San Diego Hops Mid-Season Review
First, an imagined excerpt from a start by recent call-up, Naomi Kobayashi, with a catcher, probably Tangles Calderon, behind the plate.
Which points out the problems San Diego has had over the course of the 2030 season. Haphazard pitching, injuries, and declining skills have led to a record ten games shy of .500.
POSITIVES
Can't argue with the season Taniguchi is having at 1b. Tokuhei is headed towards career highs in all batting stats, showing a .300 stroke with power (48 extra base hits, 24 HR) timing, 72 RBI, and better plate judgement, .350 OBP. He's only 26, and is proving the Rule 5 draft can be worthwhile, thank you, Seattle.
Tom Cassidy will near 1000 career games this season, mostly in a Hops uniform, after his signing up with SD after a sojourn into SoCal. He's tagging the pill for a .295/.369/.490 slash, and still covering some ground in LF, with only one error.
Hae-nim Kim, backup catcher, may move to the starting spot as he has shown tremendous hitting ability, and can handle pitchers. His .296 mark is 100 points better than the Rule 5 starter, Addy de Zeeuw.
Salah bin Atif has moved into the ace role of the rotation, sporting a 7-7 mark with a 3.15 ERA in his first full-time season as a starter. He's striking out ten per nine innings, and would have an even better mark if the bullpen hadn't blown a number of his starts.
Zong-Yuan Sang is 7-1 out of the bullpen with a sterling 2.35 ERA, showing his 2.59 mark from 2029 was no fluke.
Juan Vasquez is 10-7, but has a couple of bad starts that have inflated his ERA. He is on track for over 200 innings, and is only 27, like most of the pitching staff, still not reaching their peak.
EVEN
Akira Kato was injured, and now is back in the leadoff role. Hitting .270 is fine, but his OBP of .329 is a little less than hoped for. His glove has also been a little shaky, but still, about what was expected.
Donald Cameron has provided veteran presence, and a solid performance as an infield backup.
In brief play, Jason Donovan, has shown some batting skills while backing up all OF positions.
Goldi Lebel is winding down his career, and his average looks like, well, average. He is an upgrade over past CFers for San Diego.
Jejomar Butardo was also injured for quite awhile, but has started to show the kind of power hoped for from both sides of the plate. It is hard to remember he is only 27, as he already has over 900 hits in his career.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
This could be a very long list, but suffice it to say, the bullpen as a whole has suffered and dragged the team down.
Son Mai is third in the league in saves with 26, but has already blown six saves and his ERA sits on the far side of five.
Jean Petit was injured (another key to the Hops' record-the DL), but has yet to show the kind of plate technique hoped for. He languishes currently at .266, far below his .330 career mark.
Addy de Zeeuw is young, and a Rule 5 acquisition, but his .191 hitting may lose his job.
Ken Abbott was an All-Star last season, but has only 8 homers and a sub .250/.300 slash.
Of the other pitchers, starters Dobson, Bruce, Phillips and Dieguez have all struggled, but no more than the bullpen arms of Kasakya, Lopez and Mai.
OUTLOOK
It would be a miracle to reach .500 at this point, so winning more than 72, which would be .500 for the rest of the season, is a reasonable goal. Hopefully, the morass the team has fallen into will not lead to wholesale failure.
