Royals on the Farm 9/13 -- Bees win title by default

A - Burlington: With hurricane season once again active and crazy weather all over the U.S., the Midwest League decided to cancel the rest of the MWL Championship Series, making Burlington the first Royals affiliate to take a league title since I started doing these reports in 2005. It's the Bees first MWL title since 1999 and 4th overall. I guess the fact instructional leagues are coming up also led to the decision, which I think is an odd one, but they do have a point. Today's game 3 was already postponed and who knows when they would've gotten it in. The Bees finish the playoffs a perfect 6-0 and finished the regular season 73-65 overall. They went 27-9 starting Aug. 1.

Tops in OPS (min. 100 ABs)

IF Kyle Martin .316 BA/.373 OBP/.537 SLG, .910 OPS, 26 RS, 13 2B, 1 3B, 9 HR, 28 RBI, 17 BB/40 K, 2/4 SB, 10 E in 56 games and 190 ABs -- kinda flew under radar this season for Bees, but had fine first full season in pro ball
OF Nick Van Stratten .345/.400/.489, .889 OPS, 22 RS, 13 2B, 2 3B, HR, 18 RBI, 12 BB/20 K, 5/8 SB, 1 E in 40 games and 139 ABs -- hope he gets better look next year in Wilmington
1B Clint Robinson .264/.333/.472, .806 OPS, 53 RS, 22 2B, 3 3B, 17 HR, 64 RBI, 37 BB/67 K, 0/3 SB, 6 E in 106 games and 379 ABs -- had higher expectations for Clint, but numbers are skewed by poor early performance, suffered through .182 BA and injury in May, rebounded to hit over .300 with an .880 OPS in August, surely will move up
3B Mike Moustakas .272/.337/.468, .805 OPS, 77 RS, 135 hits (led team), 25 2B (led team), 3 3B, 22 HR (led team), 71 RBI (led team), 43 BB/86 K, 8/12 SB, 22 E (led team) in 126 games and 496 ABs (led team) -- rate stats are a little underwhelming but are skewed down by .228/.285/.386 pre-all star line, hit .321/.392/.557 after break, which is more like it, anxious to see how he handles Carolina League in '09
1B Jason Taylor .242/.372/.418, .790 OPS, 79 RS (led team), 17 2B, 4 3B, 17 HR, 58 RBI, 81 BB (easily led team)/97 K (second on team), 40/54 SB (led team), 20 E in 127 games and 433 ABs -- promising numbers in first full season of pro ball, hit for .886 OPS in July and .878 OPS in August

others of note.... OF David Lough .784 OPS (131 hits, 48 XBH, 11 3B (led team), 12/23 SB, led off but had only .329 OBP, showed some nice pop in bat).... 2B Johnny Giavotella .776 OPS (18 2B, 25 BB/34 K, 10/17 SB, 13 E in 68 games and 278 ABs, showed good skills as #2 batter in pro debut).... OF Nick Francis .761 OPS (11 XBH, 10 BB/35 K in 31 games).... OF Adrian Ortiz .720 OPS (hit .308, 29/44 SB, 130 hits, 20 XBH, 15 BB/68 K in 100 games and 422 ABs prior to call-up, needs to move those BB and K numbers closer together).... OF Jamar Walton .698 OPS (20 2B, 21 BB/86 K, .305 OBP in 98 games and 357 ABs, hit .320 with .800 OPS after all-star break, helped lead offense in playoffs).... C Ryan Eigsti .654 OPS (104 Ks led team, hit .219 but had .294 OBP thanks mostly to propensity to take HBP).... SS Juan Rivera .595 OPS (.305 OBP, 19 BB/45 K, 10 XBH, 14 E in 76 games and 259 ABs, not much in return for Angel Berroa, but worth it to get rid of Aw-hell).... OF Wilson Tucker .517 OPS (12 XBH, 4 BB/39 K, hit .184 in 42 games before going onto reserve list for reasons I haven't read)

Tops in WHIP (min. 20 IP and on roster)

Danny Duffy 8-4, 2.20 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 4 HRA, 25 BB/102 K in 17 starts and 81 2/3 IP -- absolutely nothing not to like here, hope back problems that cut postseason short aren't chronic
Brandon Sisk 1-1, 1.19 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 2 SV, 0 HRA, 9 BB/36 K in 10 games and 22 2/3 IP -- was also lockdown in playoffs, small sample size but numbers are very promising
Alex Caldera 12-6 (led team in wins), 2.89 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 6 HRA, 36 BB/120 K in 25 starts and 149 1/3 IP (easily led team) -- didn't know his IP total was that high, hope it doesn't come back to bite organization, also had some very nice numbers
Tony Bradley 1-4, 2.14 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 4 SV, 1 HRA, 18 BB/35 K in 26 games and 42 IP -- nice season out of pen but after hot start was more mortal post-all star break
Danny Gutierrez 4-4, 2.70 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 7 HRA, 25 BB/104 K in 19 games (18 starts) and 90 IP -- also very nice numbers, not quite to Duffy's standards but pretty good

others of note.... Ed Cegarra posted an 0.94 WHIP in his 54 IP prior to getting called to Wilmington deservedly.... Ray Liotta 1.06 WHIP in 16 innings before finished season in Wilmington.... Kelvin Herrera 1.18 WHIP (2-0, 2.13 ERA, 2 BB/7 K in 12 2/3 IP in first taste of A ball, should start '09 in Bees rotation, at least).... Matt Mitchell 1.21 WHIP (8-8 (led team in losses), 3.47 ERA, 9 HRA, 25 BB/77 K in 25 games (21 starts) and 116 2/3 IP, decent numbers but nothing spectacular).... Zach Peterson 1.21 WHIP (5 SV, 3.13 ERA, 7 HRA, 20 BB/82 K in 30 games (4 starts) and 77 2/3 IP, nice K rate and K/BB, good power P stats).... Eduardo Paulino 1.22 WHIP (3.68 ERA, 19 BB/80 K, 9 HRA in 19 games (17 starts) and 100 1/3 IP, hopefully bounces back well from injury, also had nice stats, keep in mind with all these stats that MWL is bigtime pitcher's league).... Joe Augustine 1.33 WHIP (3.77 ERA, 9 SV (led team), 10 HRA (led team), 34 BB/85 K in 28 games (5 starts) and 105 IP, nothing too spectacular in first full season, had good moments and bad moments).... Brent Fisher 1.41 WHIP (comeback trail from arm surgery).... Luis Cota 1.49 WHIP (ditto, 5.80 ERA, 4 HRA, 14 BB/32 K in 8 starts and 35 2/3 IP, had great championship series start, hopefully he returns to form that once had him a top-10 prospect in the organization).... Sam Runion 1.55 WHIP (5.75 ERA, 9 BB/11 K, 7 HRA in 9 games and 5 starts, 40 2/3 IP before being demoted)


That pretty much does it for the season's purposes. I may post fall updates as time allows....been a long strange trip this season but a team winning a league title is the way to finish it.