The Tusculum Pioneers are no strangers to winning. They have reeled off at least 30 wins in each of the past 13 seasons. This year would be no different, as they sit at 32-12 right atop the South Atlantic Conference with Catawba. They have gotten there this season behind solid pitching.
Tusculum’s staff finds themselves atop the national leaderboard in quite a few categories. The Pioneers rotation has them in the Top 5 in all of DII in WHIP, ERA, strikeout per nine and shutouts. Junior Ethan Carpenter has made great strides from last season, as has junior lefty Zach Slagle. Despite strong seasons, neither have displayed the utter dominance that senior left-hander Placido Torres has.
West Florida has had a remarkable turnaround this season. Under the tutelage of second-year head coach Melissa Paul, the Argonauts have turned last season’s 19-win season into a distant memory.
UWF is riding a 15-game win streak that sees them sitting at a surprising 36-11 heading into their regular season finale this weekend in a three-game set with Shorter. Earlier this season they swept then-No. 18 Valdosta State. This past weekend they swept No. 21 Delta State.
Trea Turner is off to a hot start for the Syracuse Chiefs. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, because Turner has always handled pitching with ease at every level of the minor leagues. The question arises as to why he isn’t in the majors yet.
If you have been following of late, our staff writers have been making ridiculously early predictions for their favorite teams since the NFL schedule was released. If you haven’t, you can see them all below:
The Chicago Cubs’ Dan Vogelbach and the Baltimore Orioles’ Christian Walker have a few similarities between them. They are (or at least were) both first baseman. They both have some nice pop in their bats. Unfortunately for both, neither of their big league ball clubs seem to have any room for them.
(this article is my latest at minorleagueball.com)
Tyrell Jenkins followed up a rocky first start with a great outing for the Gwinnett Braves this past week. Finally putting together a healthy season in 2015, just how close is Jenkins to the Atlanta Braves big league rotation?
The year is 1980. The Los Angeles Dodgers call up a 19-year old pitcher of Mexican descent to join their bullpen. A season later Fernando Valenzuela — the trigger behind Fernando Mania — would take the MLB by storm, winning Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and a World Series at the ripe old age of 20.
The Dodgers hope they have the second coming of Valenzuela waiting in the wings as 19-year old Julio Urias has begun his quest this season in Triple-A to reach the bigs. My latest at Today’s Knuckleball takes a look at Urias’ start to the 2016 season. Take a read below.
Certainly, there hasn’t been much good in the second week of the 2016 season for the New York Yankees. They are mired in a four-game losing streak heading into Masahiro Tanaka‘s Sunday start and a lot of it is their own fault. It’s actually the same story it has been the past few seasons.
What a difference four years makes, huh? Les Snead, the general manager of the then-St. Louis Rams, pulled off a trade that netted him eight players for his second overall pick, which the Washington Redskins infamously turned into RGIII. Yesterday, the same Les Snead of the now (again) Los Angeles Rams, traded away six picks for presumably their franchise quarterback.
That seems like a lofty sacrifice for one player. Especially when there isn’t one standout quarterback and the Rams reportedly traded for the pick two weeks early so they can decide which quarterback is their man.
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