2050-3 Calgary Brings in New CF and SS

[indiansfan]

Calgary Brings in New CF and SS

The Pioneers, growing frustrated with their defense, have replaced Jeffrey Tate in CF with Don Keagle and Imazighen Kibasila with Nick Frude at SS. So far the experiment is paying off, but we will have to wait and see if the trend continues.

At SS the team started off with Joey O"Brien, which they knew would hurt on defense but hoped his bat would make up for it. Well he was terrible and his bat wasn’t strong enough so the team was planning on making a change and then O’Brien got hurt after 31 games. He is still on the DL another month and is expected to come back as a utility man and maybe platoon a bit at 2B.

Kibasila was up next, given one more (and probably his last) chance to hold down the job. He did have a 4 year run as the team’s starting SS from 2042-2045, but posted a negative ZR every year. His best position in the field is 2B, but his career .229 BA isn’t going to get him many starts there. After 26 starts at SS this year it was clear he still wasn’t the answer.

So the team brought up Frude. A 2nd round pick, in 2046, Frude rose rapidly in Calgary’s farm system after a slow start. He spent his first 2 seasons in Rookie ball and then had a solid year at Quebec (A) in 2048. Last season he made the jump to AAA, hit .331 and got an invite to the big leagues where he started 17 games. The team kept him in AAA this season to get some experience at 3B to make him an effective utility player, but they needed him in Calgary so he got called up.

With the Pioneers, he is hitting .310 and projects to have a positive ZR. So far he has only started against right handed pitching, but the lefty is now going to start full time. Has Calgary finally found it’s shortstop of the future in the 23 year old? We will find out.

The team thought they had CF solidified with Jeffrey Tate. He has started for the team the past 4 seasons, hitting about .270 and racking up a bunch of steals. Most importantly he has broken 10 ZR the past to seasons. This season he has flailed at the plate and gone from a 12.9 ZR last year to -2.6. Yep in the negative. So Tate is now down at AAA Saint Paul trying to resurrect his career.

Keagle has put in the time and exercise to get to the big leagues. Despite multiple attempts from Sacramento to trade for him, the team has held firm, even tightening it’s hold on Keagle. If they want him so bad, he must be good. Of course they could also be delusional.

On the field he has performed well so far. He is hitting only .247 and is a klutz on the base paths. The team doesn’t expect him to compare to Tate in those areas. His glove however has been a huge upgrade. He has not made an error in 28 games and has a 1.4 ZR. Center field in the BBA seems much larger than at AAA, the team has high hopes that he continues to improve out there.