CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes

Published on September 7, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


RHP Clayton Cook (9-9, 4.56) at RHP Justin Grimm (5-2, 3.39)

VS. THE INDIANS: The final year of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans-Kinston Indians rivalry has seen many tight games between the two clubs. They split the 20-game season set 10-10 with the home team winning six of ten at both BB&T Coastal Field and Grainger Stadium. 13 games were decided by one or two runs, including 11 straight meetings from May 12-August 4. The Birds and K-Tribe made history on June 12 in Kinston when they played the longest game in the history of the Carolina League, a 23-inning 3-2 Indians victory. In the record-breaking affair, 15 players logged eight or more at bats and both catchers, Zach Zaneski of Myrtle Beach and Kinston's Roberto Perez, caught every inning. 15 pitchers, seven for the Pelicans and eight for the K-Tribe, combined to throw 654 pitches, 339 of them by Myrtle Beach. It was the second 23-inning game in Minor League Baseball this season, Jupiter won 2-1 at home against Clearwater in a Florida State League game on May 23. The Indians and Pelicans have met twice before in the CL postseason, with the second-half champ beating the first-half winner both times. Myrtle Beach took out Kinston 2-1 in the 1999 SDCS on their way to a split-championship and the K-Tribe swept the Birds 2-0 in the 2002 SDCS before falling to Lynchburg 3-1 in the Mills Cup Championship Series. Vinny DiFazio has crushed Kinston pitching in 12 games, batting .342 with four of his eight 2011 home runs. In 18 games against the K-Tribe, Jared Prince has hit .329 with 13 RBIs and 13 runs scored while Leury Garcia has hit an even .300 in 15 games in the season series. Myrtle Beach's Game Two starter Chad Bell has a 0.89 ERA in five games, two starts, against the Indians.

LOOKING BACK: The SDCS between Myrtle Beach and Kinston that begins Wednesday pits the first-half champion Pelicans against the second-half champion Indians. In the last ten years of the Carolina League playoffs there have been 12 first-round meetings between first- and second-half winners, with the first-half champ going 7-5. Surprisingly, in eight matchups between a double-half winner and a wild card team, the wild card has gone 5-3 in the first round. That trend will be tested in the Northern Division Championship Series when the double-half champ Frederick Keys take on the wild-card Potomac Nationals.

TEXAS IS TOPS: The Texas Rangers are regarded as having one of baseball's best farm systems. On the field in 2011, they showed they're far and away the club with the best minor league affiliates. The cumulative record of the Rangers' minor league teams in 2011 was 431-332 (.565), an astounding 17 1/2 games better than the second-best organizational record, the Dodgers' 412-348 mark (.542). Six out of seven Rangers affiliates finished over .500 and amazingly, Myrtle Beach's record of 72-67 was the second-worst mark in the system. Triple-A Round Rock went 87-57 and won the PCL Northern division, while Double-A Frisco went 79-61 and postseason bound in the Texas League. Low-A Hickory (79-58) won the South Atlantic League first-half title and tied for the second-half crown as well. In Short Season ball, the AZL Rangers went 38-18 before falling in the semifinals, the DSL Rangers went 41-30 and Spokane was the only club to finish with a losing record at 35-41. The combined win total is the highest in Texas Rangers' franchise history.

M-V-P! M-V-P!: In a vote comprised of Myrtle Beach players and coaches, outfielder Jared Prince was named the Pelicans' Most Valuable Player and former pitcher Robbie Ross was named the team's Most Valuable Pitcher. Prince bounced back from a rough 4-for-45 start to bat .301 for the rest of the season to lead the club with a .282 batting average. The Kinston, WA native also led the Pelicans in games played (131), hits (136), doubles (30) and runs batted in (72). Prior to his promotion to Double-A Frisco on August 2, Ross was brilliant in posting a 9-4 record and a 2.26 ERA while striking out 98 batters and walking just 28 through 123.1 innings pitched. Ross, who was also named the circuit's starting pitcher on the postseason All-Star squad and took home the league title in ERA (2.26), batting average against (.227), and winning percentage (.692) and ranked second in WHIP (1.05). With only one home run allowed, his homer rate of 0.07% was by far the best in the CL and his ratio of 2.06 walks per nine innings was third-best.

HIT-STORY!: Jared Prince marched into the Carolina League record book in painful fashion on the last day of the regular season. In the sixth inning on Monday, the newly-minted team MVP was hit by a pitch for the 30th time this season, tying the CL single-season record set by Winston-Salem's Seth Loman in 2010. After being hit only three times in his first 46 games through the first two months of the season, the former Washington State Cougar was plunked 27 times in his final 85 games since June 1. Prince's college coaches would pull players who avoided pitches, so the Kingston, WA native developed a knack for getting on base the hard way.

LEAGUE LEADERS: In addition to leading the Carolina League in hit by pitches with 30, Jared Prince also led the loop in on base percentage (.376). He finished in the top ten in batting average (.282, 7th), hits (135, 6th), RBIs (72, 5th) and doubles (30, T-7th). He was the second-toughest hitter to strike out as he only whiffed in 8.3 percent of his at bats. He wasn't the only Bird on the year-end leaderboards. Ryan Strausborger legged out nine triples to tie Winston-Salem's Tyler Saladino for the league lead and finished tied for fourth in the loop in steals with 31. Strausborger also ranked in the top ten in hits (132, 8th) and runs (71, T-7th). With 11 outfield assists, the All-Star tied for the fourth-most in the league. Despite missing over two months with a broken collarbone and only playing in 69 games, Mike Olt knocked 14 home runs to tie for 8th in the circuit. Leury Garcia tied for sixth in the loop with 30 steals and his double-play partner Santiago Chirino proved to be the fourth-hardest batter to K as he only struck out 10.6 percent of the time. Zach Zaneski ran up the league's longest hitting streak when he hit safely in 18 consecutive games from June 12-July 22.

FIRST-TO-WORST-TO-FIRST': The Pelicans followed up their 40-29 first-half record and Southern Division title with a 32-38 mark and last-place finish in the second half. It's the third straight season, but only the eighth time in the last 30 years that a CL first-half champ came in last place in the second half. Only three of the previous seven teams won the first-round playoff series against the second-half champ, but two of the three teams that did get through the first round won the Mills Cup. Last year, Frederick won the Northern Division in the first half, but finished last to Potomac in the second before falling 3-1 in the playoffs to the P-Nats. The Pelicans aim to be more like the 2009 Lynchburg Hillcats, who went first-to-worst in the regular season, but beat Wilmington 3-2 in the NDCS en route to a sweep of Salem in the Mills Cup Championship Series to win the Carolina League title.

TALE OF THE TAPE: The SDCS pairs the two clubs that allowed the fewest runs in the Carolina League this season. Myrtle Beach allowed the fewest (545) and Kinston allowed the second-fewest (564), but the Pelicans could also generate offense, scoring the third most runs (602) while the Indians scored the fewest (527). The Birds' run differential of +57 was second in the league behind Frederick and despite their 76-62 record, Kinston was actually outscored for the season as their -37 run differential was the third-worst in the loop. Myrtle Beach finished second in batting average and on base percentage while Kinston was last in batting and slugging percentage. Despite posting the second-worst OBP in the league, the Indians drew the most walks. There should be a mismatch when it comes to strikeouts, as the Birds' staff struck out the most batters while Kinston whiffed the most times at the plate. Conversely, Myrtle Beach struck out the second-fewest times and K-Tribe pitching registered the second-fewest strikeouts. Still, it ought to be a tight matchup of pitching staffs that rank second (MB, 3.32) and third (KIN, 3.68) in ERA. The tide could be turned on the basepaths. Kinston has the second-best stolen base percentage in the league (75.15) while the Pelicans are dead last in throwing out opposing base stealers (19.4%). Myrtle Beach is the second-least efficient base-stealing club (63.33%) while Kinston has the third-best caught stealing rate at 32 percent.

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Carolina League Stories from September 7, 2011


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