A 2003 MIDWEST LEAGUE PERSPECTIVE

It's been a long season already and my home stadium in Burlington, Iowa, so far.  With a team that's comfortably mired at the bottom of the MWL in hitting at .221, nine points behind Beloit at .230, you won't find many hitters to get excited about.  Add to that a paltry 12 homers as of May 28th.  Ouch!  At least Beloit has the Prince who has 8 already to his credit.  Anyway, the one batter that I always look forward to watching for the Bees is Melvin Stocker.  He gets on base, and his average is consistently in the mid-.280s.  He's in the league leaders in stolen bases as well. 

The Bees pitching has its bright spots.  Jonah Bayless, despite a 3-5 record, has posted an ERA in the low 3s, and has lost his last 2 games by his team being shut out.  Colt Griffin looks much more impressive this year.  He's getting a harness on his control problems.  Tom Burgmeyer, the Bees hitting coach, has done well with him.  Coming into the season unsung, the Bees most effective pitcher has been Kieran Mattison, who has notched 5 wins as a starter for a team that has only won 17 as of May 28th. 

My other home team, The Quad City River Bandits, has the worst ERA in the league at 4.30.  They have been hit hard by injuries, and the highly touted Scott Tyler is just beginning to show flashes of brilliance.  One player who has stood out for them is their closer Pat Neshek, whose unorthodox delivery befuddles batters and has notched him 9 saves thus far. 

Clinton, in the same division, is just ahead of the Quad Cities with an equally woeful 4.07 ERA.  They are an exciting team, though, with some very speedy ballplayers.  Juan Senreiso has 22 stolen bases already and Cameron Coughlin has 18.  Kameron Loe has a sterling 1.08 ERA and a 3-1 record.  Clinton's pitching records may not stand out too spectacularily because of the Ranger's novel approach to handling pitchers at this level.  Pitchers are paired off 2 per game, and each only pitches half a game before giving way to the other.  Their turn in the rotation comes up more often, and the theory behind it is suppose to save wear and tear on the arms. 

 Cedar Rapids has a very impressive double-play combination with Alberto Callaspo and Eric Aybar.  Not only are they velvetly smooth fielders, but they are hitting .320 and .312 respectively.  B.J. Weed is currently sixth in the league in batting with a .320 average.  Cedar Rapids is second in the league with hitting, with a .261 average.  Kevin Jepson has been a very effective pitcher with 6 wins to his credit.  Kudos to Cedar Rapids too.  At a time when many minor league affiliates decide that a good profit item is to gouge collectors of minor league card sets, (see South Bend below), Cedar Rapids has priced their card set at a very reasonable $5 and is selling the Midwest League Top Prospect set for the same price.  The Quad Cities came as just as reasonable at $6 a set.

Kane County is the class of the central portion of the Midwest League.  Nelson Cruz is leading the league with 11 homeruns for them and is tied for the lead in RBIs with 40.  John Baker, another top prospect, is in the League leaders with a .313 average.  Their pitching is solid too.  Shane Komine earned a promotion to AA Midland with a 6-0 record and a 1.82 ERA, and Jeff Muessig is second in the league with 10 saves.  Bill Murphy is second in the league with 59 strikeouts, and his teammate Joel Blanton is fourth with 56.  Their ERA, as a team, is 2.89 trailing only Lansing's 2.44.

Wisconsin has Corey Harrington batting .323, fifth in the league, and has Bobby Livingston second in the league in wins with 7.  Their team batting ranks them 3rd in the league with a 2.59 average.

Beloit has Prince Fielder.  Need way say more?  In a strange scheduling quirk, they play just about all their games against the Midwest League West in the second half, with 12 against Burlington.  Hopefully he'll still be around after the All Star Break.  Jeff Eure has 7 homeruns for The Snappers and pitching leaders include Dennis Sarfate with 54 strikeouts and Tom Wilhelmsen with a 4-2 record and a 2.03 ERA and Jeff Houseman with a 1-3 record but a sterling 1.58 ERA.  The Snappers also have the league leader in stolen bases, Kennard Bibbs has 23. 

Peoria, as usual, has stacked the deck with a lot of veteran players.  John Santor is leading the league with a .351 batting average and Don Graves, in his third year in the Midwest League, has finally put thins together and has a 4-1 record with a 1.93 ERA, but his teammate Blake Hawksworth boasts the same record with a 1.69 ERA.  Travis Hanson is tied for the League lead in RBIs with 40. 

South Bend has only won 3 more games than Burlington, and since I haven't seen them yet, I really can't speak authoritatively on the team.  I can speak authoritatively about their marketing tactics though.  These people obviously view Minor League fans as cows to be milked.  I called and ordered team sets for myself and friends in Burlington.  They quoted me the absurdely high price of $12 a set.  When I asked "I assume for that price postage is included", I was told no, that would be an additional $3.  Then to add insult to injury, I was charged $3 more for "the convenience" of using my charge card.  Can we say ASSHOLES? 

The traditionally strong Eastern End of the Midwest League, which unfortunately under the incomprehensible vision of George Spelius extends all the way into Ohio now, always boasts strong teams, and this year's crop are no exception.  The Lansing Lugnuts are leading the league in both ERA and batting with a solid .269 team batting average.  Buck Coats is fourth in the league in hitting with a .325 average and Felix Pie's average is hovering right around .300.  Anderson Tavarez is 4-1 with a 1.83 ERA and Justin Jones, although under a careful pitch count, has pitched very impressively.  Gabe Rabas is third in the league with 56 strikeouts. 

West Michigan is fifth in hitting and third in pitching.  Jon Connally has been superlative, posting an 8-0 record thus far with a microscopic .075 ERA.  I missed him in the Quad Cities, but wrote to him and got a quick reply.  I told him that I feared he would not be in the Midwest League anymore when the team finally comes to Burlington in August.  Joel Zumaya is the league leader in strikeouts with 67 and Wilton Reynolds is second in the league in hitting with a .333 average.  Add to this mix veterans like Juan M. Gonzalez and Dimitrius Heath and highly touted prospects such as the Tiger's number one pick Scott Moore (whose autograph is terrible by the way), and highly touted prospects Matt Pender and Brent Clevlen and you'll see this is a very formidable team to face.

Fort Wayne I've seen, and the Bees managed to take 3 of 4 from them in Burlington with Jerry present.  Maybe we need him at all our ballgames.  Jerry is the notorius leather-lunged fan who follows the Wizards.  The Wizards are having a good season.  They've won 29 games and have the leagues leading closer with Dale Thayer who has 12 saves.  The team is fourth in hitting as well. 

Dayton always fields a strong team.  This year pitching has not been their forte as they rank only above Clinton and Burlington in team ERA.  Still they have some bright spots.  Mark Schramek, a former number one pick for the Reds, is third in the league in RBIs and Dominique Lewis is ninth in the league in hitting. 

Battle Creek I've yet to see (I will in 2 days though).  Rudy Guillen is a highly regarded Yankee prospect, as is Matt Carson on the team, but the big bat on the team so far on the team this season is a former West Michigan player who they plucked out of the Frontier League.  Jason Drobiak has 8 homeruns to his credit and looks like he put his game together.

So far the only balky coaches I've found about signing are Derek Lilliquist, Peoria's pitching coach and Phil Regan from West Michigan.  Both will sign, but you're fortunate if you get more than 1 autograph.  Still, I can't complain.  We were slated to have George Hendrick in the MWL with Ft Wayne. 

THE NEW SMALLING

I'm starting to get results from the new Smalling.  Lots of new addresses different from the Meiselman list which I've had for less than a year.  I've gotten responses from Bill North, Jay Aldrich, Marty Perez, Dave Rozema, Terry Humphrey, Matt Kinzer, Ken Clay, Bert Heffernan, Paul Wilmet and Doug Konieczny that helped fill gaps in my Smalling list.  Got one of my most desired old Twins back too.  This was either my 3rd or 4th try, but I finally got a response from Camilo Pascaul.  My most wanted ex-Twins are Mudcat Grant still and Dean Chance who still refuse to respond to autograph requests, and Jack Kralick and Pedro Ramos whose addresses are elusive.

MY MOST DESIRED NON+BASEBALL AUTOGRAPHS

I'm talking living individuals, of course.  I've tried and failed with Bob Dylan,  Jimmy Webb, Gordon Lightfoot  and Joni Mitchell, all of whom I sent 8x10 laminated collages of some of my favorite lyrics of theirs.  Got none back.  Dylan didn't surprise me, but the others did.  My wife and I still listen to Joni more than anyone else.  Her music grew and changed as we did, and always seemed to move in our direction.  I highly recommend the superb website about her... jonimitchell.com.  If you aren't familiar with her works you should be.

Anyway that's it for now.  Take care and try to have fun with the hobby.  I sure do.