2016 CL Community Projections

Same as the NL Projections posted in the post before this.


CL West
Yoshinori Sasaki - Sasaki was signed from San Francisco to provide a bit of stability to the infield in St. Charles and that's what Glenn hopes he gets.  I'm thinking Glenn would be happy with a repeat of the slash line that is projected with an increase in plate appearances of 200.

Luke Pittman - Oh Luke, you really are made of glass.  Not even 2 weeks into the new BSA season you've gotten injured, but that's predictable at this point and projections had him only getting 426 plate appearances.  He was signed to compete in about 400 plate appearances and Seattle fans have to hope he can stay alive that long.

Jesus Hernandez - Dirty had a relatively healthy season in 2015 with 562 plate appearances for a catcher.  Projections expect that to drop a bit this year, but see a bit of an improvement in his slash line with more rest.

Seung-Chun Mun - Mun had a nice rookie year last year and projections expect him to add a bit of power this year, but otherwise remain largely similar this year.  He's a good piece for Reno to build an OF around and Reno needs pieces.

Michael Hoffmeyer - Hoffmeyer had a strong breakout year last year with a 2.75 ERA in 196 innings.  Projections don't believe he repeats that and expects him adding a run to his ERA.  However, to offset they expect an increase in K's to reduce base runners a bit.

Yoshinori Sasaki, SCS	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	345	0.288	0.349	0.417	6	0.766	315	131.5	0.337	45.9
BSA Average	545.5	0.284	0.350	0.421	13.4	0.771	495	208.4	0.339	73.0
BSA Standard Deviation	87.5	0.014	0.024	0.034	2.1	0.052	82	34.1	0.021	11.4
Luke Pittman, SEA	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	484	0.253	0.356	0.384	10	0.74	417	160.2	0.331	57.0
BSA Average	426.3	0.251	0.342	0.412	16.2	0.754	375	154.4	0.332	52.7
BSA Standard Deviation	160.7	0.083	0.110	0.140	7.4	0.247	139	68.8	0.120	25.0
Jesus Hernandez, POC	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	562	0.24	0.305	0.396	14	0.701	514	203.5	0.306	62.1
BSA Average	489.6	0.250	0.320	0.406	16.5	0.726	444	180.5	0.318	57.8
BSA Standard Deviation	65.6	0.023	0.027	0.025	4.0	0.050	66	23.4	0.022	8.9
Seung-Chun Mun, REN	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	559	0.263	0.32	0.378	9	0.698	516	195.0	0.309	62.4
BSA Average	532.7	0.261	0.320	0.390	12.9	0.710	490	190.9	0.312	61.1
BSA Standard Deviation	135.6	0.025	0.037	0.040	5.4	0.074	121	54.7	0.034	20.5
Michael Hoffmeyer, VIS	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	196.33	2.75	132	116	11	4.84	10.4
BSA Average	197.8	3.66	147	91	12	4.31	22.2
BSA Standard Deviation	11.6	0.59	16	18	1	0	8

CL East
 Adam Morrow - Projections expect a bit of a reduction in games played as he had an unreal 733 plate appearances last year.  However, overall projections seem to indicate an expectation of a similar OPS.  However, those reduced plate appearances will lead to a decrease in runs created which would mean those 1.4 wins will need to be made up somewhere.

Gregg Burkholder - Burkholder sat as a free agent most of last year; however, does he have a full season left in his tank?  The projections indicate him being more of a platoon hitter and with increased exposure from last year a drop in his slash line.

Manuel Mozcado - Overall projections seem to call for a massive improvement in batting average this year which will be offset in a decreased slugging.  Not sure what to make of that, but overall projections don't expect his power output to change much with 33.5 homers vs a 2015 mark of 33 homers.

Rafael Salas- Salas leads his team into a new chapter in Chicago and many expect him to drop off quite a bit this year.  His projected homer total is half of what he hit last year with a slugging drop off of 120 points.  Chicago fans have to hope these projections are wrong.

Olivier Beaudoin - Beaudoin had a nice year last year with a 3.31 ERA in 174 innings and projections seem to call for her peripherals to stay similar, but that ERA to catch back up and increase a bit.

Adam Morrow, JER	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	733	0.282	0.402	0.36	4	0.762	610	219.8	0.349	88.4
BSA Average	588.5	0.294	0.390	0.375	6.6	0.765	508	190.5	0.348	74.4
BSA Standard Deviation	97.1	0.016	0.030	0.030	5.2	0.019	76	34.1	0.011	12.8
Gregg Burkholder, STL	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	161	0.296	0.399	0.459	5	0.858	137	63.1	0.378	25.2
BSA Average	440.9	0.279	0.368	0.450	17.7	0.819	386	173.9	0.359	64.1
BSA Standard Deviation	69.0	0.015	0.017	0.019	6.4	0.022	60	30.0	0.010	10.8
Manuel Mozcado, MAD	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	559	0.255	0.335	0.548	33	0.883	499	273.4	0.370	91.6
BSA Average	552.5	0.273	0.341	0.526	33.5	0.867	500	263.5	0.367	89.8
BSA Standard Deviation	85.5	0.023	0.013	0.050	8.0	0.056	80	57.7	0.019	21.0
Rafael Salas, CHI	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	550	0.255	0.335	0.548	33	0.883	491	269.0	0.370	90.1
BSA Average	553.2	0.276	0.357	0.429	15.8	0.785	492	210.7	0.345	75.2
BSA Standard Deviation	70.0	0.011	0.011	0.037	4.5	0.043	57	34.8	0.015	13.5
Olivier Beaudoin, GRN	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	174	3.31	134	48	12	3.90	27.4
BSA Average	180.8	3.83	135	50	13	3.95	27.6
BSA Standard Deviation	24.9	0.66	27	14	3	0	10

 CL Central
Rob Sharp - Can Rob Sharp continue hitting homers like he did last year topping 40?  Projections show a bit of a drop off, but very little change to his slash line except an increase in average of 25 points to offset that decrease in homers slightly.

Ben Moss - Moss is a player I've always liked and projections expect an improvement from him this year with a 35 point increase in OPS.  They don't expect quite the rigor of play with a drop of 110 plate appearances though.

Jose Guevara - Guevara had a bit of a rough year last year with a 4.72 ERA, but still struck out 190.  Indy keeps building and projections expect a decrease in ERA while striking out just as many.  Look for a similar year this year.

Ben Lane - Lane had a shortened season last year, but can he pitch most of the season this year?  Projections expect an increase in innings, but a drop in his K/9 and increase in his BB/9.  Can he hold on?

Rob Sharp, AUS	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	708	0.241	0.371	0.497	41	0.868	587	291.6	0.374	108.2
BSA Average	586.3	0.266	0.379	0.496	36.8	0.875	496	246.2	0.378	93.3
BSA Standard Deviation	62.8	0.028	0.021	0.017	8.3	0.032	48	29.4	0.014	12.2
Ben Moss, TOR	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	653	0.263	0.36	0.378	14	0.738	567	214.3	0.331	77.2
BSA Average	543.7	0.280	0.371	0.402	15.7	0.773	475	190.8	0.345	70.8
BSA Standard Deviation	104.2	0.014	0.012	0.025	3.0	0.032	93	39.1	0.012	15.1
Jose Guevara, IND	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	183	4.72	190	93	15	4.24	22.0
BSA Average	187.2	4.53	188	94	14	4.29	21.5
BSA Standard Deviation	13.4	0.35	15	14	3	0	5
Ben Lane, KCY	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	99.67	4.06	77	29	4	3.57	19.4
BSA Average	168.0	4.62	118	58	9	3.87	27.2
BSA Standard Deviation	28.5	0.57	28	11	3	0	9

NL Community Projections

For each of these I will present the player's 2015 BSA Statistics, the average of the projections received, and the standard deviation of those projections.  For FIP, since I didn't ask for a projection of HR/9 allowed, I used the pitchers career HR/9 which is why you may not see their 2015 FIP match up to the game's FIP.  The standard deviations are presented to tell you how far off the averages were and what will be used to calculate scores.  For example on Renner, for him his standard deviation on plate appearances was 36.1 PA.  For every 36.1 off from that your projection is in comparison to their 2016 end of year PA will garner you 1 "point".  The score will be presented as average deviations on the 5 categories, lowest score wins where a score of 0 means you projected exactly the finish.

NL South

Gernot Renner - Projections has that he won't get quite as many plate appearances, but there's expectations he'll hit just as many homers and a slight uptick in his slash line.

Jud Younger - Once again a stark decrease in plate appearances, but projections expect an uptick in his OPS of about 80 points and nearly as many total bases.

Reginald Krause - Overall projections say about 200 innings still with a slight increase in ERA and slight decrease in K.

Reagan Wear - Projections show a solid first full season throwing 177 innings and a 4.61 ERA.  He'll have nearly a K per inning and a 10 win season with a 4.99 FIP.

C Gernot Renner, JAX	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	624	0.251	0.327	0.459	29	0.786	561	257.4	0.338	84.2
BSA Average	565.4	0.261	0.334	0.462	29.7	0.796	510	235.8	0.343	78.7
BSA Standard Deviation	36.1	0.025	0.018	0.018	4.2	0.030	33	16.2	0.013	8.6
3B Jud Younger, HEN	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	659	0.212	0.348	0.406	22	0.754	545	221.4	0.333	77.0
BSA Average	564.5	0.231	0.367	0.465	25.8	0.832	465	216.3	0.362	79.4
BSA Standard Deviation	72.4	0.019	0.024	0.044	3.7	0.065	62	36.0	0.025	16.3
SP Reginald Krause, NEW	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	220.33	3.88	204	66	17	4.11	29.6
BSA Average	199.1	4.16	186	67	14	4.20	24.8
BSA Standard Deviation	24.4	0.17	18	13	2	0	5
SP Reagan Wear, ORL	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	57.3	5.81	36	30	1	5.39	-0.5
BSA Average	177.2	4.61	141	88	10	4.99	6.6
BSA Standard Deviation	30.5	0.60	33	15	2	0	8

 NL East
Eduardo Padovano - Projections expect that he won't miss near the time he did last year with injury, but that the increase playing time will result in a lower slash line.

Jesus Valdez - Valdez is projected to have a slight uptick in plate appearances, but still not play a full season.  He's projected for a 80 point increase in OPS and create an additional 20 runs to provide an extra 2 wins.  There is a lot of variance in his picks for plate appearances and homers.

Angel Munoz - The Angel of Baffin shows to have a relatively similar season to last year.  Just 3 additional innings but a steep drop in his ERA.

Jose Navarro - #1 pick Navarro is projected to struggle a bit in his first full season straight up to the majors.  There's a lot of variance in innings pitched on this one.

Gordon Brown - Gordon Brown is nothing if he isn't consistant.  He's projected to have a similar year with a few additional innings, but also Ks.

Eduardo Padovano, BOS	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	221	0.313	0.394	0.456	2	0.85	195	88.9	0.374	35.0
BSA Average	518.4	0.285	0.349	0.416	7.8	0.764	472	196.4	0.337	68.4
BSA Standard Deviation	81.6	0.024	0.022	0.034	3.3	0.051	79	27.0	0.021	10.4
Jesus Valdez, CLE	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	385	0.229	0.314	0.4	8	0.714	343	137.0	0.312	43.0
BSA Average	471.7	0.250	0.333	0.462	11.9	0.794	419	193.6	0.342	64.4
BSA Standard Deviation	88.5	0.023	0.021	0.143	4.9	0.143	78	50.0	0.043	18.4
Angel Munoz, BAF	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	190.67	3.73	149	50	11	3.88	30.5
BSA Average	194.1	3.36	143	52	15	3.99	28.7
BSA Standard Deviation	16.5	0.67	18	11	3	0	4
Jose Navarro, NYK	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	62	5.52	39	42	1	5.52	-1.4
BSA Average	169.7	4.72	124	88	8	4.84	9.1
BSA Standard Deviation	21.6	0.52	24	19	3	0	7
Gordon Brown, NFF	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	57.1	2.04	46	20	32	3.62	10.8
BSA Average	67.0	2.89	58	24	34	3.53	13.3
BSA Standard Deviation	13.9	0.47	16	4	9	0	4

 NL West
Tom Oglethorpe - Will he stay healthy this year?  Projections say no.  He will contribute pretty well in his time that he does play, but the projections say don't count on his for the full year on average.  However there is much variance with a standard deviation of plate appearances of 107 plate appearances.

Ricardo Vargas- Projections were made prior to his injury, but the injury was at least partially seen prior with a decrease of 82 plate appearances this year.  Overall though a solid year still projected.

Etienne Garcia - The youngster is expected to get better this year.  Projections show he will increase his K/BB ratio a decent chunk mostly from increasing Ks.  He will need to work on bringing down the walks though.

Rodger Hinton - Hinton will throw his first full year in Los Angeles this year and with the change in park, most think his ERA will go down.  Projections show a rather full season pitched though at 183 innings while an uptick in wins with the Bruins offense carrying him.

Ernesto Jijon - Ernesto needs to solidify his position to help take San Francisco to the next level.  Most projectors see him improving his ERA while saving the same amount of games.

Tom Oglethorpe, LCC	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	431	0.263	0.355	0.367	8	0.722	377	138.4	0.325	49.1
BSA Average	388.8	0.271	0.354	0.398	9.8	0.752	344	137.1	0.334	48.5
BSA Standard Deviation	106.9	0.012	0.021	0.038	5.1	0.049	97	44.4	0.019	15.4
Ricardo Vargas, MAU	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	OPS	AB	TB	wOBA	RC
2015 Season	692	0.288	0.363	0.556	39	0.919	619	344.2	0.387	125.0
BSA Average	609.8	0.293	0.371	0.533	33.2	0.904	543	289.4	0.385	107.3
BSA Standard Deviation	74.5	0.024	0.022	0.059	11.1	0.072	67	55.9	0.025	22.5
Etienne Garcia, ELP	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	161.33	4.96	70	65	8	4.55	13.8
BSA Average	169.1	4.78	103	77	9	4.36	18.0
BSA Standard Deviation	19.2	0.50	21	14	2	0	4
Rodger Hinton, LAB	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	196.33	4.54	157	73	11	3.77	33.8
BSA Average	183.1	4.08	143	60	13	3.67	33.6
BSA Standard Deviation	11.8	0.31	19	15	2	0	7
Ernesto Jijon, SNF	IP	ERA	K	BB	W/Sv	FIP	RAA
2015 Season	65.33	3.31	80	16	32	3.22	15.3
BSA Average	68.3	2.86	75	19	32	3.59	13.2
BSA Standard Deviation	12.3	0.71	7	7	8	0	2

Looters Draft Results

The Looters this month found themselves in an unfamiliar position.  After picking in the top 5 picks the first two drafts under GM Scott Thompson, they found themselves mid-round this time, which limited the pool of talent for them comparatively.  Instead, the Looters entered the draft with a best available philosophy, but after the first round,t hat philosophy was tough to accomplish.

First Round, 19th Overall
2B Stephen Shaw
Shaw is a talent from Clemson that likely dropped to 19th overall due to his injury concerns.  Shaw signed with the Looters for a 3,070,000 signing bonus; however, he's currently residing on the DL after suffering a broken ankle back on May 4 that will cause him to miss 3-4 months.  He currently only has 4 weeks until he returns, and likely will only get a bit of a work out at Single A before hitting it hard next year.  Shaw in his 4 years at Clemson hit .325/435/517 with 18 homers in 165 games, but impressively 56 doubles showing his tremendous gap hitting ability.  He is also reputedly a good clubhouse guy who once was known to have dressed up like a clown to entertain his teammates prior to a ACC championship game.

Second Round, 82nd Overall
CL Brad Steele
From the Kentucky Wildcats, this closer features 2 plus-plus pitches with a sinker and slider.  Career totals at Kentucky includes a 10-4 record with 42 saves in 70 appearances over 76.2 innings.  He struck out 108 batters with a 0.82 ERA and 0.93 WHIP.  He's struggled with his control walking 38 batters though.  Described as a hard sign, he may end up being too full of himself to sign.

Second Round, 90th Overall
MR Sergio Hernandez
Hailing from Nicaragua and getting his college degree from the Minnesota Golden Gophers, he had a decent college career, but not impressive.  He was an intermittent closer for Minnesota with 22 saves (10 high in 2014) with a 4.01 ERA in 79 appearances.  He struck out 116 though due to his superb movement.  He likely grades out as nothing more than an average reliever though and likely won't be signed with the Looters looking to translate that pick next year into a more useful player.

Beyond the second round, the Looters picked up no players that likely will make the major league roster with most of them being roster filler for the minor league teams.  Unless any of them put in significant work in the batting cages or side sessions, they will likely make a pittance of pay for a few years before moving on to the corporate world as janitors.

Looters Stumble in July

The Looters were flying high at the end of June at 54-27 (.667) and leading the wild card, but faced a tough opening to the month in July.  That stretch included series against fellow wild card contending Los Angeles Bruins, division leading Hendersonville Hitmen, and Eastern division contending Baffin Island Beavers.

In those games so far the Looters have stumbled going only 2-6 against (1 game remaining vs Baffin).  All of those games occurred in New Orleans as well which makes things especially troubling.  Overall, the Looters are 7-7 in the month thanks to a sweep of the struggling New York Knights, and taking 2 of 3 from Maui.

Thankfully for the Looters sake, the Bruins have also gone 7-8 in the month causing the Looters to actually gain half a game so far in July on the Bruins who came into the month 1.5 back of the Looters for the wild card.  The bigger story is in the West where Los Cabos who was embroiled in this three team race for the division lead and wild card has gone 10-6 in the month gaining 2 games on the Looters and 2.5 on the Bruins to a 3 game lead on the Bruins.  If they keep up their hot month, they could put enough distance to shrink this 3 team race for 2 playoff spots to a 2 team race for the wild card.

The key question though for the Looters is what has gone wrong this month?  Overall in 14 games the Looters have scored 80 runs for 5.7 runs a game.  True it's a departure of about a run from their near 6.7 runs per game this season, but 5.7 is enough to win.  Even in their series vs the Bruins, Hitmen, and Beavers, the Looters have averaged 4 runs a game.  Their downfall has truly been pitching so far this month.

Reliever Leonard Lucas who had been a solid piece of the bullpen this year has been awful this month with 6 runs allowed in 6.2 innings with a 1-1 record.  He's also got a 2.10 WHIP in those innings. Past them, the rotation as a whole has been worse than normal recently with only Armando Felix pitching hot recently only allowing 2 earned runs in 17.1 innings over two starts with a 2-0 record.  The other starts have July ERAs between 5.11 and 5.51 with Montano the outlier at 7.43 after having been pitching great the last few months.  The Looters have to hope all spark up late this month and level out somewhere in between.

Porter "Super Pippo" Sanford Out 4 Weeks

The Looters received bad news today as young Super Pippo will be out 4 weeks with an intercostal strain.  Sanford was claimed last year in the Rule 5 draft by the Looters from El Paso and he performed well in his rookie season last year with a .266/.315/.422 slash with 16 homers in 146 games.  However, this year he was really coming into his own and having a break out year.  In 42 games, he had a slash of .335/.370/.584 good enough for a 153 OPS+.  He also already had 42 RBIs on 9 homers and 14 doubles in 173 ABs.  Not to mention 5 stolen bases.

With Alex Herrejon already out and just starting a rehab assignment at AAA, the Looters will instead look to Xing-Fu Loong to come up and fill in.  Loong himself has just played 4 games at AAA this year after recently returning from a spring training injury.  Last year in 191 ABs in New Orleans, Loong hit .225.  His versatility of playing all 3 outfield positions though makes him a valuable off the bench option as Errol Hughes will move to playing the field after DHing most of the season with Tony Marin being DH and Manuel Solis being kept around on the roster after impressing early.  While Solis filled in for a recently injured Tony Marin, the youngster hit a slash of .358/.405/.537 with 3 homers in 67 at bats.

Los Angeles, Los Cabos, San Fran Series Loom

The Looters have been riding high this season currently sitting at a 30-12 record which is easily their best record at this point of the season in franchise history.  However, a lot of the national media is still discounting this team due to what they claim is soft competition early on.  Said columnist Petra Gammond, "They've only played 4 series against teams with at least a .500 record.  One of which includes St. Louis that just reached .500 this week.  In those games they're only 6-6, meaning they've gone 24-6 against sub .500 competition.  This upcoming series against the NL West leading Los Angeles Bruins will be telling as it begins a tough stretch of play."

True, this team has been feasting on bad competition including 8-0 vs Jacksonville, 5-2 vs Orlando, and 5-1 vs Cleveland who combine for only 44 win, but a good team is supposed to beat teams like this handily and so far this year, they have.  This team has also proven an ability to play with the team picked to win the league by pundits winning a series on the road vs the Hendersonville Hitmen.  However, to close out May, they will take on Los Angeles (road, 26-14), New York (road, 12-28), San Francisco (home, 21-20), Orlando (home, 19-22), and Los Cabos (road, 25-14).  The swing through the NL West will show a bit more about this team as Los Angeles and Los Cabos are closely bunched at the top of the division, and whoever loses out will likely be prime competition for the wild card berth that the Looters currently lead by 3.5 games on Los Cabos.

Also of note is the rise in attendance in New Orleans.  Currently through 19 home games, the Looters have seen 742,798 fans come through their turnstiles.  This is good enough for a 76.3% improvement upon last year total attendance of 1,796,165 which was a record since the franchise moved to New Orleans.  Current pace has the Looters on pace to blow out their inaugural season record of 2,411,336 in Somerton.  Current pace has the Looters set to welcome 3,166,665 fans through the turnstiles this year which would be a huge boon to their bottom line.  Last year, the Looters primarily relied on road gates to buoy their total $39M haul.  However, just a quarter into the season, the Looters have already made $13.3M in gate revenue and show no signs of slowing down.  If they can continue at this pace, they'll be able to significantly raise their payroll in 2016 from what is currently the 4th lowest budget in the BSA.

NL South Showdown

The Looters are making a case this year for being real, but their first real test came in the form of a familiar foe, the Hendersonville Hitmen.  The Hitmen owned the Looters last season with the Looters taking less than a quarter of the 20 meetings last season (3-17 if I remember correctly).  If the Looters are going to compete this year, this is a team they must hold their own against with 20 meetings on the schedule again this year.

Game 1, April 30
New Orleans Looters 4 @ Hendersonville Hitmen 3
W: Reginald Krause (3-1) L: Scott Hill (4-2)
S: James Kelly (5)
Krause didn't know any better about the history of this matchup.  He just knew that he was acquired by the Looters this year to help solidify a rotation that was considered weak and he drew a matchup against Scott "The Franchise" Hill.  Krause did his job pitching a reminiscent performance of why he was the #1 overall pick in the original dispersal draft.  He pitched 8 innings allowing only 6 hits and 3 runs striking out 8 Hitmen while only giving them one free pass.  He allowed an early 2-0 lead after the first inning after Dirty Hernandez hit a bases loaded single for two runs.  In all, Krause allowed 3 of his hits and his only walk in this inning.  He then shut them down for 3 hits over the remaining 7 innings.

The Looters shook off the early deficit quickly getting the two runs back on a 2 run Adam Considine homer hitting his first homer of the season and 5th of his BSA career.  The Looters continued working Scott Hill over the following inning scraping together another couple runs after a sequence that included a Sandro Cajani single, Luis Alou double, Jose Estrada RBI single, and Ramon Hernandez sacrifice fly to go up 4-2.  The following inning in the 4th the Hitmen chipped a run away with a Vic Robertson solo homer on a 3-1 pitch, but that would be the last score of the game as the Looters held onto a 4-3 win.  James Kelly pitched a perfect frame in the 9th with 2 swinging strikeouts to end the game to cap it off.

In all, the Looters touched Scott Hill for 4 runs in 7 innings more than doubling his ERA.  Prior to this game, Hill had allowed only 2 runs in his first 31.2 innings.  Hill got back on the shutout track throwing 5.1 shut out innings his next outing vs Jersey.

Game 2, May 1
Looters 1 @ Hitmen 5
W: Walter Bamber (2-1) L: Gilberto Montano (3-3)
The Looters fell in the second game from allowing the big inning to the Hitmen.  The Hitmen are a team that if you give them an inch, they'll smack you for a heap of runs and that's what happened in the 5th inning where Montano allowed 4 runs.  Bamber held the Looters to only 2 hits in 6.2 innings with the only run allowed an unearned run on a ground ball to Yokoyama that allowed Marin to score from 3rd in the 7th inning after 2 walks and a hit in the inning.

The big story of the game came in a disastrous 5th inning for the Looters where Montano's stuff was left in the dugout.  The inning started promising enough with a infield popup by Torres, but that's where it fell apart.  The next hitters successively had a HBP, 2 Run Homer, Fly Out, Solo HR, Solo HR, Double, before finally getting out of the inning, but the damage was done with 3 homers in 4 batters to put 4 runs on the board.

Game 3, May 2
Looters 8 @ Hitmen 4
W: Tyler Law (2-0) L: Greg Casey (2-2)
The Looters rebounded with the offense waking up against Casey.  The Looters scored 8 runs on 9 hits in the game chasing Casey in the 5th inning.  Ramon Hernandez had a huge game going 3 for 4 with a double and 2 RBIs.  Yamasaki also hit his first career homer in the game off Greg Casey a few games after making his major league debut.  Tyler Law threw 7 innings allowing 7 hits and 4 runs, but with being staked to a 6-1 lead after the top of the 5th, he eased off and allowed 3 runs in the bottom of the 5th before the Looter offense tacked on a few insurance runs in the 7th and 8th to go up 8-4.  Free agent signee Ciro Roghi came in in relief for the final two innings shutting down the Hitmen striking out 4 and allowing only 1 hit in his time.

In total, the Looters took 2 of 3 on the road in the first of 20 meetings this season.  Can the Looters keep up this pace?  Or will this be a lone bright spot in this matchup of teams?  The next matchup is scheduled for June 18-20 in Hendersonville yet again.