Broken Bat - Discussion Forum: Bremerton Yellow Jackets Season Preview

Forum >> Discussions >> Bremerton Yellow Jackets Season Preview

Post ID	Date & Time	Game Date

#67610	08/12/2019 11:21:30 pm	Jan 15th, 2042
peacockpenguin Joined: 11/18/2014 Posts: 102 Inactive	Two years ago the Yellow Jackets finished the 2040 season a game out of first place in LLV5 despite leading the league in run differential by over 30 runs. They were hopeful that the next year would finally bear the fruits of their labor with a promotion to LL4. That seems like an eternity ago now. This season the Yellow Jackets find themselves back in LL6 ending the 2041 season with a losing record and a positive run differential. Last season's 78-82 record was their first losing season since 2026. Looking for a fresh start changes to the teams name and ballpark are currently in the works. Rumors have it the team has submitted an application to rename the team to the Admirals celebrating the town's rich naval tradition. Cup outlook: Last year the Yellow Jackets made their deepest cup run in history going 21-12 and making it to the 5th round. This year they are expected to make it out to the knockout stages once again as they had the good fortune of drawing one of the easiest cup groups this year. League Preview: The Yellow Jackets are expected to return to LL5 once again. They are the only team currently rated higher than 100 in their division. They will try to contend for the championship while giving their developing players as much time on the field. Player Preview (The Hitters): C Until Wyatt Goodwin makes it up to the majors Ken Egan will continue to hold down the fort at catcher. In his second full season in the majors Egan made some big strides raising his OPS from .651 to .722. Leadership believe he is capable of much more than that and hope to see his hitting improve even further. 1B Last year Tatsuo Takagi was one of the few bright spots of the team. He received Roy and All-League honors and despite having a better OPS than the eventual 2041 MVP he only received two votes. He returns to Bremerton in 2042 expected to contend for the LL6 MVP. 2B The position of 2B has seen its share of suitors. The past five seasons we have seen four players spend over 100 games at this position. After ring of honor member Cesar Banuelos retired we had a hard time to find a player who could really stick at the position. In the first round of the 2040 draft we knew we had finally found our man. After two years in the minors Hyun Shik Park was finally called up to get some late season at bats. He disappointed in his limited time at the plate hitting only .143 in 63 at-bats. He returns as a rookie and hope we can see him make great strides in his first full season. He is still only 23 years old and has 30-30 potential. Park is bound to be a fixture in the lineup for the next ten years or so. 3B This year will be Mathew Jenkins' fifth season in the hot corner for the Yellow Jackets. At age 31 we can expect to see him for a couple of more years in this position before management starts to starts to replace him with someone younger. Jenkins is a great power/great eye but low contact kind of player. Strictly speaking according to SI he is currently the team's third best player. Every single season since his sophomore season he's drawn more walks than he's struck out. SS The team's first ever 120SI/15POT player returns for his seventh season at SS. Despite being only 27 Rob Storey brings veteran leadership and experience to the clubhouse. With the team's relegation back down to LL6 he hopes to get his first All-Star nod. LF Returning to LF is future HOF'er Ed Davidson. The 4 time all-star is coming off a bounce back year where he hit over .300 for the first time in his career. He looks to continue to pad his stats in LL6 before he hangs up his cleats in a couple of seasons. He's one of my favorite players and I always regretted not training him at 2B. One of the only two players left from the 2031 LL6 Championship team. CF When I drafted Ron Trimble in the 5th round of the 2033 draft I had no idea he was going to develop into such a successful player. He's looking to build off of a season where he won his second all-star game in a row. Management and fans alike love watching this hard working, scrappy, young player who is still only 26 years old and figures to be in the long term plans of the team. RF RF is occupied by Japanese national team fixture Eita Ueda. In world classic competition he's hit an astounding .352. Ueda came to us at a time where we really needed a good OF'er and he made an impact immediately receiving ROY honors in 2037. DH Rookie 8th rounder Hitoshi Kageru will assume most of the DH duties. The team will also use this position to give a few at-bats to Ethan Ming and Stu Sherrill to see what kind of development they have in them. When they were drafted these former 1st round picks had high expectations of them. We'll wait and see if either of them will be around the next couple of years. Bench Todd Kent has the build to play anywhere on the field but he'll primarily be backing up middle infield as well as catcher. Duane Scott will be handling OF backup duties and Guozhi Shen will be covering the corner infield positions. He's going to get a lot of time at 3B this year since we may have to have him fill in for a year or two when Jenkins retires and our prospects develop. The Pitchers: The 2041 season was a real disappointment for the pitching staff. They gave up an average of 5 runs a game en route to a 4.44 ERA. This group will really have to step it up if they want any chance of promoting to LL4 in two years. This staff is an interesting mix of good veterans close to the end of their careers and some young prospects who still need to develop to hit their potential. The rotation is anchored by ace Ed Medley. The bullpen will be rotating out a number of players to maximize opportunities for development and success. Starting Rotation: Ed Medley: 3.45 Career ERA Omar Galvan: 3.29 ERA 2038-2041 Fernando Navarro: 3.45 Career ERA Salvador Alonso: 3.6 ERA 2038-2041 Gerardo Montero: Rookie Bullpen Notables: MR- Joel Bolton: 3.58ERA in 258IP 2039-2041 SET- JC Southard: 2.77ERA in 2040 CL- Nate Swain: 2.44 Career ERA Projected Lineup: LF- E. Davidson RF- E. Ueda CF- R. Trimble 1B- T. Takagi 3B- M. Jenkins C- K. Egan DH- H. Kageru 2B- H. Park SS- R. Storey Tell me what you guys think of my team. I tried building this team with only homegrown players. And if I'm not mistaken all of my batters and all but one pitcher are currently from our farm system. We may be in LL6 but we still love them! Updated Monday, August 12 2019 @ 11:28:37 pm PDT

#67618	08/13/2019 8:23:32 am	Jan 15th, 2042
Seca Joined: 05/05/2014 Posts: 5199 Waterloo Dinosaurs Legends	Good write up! I like the ring of the Bremerton Admirals, but it's definitely difficult moving on from a long held moniker. Got something to look forward to in Goodwin. Your team seems to have nice balance. Guys like Ueda providing bite against RHP, but Takagi preventing LHP from running over you. Trimble and Storey are nice finds. Not flashy, but solid. I really like Egan, but the 16 PB last season would have me pulling my hair out. Should be better this season. I'd be really excited about Park. 13 range seems low at 2B (I'm entering the season with a 14 range 2B, so I can't scold). Long term he might be less of a liability at 3B. His upside with the bat seems great. I'd be trying to find ABs for Sherill. His SI seems low, but with all his skills improving it should thicken quickly. Some nice young assets. Should be headed in the right direction.

#67619	08/13/2019 10:52:53 am	Jan 15th, 2042
peacockpenguin Joined: 11/18/2014 Posts: 102 Inactive	Thanks Seca for the feedback! I felt like there needed to be some changes and finally a custom logo. I'm really happy to hear that about Park because I do have another prospect developing in the minors that may be a better fit at 2B and I was anticipating a bit of a logjam there. Rick Schaefer. Also yeah I wasn't happy about the PB. I had a horrible fielding rate this past season. I cant help but think I lost more games than I should have because of it. Do you think I should give up on Ming and just focus on Sherrill? Updated Tuesday, August 13 2019 @ 11:12:21 am PDT

#67620	08/13/2019 10:53:15 am	Jan 15th, 2042
wickersty Joined: 05/11/2017 Posts: 1002 Deadwood Perambulators II.1	Great write up, as Seca said. I too love reading these personal breakdowns and stories. I know when I write them, which is every few seasons or so, especially when there is great overhaul and change on my team, it helps me become more intimate with my players and more connected to the team. I was surprised that you had at least two starting position players with no hitting comments and no more real hitting skills to come... Storey and Jenkins. How has that worked out for you, having guys without hitting comments? I've had guys with "Good" hitting that have been absolutely USELESS with the bat, so I'm terrified of guys with no hitting comments, regardless of their POT. Goodwin makes me salivate. I hope is Hitting skill is high enough to make him a force for you or many years. He's an exciting guy to be waiting for! Anyhow - thanks for sharing and writing about your team! Good luck this season!

#67622	08/13/2019 11:06:10 am	Jan 15th, 2042
peacockpenguin Joined: 11/18/2014 Posts: 102 Inactive	...it helps me become more intimate with my players and more connected to the team. I totally agree wickersty. I feel like I am a fan of my team and my players! I wanted to find a place for Storey on my team one way or another. I felt like he'd be a good fit at SS with his defensive build and that being one of the positions I'm okay prioritizing defensive stats over offensive stats. With Jenkins I really liked how he drew a lot of walks and the past few years he always ended up having one of the higher OPS' on the team so I kept him around. He basically was only in a part time role for the first four years of his career.

#67624	08/13/2019 11:57:09 am	Jan 15th, 2042
Seca Joined: 05/05/2014 Posts: 5199 Waterloo Dinosaurs Legends	My team has had its share of success, but I have a truly atrocious track record developing position players. So definitely don't go by what I think. I do like Sherrill better than Ming. Ming has a couple things going for him. He gets the ball in the air more often which pairs well with his power and should make him a better pure slugger than Sherill. He also completely wears out LHP. If the goal of the roster spot is a lefty wrecking DH, than maybe he's the guy. Sherrill should be a more balanced player. With higher PD and (likely) high contact he should offer more dimension to the attack. 13 speed vs. 9 speed is a very significant difference to me. Where I would only want to bat Ming in the 4-7 slots in the order, a fully developed Sherrill could be a nice 2 or 3 while also being fine lower down. I know you have Tak, but the other perk is that Sherrill is a perfectly acceptable 1B. Ming is in no man's land; not enough range to play OF, not enough glove to play IF. Career DH. I'm not saying cut Ming. If the goal is the best possible middle of the lineup DH vs LHP it might be him. See him as much more specialized, with Sherrill being more generally useful.

#67630	08/13/2019 6:42:29 pm	Jan 22nd, 2042
peacockpenguin Joined: 11/18/2014 Posts: 102 Inactive	I guess I'll have some tough decisions to make next offseason. Positional flexibility is always a plus for me. I'll have to see how these two guys develop over the next season.