Catchers
24-yr-old Jason Bowen was the mainstay behind the plate in 2041. A top-notch defensive catcher, he threw out 30% of attempted base stealers and only allowed six passed balls. His range had gone up to 10.20 in his BBA sophomore year with a def eff of 1.095. His batting is lagging behind though, his average slipped a few points to .219, but his OBP & SLG jumped a few points and his OPS increased to .697.
Future Prospects With five more years before he hits the open market, he has time on his side to grow and can expect to maintain his 130+ games a year.
23-yr-old John Todd was a mid-August call-up from Triple-A Albuquerque and made just 17 outings. Again, he could only hit .218 but that is also balanced by a .348 OBP & a .730 OPS, both good figures to build on at such a relatively young age. He threw out six of 26 hopeful base stealers and allowed just two passed balls, his main advantage is that he’s also a passable first baseman which will add to his value as a backup.
Future Prospects With two more years before he hits his first arbie year, Wichita will look to Todd to back up Bowen for many a year, growing into a solid 1-2 behind the plate.
First Base
30-yr-old Duane Whitley Jr is a top BBA player, but his results dropped a bit in his tenth BBA season. His 25 homers marked a first fall below 30 homers in four years. His WAR of 0.8 in 2041 was someway below the 3-4 WAR he had been turning out the last three years. 80+ RBI & runs was achieved for the fourth straight year though. His defence was still pretty solid at First where he made 140 appearances, although 15 errors raised a few eyebrows, he is still capable of decent defence at Third but only actually got a chance to play there in one game in 2041.
Future Prospects Assuming he doesn’t exercise his opt-out this year, the Aviators top earner has three years left at $14m a year. He could probably be available, but I’m not sure with that contract there would be many people banging down the door and Wichita would be very reluctant to retain any salary.
With no real back-up at First, both catchers had a few innings there, as did DH Jose Carlos Gallegos and rightfielder Jose Carlos Flores although none of them had a real impact there.
Second Base
33-yr-old Gabriel Talamante, one of Stu’s former Louisville favourites, played 139 games at second producing a league average defence with 15 errors. His batting was a just as woeful .192/.289/.376. In his four years in Wichita his home run totals have sunk from 45 to 24 in 2041 while his RBI total, once pushing close to 100 a season, now remained in the 50’s for the second successive year. He was two strikeouts shy of 200, comfortably 60 ahead of any other Wichita player.
Future Prospects The team has a team option for $7m on him for 2042 and it’s a fair bet that will be voided. Seven million will pay for a lot of minor leaguers that could match Talamante’s 2041 contribution.
Bryan Robson, Aviators’ “Super Utility, play anywhere” man got 13 games at 2B and produced better defence, marginally, than Talamante while another utility infielder, Jim Abernathy now in AAA Albuquerque, made 10 starts at 2B producing similar defence again to Talamante but without the errors. His poor batting was the reason for his demotion and until he improves is unlikely to be recalled to the BBA except as a defensive replacement.
Third Base
25-yr-old Alex Ramirez took the majority of the starts (135) at the hot corner. A solid 5.0 ZR, 28 homers & 88 RBI plus 53 walks and 47 stolen bases made him one of the team’s best infielders. His .828 OPS was a standout as was his 3.2 WAR, but despite that the team’s overall performance probably led to his overall drop in production compared to his first four years in Wichita when he averaged around 5.5 WAR.
Future Prospects $7.3 is owed to him for next year which Wichita believes is a fair price for his good returns. Beyond that it really depends on the financial position and his demands, the team would be happy for him to finish his career in Wichita, but many things could conspire against that.
Robson (16) and Abernathy (11) also made several appearances at the hot corner without embarrassing themselves with their defence. Whitley Jr played just one innings there without getting involved in any defensive plays.
Shortstop
22-yr-old Jim Gouzzie made 131 starts at shortstop with average defensive of a 4.60 range factor and 0.5 ZR. He did complete 86 double plays but also committed nine errors. His bat is still improving in his third season in the BBA, 44 doubles is one up on last year, his 23 homers was decent but down on last years 36. 82 RBI and 31 walks is a good return whilst he reduced his strikeouts by 40. His tripleslash of .288/.340/.512 coupled with an OPS of .852 shows he’s learning fast and a 2.8 WAR will certainly improve next year.
Future Prospects Has one more year before his minimum level salary hits arbitration and he starts to get paid, this could lead to the possibility of the team cashing in on him, but both the fans and management doubt that he could bring in fair value.
Bryan Robson made 24 starts at Shortstop but produced dreadful defence, his ZR being a woeful -8.0. Abernathy got eight games there with a replacement level defence and Alex Ramirez even got three innings there as an injury replacement.
In the final part of the 2041 review we will look at the outfield and the players that got a go in the DH role.
