Monday Musings April 15

Skitz drop the series to the Generals and come home to take on the Mobile BayBears on Jackie Robinson Day. At the bottom of the page you can see my tribute to #42!


UPCOMING SERIES

Nick Evans .462 and Jon Griffin .389 lead the Southern League in batting average, with Rossmel Perez and Ender Inciarte not far behind, and the BayBears lead the league in batting average as a result.

The Baybears rotation in no particular order - Hagens, Spruill, Meo, Holmberg and either Eitel or Garrison. So far all have pitched well with the exception of Meo, who was touched for a few runs in his first start on 4/6.

Their bullpen of Smith, Munson, Woodall, Lara, Schultz, Lorin and others is pitching very well, but have had Dan Cortes wearing the hair shirt, being the only one getting hit hard in the early weeks.

 
ROSTER MOVES:
Zach Quate has been activated from the disabled list, filling the spot vacated by Liberatore on the 8th of April.



Also in the transactions list, Albert Suarez takes his sore oblique for a rest and Andrew Bellatti makes the jump from Charlotte to fill the void.


 



 
NEW GUY:

Andrew Bellatti - the newest Biscuit

Bellatti was a 12th round pick in 2009, a California native right hander. His numbers in Charlotte consist of just two games, striking out seven. In Bowling Green the previous year his stats are excellent, 2.97 Era 7wins and 99 strikeouts in 91 innings pitched.

However the back-story for Bellatti is larger than the numbers - the prospect righty spent three months incarcerated after a guilty plea over a vehicular manslaughter charge. A short sentence was imposed at the request of the victims family, and the remorseful Ray has been moving up the ladder of professional baseball since finishing his time and his focus is again fully on the field.


NUMBERS GAME:
After ten games, each team in the Southern League has had one week of home games. Leading the attendance totals is Birmingham, with the newest park in the league the Barons attracting over 30 thousand for the first homestand.

Second up was Pensacola, the second newest park who trailed by about six thousand.

Montgomery is sixth on the list, bringing in just under 20 thousand on the first homestand and averaging just under four thousand fans a game.
One of those games had an announced attendance of four thousand but the cold weather made the actual butts in seats considerable less than that generous total based on tickets sold. 

Of the ten teams in the SL, there are obvious haves and have-nots. Teams in the top six spots draw over 19 thousand fans a week and average 3900 or more per game. The teams in the lower four slots draw considerably less, unable to break the 1200 mark and cant attract 3k on an average night. 

HAPPY JACKIE ROBINSON DAY!