Newport Gulls 2014 Preview

Louisville pitcher Kyle McGrath. /UofL photo

NECBL.com has released the first of their team previews for the upcoming season, so I've decided to breakdown the lineups, rotation and bullpens of every teams to accompany their players to watch. Every team will be previewed by the season opener on June 5th.

If any NECBL fan was asked to pick the best franchise in the league, odds are that they would choose the Newport Gulls. They didn't come away with the league championship last season, despite going 30-14, falling to Keene in the championship. With five Fay Vincent cups under their belt, Newport has accumulated 117 wins since 2010 and have posted a .692 winning percentage.

The key to their success? Last season, it was dominant pitching that led the league with a hard-to-believe 2.18 team ERA. There wasn't a clear star on the staff as the depth the Gulls had was amazing.

This season, the Gulls return with strong pitching and a group of very talented hitters that could combine into one of the most feared lineups in the NECBL this summer. Here's a complete breakdown of the Gulls roster:

Rotation:
Last season, the rotation was headed by Missouri's Brett Graves, a name that has been circulated around the top 250 draft prospects. He doesn't return, but several others do, including Michigan State's Mick Van Vossen. Van Vossen went 3-0 with a 2.46 ERA over six starts in Newport last summer, and he only improved this spring for the Spartans. He started 13 games, going 6-3 with a 3.07 ERA over 85 innings. After Van Vossen, Stanford's Brett Hanewich and Arkansas State's Chandler Hawkins are both viable rotation pieces. After them, a majority of the incoming Gulls haven't started for their college teams so it's hard to tell who will fill out the rotation. Texas Tech's Jonathon Tripp and Boston College's Mike King both could start some games.

Bullpen:
Definitely a strength for this years Gulls team, the bullpen is led by Louisville returnee Kyle McGrath. McGrath had a 1.45 ERA in 10 appearances for the Gulls last year after making a transition into the bullpen from being a starter in the Northwoods league. Michigan State's Anthony Misiewicz (3.61 ERA, 23 APP) and Vanderbilt's John Kilichowski (1.47 ERA, 10 APP) are both solid relievers. The teams closer appears to be Armand Rugel, a Stonehill senior who has 13 saves and a 0.97 WHIP in 24 appearances.

Offense:

Salter /Lansing State Journal

Somehow, Newport managed to bring back two of their better hitters last season and bring in a crop of talented hitters, led by Michigan State power hitter Blaise Salter and Kansas two-way DH Dakota Smith. Breakdown below.

Lineup
C         Will Smith (R)
Hit .239 for Louisville, 12 RBIs in 34 games
1B       Blaise Salter (R)
Stands 6-5, hit .339 with 20 doubles and 46 RBIs, .533 slugging
2B       Shea Donlin (L)
Returning Gull, hit .274 in 33 games with 15 walks
SS       Nick Zammarelli (L)
Hit .273 for Elon, 19 RBIs and 18 runs in 47 games
3B       Reed Gamache (R)
Binghamton junior hit .290 with 19 runs, 13 RBIs and 7 doubles
OF       Jose Vizcaino, Jr. (R)
Hit .317 for Santa Clara, 10 stolen bases, three triples and 30 runs
OF       Ben Roberts (L)
Returning All-NECBL first teamer, hit .308 this spring
OF       Dakota Smith (R)
Hit .335 for Kansas, 35 RBIs, can also pitch w/ 95 mph fastball
DH       Tommy Edman (S)
Stanford second basemen worked 22 walks in 40 games

Rotation
RH        Mick Van Vossen
Went 6-3, 3.07 ERA in 13 starts for Michigan State
RH        Brett Hanewich
2-4 over 12 starts for Stanford, 1.45 WHIP and 3.76 ERA
LH         Chandler Hawkins
Arkansas St lefty averages a strikeout an inning over 55.2
RH         Jonathon Tripp
Texas Tech reliever can start, 3.22 ERA over 22 innings
RH         Mike King
Boston Col sophomore has a 3.18 ERA over 40 innings

Bullpen
RH        Armand Rugel (Closer)
Had 13 saves for Stonehill, 1.16 ERA and 0.97 WHIP over 38 innings
LH         Kyle McGrath
Dominant lefty from Louisville, 0.83 WHIP and 0.93 ERA over 29 innings
LH         Anthony Misiewicz
Michigan St, 3.61 ERA over 23 appearances and 52 innings
LH         John Kilichowski
Vanderbilt reliever has 1.47 ERA, 10 APP/18 innings
LH         Marc Huberman
Southern Cal product averages 13.4 strikeouts per nine

Player to watch:
Blaise Salter if you like offense or Kyle McGrath if you like pitching. Salter crushes doubles in the gaps and has serious power that could be exploited when he visits stadiums like Alumni Field in Keene. McGrath is a dominant pitcher who doesn't make mistakes, as is evidenced by the fact that both his WHIP and ERA are under one after almost 30 innings of work.

Martinez, Pollock and Carpenter excel in bigs

Nick Martinez /Zimbio

Take away the month of April, and former Vermont Mountaineer Nick Martinez holds a 1.54 ERA in May for the Texas Rangers in a mix of starting and relieving. In his last appearance, Martinez went five one-run innings against Toronto and looks to continue his solid month as he faces off against Rick Porcello and Detroit.

He's struck out 16 in eight games (three starts) and has remained in the rotation on a decimated Rangers team that just saw star first basemen Prince Fielder head to the DL for the rest of the year.  Martinez, a 2009/2010 Mountainer, soared up the minor league system and jumped from Double-A to the majors this year.

Rangers beat reporter T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com wrote that injuries to Derek Holland, Matt Harrison and Colby Lewis has caused manager Ron Washington to juggle his rotation. Sullivan also added in a notebook update that Martinez has had a favorable impression on the Rangers as he pieced together a 11 1/3 scoreless inning streak, causing Washington to comment on his success.

"He did a good job," Washington said after Martinez mopped up a mess left by Harrison. "That could have gotten wild. You have to give him a lot of credit. He wasn't fazed. I hope he continues to have that mindset."

Another former Mountaineer has found success on the mound- Atlanta Braves reliever David Carpenter. A 2005 Mountaineer, Carpenter holds an impressive 2.66 ERA in 22 appearances out of the bullpen with 24 strikeouts over 20.1 innings. He also leads the Braves in bullpen appearances.

A.J. Pollock /Zimbio

The month of May has been good to Carpenter as well, as he has a 1.00 WHIP and a 11:2 strikeout to walk ratio and started with six straight appearances without allowing an earned run.

Finally, the third Mountaineer up in the majors is enjoying an impressive start to the season. 2008 Vermonter AJ Pollock (right) has been a bright spot in his sophomore campaign for the 18-31 Arizona Diamondbacks.

His production has increased drastically over the past few weeks and he's brought his line up to .303/.349/.514, numbers that are huge improvements over last year and draw comparisons to his dominance in Triple-A Reno in 2012.

Inside the 'Zona, a blog focusing on Diamondbacks baseball, wrote an article on Pollock this past week- some of the points focused on how he's punished right-handed hitters at a .313 clip and is hitting .377 in May. 

An interesting side note, for all those fantasy baseball players out there- Pollock went from being owned in 11.1% of the leagues on ESPN.com to 60.8%, a +49.7 increase. 

Prospect of the Day: Alex Caruso, OF, St. Johns

Caruso. /St. Johns

Chandler Brock returns in the outfield for the Mountaineers and his name is very well-known in Vermont as he tore up the NECBL last summer and the GSC this year. However, overshadowed in all of this is incoming Mountaineer outfielder Alex Caruso, my topic for prospect of the day.

Caruso hit just .205 as a freshman in 2013 but turned it around quickly in 2014, hitting .328 in 51 games for St. Johns. He swiped seven bases and scored 35 runs with a .328/.379/.450 line, an improvement from his .205/.241/.283 line. 

He was named to the All-Big East team after ranking third in the league in OBP and tied for the league lead in walks with 34. Caruso also ranks 10th in average overall, and is second in the Big East in conference average with an impressive .420 average.

When Caruso puts the ball in play, he's hitting .382- an impressive mark as he finds holes and gets on base. He is also talented on defense and will be a key component of the Mountaineers lineup. 

He'll be joined by St. Johns teammates Anthony Rosati and Robbie Knightes in Vermont. Currently, the Red Storm are competing in the Big East baseball tournament.

Keene Swamp Bats 2014 Preview

NECBL.com has released the first of their team previews for the upcoming season, so I've decided to breakdown the lineups, rotation and bullpens of every teams to accompany their players to watch. Every team will be previewed by the season opener on June 5th.

Last season, the Keene Swamp Bats started the season absolutely terrible. Keene came out of the gate with a 4.50 team ERA and a measly .236 average before completely turning it around- hitting .302 in May with a dominant 2.15 ERA. 

Returning reliever Matt Clancy leads a strong bullpen. /Sports NH

3-11 in June. 23-5 in July- it really was the tale of two halves for the champions, who used stellar pitching and clutch hits to fight past a scrappy Mountaineers team in the Western Division finals and to overcome the Newport Gulls in the league finals.

This season, the Swamp Bats have assembled what team president Kevin Watterson is calling "the best team we've ever had on paper."

Rotation

Last years rotation featured one of the best collegiate pitchers in D-I, Virginia's Nathan Kirby. The league's top pro prospect and rookie of the year fanned 60 in 43 innings while posting a 1.67 ERA and led the Bats to a 2.78 ERA, third in the league. He's gone, but several of his talented teammates return. Keene only had two starters with seven starts last year but they've assembled a group of strong starters. Cochise College righty  Darick Hall (6-4, 2.60 ERA), Kent St lefty Eric Lauer (7-3, 3.04 ERA) and Central Connecticut St righty Matt Blandino (3-3, 3.28 ERA) are all strong candidates. Other pitchers who've seen starts this spring and have chances at being a part of the rotation are St Leo's Michael Dunnigan and Winthrop's Zach Cook.

Bullpen

This is a really big strength for the Swamp Bats coming into the 2014 season. Last summer, nobody was arguably better out of the bullpen then St. Johns lefty Matt Clancy. Clancy went 5-0 last season with a 1.95 ERA in 15 appearances and 41 strikeouts over 32 innings. After Clancy, Kent State's John Birkbeck returns after going 2-2 with over 26 innings and 11 appearances. Finally, the Swamp Bats brought in another talented closer to replace James Connell, who led the league in saves last season. Southern New Hampshire's Benjamin Criscuolo will most likely get the ninth inning job after picking up 14 saves and holding a 1.01 ERA in 24 innings and an impressive 0.77 WHIP.

Offense:

Eric Gutierrez leads a strong lineup. /Texas Tech

Last year, Keene had the best offense in the league with a .273 mark and 36 home runs. Numbers like that seem hard to replicate but the Swamp Bats could do it with a talented lineup, led by Texas Tech star Eric Gutierrez. Breakdown below.

Lineup

C       Robbie Coman (R)
Played 35 games for D-I powerhouse Virginia, hit .250 with three doubles
1B     Eric Gutierrez (R)
Rare right-handed power who should thrive in the confines of Alumni Field (23 XBH)
2B     Taylor Perez (R)
Fast infielder, swiped seven bases, 25 walks to 25 strikeouts, .316 average
SS     Jared Mederos (R)
Very talented middle infielder, .363 with 34 RBIs and 24 runs on St. Johns
3B     Zach Lauricella (R)
Played third a little for St. Johns, good bat, hit .288 with 13 doubles
LF      Ro Coleman (R)
Played in left for elite Vanderbilt, hit .170 with 14 runs scored and 14 walks
CF     Stephen Smith (R)
Gutierrez teammate on Texas Tech hit .318 with 46 RBIs and 30 runs
RF     Alex Liquori (L)
Hit .361 for Kennesaw St, 13 doubles, 5 triples, 41 RBIs
DH     Darick Hall (R)
On the roster as a pitcher but hit .318 with 13 doubles for Cochise

Rotation
LH     Chris Sadberry 
Sadberry went 4-2 with a 3.34 ERA for Texas Tech over 12 starts
RH     Darick Hall
Hall, a solid hitter as well, went 6-4 with a 2.60 ERA over 79.2 innings
RH     David Drouin
Made six starts for Hartford, 3.25 ERA over 36 innings
LH      Ryan Lawlor
Went 4-5 with a 3.98 ERA for Georgia, 6.5 K/9
RH     Michael Dunnigan
7-3 over 10 starts and 16 appearances, 5.03 ERA for St Leo

Bullpen
RH      Benjamin Criscuolo (Closer)
Picked up 14 saves for Southern New Hampshire, impressive 1.01 ERA and .77 WHIP
LH      Matthew Clancy
Dominant last season in Keene, player to watch on the Swamp Bats
RH     John Birkbeck
Solid last season for the Swamp Bats, 3.12 ERA over 11 appearances
RH     Sam Triece
Triece was great last year for Keene and was solid this past season for Washington St
RH     Connor Jones
A strong pitcher for Virginia, 2.77 ERA over 48.2 IP (21 appearances)

Player to Watch
This is a tough one on this loaded Swamp Bats team, but Matt Clancy is the bullpen creature that every opposing team should fear. He had a 1.95 ERA last season in Keene with 1.3 strikeouts per inning and should control the middle innings once again.

Former Mountaineer makes splash in MLB

Pollock scores on a Paul Goldschmidt sacrifice fly. /AP Photo

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Cliff Lee has established a reputation as strike-thrower who rarely loses control —he owns a 40:4 strikeout to walk ratio through 40 innings in this young season. Stoic and confident, Lee is frequently a batter’s nightmare. He got the start for the Phillies on April 26, looking to beat the struggling then-8-18 Arizona Diamondbacks.

Lee toed the rubber at 5:10 p.m. Pacific Time and reared back for his first pitch, unleashing an 89 mph four-seam fastball that would’ve painted the bottom of the strike zone, but AJ Pollock was ready and slapped a line drive through the first base side and into left field.

He was nearly picked off attempting to steal second but managed to get a good enough jump, and a costly error at second base saw him sneak under a bad tag attempt by Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins. He moved to third on a groundout and scored with a slide on a sacrifice fly by 2013 NL MVP runner-up Paul Goldschmidt.

This combination of good hitting, speed and heads-up baserunning should be very familiar to Vermonters, as should the 6-foot-1 Pollock, who graced Montpelier Recreation Field seven years ago in the green and white of the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s Mountaineers.

Pollock now has a new home in the massive, $354 million, Chase Field.

Chase Field is an expansive ballpark complete with perfectly manicured grass and level upon level of seats. It is a completely different world from the friendly confines of Recreation Field, a park Pollock affectionately rememberedthree hours before he laced a game opening hit.

“You felt like you were in your own little world right there,” Pollock said. “I remember the occasional fog delay too, rolling off the mountain.”

Pollock sat framed by Gatorade bottles and towels in the dugout, all perfectly laid out and ready for the game. The floor was spotless, with no seeds or discarded cups. Pollock had a red Diamondbacks warmup on and was relaxed, a welcome sight after an irritating neck injury had kept him previously sidelined. He’d been taken out in the sixth inning of a game against the Dodgers after he felt a jolt in his neck, and he struggled to pick up his head at points. He was healthy again on the afternoon before the Phillies game, having gone 2-for-4 with a go-ahead home run the day before.

Looking back to 2007 when the Mountaineers were in their fourth season, Pollock was 19 years old and fresh off a rookie season at Notre Dame where he hit .372 with 28 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. 

Pollock’s incredible seasons as a member of the Fightin’ Irish almost didn’t come to be, however. He looked at schools like the University of Vermont and the University of Connecticut. In fact, he was on a trip to visit the Connecticut campus when Notre Dame had called. If he’d ended up a Catamount, the baseball program was cut two years after he would’ve arrived.

He carried over his success from Notre Dame and lit up the NECBL, hitting .348 (good enough for fourth in the league) and adding 29 runs and a league-high 15 doubles. The icing on his already incredible summer season was the Mountaineers secondstraight championship over the Newport Gulls. Pollock had a double and scored in the series clincher, a 3-0 win at home.

“Winning the championship sticks out of course,” Pollock said. “But playing with Coach (John) Russo was awesome. It was also my first experience with wood bats, which was definitely a challenge that I would say helped me as a player.”

Pollock also enjoyed his teammates, playing with a bunch of “really cool guys” who he has run into throughout his ascent through the minor league system to The Show. Nobody from the 2007 team has joined Pollock in the majors, but they’re scattered across the minor league levels.

Curt Smith was a part of the ‘07 squad and finds himself in Double-A Springfield while fellow teammate Michael Brady sits in Triple-A Salt Lake. Pollock still keeps up with his old Mountaineers teammates who are still playing, as well as some from different years.

Rockies left-hander Christian Friedrich is one of them. 

“He was on the Mountaineers the year before me,” Pollock said. “He’s with the Rockies, so I run into him a bunch.”

However, baseball’s a tough business to stay in touch with people, Pollock said. 

“You play games until 10 p.m. and then go to bed,” he said.“You get two hours of free time in the morning and thats really it. It’s hard to stay in touch, but they were a great group of guys.”

After returning to Notre Dame for a stellar sophomore season, teams began to take notice, the Diamondbacks in particular. Arizona held the 17th pick and they used it on Pollock, 16 picks after former NECBLer Stephen Strasburg was taken by the Washington Nationals first overall.

“I thought the NECBL was an excellent league,” Pollock said. “For me, it was awesome. It was great to just go play in New England — I’m from Connecticut — it was just a lot of fun and good baseball.

“A lot of good players come out of there. I know Strasburg was there the year I was and a lot of guys I’ve run into in pro ball I’ve seen in the NECBL and the Cape.”

Pollock’s success continued the summer following his stint in Vermont. He was the 2008 Pat Sorenti Cape Cod Baseball League MVP, a very prestigious award as he hit .377 with 61 hits and 15 doubles for Falmouth. The Commodores invited Pollock into the heavily-scouted league after his impressive Mountaineers season.

He quickly moved his way up the Diamondbacks farm system as a heavily touted prospect, advancing a level in consecutive years (he did sit out with an injury in 2010, however). Each level Pollock went up, he got seemingly better as he raised his batting average from a .271 mark in Single-A South Bend to .318 in Triple-A Reno. 

Pollock’s hot hitting earned him a Major League Baseball callup in 2012, which lasted 31 games.He still had rookie eligibility in 2013 and he was the center fielder on Baseball America’s All-Rookie list. He replaced prospect Adam Eaton and did such a good job as an outstanding defensive center fielder who contributed at the plate that the Diamondbacks traded Eaton away and gave Pollock the spot.

His start to the 2014 season was rough.He went 0-for-13, but he’s slowly but surely dug his batting average out of a slump, especially over the last few games, including April 26.

After scoring in the first, Pollock knocked a 73 mph curveball from Lee deep into right field and it rolled up against the wall. He kicked it into high gear and sped around the bases, sliding into third ahead of the tag for a triple. He later came around to score for his second run of the game.

Later in the game, Jeff Manship replaced Lee and Pollock had no problem facing him. Manship gave him a looping 84 mph curve and Pollock continued his hot streak and lined a double into left field, leaving him a home run short of a cycle. 

He came up in the bottom of the eighth and launched a high fly ball that had a majority of the 35,462 in attendance on their feet, but it dropped into the waiting hands of Marlon Byrd. 

He added a 1-for-3 performance at the plate in the third game of the Diamondbacks series against the Phillies for a 6-for-12 mark in the three-game stretch after returning. His average has continued to climb. It’s up to .275 now and that rough 0-for-13 start to the season is long in the rear view mirror.

Pollock was sidelined this past week with a groin injury and hasn’t made it back into the lineup despite wanting to. His manager, Kirk Gibson, wants him to rest to get to full strength moving forward. The Diamondbacks might be having a tough year, but if Pollock continues his hot hitting at the plate and fights off the nagging injuries, there’s no where to go but up for the former Mountaineer.

Reaction: Future MLB Power Rankings, Red Sox #1

The defending champion Red Sox sit atop ESPN's 2014 Future Power Rankings.

I read an article on ESPN Insider (you can view it here) that gave a detailed breakdown on the future of every major league franchise. Written by experts Jim Bowden, Buster Olney and Keith Law, the article was quite the read. I decided to react to the rankings, which were decided by several categories.

These categories included the quality of the current big league roster, the quality/quantity of there minor league system, how much money they have to spend, the value and stability of ownership/front office/coaching staff and the mobility in terms of young, cheap players vs. old immovable guys.

These experts ranked all 30 teams, and I was very happy with the team in first.

Here are their top ten rankings (number on a scale to 100)
1. Boston Red Sox (89.1)
2. St. Louis Cardinals (82.3)
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (75.3)
4. Texas Rangers (69.4)
5. Pittsburgh Pirates (63.3)
6. Washington Nationals (61.1)
7. Chicago Cubs (58.8)
8. Detroit Tigers (55.4)
T-9. Atlanta Braves (54.9)
T-9. Kansas City Royals (54.9)

Boston soars above everyone, which is a great sight to see- especially after winning their third world series in since 2004. The Sox have financial flexibility and one of the best farm systems in baseball according to Olney, while Law says they have some strong pitchers, including Brian Johnson. The only dilemma Bowden sees is a lack of depth in the long-term outfield- after Jackie Bradley, Jr. they don't have a lot of depth and need some players in the corners.

Down on the farm system, outfield isn't a big strength. Bradley is outstanding defensively with a strong arm but the system is weak after him. They do have a big sleeper in the outfield with Manuel Margot, who's in at No. 12, but he's only in low Class A. Give him a few years to develop (he turns just 20 in September) and Margot could be up in the Bigs.

The defending National League champions are in second, followed by the Dodgers. After that, it's a big drop off to Texas, Pittsburgh and Washington. The Cubs, Detroit and a tie for ninth between Atlanta and Kansas City round out the top ten.

A couple of things I saw throughout the rest of the rankings- the Astros are in at 17th, and I though they'd be a lot higher. GM Jeff Luhnow tore down the squad to build it up and I thought they were closer to the top with arguably the best farm league system in the majors. However, the analysts made some solid points, including an Olney quote- "Much of their top talent is still a year or two away, so it is hard to forsee playoff contention before 2016, at the earliest."

Bostons rival, the Yankees, come in at No. 13. They have solid financials with deep pockets, so their week farm system isn't how they'll win games. Even though Jeter is retiring, the free agent market is filled with quality talent that they can pick up- even make a run at Hanley.

Graves named Co-SEC Pitcher of the Week

Graves vs. South Carolina in March 16, 2013 (Photo by Ben Walton)

Last summer, a 6'1 righty from St. Charles, Missouri and a student at Missouri displayed stuff that scouts said that they normally see in the Cape Cod League. The scouts went on to say he displayed talent that the NECBL normally doesn't get access too and he blossomed as a member of the Newport Gulls as the ace of the best pitching staff in the league.

This pitcher, Brett Graves, posted a minuscule 1.00 ERA in 35 and two thirds innings pitched while allowing just 20 hits and striking out 30. Many coaches agreed in saying he was the most consistent pitcher in the league, and Perfect Game USA projected him as a top three round pick in June as a draft-eligible junior.

Graves carried his success to Missouri and has been absolutely dominant. Graves boasts a streak of 15 scoreless innings and was named the Co-SEC pitcher of the week. He went eight innings against the University of Illinois-Chicago and allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out six, one off his career high.

"I'm just trusting my stuff," Graves said. "I'm trying my best not to let anything affect what I'm doing while I'm on the mound."

Graves, one of the top pitching prospects in the SEC this season, has been outstanding this season. He leads all Tiger starters with a 0.92 ERA and is 1-1 overall with 15 strikeouts against only three walks in a team-high 19.2 innings. He is limiting batters to a .132 average this season and has allowed just one extra-base hit all season. 

Over his last two starts, Graves has been even better than his season numbers. He has gone 15.0 innings, allowing just five hits, one walk and no runs while striking out 12. He has not allowed an extra-base hit in that span and is limiting batters to .098 hitting in those two starts. He has allowed just two runners to reach second base in that span. He has a 0.40 WHIP over his last two starts.

"Right now, I'm just focused on next week and starting a new week," Graves said. "Once we accomplish the goals we've set as a team then I'll be able to look back and have some good moments to remember."