Weekly Top Five: May 11-May 17

The first round of interleague play wrapped up this week, and the Munson League won more games by the slimmest of margins. Strangely, the strong Lasorda Division went 22-26 against the weak Martin Division.

  Tommy Lasorda 22 vs. 26 Billy Martin
  Tony La Russa 23 vs. 25 Sparky Anderson
      Bobby Cox 26 vs. 22 Earl Weaver
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Clemente League 71 vs. 73 Munson League

Scott Andrews

Some strong performances failed to crack my Top Five. Scott Andrews hits for the cycle and wins Player of the Week. South Carolina snaps Jeffrey Coffman's hitting streak: at 24 games, the streak ties four others for fourth longest all time. Young Texas shortstop Jun'ichi Ogura goes 5-for-5 against Carolina. San Diego's Mario Vázquez gets a hit in his 20th straight game.

Weekly Top Five: May 4-May10

This week featured many fine performances, and choosing the Top Five was difficult.

Frank Powers hits two home runs in two consecutive games and wins the Munson League Player of the Week, but he misses out. When Vegas plays Washington on May 4, Colin St. John hits two home runs and drives in eight while Maurice Gould strikes out 11 over seven shutout innings of work, but that doesn't make my cut. On May 5, Cabo's Ed Shannon scores the tying run in the bottom of the ninth, then wins the game with a solo home run in the 11th inning. Two days later, teammate Edward Griffith pitches 10 innings to earn the win. Neither performance ranks among the Top Five.

The best name in baseball, Elvis Sharp, pitches 8 2/3 shutout innings against Kansas City, striking out 11. So Cal's Evan Warner strikes out eight and surrenders one run in a complete game victory over Georgia. Georgia's Pat Everhart and Manuel López return the favor two days later, shutting out So Cal on two hits. Roberto Martínez shuts out Nottinghamshire.

On to the Top Five!

Weekly Top Five: April 27-May 3

Before we get to Top Five, a few notes and honorable mentions. Nottinghamshire started out slow, losing five of their first seven, but they've been hot since, winning 16 of 18: they now have the best record in the RCL at 18-8. The Boston Cardinals snap Terry Sterling's hitting streak at 22 games. Anthony Atkinson, who has already pitched a no-hitter this season, takes a no-hitter into the sixth: he allows Las Vegas just one hit over eight shutout innings. Gunners Troy Baker and Ron Cutter shut out Georgia on three hits.

#5: Mustangs and Tornadoes

Freddy Castillo

April 27: Mile High 4, Kansas City 6. Arch-rivals clash, and Tornado catcher Freddy Castillo comes up big. He hits two home runs, including a grand slam that gives Kansas City their 6-4 lead. The slam also knocks out Mile High starter Manuel Ruíz. Last year's Cy Young winner is still looking for his first win: he is 0-3 with a 5.82 ERA in five starts.

The Tim Rose Ratio

Tim Rose

Tim Rose of the Bel Air Princes is the kind of pitcher you love to dream about. Oh, he's not your highly touted, can't miss, next phenom, Sandy Koufax, 'looks like a pitcher', etc., household name in the world of the sports writers and okay, he's a little old at 23, but what he is good at doing is striking guys out. Better yet, he is equally good at not walking guys. In 34 innings he's K'd 43 batters. At the same time he's given free passes to just six of them. So, 11.38 strikeouts per nine innings and 1.59 walks per nine. 7.17 K's to W's. Not a bad ratio at all.

For some reason left-handed batters have not worked a single walk in 59 at-bats.  But it's the right-handed batters who just flat out can't hit this guy as in 68 at-bats they are hitting .176.

Tim commands three pitches: fastball, curve, and change. His fourth pitch is a fork ball and is a work in progress. Coaches attribute a high work ethic to the youngster whose fastball tops at 92 MPH. He's a starting pitcher, and while he is no sure thing to make it to the ABL, I wouldn't bet against him, either.  Tim Rose is a player to track.

Single-A Profile: Mitsuoki Suzuki

Mitsuoki
Suzuki

Who is Mitsuoki Suzuki and why is he the focus of today's Single A spotlight?

The 21-year-old, 6'2" left-handed batting first baseman plays for the Detroit Death Stars in Triple-A as part of the Georgia Grays minor league system. In all probability he has said good bye to Single-A ball for probably the rest of his career save for a rehab assignment along the way should it be required. The Georgia Grays hope that Mitsuoki's assent is not impeded by any such misfortune as his first 12 games indicated that this unranked youngster from Shimoda is a star on the rise.

Weekly Top Five: April 20-April 26

New York's Jorge Mora hits five home runs over four games. Nottinghamshire's Gerald Webb tosses a four-hit shutout against New York. Washington comes back against So Cal, and South Carolina comes back against Eureka.

These are just a few of the stories that did not make the Weekly Top Five.

Weekly Top Five: April 13-April 19

Two weeks into the season, and Eureka leads all of baseball with a record of 11-2. But what's surprising is that they have done this despite their best player, Mike Bergeron, hitting only .224! Bergeron went 40/40 last season, with 45 home runs and 46 stolen bases, but he has yet to homer this year and he has been caught steal three times in five attempts.

How has Eureka done it? Having four starting pitchers with ERAs under 2.00 certainly helps.

But enough about the Hornets, it's time for the Weekly Top Five!

Weekly Top Five: April 6-April 12

It's a brand new baseball season, and I've decided to use a brand new format for my weekly recaps. This is the Weekly Top Five, and I'll be listing what I think are the five best games, performances, or story lines of the week. Of course, this is just one man's opinion. Feel free to argue in the comments!

So who made the inaugural Weekly Top Five? I considered Jersey's Bobby McClughan, who went 4-for-4 with two home runs on opening day against Cabo San Lucas. I considered Seattle's Salvador Salgado, who went 2-for-3 with two home runs and six runs batted in against Carolina. I considered the Georgia Grays pair of dramatic wins against Maple.

But, in the end, none of these made the cut. Without further ado, the first Weekly Top Five of 2015.