The Commishy’s!

A made up award to look at the top 5 hitters, pitchers and prospects in the Classic Baseball Union according to the commissioner.

Expect nothing but the best analysis you have ever seen here. Just kidding I made up this preseason award just to help pass time during my current overnight shift, and well I thought it’d be fun to give my two cents!

HITTERS:

My own personal scout rated 10 players as 5 star players in the league two of them being my own (Wigmore and Donovan). I decided to pick from that pool while considered past performances, and comparing against the OSA rankings.

#1 LF – Jose Garcia – Peoria (OSA Rank #1)

I know everyone is shocked that I left Wigmore out of the #1 spot. However Peoria’s Garcia is the best pure hitter in the CBU bar none. His two Babe Ruth Awards are second to nobody and who in their right mind can ignore two seasons of 42 and 44 home runs, OPS totals over 1.05, and over 80 VORP each season? Not me. Garcia also has some wheels stealing 34 and 25 bases respectively, and plays an alright left field winning the Brooks Robinson award in 2009. Garcia will be turning 29 this April and looking forward to the 2011 season, deserves his spot at the top.

#2 3B – Bryan Wigmore – Sioux Falls (OSA Rank #6)

Wigmore hit 28 home runs as a 24-year-old rookie, and then followed that up in 2010 with 41 home runs. Wigmore leads the league in career hits with 419 owns two Brooks Robinson awards and has homered in both All Star games. Wigmore doesn’t mash quite like Jose Garcia, but he doesn’t turn 26 until August and could possibly get better for the Sioux Falls Uber Giraffes. Wigmore does not run well however, but did successfully steal 5 bases last season without getting caught. For the record, fans in Australia, Wigmore’s home town are already looking to rename states and cities after the young phenom!

#3 C – Tomas Perez – Rapid City (OSA Rank #2)

The Rapid City stud came alive last season leading the Outlaws to many more victories. Perez took the GL Babe Ruth Award and has been a two time All Star as well. Much like Wigmore Perez saw his power go bananas from 25 home runs in 2009 to 36 home runs in 2010. Perez’s on base percentage was a crazy .465 in 2010 and as a great defensive catcher he racked up 96 VORP throughout his Babe Ruth winning campaign. Perez is Rapid City and I fully expect PotatoPeeler to throw a fit about sticking him behind Wigmore, however since PP doesn’t write or likely read these things, I’ll move along!

#4 “SS” – Jim Hinton – Honolulu (OSA Rank #4)

The personality of the Nashville Apostles has recently moved out to his permanment vacation home in Hawaii. The switch hitting short stop has put together two great CBU seasons and looks like a prime candidate to string a few more together. The slugger has hit 24 and 27 home runs in his two seasons, while getting over 100 RBIs and almost a pair of 200 hit seasons. Both times Hinton represented the Landis League in the All Star game and while he should be playing 3B he holds down the short stop position alright. Hinton also has a pretty poor record on the base paths as he has 42 career steals while getting caught 25 times.

#5 LF – Bob Phillips – Oshawa (OSA Rank #12)

I’ll be the first one to say notice that 4 of the 5 players that won a commishy for hitting come from my home division. However when all but 2 players who were rated 5 stars by my scout were from that division, there was little to choose from outside of it. Bob Phillips is the pup of the group so far as he just turned 24 last October. Phillips struggled out of the gate in his first season hitting only .256 along with hi 23 homers and 90 rbi’s. Phillips however put all doubts to rest in 2010 where he smacked 47 home runs in a very large ballpark while hitting .312 witha slugging percetntage over .600. A lot of Phillips turn around came when he struck out 45 less times in 2010 versus 2009. Toss in Phillips cannon of an arm from the outfield and you have a great player that should be winning awards soon enough.

PITCHERS:

While I love a great relief pitcher I left them outside of the discussion group for Commishy’s as the CBU is stock full of great arms, and we can’t just have everyone win an award here. My scout much stingier on the pitching side of things and found 2 five star players, followed by 14 guys who came in the 2nd tier at 4.5 stars.

#1 SP – Gustavo Diaz – Whitehorse (OSA Rank #1)

Without a doubt in my mind the best pitcher in the game today is Gustavo Diaz. He has struggled some with health issues over the last two seasons however when he’s pitching he is embarrasing hitters. Diaz does not represent the all star of stuff, but his pitches move all over the place and when combined with pine point control you have a complete pitcher. 2010 saw Diaz throw 166 innings of ball and allow 0 home runs. Zero. That is not a typo, if you went to a Diaz pitched game and you were cheering for the other team, you were hoping for singles, as he did not allow much of anything last season. Surprisingly enough Diaz did not win the Koufax award in 2010, but did win in 2009, and has represented the Giamatti League twice in the all star game.

#2 SP – Earl Grant – Mexican Hat (OSA Rank #6)

The Warlock has only been featured on one All Star team and has pitched on pretty poor teams so far in his career. However the young star features a fastball that reaches 98 MPH, and a curveball/slider combo that just wrecks hitters on both sides of the plate. Grant has 411 strike outs over the two seasons while throwing less than 40 walks in each. Somehow that all combines to a losing record of 26-27, but besides some back luck with the long ball, Grant is everything anyone would want in a starting pitcher, and he is currently the highest paid player in the CBU.

#3 SP – Vincent Gingras – Carson City (OSA Rank #3)

I don’t know what it is about being an ace in this league and being on a bad team, but Gingras follow the trend by offering a 2.80 ERA last season and going 11-11 for the Carson City Silver Strikers. Gingras last season struck out 184 guys walked only 221 of them and allowed just a measily 17 homers over 206 innings pitched. However his defense was slightly below average behind him and and the lead to a few extra hits and runs. Gingras just turned 24 years old this off-season, and he will hopefully ride an improved Carson City squad to better fourtune in 2011.

#4 SP – Domeneco Corosi – Honolulu (OSA Rank #2)

Corosi fought through season ending injuries in 2009 to come back just in time for the playoffs and whipe away the Uber Giraffes, and then the Dandies to will the Orcas to the inagural championship. Corosi then showed off that he was far from injury prone in 2010 by tossing 240 innings winning 18 games and finishing with an ERA of 2.51. This was good enough for Corosi to win the Koufax award in 2010 and then land him a big contract in the offseason from Honolulu despite his age adding up quickly. Corosi doesn’t have the stuff that he used to own, however his control and ability to toss 5 different pitches gets him through the line up as often as necessary and he can easily dominate games even at 36 years old.

#5 SP – Alex Moss – Houston (OSA Rank #5)

Moss has been a leader in Houston and a consistent part of their rotation as he has tossed two straight seasons of over 200 innings. Moss will strike hitters out, while keeping the walk totals way down. His two full seasons of starts has resulted in just a 28-26 record, however the team behind him has been less than satisfactory the past two seasons. In 2009 his defense bled his BABIP to .328 which is almost ane extra hit a game compared to a good defense. Moss is no spring chicken however at 32 can still put together a very meaningful career if Houston can build a team around him that is meant for winning.

PROSPECTS:

Being much harder to judge on a wide scale, I included only the best of the best and made it a requirement that they have not played at all at the major league level. The players could be at any level below the major league level and were not penalized for how raw their actual ratings were. If my scout sees a HOF future, they were studied for a Commishy.

#1 OF – River Bailey – Orlando (OSA Rank #2)

Bailey somehow ended up in the Orlando organization as they lucked out in the drawing for the first ever amatuer player draft. Drafted 4th overall in 2009 Bailey tore up the leagues after leaving high school, and in 2010 he burned his way all the way to AAA. Bailey is a five tool talent in every way. His only average tool is his defense which leaves you wanting for a little bit more, but he makes solid contact, has unlimited power to the gaps, should be a guy consistently hitting 30 home runs a season, while having some of the best plate patience in the league. Expect great things from this young stud.

#2 SP – Dale Wolfe – Rapid City (OSA Rank #6)

The first player chosen in the 2009 amatuer player draft continues to show some amazing talent. My scout believes he will end up with 4 great pitches that will have plenty of movement, and plan on him honing in on his control before too long. Wolfe is just 21 years old and he throws as hard as 98 miles per hour and grabs ground balls 75% of the time. If Rapid City puts a great defensive infield behind Wolfe, expect amazing things from this young man.

#3 SS – Will Proctor – Carson City (OSA Rank #10)

Proctor already has the defense that will win his team games at the major league level. In fact his glove is so sweet that there are legends being created as we speak. Just kidding, but Proctor also shows an ability to swing a bat. Plan on Proctor to the defensive first short stop, but don’t be shocked if he develops into a short stop who hits .300 with 20 home runs. That kind of talent can swing a ton of wins for a team and make groundball pitchers look amazing. Proctor is a blazer on the basepaths as well and you can put him down for a guy to steal 40 plus bags a season. If he doesn’t do everything else well enough already, he’s also a switch hitter and that alone is good enough to give pitchers and opposing managers fits.

#4 SP – Allan Anderson – Sioux Falls (OSA Rank #24)

The commishy’s would be pretty fishy if only one Sioux Falls player made the list, but Masini doesn’t qualify so Anderson will have to do. Anderson features a fastball that sits in the low 90s and also throws a pretty decent curveball, change up, and when he feels like playing dirty a forkball. The 20 year old who is actually a native of Carson City, NV has a loyal following already from both the Uber Giraffes and Silver Striker fan bases. Anderson is not a likely canidate to strike out a ton of hitters every season, but his control over his stuff will power him to success in the future.

#5 C – Tom Graham – Honolulu (OSA Rank #12)

The former Augustana Viking MVP and SFIL champion has a special talent while holding the bat. Graham also has a commanding presense behind the plate as he looks to be a complete package from the catchers position. Graham has potential to hit .280 with 25 home runs, while mixing his way to a OPS north of .800. He also features the game calling and defensive abilities to be a leader to a pitching staff and has a real future in th CBU at some point. Graham is also athletic enough to fill in at other areas in the field if need be. He isn’t well practiced, but he could play any of the 9 positions on the field.

And there you have it, those are the winners of the 2011 Commishy’s. I really hope you enjoyed the read and the closer look into what is great about our league. The players offers so much to think and dream about, they really make this all a lot of fun. I look foward to another great season, and hopefully seeing Wigmore pass Garcia in everyway possible, well except maybe DL time.