New York, NY - Tyler Helton, Coby Parker, and Eli Hanford are off the boards, into their respective organizations, and hoping to make a name for themselves very soon as big-league regulars. With the 2015 First-Year Player Draft a thing of the past, it's time to look ahead to 2016 and the top potential players available for next season's draft.
MBL Amateur Scouts are calling this "the deepest collection of projectable, big-league arms in the last 20 to 30 years" which has GM's around the league salivating at the chance to nab a quality young arm or two next June. Still, while pitching depth is tremendous in next season's pool, the best players may be found in the field where sluggers like Foster McCovey and Byron Nunnery will attempt to improve their draft stock before next season. For a complete review of the Top 20, check out the insider feature.
Birds of a Feather
Markakis and the O's lead the AL East.
Baltimore, MD - While the offseason focus in the AL East was primarily on the Red Sox and Yankees, few figured the Baltimore Orioles would factor into the equation. Nonetheless, the O's, who lead the American League in runs scored, have put together ample pitching and a potent offense to pace the division.
Offensively, the O's have been led by OF Nick Markakis, newcomer and free agent acquisition, Prince Fielder, and promising rookie Nick Griffin, who leads all AL rookies in batting average. It's also difficult to overlook the contributions of backstop Brandon Snyder, who has steadily improved his game each and every year.
On the hill, Kyle Drabek has ascended into the ace role on the club while younger arms like Michael Sumner, Leo Ramirez, and Travis Wood have all contributed. Not to be outdone, contributions from veterans Tim Hudson and Anthony Reyes have also been solid. All in all, these birds are flying high right now and hoping they can continue to play well into late summer.
Snake Bitten
Laroche and the D'Backs lead the NL West.
Phoenix, AZ - The Arizona Diamondbacks have the rest of the NL West Snake bite through June. The former AL West contender immigrated to the NL during the off-season and since jumping leagues has dominated in their new home. The Dbacks came into an already highly competitive division and have made themselves at home; said another NL West GM.
The Dbacks are 17-11 against the rest of the division and 41-28 against the league through June 15. They are in the top 5 in all pitching categories and lead the NL in batting average at .308 and on base percentage at .362. The team’s success has MBL scouts scratching their heads, as at first glance there is not a single player that you can point to and say this is why they are winning. We have played as a team and won as a team. There is no real magic to our success; said manager Ryne Sandberg.
This is a very competitive division there is still a lot of baseball to be played. Arizona may be leading now but we have seen things change pretty quickly, so let’s not declare them winners just yet.
MBL Rumblings and Ramblings Pennant Race Fever A month has past since the trade deadline and we are about to enter the final 30 days of the MBL 2015 season. As we entered the trade deadline we took a quick look at the races. Now we will look back at the races in July and what has changed as we enter the final month of the season.
As a reminder here is the breakdown leading into the Deadline.
NL East the Washington Nationa...
MBL Rumblings and Ramblings Post Deadline Edition The MBL trading deadline has passed for another year, and we entered the Dog Daze of August and Waivers. However the deadline did not go quietly with some big name big salary players changing teams and leagues, while other were not so lucky. A summary of the top deadline deals show contenders picking up needed pitching help and a few of the non contenders making deals they hope wi...
MBL Rumblings and Ramblings Trade Deadline Edition Here we are July 31st DEADLINE DAY. Unlike years past there no deals of consequence made so far. Actually the rumor mill is strangely quite for this time of year. Could this be the quite before the storm or will the deadline pass as a non event, we will know in 24 short hours.
There are teams ready and willing to deal New Yankees and Detroit Tigers are busy attempting to get ...
