benji Amberman remains exhibit A). The hole Bushy's bust leaves in the plan is not small.
But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
CENTER FIELD -
Bottom line, Mike Cox posted a 59 OPS+ that was bad enough that even a solid ZR couldn't do more than balance it out to make Cox at best a spendy replacement level guy. He was eventually sold to Vancouver, mostly to avoid having to pay the $1.5M buyout required to get out of paying Cox $7.5M for more of the same next year. That left the team to give the last month of the year to Glen Branham. Branham seems like a nice enough guy. Even being a late-20s journeyman, his bat looks like it could possibly be good. Or at least decent enough for the position. But no one with any baseball IQ would call him a center fielder, so his assignment seems like a convenient way to get his some plate appearances just for a looksee.
Some suggest that Sanz's glove might not project well to a BBA center field, but it's been a Plus in AAA, so the team is semi-hopeful that his range that is pegged today as an "8" might sit on the high end of that scale. His bat has been fair as he's come up the minor league chain, and most baseball folks say he could still grow--which makes sense given that he's 19. One suspects that Sanz may have been given the reps Branham has received but for a strained triceps Sanz sustained in July.
Bottom line: Center Field was replacement level until Cox was sold, and less than that afterward. The team currently has all their eggs in the basket of a minor leaguer who has a questionable range and will be coming off an injury. It could all work out, but fans are concerned, and the probably have a right to be.
CORNER OUT FIELD -
Lopez Leadership
Helps?
Prawiranega Surprised
in 2062To the front office's credit, they finally went out and got some players who could be competitive in the corner outfield slots. It only took another shitty April to make it happen. Who wouldda figured? After staring the season with the usual suspects (guys like Bushy, Graham Aubry, Phil Tatham, Marty Barnett) as mainstays in the corners, the Krill acquired Julio Lopez from Long Beach and brought up unheralded AA prospect Kusama Prawiranega to man the corners against RHP (and sometimes even LHP). Neither were exactly adroit in the field, but compared to what Krill fans are used to seeing they might have well been Zimmer quality. That they both hit a little (14 HR, .274/.341/.418 for Lopez, 9 HR, .262/.335/.444 for Prawiranega until he had to sit out five weeks with an elbow strain at the end of the year) was like a cherry on the top.
Juan Ramos
#2 Prospect
Abhijana Swamy
#3 ProspectWe don't know that either of these guys are long term answers, but the pair (along with DH Al Schumann, acquired from Chicago) are probably solid reasons why the club had a surge in the last half of the year that at one point threatened to get them into the SPET. We can also say that they will likely be in spring camp to compete for their jobs with the heir-apparent corners Juan Ramos (who got a month or so in the bigs this year to interesting result) and Abhijana Swamy (who destroyed AAA pitching so roundly that most Krill fans were chanting his name at certain games). Those two are, per BBN experts, the Krill's #2 and #3 prospects. One assumes they'll get every chance to impress.
Ramos is one of those "swing hard, you might hit something" guys that Bikini seems to field all the time. To his credit, he hit 7 BBA homers in 79 BBA AB to date, and if that pace continues, that should play. It adds up to a 133 OPS+, for example, and a 135 wRC+.
Swamy is more of a contact/eye hitter who posted a .405 OBP in AAA. Some are hoping that he'll be the lead-off man that team has been searching so desperately for. The glove is suspect (of course), so some are questioning if the LHB is really gunning for Schumann's job, and if that's the case if maybe AA prospect Felix Moreno (.360/.410/.507) is the more likely long term owner of the corner.
Bottom line: Ultimately, I guess what we're saying is that 2026 was a bit of a schizophrenic season for the Krill outfield, a season that flipped the script. Whereas CF has generally been covered, it is now a source of no little worry, and whereas the corners have been a blight on the baseball landscape, for the first time since GM Ron Collins too over the team, the cup seems to be moderately runnething over when it comes to viable options in the corner. If it turns out Sanz can actually handle center to a practical degree, that would really help.
September 25, 2062 | Marshall Islands > All we can say for sure is that the 2062 Bikini outfield was repaired on the run, and that the front office's form of meatball surgery seemed to hold together a little bit. That said, 2062 was the year we learned for sure that the Mike Cox gamble was basically a bust, and that one-time prospect Fernando Bushy is unlikely to ever be able to play center field at the level needed to keep a big-league job.
This is not a good learning.
While the Bikini minor leagues continue to churn out relievers and a few interesting fillers, several of the club's main hopes for the farm system have not been brought to bear, and Bushy (who at one point had a 9 range, and would have been quite workable out there) is exhibit B (3B Benji Amberman remains exhibit A). The hole Bushy's bust leaves in the plan is not small.
But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
CENTER FIELD -
Bottom line, Mike Cox posted a 59 OPS+ that was bad enough that even a solid ZR couldn't do more than balance it out to make Cox at best a spendy replacement level guy. He was eventually sold to Vancouver, mostly to avoid having to pay the $1.5M buyout required to get out of paying Cox $7.5M for more of the same next year. That left the team to give the last month of the year to Glen Branham. Branham seems like a nice enough guy. Even being a late-20s journeyman, his bat looks like it could possibly be good. Or at least decent enough for the position. But no one with any baseball IQ would call him a center fielder, so his assignment seems like a convenient way to get his some plate appearances just for a looksee.
Some suggest that Sanz's glove might not project well to a BBA center field, but it's been a Plus in AAA, so the team is semi-hopeful that his range that is pegged today as an "8" might sit on the high end of that scale. His bat has been fair as he's come up the minor league chain, and most baseball folks say he could still grow--which makes sense given that he's 19. One suspects that Sanz may have been given the reps Branham has received but for a strained triceps Sanz sustained in July.
Bottom line: Center Field was replacement level until Cox was sold, and less than that afterward. The team currently has all their eggs in the basket of a minor leaguer who has a questionable range and will be coming off an injury. It could all work out, but fans are concerned, and the probably have a right to be.
CORNER OUT FIELD -
Lopez Leadership
Helps?
Prawiranega Surprised
in 2062
Juan Ramos
#2 Prospect
Abhijana Swamy
#3 Prospect
Ramos is one of those "swing hard, you might hit something" guys that Bikini seems to field all the time. To his credit, he hit 7 BBA homers in 79 BBA AB to date, and if that pace continues, that should play. It adds up to a 133 OPS+, for example, and a 135 wRC+.
Swamy is more of a contact/eye hitter who posted a .405 OBP in AAA. Some are hoping that he'll be the lead-off man that team has been searching so desperately for. The glove is suspect (of course), so some are questioning if the LHB is really gunning for Schumann's job, and if that's the case if maybe AA prospect Felix Moreno (.360/.410/.507) is the more likely long term owner of the corner.
Bottom line: Ultimately, I guess what we're saying is that 2026 was a bit of a schizophrenic season for the Krill outfield, a season that flipped the script. Whereas CF has generally been covered, it is now a source of no little worry, and whereas the corners have been a blight on the baseball landscape, for the first time since GM Ron Collins too over the team, the cup seems to be moderately runnething over when it comes to viable options in the corner. If it turns out Sanz can actually handle center to a practical degree, that would really help.