‘Birds end first month even

Pitching Keeps 'Birds hopes alive

 

While most teams may not be happy ending up a month of play a .500 team, the Ironbird's are content with their first block of play. Many new players had little time to assimilate with one another and after a rough start the fans of Aberdeen are happy and very excited for the second block of play to begin. The Birds will make a number of changes in block two but first we look at what did work, and what did not, for the games already completed.

PITCHING

The pitching, at least thus far, is clearly the strength of the team. A team ERA of 3.31     will surely put them in the top 5 in that department once all the games are finished.

Though it should come as no shock to Jeremy Byrd managed teams, the bullpen ends the block with a winning record at 5-4, with the starters ending 9-10. Ian Kennedy was drafted to this team to lead the top of the rotation and he has lived up to that huge responsibility thus far. Ian ends 5-0 with a 1.91 ERA through 5 starts and 47 innings pitched.

The relief core compiled a massive 90 innings pitched with a respectable 2.38 ERA. Pitching is the key in this league, and in 17 of the 28 games the Birds allowed 4 runs or less. 6 relievers have an ERA of 2.60 runs or less.

Top prospect Jeremy Hellickson has done well in his relief role and through 14 innings has 4 earned runs which came on one swing of the bat. Jeremy ends the block with an ERA of 2.51.

Chris Narveson was dominant in his relief role vs LHB but when asked to work in long relief was not good and a move to the rotation may be in his near future.

The biggest disappointment in the rotation has been Jason Vargas. Vargas finished off the block and his 6 starts at 0-4 with an ERA over 7. Jason has likely moved himself out of the rotation and could spend the next block in AAA Norfolk.

 

HITTING

The 'Birds ended up the month with a team batting average of .251 and realize that just won't get it done. 32 balls did leave the park for Birds batters though and that is a plus for a pitching-focused team. The team clearly struggles vs Lefties though as 28 of the 32 homers have come against right-handed pitching.

The MVP of the offense thus far has been RF Hunter Pence. Hunter has 8 homerun's on the season to go with a .320 average and .375 OBP. Hunter has hit 2 HR's in games this early season- one vs Oahu and other against Reno.

Other offensive standouts are 3^rd overall pick Mike Stanton whom has hit 6 homeruns against RHP this early season and had played superb defensively. Stanton will be part of the Birds for many seasons to come and has been deemed untouchable to inquiring teams. Mike has been a RBI machine with 17 runs batted in. Justin Morneau has also been hitting and has an impressive OBP of .436, while hitting .354. David Freese has been the other nice show this first block and a player that the Birds to be a steal in the draft where he was selected. David, getting more playing time for the struggling Chipper Jones, is hitting .275 and hitting a dominant .350 vs LHP.

 

So now what? What changes will the 'Birds make to climb up the division in hopes of reaching the playoffs. "We have many plans, some of which we will share and others will only be seen on the diamond." It has been no secret that both Barry Enright and Brad Bergeson will see some starts this block with Vargas demotion back to AAA. Jason Berken, also a late draft pick, will be used in more of a late innings set up role and the closer-by-committee will likely continue. Esmerling Vasquez and Grant Balfour are likely to see more time with Madson only being utilized sparingly. It is also likely that backup Catcher Craig Tatum will make the roster and sharing time with Torrealba. Todd Helton, hitting .375 in 32 at-bats will see more action giving Morneau a break except likely to pinch hit of give the aching back of Helton a game off.

"A .500 block one is acceptable, but a .500 block two will not be acceptable" says 'Birds General Manager Jeremy Byrd. "We have too much talent to not make the playoffs this season and though we will need to keep a close on usage, making the playoffs is certainly a feasible option and our goal. Anything else will be a failure. While our team is more built for next year, we have enough talent to do special things."