FRONTIER FIVE: CAPITALES, VALLEYCATS MAKE THEIR MOVES
July 21, 2023 - Teams have a little more than 30 games left to play and the contenders are beginning to separate themselves from the pretenders.
In the Hunt
- Quebec Capitales, Since the end of June, the Capitales have laid waste to the Frontier League, the defending champs ripped off 14 wins on the trot until they where upended Wednesday night in Florence. Former Astros farmhand Ruben Castro is hitting .360 and leading off as a catcher. If he had more than 28 games played I would certainly expect him to be in the MVP conversation.
- Gateway Grizzlies, Fresh off a midweek sweep of the Bolts, it's fair to say it has been an interesting week for the bears of Sauget. First they signed their hitting coach Kyle Gaedele to the active roster and in typical Grizzlies fashion he is extremely productive! In 13 plate appearances the former Valpo standout has a .539 on base percentage to go along with five driven in, he even stole a bag! Oh yeah and Peter Zimmermann hit a walkoff HR that went 4538820 feet (sorry it's hard to calculate when the ball enters orbit and doesn't return.
- Tri-City ValleyCats, While the Capitales distracted the rest of the league with their 14 game win streak and sweet pinstripes, the Cats have tiptoed their way into striking distance of the top, only a game back of Quebec. The top of their lineup is as dangerous as anyone, led by Cito Culver, Jakob Goldfarb, and Aaron Alther. Alther, the former Phillies slugger, is currently on the IL but the Cats haven't missed a beat, plugging in Lamar Briggs, who through 16 games is hitting for a .396 average.
- Schaumburg Boomers, 252 at bats into the season and Chase Dawson is still hitting .353, he has also stolen 35 bases, Rickey Henderson-esque. In fact, there are four Boomers with more than 200 at bats and a higher than .400 on base percentage, coupled with the fact that the Boomers have a combined 117 stolen bases this season and you start to understand why Jaime Bennett's teams always find a way.
- New Jersey Jackals, The Jackals at one point looked like they may just run away with the east, that obviously hasn't happened and the Jackals have struggled of late, going 3-7 in their last 10. To my untrained eye, it seems the formula of tons of Home Runs plus tons of strikeouts has caught up with them just a little.
- Evansville Otters, The Otters appear to be stuck in neutral, 5-5 in their last 10, including losing the midweek series this week to the Crushers and dropping a weekend game against the Greys. If the Otters are going to be successful, they need to lean on their elite pitching staff, but as we know at any level of baseball, if there is one thing you need to win in the postseason, it's pitching, and the Otters have it.
- Sussex County Miners, Sussex County went through a little bit of dry patch around the end of the June early July but look to be picking it up again at just the right time. Former Kentucky Wildcat Oraj Anu has been standout for them, posting a .320, 12 HR, 37 RBI stat line so far. Their pitching has also been very good. The starting staff is led by Tyler Thornton and Mark Moclair, who both have a sub 3.50 ERA in more than 60 innings of work. The backend of the Miners pen has been borderline unhittable, with Robbie Hitt, Billy Parsons and Ronnie Voacolo all having sub 1.50 ERAs.
- New York Boulders, With how many good teams are at the top of the east, the boulders have gotten lost in the shuffle a bit. Losers of four straight, they have fallen to the back of the playoff picture and need to gather themselves quickly to keep pace with the four teams now ahead of them.
The Frontier Five
5- Sussex County Miners
The pitching staff is scary, scary good, they strike me as the type of team that can turn to the pen in the 6th inning of a playoff game and not even blink. Almost no other team has that luxury.
4- Schaumburg Boomers
I worry a little about the lack of power hitting but they get on base, steal bags, and pitch the heck out of the ball, combine that with top five fielding numbers and you have a sound, playoff proven team with a great coach.
3- Tri-City ValleyCats
Pulling into the three spot in their inaugural Frontier five appearance is the ValleyCats of Tri-City, the lineup may be the best in the east with the Jackals scuffling, I worry about the pitching staff though.
2- Quebec Capitales
Few things in baseball that I love like I love a leadoff catcher. Also shoutout to Pat Scalbrani for the cat. five nuclear meltdown he had at the umps in Thursday nights game at Florence. Letting blue have it like that is something we all can get behind.
1- Gateway Grizzlies
Da bears of Sauget are well positioned for a title run, unlike the neighboring Cardinals of St. Louis, who are well positioned to pip the pirates to last place in the NL central.
