The 2073 Daily Keg - Week 1

April 17, 2073

Santo Domingo opened the season strongest of anyone in the league at 6-1, with right fielder David Hankins hitting .406 with 4 home runs and 10 RBI and Lucas Slater adding a 4-homer week of his own to power the early lead. Baltimore and Dallas both sit right behind at 5-2, Baltimore behind Daron Elam's .524 week and Dallas behind Connor Szczurek's .419, 3-homer, 9-RBI stretch that included a 6-for-6 night against Toronto.

On the other end, Windy City is off to the league's worst start at 1-6 despite getting one of the best pitching performances anywhere in baseball, James Keating's eight shutout innings with twelve strikeouts, a line that says more about one great start than a struggling team. Hartford, Syracuse, and New York are all a step ahead of the Blues at 2-5, with New York getting a bright spot from Cole Mullen's .483 week even as the Cyclones lost five of seven.

Around the league Santo Domingo right fielder David Hankins and Philadelphia right fielder York Goldschmidt took home the league's Player of the Week honors, Hankins in the Domestic and Goldschmidt in the Import, headlining a week that also saw its share of chaos and milestones. Three players were hit with suspensions after ejections in separate brawls: Baltimore's Wyatt Helmuth for four games, Windy City's Coen Mkasa for eight, and Maine's Jeffery Barrett for three, while Pawtucket's Jayson Perkins drew the week's longest ban at seven games. Phoenix's Nathan Busse went 5-for-5 with a triple against Seattle, Dallas' Connor Szczurek went 6-for-6 with a home run and 5 RBI against Toronto, and Maine's Marcus DeBone matched him with a 5-for-7, 2-homer, 5-RBI night against Pawtucket.

1) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (164.3, ++)
2) Baltimore Bulldogs (133.5, -)
3) Dallas Drillers (130.5, +)
4) Washington Bats (123.1, ++)
5) Denver Bulls (121.1, +)
6) California Kodiaks (104.8, --)
7) Los Angeles Sharks (104.8, +)
8) Phoenix Roadrunners (104.8, ++)
9) Pittsburgh Millers (104.8, ++)
10) Wilmington Wildcats (104.8, ++)
11) Batavia Muckdogs (102.8, --)
12) New Orleans Voodoo (102.8, o)
13) Indianapolis Clowns (91.0, --)
14) Montreal Exports (77.2, --)
15) Pawtucket Patriots (77.2, -)
16) Philadelphia Freedom (77.2, -)
17) Carolina Tobs (75.2, --)
18) Maine Guides (75.2, --)
19) Seattle Sasquatch (75.2, o)
20) Toronto Canadians (56.9, +)
21) New York Cyclones (47.5, --)
22) Syracuse Snappers (47.5, -)
23) Hartford Whalers (44.5, --)
24) Windy City Blues (18.7, o)

Performance of the Week

1B Marcus DeBone, MAI - DeBone put together one of the loudest games of the young season on April 10th, going 5-for-7 with 2 home runs, 5 RBI and 3 runs scored as Maine ran away from Pawtucket 21-4. The first baseman opened with a single in the first, turned a two-run shot off Jayson Perkins into the decisive blow in the third, added an RBI single in the fourth, then closed the night with a solo homer off Nathan Boudreaux in the eighth and another RBI single in the ninth. It was enough to earn him Player of the Game honors in a laugher that saw Maine pile up 20 hits as a team, and it pushed the 25-year-old's early-season line to .250 with 3 home runs and 6 RBI through his first six games.

Prospect of the Week

C Braedin ‘Gunner’ Kim, MON - Montreal's rookie catcher Braedin Kim has wasted no time validating his status as the top pick in last year's draft. Through his first seven games, the 21-year-old is hitting .417 with a .548 on-base percentage, 10 RBI and a home run, numbers that already have him drawing notice as the top-ranked prospect in the league. He's shown particular thump with runners in scoring position, and his early production behind the plate gives Montreal a building block at a premium position as the Exports try to return back to the playoffs.

Five Things We Think We Think

1. Charlie Spence, at 42 years old, became the first pitcher in league history to reach 5,000 career strikeouts, a milestone that speaks to a career built on swing-and-miss stuff across parts of four decades. The right-hander struck out four in his April 10th start against Los Angeles to push his career total past the mark, and his path there runs through some of the most dominant peak seasons in league history, including a 21-strikeout game in 2055 and a stretch where he led the league in strikeouts eleven times between 2054 and 2064. He's a shadow of that peak now, working with a fastball in the high 80s to low 90s for California and carrying a 5.06 ERA through two starts this year, but the strikeout total stands as a marker of just how dominant he once was.

2. Brian Wheat and Brad Castro also both crossed career milestones this week, on opposite ends of long careers built with very different profiles. Wheat, the 34-year-old Phoenix left fielder, reached 1,000 career extra-base hits, joining a group of just 39 players in league history to get there, a mark built on 397 home runs and 464 doubles since he broke in as the first overall pick back in 2056.

Castro's milestone came a level below that, but no less meaningful for a Windy City club otherwise stuck at the bottom of the standings: the 33-year-old shortstop collected his 2,000th career hit on April 13th, going 2-for-4 in an 11-3 loss to Baltimore, and stands as a lifetime .280 hitter with 197 home runs across 16 professional seasons, all with the Blues. Both moments are a reminder that even on rough weeks and rough starts, a long career still has milestones worth stopping for.

3. Connor Szczurek's night against Toronto was about as good as it gets. The Dallas first baseman went 6-for-6 on April 10th, tying the Domestic League's regular season record for hits in a game, and drove in 5 runs with a leadoff double, a three-run homer off Colton Gleason in the fourth, and three more singles sprinkled through the middle and late innings. It was more than enough to carry the Drillers to a 10-6 win, with Toronto manager Mel Dimitroff calling him a tough out after the game and crediting the quick bat that kept finding holes all night. The performance earned Szczurek Player of the Game honors and set the tone for what's become a hot start to his season, with the 3-homer, 9-RBI week that followed keeping his name near the top of the league's early batting leaders.

4. California's system doesn't just lead the overall farm rankings, it also places the most players on the Top 100 list at 13, more than double most systems in the league. Indianapolis is a notable riser here, its system didn't crack the top five in the overall farm rankings, yet the Clowns still have 9 prospects on the board, the second-most in baseball, with Washington and Seattle tied at 6 apiece behind them.

Montreal's system, second overall, is led by catcher Braedin Kim as the league's top overall prospect, with right-hander Leon Blevins and closer Dalton Hendrickson representing the pitching side, and the Exports have 5 total prospects on the list. Maine, third overall, is built around first baseman Dawson Pascal at #6 and right-hander Justin Edlund at #8, while Pawtucket, fourth overall, counters with right-hander Chance Savel at #7 and third baseman Evan Bailey at #13. Syracuse, fifth overall, is carried by second baseman Gavin Hamilton, the second-ranked prospect in the entire league behind only Kim, and also has 5 total names on the board.

On the other end, Philadelphia's system, dead last in the overall farm rankings, has just one prospect anywhere on the Top 100, center fielder Lane Getz at #93, a thin cupboard for an organization that will need its major league roster to carry the weight for a while.

5. What’s on tap?

• California Kodiaks (4-3, On Road: 1-2) at Santo Domingo Rum Runners (6-1, At Home: 0-0) -- April 17. Santo Domingo brings the league’s best record and a 5-game winning streak into this one, with Quenton Davis and Dylan Montgomery both carrying sub-4.20 ERAs to the mound. David Hankins and Lucas Slater have powered the Rum Runners’ hot start, each sitting among the league’s best batting weeks, and a series win here would only widen the gap atop the Lager.

• Baltimore Bulldogs (5-2, On Road: 3-1) at Syracuse Snappers (2-5, At Home: 2-2) -- April 17. Baltimore’s Daron Elam has been one of the league’s hottest hitters at .524, and the Bulldogs bring the Stout’s best record on the road against a Syracuse club still searching for its footing at 2-5. Tommy Humes gets the ball for Baltimore against Wyatt McManus, who’s carrying a 16.88 ERA into the start.

• Batavia Muckdogs (4-3, On Road: 2-2) at Hartford Whalers (2-5, At Home: 0-4) -- April 17. Hartford enters on a 4-game losing streak and hasn’t won a home game yet this season, a rough combination against a Batavia team that’s been better on the road than at home so far. Skylar Haxhiu takes a 2.84 ERA into the start for the Muckdogs, while Hartford's Cornelius Shalikashvili has been one of the league's coldest starters with a 6.35 ERA.

• Dallas Drillers (5-2, On Road: 2-1) at Los Angeles Sharks (4-3, At Home: 4-3) -- April 21. Dallas carries the second-best record in the Lager into Los Angeles, powered by Connor Szczurek’s .419 average and Powell Achber’s perfect 0.00 ERA out of the bullpen. Los Angeles counters with a perfect 4-3 home mark of its own and Collin Edson, who’s been nearly unhittable through his first two starts at a 0.69 ERA with 15 strikeouts.