Great Lakes Excellent 2022 Campaign Comes To An End

After Friday night’s loss to Lake County (Cleveland) in the Midwest League Divisional Championship Game, the Great Lakes Loons season was over.  They had a good season and had a lot of offensive league leaders.  They won the 1^st half by 1.0 game over Dayton (Cincinnati), and the Loons dropped to 3^rd in the 2^nd half.  Overall, the Loons were 76-55 which was just behind the League leader; Lake County 76-53.

The Midwest League is High A (A+) league.  The Midwest League is a 12 team league and considered primarily pitcher friendly.  The Loons have 7 of the Dodgers Top 30 prospects (4 top 10).

• Diego Cartaya – C – #1
• José Ramos – OF – #8
• Dalton Rushing – C – #9 (Joined team for playoffs)
• Eddys Leonard – INF – #10 (Pictured)
• Jorbit Vivas – 2B/3B – #16
• Ronan Kopp – LHRP – #17
• Carlos Duran – RHP – #19

The offense was generally a power (HR) based team, that also drew a lot of walks, and struck more than most.  They did score a lot of runs.  They do not steal bases at all.

BA – #9 (.234)

OBP – #2 (.336)

SLG – #5 (.396)

OPS – #3 (.732)

Runs – #3 (648)

Hits – #8 (992)

DBL – #8 (197)

TPL – #7 (29)

HR – #3 (143)

BB – #3 (555)

K – 4^th most (1,245)

SB – #12 (65) – #11 was 102

GIDP – #1 Most (91)

The pitching was the strength of the team.

ERA – #4 (3.80)

WHIP – #8 (1.36)

BAA – #1 (.216)

H – 2^nd least (909)

R – 4^th least (564)

HR – 3^rd least (103)

BB – #1 Most (628)

SO – #1 Most (1,398)

SV – #2 (37)

WP – #3 (114)

BK – #3 (12)

GDP – #10 (69)

It takes 354 PA to qualify for League Leaders – Offense.  The Loons had five players that met that threshold:

• Imanol Vargas
• José Ramos
• Eddys Leonard
• Jorbit Vivas
• Ismael Alcantara

Ramos did not get assigned to Great Lakes until May 17, and still he was one of the league’s premier power hitters, as we will see below.  Top 15 in the League.

Batting Average

• Jorbit Vivas – #6 (.269)
• Imanol Vargas – #8 (.268)

OBP

• Imanol Vargas – #1 (.404)
• Jorbit Vivas – #6 (.374)

SLG

• Imanol Vargas – #7 (.467)
• José Ramos – #8 (.467)
• Eddys Leonard – #13 (.435)

OPS

• Imanol Vargas – #1 (.871)
• José Ramos – #9 (.789)
• Eddys Leonard – #10 (.783)

Runs

• Eddys Leonard – #1 (80)
• Jorbit Vivas – #3 (73)
• Imanol Vargas – #9 (65)
• José Ramos – #11 (63)

Hits

• Eddys Leonard – #1 (131)
• Jorbit Vivas – #2 (129)
• Imanol Vargas – #8 (102)

Doubles

• Eddys Leonard – #2 (32)

Triples

• Jorbit Vivas – #4 (7)
• Eddys Leonard – #9 (4)

HR

• José Ramos – #2 (19) Note – 25 for season including Rancho Cucamonga HRs
• Imanol Vargas – #4 (18)
• Eddys Leonard – #9 (15)

Extra Base Hits

• Eddys Leonard – #1 (51)
• José Ramos – #4 (41)
• Imanol Vargas – #7 (39)
• Jorbit Vivas – #15 (36)

RBIs

• José Ramos – #1 (74) Note – 97 for season including Rancho Cucamonga RBIs
• Jorbit Vivas – #6 (66)
• Imanol Vargas – #8 (63)
• Eddys Leonard – #11 (61)

Walks

• Imanol Vargas – #2 (80)
• Jorbit Vivas – #8 (63)

Strikeouts

• Imanol Vargas – #4 (145)
• José Ramos – #5 (133)
• Eddys Leonard – #14 (119)

Imanol Vargas was League #1 in OBP and OPS.

Eddys Leonard was League #1 in Runs, Hits, XBH, and #2 in doubles

José Ramos was League #1 in RBIs and #2 in HR.

No pitcher with Great Lakes qualified for League Leaders.  Minimum innings required to be considered qualified is 105.  Below are the IP leaders for the Loons and their ERA’s.

• Kendall Williams – 93.1 – 4.15
• Nick Nastrini – 86.1 – 3.86 – Finished With Tulsa (AA)
• Lael Lockhart – 77.0 – 3.16 – Finished With Tulsa (AA)
• Robbie Peto – 65.2 – 4.11
• Emmet Sheehan – 63.2 – 2.83 – Finished With Tulsa (AA)
• Ben Casparius – 60.0 – 6.45
• Cole Percival – 57.1 – 3.77 – Finished With Tulsa (AA)
• Ryan Sublette – 54.1 – 2.98
• Julian Smith – 51.0 – 5.29
• Carlos Duran – 48.2 – 4.25
• Braydon Fisher – 47.1 – 4.75
• Cole Duensing – 44.0 – 3.68
• Antonio Knowles – 43.2 – 4.74
• Kyle Hurt – 40.2 – 2.21 – Finished With Tulsa (AA)

The following Loons have been invited to the Arizona Fall League:

• José Ramos – OF
• Jorbit Vivas – 2B/3B
• Ben Harris – LHRP
• Hyun-il Choi – RHP (started season with Loons before getting injured after 1 game).

I look forward to seeing many of these players at Tulsa in 2023.  That will be the most important step up for these prospects.  Many consider the jump from A+ to AA will change suspects into prospects and prospects into suspects.

MiLB Game Summary

There are only two Dodger MiLB teams still playing.  OKC and Tulsa.

OKC Dodgers 11 vs Albuquerque Isotopes (Colorado) 8

The win keeps OKC 1.0 GB El Paso (SD) for 1^st place in the PCL East Division.

• Keegan Curtis made his OKC debut and pitched 3.0 scoreless innings. He allowed 2 hits and recorded 4 Ks.  He got the win.
• Carson Fulmer finished the game with a scoreless 9^th. No hits, 1 walk, and 2 Ks for his 12^th

• Michael Busch – 3-6, 2 doubles (29), 2 runs, 4 RBIs
• Jake Amaya – 3-6
• Devin Mann – 3-5, HR (4), 2 runs, 2 RBIs
• Andy Burns – 2-3, double (14), 2 RBIs
• Hunter Feduccia – HR (6)

Box Score

Springfield Cardinals 3 vs Tulsa Drillers 7

• Emmet Sheehan – 3.0 scoreless IP, 1 hit, 1 BB, 4 K
• Alec Gamboa – 4.0 IP, 1 run, 2 hits, 1 BB, 1 K
• Jose Hernandez – 1.0 scoreless IP, 1 hit, 2 K

• Justin Yurchak – 3-4, HR (8), 2 runs
• Ryan Ward – 2-4, double (18)
• Abiatal Avelino – 3-4, HR (7), 2 RBIs
• Kenneth Betancourt – 2-4

Box Score