Top bounce-back candidates

Caden Bailey, now a Sanford Mainer. (OSW photo)

Predictions are hard. Especially about baseball. If everything you thought was going to happen, it wouldn't be very interesting. Dan Syzmborski brought up a good point in an article about slumping Kansas City Royals first basemen Eric Hosmer, "Inevitably, some players we expect big things from will dissappoint during the season."

Unfortunately, that is the case with several returning NECBLers who haven't returned to their level of play in 2013. Here is my list of four players who I believe can turn their summers around and get hot in the second half of the NECBL season.

Chris Travers, C, New Bedford Bay Sox

Last season, Travers was an All-NECBL first team selection behind a league-leading .462 on-base percentage. Through 15 games this summer, he has a OBP over 270 points lower at .190 and is hitting just .135, a mark that ranks second to last out of qualified batters. He's struggled at the plate, striking out 16 times already after just 22 total in 2013. He's bound to come around for the last-place Bay Sox, even if it doesn't mean returning to his All-Star numbers last year. 

Caden Bailey, 3B, Sanford Mainers

Bailey sits at the Mendoza line through the first month of play with a .200 batting average over 18 games. It's a far cry from his 2013 season with Ocean State when he finished just two points short of a .300 average and appeared in the All-Star game. He hit almost 70 points better in July then he's hit this summer and hopes to replicate last season's success. Bailey's strikeout rates are down with the Mainers but so his on-base percentage. He heated it up down the stretch and hit .500 in the Waves first round loss in the playoffs last season, so Bailey should be able to regain his 2013 form.

Kurt Sowa, SP, Plymouth Pilgrims

Sowa's problem with command at times has caused him problems through his first three starts, as he holds a 3.37 ERA with a WHIP over two, at 2.06. However, after walking seven and six batters in his first two starts, he's settled down. His last start, where he went five innings and walked just four (still a lot, but its an improvement) was a different Sowa as he can definitely rebound. He was an All-NECBL second team selection in 2013 with Mystic (picture to the right) and he struck out 19 in 18 2/3 innings in July, along with a complete game performance that earned him Pitcher of the Week.

Oliver Powers, RP, Ocean State Waves

Last year's fourth-ranked reliever in the NECBL has struggled mightily out of the pen for the Waves, as he has a 1.73 WHIP and a 6.51 ERA over seven appearances. He ranked second in ERA for Ocean State over 14 appearances last year with a 1.11 mark, and the Waves didn't see this coming- their rock not having an ERA below three this entire summer. His most recent start he gave up four earned runs in just 1 2/3 innings- more runs then he gave up last year. Powers looks to replicate his 2013 July when he didn't give up a run over eight appearances and nine innings.