2065 Austin Shredders Preview

[Knucklehead254]

Since moving from Edmonton in 2060, the Shredders have yet to manage a winning season which in turn means no playoff berths. Chuck Valenches will once again have his hands full trying to bring his team back to the postseason. They did manage a .500 record last season, have they made the rights moves to play October baseball?

Pitching:

Ace duties will once again fall on 21-year old Harry Bransington, who in my opinion is one of the best pitchers in the BBA. He still has a little more room to grow and if he does, a Nebraska award should easily come in his future. Starting behind him will be longtime Shredder Mus'ad Amr. At 31 he's pitched all 223 starts with Austin and will be a great complimentary pitcher next to Bransington. In the middle of the order will be 40 year old Bernie Stuart. Despite the age Stuart still has the makeup of a solid starting pitcher, and will no doubt be a hall-of-famer whenever he decides to hang them up. A perfect mentor for the young ace and rotation as a whole. The final two spots will go between Kent Johnson & José Rodríguez. Rodriguez is the youngest of the two and showed early promise his first three career starts last season.I think will take the next step forwards this year.

Anchoring the bullpen will be none other than Nelson Middlebrooks, one of the many young reliever talents in the league. He's picked up at least 20 saves his first three seasons and has kept a solid ERA of just under 3. At this time the rest of the bullpen consists of guys like Vicente Gómez and recent acquisition from Bikini, Masami Kachida. They've both got young arms that should be the main focus of the bullpen leading into Middlebrooks. Unfortunately one of their recent FA signings, Sergio Rosales, tore his UCL during spring training and will be out for the year. The rest of the bullpen consists of aging vets like Sergej Gijsbert and Josh Dougherty, alongside exciting youngsters like Alfonso Costello and António Salazar. All in all, this is a decent bullpen that won't win any awards, but should do a good job at keeping runs down compared to previous years.

Position Players:

Starting at the backstop will be 27-year old Ángel Gutiérrez. He does a decent enough job at framing and blocking passed balls, but his throwing arm just isn't there, leaving the team at risk of giving up stolen bases to speedsters on first. He's got a solid bat against lefties but will have trouble against righties. Backing him up will be Diego Montoya, who at most can provide decent defense but provide zero offense. In my opinion both are easily replaceable, and should be atop priority for the Shredders to look for via trade.

At first base we have Félix Cabral. He is an exciting young bat who consitently hits around the .280 mark and pops at least 20 homeruns. And even better is that he's only 24 years old, so expect him to continue to hold the spot for years to come.

Starting at second will be José Molina, someone who's ratings just confuse me. He's got solid ratings on defense and a roughly average bat, yet is shown as a 40 ovr. Granted his bat didn't do particularly well last season but his defense should be a plus

At the toughest position in baseball we get Jorge Madrid, a player with a plus-plus glove. Though with his bat he will strikeout a lot and homeruns are a rarity (just one last season), his fantastic eye and baserunning means he'll draw plenty of opportunities to walk and steal. And as stated the glove is a huge plus as well.

Acquired just this offseason from Charlotte via trade, Abdul-Rafi bin Sayf looks to be a very solid 23-year old third basemen. He's got slightly above average ratings with the bat and has solid defense as well, although he needs work on reading the double play ball. If he continues to fill out the rest of his game, Sayf will be a long term Shredder.

At left we have the franchise, Jorge Herrera. His first three seasons have been wildly successful, and though he hasn't matched the incredible heights that were his rookie year (1.016 OPS!!), any team in the league would be extremely lucky to have his powerful bat in the lineup.

Next to him in center field, will be Jerry Woodall. His recent success at defense in the Dev Lab now have him as a potential diamond glove winner this season, and his incredible speed means he will be stealing bases left, right and center. The one concern could be his average bat, but his defense and speed make him must start.

At right it's gonna be Takanobu Komatsu. He's a lefty with a great bat against righties and has solid defense. He's done pretty good the last two seasons, if he can keep it up it will go to great lengths in a potential playoff push.

Designated Hitter honors will once again go to Brent Gilbert. The longtime Shredder may be at the start of a career decline ratings wise, but he still managed a 4.1 WAR season last year, so maybe it's just a bit overblown. He still has one more year on his contract, will an extension potentially be in the works?

Verdict:

Austin has built a solid roster around young talent and aging vets, and with $30 million in cap space still available, they could certainly use it to their imagination. Most likely it could be looking to add an elite bullpen piece or improving the catcher position. Either way, they'll be fighting for a wild card spot, as winning the division will not happen unless Phoenix unloads everyone. I say 84-78, with one of the final wild card spots locked up.