BAD ASS Reporter
May 9, 2005
Random thoughts...
Just took a look at the newly drafted teams. Guess drafting on potential is the
new
thing. The 2nd and 3rd overall picks have played a combined 37 games in their
B.A.B. careers.
Both put up impressive numbers even for such a small sample of games. I guess
these two have
made a commitment to make it to every game? Even so I think those picks could
have waited at
least 3 more rounds. But as with any draft we will have to wait and see how
these picks
pan out. I feel for both captains as the B.A.B. roster was seriously altered
following
the end of the last series with retirements and new players.
Brandon's yet to be named team is solid defensively. Minor, Sac and Brandon are
three of
the best defensive players in B.A.B. With Leland and Soonam and Cav to fill in
holes you got
the make up of a great defensive squad. Hitting may be a concern if Alvin
doesn't live up
to advanced billing. He has hit 19 Hr's in 28 games for his career. If he can
come anywhere
close to that then he will be worthy of the 3rd overall pick in the next draft.
But taking
him 3 may have been a stretch for this series. Even so, with Cav bombing home
runs at a
record shattering pace(He is currently on pace to hit 69 Hr's) and some good
defense then
maybe all the mumblings about a terrible draft, and comparisons to Abe's Army
are a bit
premature.
Rick's Dick's with Sticks team has placed a lot of weight on the unproven
shoulders of
a player with 9 career games under his belt. While Nick has hit 10 Hr's in only
9 games,
those were all last year and he has yet to play a game this year. If he doesn't
step in
and immediately produce the burden of driving in runs falls to Torance. Luckily
Rob slipped
all the way to the 8th pick so they have another proven run producer besides
Torance.
All in all I think that both Captains had a plan going into the draft. They both
targeted
players they wanted and did not wait around to see if they could get those
players in the
later rounds. The teams are pretty evenly matched but I would have to give a
slight edge
to Rick's team and think they will win the series in 6.
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This is something that I have discussed with B.A.B. players before, the B.A.B.
Batting Avg. Scale. I think it breaks down pretty much like this...
B.A.B. Avg. M.L.B. Avg.
.500 = .200
.600 = .300
.700 = .400
So .500 is the Mendoza Line and .700 is the holy grail in B.A.B. To put that
into
perspective, The highest Avg. in B.A.B. history was Torance's .685 last year. He
was 200 for
292. He would have only needed 5 more hits to get him to .702.
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Rob continues to be one of the most underrated players in B.A.B. Even is heroics
in game 6
of the Sanchez/Steamers series couldn't stop him from slipping from top 5 pick
in that draft
to barely top 10 in this draft. And this is following the retirement of Lynas
and Josh who
were previously top 5 players in the league. No offense to Bryan and or Sac, but
for my
money if Rob Flores is still available in Rd. 3 of my draft I snatch him up and
thank my lucky stars.
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Although there has been no official announcement by the league, Cav Manning will
be named
series MVP for the Sanchez/Steamers series. It was unanimous as Cav led his team
from a
3-1 series deficit to win it in 7 games. His numbers were light years ahead of
anyone else
playing. I remember the fire in his eyes when Torance took his MVP trophy last
year, and
can see that he has channeled that fire into ripping the cover off the ball.
With the
emergence of his new weapon, the "Puss Hit" he may even have a shot at the
triple crown.
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The biggest surprise of the draft had to be Tito falling to 16th overall pick.
Tito plays
a solid first base, packs a wallop with his bat and is one of only two or three
true
"pitchers" in the league. Rick got a steal and Mr. Bernal received some
motivation to
perform by falling to second to last pick.
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Mendoza report...Some well known players are hovering around or have fallen
below the
B.A.B. Mendoza line of .500
- Tito Bernal is pulling away from the Mendoza line with his .513 avg. Hopefully
without
added pressure of managing a team he can concentrate on hitting and get that
avg. going.
- Al "the Raptor Killa" Padron had a strong series and shot past the line to
.508 One of only
two regular lefties, Al has become consistent at the plate and hopes to carry
that into the new
series.
- Soonam is right on the line. His avg stands exactly at .500 Most would be
discouraged by
that, but it actually took a strong series to get to that point so hopefully he
to can
carry that success into the new series.
- Joel .493, CT .483, Bryan .474, Dave D. 421., Sac .386!!! and Mondo .355
Let's get the ball rollin gentleman and get those avgs. up!