Freddy "Whiplash" Mena

Colby Lewis

Yesterday in Baltimore, Colby Lewis started his day by giving up back-to-back-to-back homeruns against the Orioles. Ron “Cokehead” Washington stuck with him, however, and Lewis ended up with 12 strikeouts over 7 innings. Oh, and he also gave up two more bombs. The Rangers lost that game by a score of 6-5 but the amazing line of that game was Lewis left the game with an ERA of 7.71 and a WHIP of just 0.86.

That stat line got my curious about CBU pitchers who gave up a ton of homeruns but still managed to keep their WHIP down. One of the most notable of these was Freddy Mena. While pitching for Denver in 2017, Mena compile a recored of 20-12 with a 3.31 ERA and a WHIP of 1.01. He also struck out an astounding 337 batters that season, which is still the single season record. All in all, a pretty impressive year for Mena. What made it even more impressive is that Mena gave up 45 homeruns that season, which is tied for the 6th most ever given up in a single CBU season.

So while Mena had a phenomonal season, he did a pretty poor job of keeping the ball on the favorable side of the fence. It’s also worth noting that the 45 round-trippers he gave up that year was not his career high. The year before, he gave up 50 homeruns, which was 2nd most all-time.

While it was hard to really find outstanding baseball this season, the team did manage to give out a few awards.  Here is the list:

Outstanding Starting Pitcher Rafael Gomez - In 32 starts, Gomez compiled an 8-13 record and a 4.15 ERA.  His WHIP of 1.32 was respectable, and that was enough to earn him the award. 

Outstanding Relief Pitcher Julio Molina - Molina appeared in 51 games, and ended the season with a 3-3 record and a 2.11 ERA.  He was the workhorse in a bullpen that may was one of the few bright spots this season.

Outstanding Hitter Ted Ray - Ray, despite battling a couple of minor injuries, hit .271 with 10 long balls this season.  He also drew 82 walks to give him an OBP of .381. 

Outstanding Fielder Bill Bland - Bland made himself valuable with a pretty steady glove at the hot corner. 

Outstanding Newcomer/Rookie Ned Ladd - In just 12 starts, Ladd earned a 4-4 record and a 4.42 ERA.  His WHIP was a decent 1.35, too. 

Outstanding Character Loren Turner - Turner spent hours donating his time to the numerous STD clinics in and around Galveston.  The fans on the island love him for it. 

Clubhouse Leader Shawn Woods - Woods is the guy that kept this clubhouse under control as deals were being made.  The young guys look up to him, and the older players respect him.

Bayhawks Heart Award Greg Martin - Martin had a rough season, especially after his cousin got hurt.  He kept coming back every five days to try to get back on track.  He worked every day to fix his pitches, and he paved the way for a successful future in Galveston.

Most Valuable Player Bill Rippy - Rippy was thrust into the closer role after mid-season trades.  He responded with a pretty strong arm. 

Minor League Pitcher of the Year Homer Frank - The 21-year-old lefty cruised to a 14-6 record and a 2.81 ERA.  Fans can look forward to seeing him in a couple of seasons.

Minor League Hitter of the Year Bob MacLagan - The24-year-old first-baseman crushed 17 homers and drove in 79 runs in AA and AAA this season.  He may challenge for a spot on the active roster in 2024.

AAA MVP Harold Anderson - Anderson hit for a .303 average and belted 17 homeruns while playing all three outfield positions.

AA MVP Dirk Nichols - The mid-season acquisition was as good as advertised, hitting 29 homeruns to go along with 98 RBI this season.

A MVP Pat Downey - Downey quietly hit .316 with 20 long balls for Warren.  He could very well see platoon action in Galveston within a couple of years.

RL MVP Dominique Truong - Truong is seen as a steal in the second round of the 2023 draft.  His .309 average and 22 home runs made front office brass take notice.  He might be on the fast track to Galveston.  Look for him in AA Texarkana next season.

The most recent occurance took place during the 2019 season when Al Turner, a relieft pitcher for the Galveston Bayhawks, was intentionally walked. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Maybe Turner was one those guys while not generally getting may opportunites to hit, still knew how to handle a bat. Well, again, you’d be incorrect in that assumption. Over his career, Turner has come to the plate 41 times. Over those 41 plate appearances, he’s recoreded 8 singles, 2 doubles, 0 home runs, and 0 runs batted in. That’s good for a .267/.333/.333 line. While that’s not a terrible line for a pitcher, it certainly does not warrant a free trip to first base.

Further research shows that most of the fifteen pitchers on the intentional walks list were guys similar to Turner. The only player on the list who has hit anything more than a double is Wisconsin Cheese starting pitcher, George Loughman. Loughman has not only been intentionally walked once, but he’s gone yard on three seperate occasions. Still, that feat has taken Loughman thirteen seasons and 861 at bats.

Unfortunately, since the game logs are not archived, the situations that surround these mysterious intentionally walks are forever lost. So we will never know what might have possesed a manager to order his pitcher to issue a free pass to the opposing pitcher.

Mesfin Hilali, the face of the franchise, is set to collect his 2,000th hit this season.  He enters the 2023 campaign just 109 hits short of the milestone, and even a subpar season from him will see him reach this number easily.  Newcomers Ryan Hill and Jacob Harris are closing in on 1,000 hits apiece, too.  Harris seems to be a lock for that milestone, being only 75 hits away.  Hill has a little more work to do, needing 118 hits to get there.  Hilali is also closing in on the 1,000 RBI, 1,000 runs scored, and 500 doubles milestones.  He enters the season only 34 runs short of that milestone, so he should achieve that by the All-Star break.  He currently has 870 RBIs, so he will need a monster season to reach that number.  He also needs 42 doubles to get to the 500 doubles mark.

Pitching has been a staple of Galveston baseball, and this year will be no exception.  A number of pitchers are primed to have breakout seasons, but only one milestone is likely to be reached by any of the pitchers.  Dwayne Gibson enters the season with 586 games pitched.  The 31-year-old closer should reach that by the end of June.

While fans are counting on another playoff run, plenty of subplots can be found during the season.  The Galveston front office is counting on these milestone chases to put plenty of butts in the seats at Lafitte Stadium.

Rubén Árias

Welcome to the inaugural edition of PotatoPeeler’s Completely Random Statistics. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Don’t we already have a weird statistics column? The answer is yes. We do. It’s called MrOpinion’s Statistical Dominion. So what’s the difference between this column and MrO’s column? Virtually nothing with the exception that this one is actually going to be written. Oh, and the author of this column is much better looking. Otherwise, same thing. Now that you’ve been properly acclimated, let’s get to our first random statistic.

Only 12 pitchers in the CBU’s 29 year history have gone yard in a postseason game. Among those 12 players, former Durham Dragon hurler, Rubén Árias, is the only pitcher to ever hit more than one. What makes this feat even more astounding is that Árias hit both of those homeruns during the 2002 postseason. Overall, Árias performed exceptionally during the playoffs that season. He had 3 plate appearances 2 HR, 4 RBI, and a base on balls, resulting in an impressive 1.000/.750/4.000 line. He also scored all three times he came to the plate.

All this begs the question, who the hell needs a DH? Not the CBU, that’s for sure.

Also, hooray for Hepler!

GM & Pres. of Baseball Ops. DC Hepler

REDBANK (AP) – As promised, the Redbank Bandits held a press conference today.  Flanked by his right-hand man, team owner Mario Lemieux was the first to speak.  After the obligatory welcome statements, Lemieux announced,

“I would like to introduce to everyone, the newly appointed President of Baseball Operations, DC Hepler.  DC will continue his duties as General Manager of the team, but he will now have the added responsibility of overseeing the entire baseball operations.  So, without further ado, DC.”

Hepler began his portion of the press conference by discussing the potential impact of recent free agent signings, starter Kevin Lucas and  reliever Matt Johnson.  Lucas, who previously played for the Indianapolis 500′s, signed a 3-year contract back in December.  In a crafty move, Hepler was able to ink Lucas to a discounted salary at about 60% of his 2022 number.  Hepler had this to say about Lucas,

“Kevin is coming off an injury shortened 2022 season, but we believe he is capable of returning to the form that earned him an All-Star appearance in 2019.  He is a groundball pitcher who can throw all five of his pitches for strikes.  Put our league leading defense behind him and we are confident he will be pitching in Redbank well past the end of his three year deal.”

Relieve Matt Johnson was another thrifty signing for the Bandits.  Johnson, who previously played for Durham and Sioux Falls, signed a 2-year deal at $625,000 annualy.  Hepler had more good things to say about the 6’4″ 250 pound southpaw,

“I’m really excited to have Matt on the Bandits pitching staff.  He is an All-Star caliber pitcher who has proven he can be a quality closer or left-handed set-up man.  He is another groundball machine and he has the capability to make batters miss.  A nearly 4-to-1 career strikeouts-to-walks ratio is evidence of that.  I know he will bring veteran leadership to our bullpen.”

The final topic of the day was actually the main reason for the press conference.  With the aide of veteran starter Bill Holwell, first baseman Jason Jordan, and top outfield prospect Mark Davis, the front office showed-off three new uniforms complete with two new caps to be worn starting in the upcoming 2023 season.  All three jerseys feature the new “Bandits” script lettering on the chest and the old Bandits’ “baseball” logo on the right sleeve.

Holwell in new home whites.

Holwell donned the home whites combined with a red undershirt and cap featuring the classic Redbank “R” in gray and a gray bill.  The full-button jersey also featured red piping outlining the button pad with matching piping on the sleeves.  The uniform was completed by white pants with red piping down both legs.

Jordan had the honor of wearing the road colors – a red jersey with white front panel and black undershirt.  The road cap, unchanged from previous years,

Jordan in new road uniform.

was black with a red “R” and bill.  The road uniform included plain gray pants.

Mark Davis was awarded the new alternate black jersey with gray front panel, red undershirt and new alternate gray cap with a red “R” and bill.  The look was complemented by gray pants with red piping down both legs.

Hepler ended the press conference with these comments about the new home uniforms,

Davis in new alternates.

“As some of you are aware, back in the fall we ran a contest in the local high schools asking for uniform designs.  I am pleased to say that the new

home jerseys were designed by a senior at Redbank Valley.  She will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship during a ceremony before the start of the 2023 home opener.  We received about 300 designs and immediately fell in love with her take on the classic white jersey.  I’m sure our players will be honored to wear her design!”

Diggity made a run at Hill for a number of reasons. First and foremost, he could handle a pitching staff. John Newell, the starter for most of last season, did a good job of this, but he could contribute nothing at the plate. Hill has a pretty solid bat. While his OBP is a little lower than desired, he will be able to drive in runs at the bottom end of the order. His ability to drive the ball to the gaps will be a big bonus in spacious Lafitte Stadium, too. Hill thinks so, too, saying “I have wanted to live in G-Town for a while. The organization is fantastic, and the park really plays to my strengths.”

In addition, Diggity made efforts to improve a minor league system that ranks at the bottom of the league by signing a number of young pitchers and position players to develop in A ball. He also made the decision to pick up Sosa Abe, a family friend to Mike Litoris. In fact, Mike Litoris has wanted Abe for a long time. He may never see the CBU, but sources say that he will have a home in the organization for as long as he desires.

Diggity hinted that he is not done, “We have a couple of offers still on the table. The free agent market is pretty competitive this season, but we are aggressively going after another big piece to a championship in 2023. Furthermore, we have some solid players available for the right price. We may make a couple of trades in an effort to get a proven center fielder or shortstop that just wasn’t available for signing.”

If they can bring in another solid bat at either center field or shortstop, 2023 could be a season to remember in Galveston.

Bandits Owner Mario Lemieux

Redbank (AP) – After three postponements and another two months of waiting, Redbank Bandits owner Mario Lemieux addressed the media today.  Much like the President of the United States, Lemieux’s “press secretary,” Bandits GM D.C. Hepler was first to take to the mahogany podium.  He began by welcoming everyone and then announced, “I apologize for any inconvenience, but Mr. Lemieux will be delayed another five minutes or so as he is finishing an important meeting relating to several of the topics he will be discussing today.”

The crowd’s interest was clearly peaked as the sounds of whispers quickly became audible.  GM Hepler continued for several minutes discussing the recently completed baseball season and quipping the familiar responses to inquiries about who the Bandits were pursuing in free agency.  At precisely 1:09 pm, Mr. Lemieux enter the meeting room and paused just inside the door.  Hepler quickly asked everyone to hold all questions until the end of the press conference and introduced Lemieux.

Mr. Lemieux was donning his usual tailor-made gray suit with Redbank red tie and his lapel was decorated with pins bearing the logos of his hockey and baseball teams.  After the typical thanks to those attending, Lemieux wasted little time getting to the meat of his speech.

“As most of you know, the Redbank Bandits are centered in the smallest market in the CBU.  Couple that with a continued decline in attendance over the past few seasons and it’s no surprise that the team isn’t making as much money as other franchises in the Union.  Please don’t hear me wrong.  I’m not complaining about the CBU because it could be a lot worse – we could be in the MLB.  I am here to let the media and the fans know that we are diligently pursuing business ventures and avenues that will put the Bandits back on solid financial ground – with little to no help from (revenue sharing) the other clubs.”

Lemieux continued, “I just finished a meeting with the Governor, the County Executive, and several major business executives from the Pittsburgh area.  I can tell you the meeting was about funding options for a new baseball stadium for the Bandits and the meeting went very well.  Unfortunately for the Redbank region, most of the discussions focused on the possibility of relocating the team closer to Pittsburgh.  And I’m afraid there may be no way around this.”

Lemieux added that he was, “unable to provide any further information about the details of the discussions, the potential stadium deal or the relocation of the Redbank Bandits; so, please don’t ask.”

At this point, Mr. Lemieux paused as GM Hepler placed a drape-covered display to the left of the podium while another gentleman entered the room.  Then Lemieux continued again, “In an effort to increase revenue for the Bandits and the hockey club, both organizations have partnered with the local ABC affiliate.  Here today, representing the station, is president Harold Kamiltoe.  He will now discuss the details of the partnership.”

Mr. Kamiltoe shook Lemieux’s hand and then addressed the media group.  “It is with great honor that I am here to announce the creation of the Pittsburgh Extended News and Sports Network.  The PENS Network, as I’m sure it will become known as, will be a 24-hour sports and news network.  We will carry all hockey games not carried by the national networks and the same will be true for Bandits games.  Being affiliated with the ABC station here in Pittsburgh, the network will also carry general and breaking news programming from the station.  I can also tell everyone that we are in negotiations with the WPIAL high school sports league to carry many local high school sporting events.”

2023 Bandits Logo

After discussing several more minor details about the PENS Network, Mr. Kamiltoe handed the podium back to Lemieux.  Mr. Lemieux then began again, “With the assistance of GM Hepler, I would like to announce that the Bandits will be sporting a new logo for the 2023 season.”  With those words, GM Hepler flipped the drape to reveal the new logo.

Along with the new logo, the team revealed a new script font and shoulder patch that would be part of a complete set of new uniforms to be released at a later date.  Lemieux informed reporters that the organization had narrowed down the new uniforms to three competing designs and they expected to make a final decision by the end of the week.  Another press conference would be scheduled as soon as a decision was made.  Lemieux jokingly added, “I promise this one won’t be postponed two or three times!”

The rest of the press conference consisted of questions about the stadium deal and relocation.  Each question was followed by the same, “We can not provide any further details at this time” response – leaving most reporters to draw their own conclusions.

04/21/2022 - António León and Julián González both hit three home runs each against the Charlotte Webs, Leon going 3-6 with 7 RBI and 3 runs scored and Gonzalez going 4-4 with 6 RBI and 5 runs scored!

04/27/2022 - Tacoma Darners: José Padilla gets his 2500th career hit!

05/05/2022 - Brooklyn Blue Sox: Mike Miller notches his 500th career save!

05/08/2022 - Indianapolis 500s: Dan Robinson hits three home runs against the Vermont Greens, going 3-4 with 8 RBI and 3 runs scored!

05/10/2022 - Savannah Swashbucklers: John Richardson gets his 2000th career hit!

05/11/2022 - Brooklyn Blue Sox: Marçal Maracote pitches a 3-hit shutout against the Charlotte Webs with 10 strikeouts and 0 BB allowed!

06/12/2022 - Buffalo Wings: Karl Case strikes out 15 against the Rapid City Outlaws and for the Wisconsin Cheese: Domingo Córdova hits three home runs against the Brainerd Blue Ox, going 3-5 with 8 RBI and 3 runs scored!

06/17/2022 - Redbank Bandits: Jorge Hernández pitches a 3-hit shutout against the Portland Parasites with 10 strikeouts and 0 BB allowed!

07/02/2022 - Nashville Legends: Bill Dixon notches his 300th career save!

07/09/2022 - Sioux Falls Underdogs: Tomas Balderas gets his 2000th career hit!

2022 All-Star Teams:

07/15/2022 - Indianapolis 500s: Adam Rhodes pitches a 1-hit shutout against the Augusta Murderer’s Row with 11 strikeouts and 2 BB allowed!

08/13/2022 - Brooklyn Blue Sox: Brian Makeever launches his 300th career home run!

09/04/2022 - Portland Parasites: Frank Norris launches his 300th career home run!

09/05/2022 - Redbank Bandits: Bill Holwell pitches a 1-hit shutout against the Sioux Falls Underdogs with 8 strikeouts and 2 BB allowed!

09/13/2022 - Vermont Greens: Wilbert Welford launches his 400th career home run!

09/27/2022 - Rapid City Outlaws: Morgan Berry hits for the CYCLE, going 4-5 against the Sioux Falls Underdogs, with 1 RBI and 3 runs scored.

2022 Season Ending Awards:

During last year’s Spring Training, several struggling college students who dance at Litoris’ club, The Eager Beaver, made public Thompson’s behavior at the establishment. He even responded about cocaine allegations (non-existent until that time) before his attorney cut him off. Later, in a bizarre twist, several players, most notably Jose Rosa, tweeted about his bizarre activities in the showers after a game. Coincidentally, those same players were immediately traded. Rumors of marital problems have been swirling around the evangelist/businessman for years, and those rumors are beginning to be validated. Local reporters recognized his wife entering the offices of the high-profile family law firm Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe.

Amid growing controversies, Litoris put more public pressure on Thompson to sell the franchise that he once allegedly lost to Thompson in a late-night poker game. Thompson finally agreed to sell the team to Litoris, reportedly for a fraction of the value and a settlement on Thompson’s tab at “the Beaver.” While Thompson is not returning calls, Litoris released the following statement:

“The league is currently reviewing the pending sale of the Bayhawks. However, I am moving back into my office. I hope that creep cleaned the sofa in there. No telling what is growing on it.”

Fans can expect Litoris to field a competitive team year in and year out. Also, some are reporting that a likely return of the popular dugout dancers, the Bayhoes, is in the works. Only time will tell, but the product should be very entertaining.