Dude of the Month – November

All right, we’re one month into the season so its time to unveil the first Deep in the Hole Dude of the Month. There’s a strong chance you’re sitting in front of your computer scratching your head and asking; dude?? So let the Defensive Specialist set a few parameters that’ll help you better understand. Firstly, according to the Urban Dictionary, dude can be defined as:

“Something that's just so awesomely cool, amazingly kick ass”

Here at Deep in the Hole we’re going to use that definition as a starting point and add that a ‘dude” in a baseball sense is a guy who basically looks his team mates in the eye, points at his back and says “climb on boys, I’m going to carry the club”. It’s kind of like the team MVP only cooler. So from now on when we refer to a player as a dude, you know they’re legit! We’re not talking about guys who’ve started hot, we’re talking about players who are carrying their ball club while carving up the league.

While you’re sitting there thinking about all the ‘dudes’ you know the Defensive Specialist needs to rip through some A1 series predictions and address an inquiry that hit the comments box.

Predictions

Perth Heat Vs. Brisbane Bandits

The Bandits travel to Perth buoyed by their split with the Blue Sox last week while the Heat will be bitterly disappointed that they weren’t able to take 3 from the Bite in Adelaide. The Defensive Specialist is going with a 4-0 Heat series sweep as they add a couple of key bats (Adamson & Dale).

Canberra Multiculturalists Vs. Adelaide Bite

The Multiculturalists got rolled in Melbourne in a rain-affected series while the Bite split with the Perth team at home. The weather looks ominous in the nations capital but if they get all 4 in, Adelaide will win 3.

Sydney Blue Sox Vs. Melbourne Aces

The matchup of the round. The Blue Sox looked shabby against the Bandits while Melbourne found some form and took 2 off the Multiculturalists. It will be a tight contest and the Defensive Specialist is calling a split 2-2.

Ok, now that the tips are in, lets visit a comment that got left behind after the last post (no, not the humourless and nonsensical one):

After the first few weeks of the season will the ABL teams start to look for further imports to address holes in their roster? I can see Perth needing a bit more help in the middle infield and another starter. – Diesel

Diesel,

You’d have to assume with the roster flexibility that’s in place, teams will do whatever it takes to tool up during the season so if that means importing new players, they’ll do it. A number of teams (see Blue Sox, Sydney) have a bunch of local stud horses buried on their roster (Rowland-Smith, Thomas & Oeltjen) that will definitely help. Other teams sniffing the playoffs may dip into the foreign player ranks if it means getting to the big dance. In better news for the happy Heaters, the word on the street is that Luke Hughes’ stay in Venezuela may be done in late December / early January meaning that they’ll add his bat and Tim Kennelly’s to form a formidable offensive attack just in time for the playoffs.

Right, lets get back to the Deep in the Hole Dude of the Month award for November. As mentioned above we’re awarding the guy who’s flat out been a world-beater in the first month of the season. There have been plenty of hitters who’ve taken off running like Robbie Widlansky (Heat), James McOwen (Bite), Josh Davies (Aces), Michael Collins (Multiculturalists) and Alex Johnson (Blue Sox) or pitchers that have made short work of the league such as Dushan Ruzic (Bite), James Albury & Chris Mowday (Bandits), Greg Wilstshire (Aces) and Daniel Schmidt (Heat). But at the end of the first month of the season, there have been two “DUDES’ that have set themselves apart from the pack- Quincy Latimore (Bite) and Chris Oxspring (Blue Sox). Both players stand out on league leading ballclubs and both have been instrumental in their clubs success.

The US born Q-Tip has mashed ABL pitching at a .400 clip with a 1.264 OPS (On base % + slugging – anything above .900 is rock solid). He has been a middle order beast for the Bite crushing 5 home runs and driving in 16 while scoring 12 runs. Half of Latimore’s knocks have been for extra bases meaning that he is a one man wrecking crew in the early part of the season. The only downside to his season has been his relatively low base on balls total (3) and high strikeout tally (11) although it’s fairly safe to say that Adelaide Manager Tony Harris won’t be complaining about this facet of Q-Tip’s game.

The Defensive Specialist has been fortunate to witness 3 of Chris Oxspring’s 4 starts this season and 2 of those outings were absolute gems. Oxspring has put up a 2-0 record in his 4 starts with a 0.64 ERA and a ridiculous 29-2 strikeout to walk ratio. Oxspring has been a workhorse, gobbling up innings (28.1) while yielding only 2 earned runs and surrendering 16 hits. People often bandy about the term “Ace” but Oxspring has lived up to it in every definition of the word with displays like his start in Brisbane where he reeled off a 1 hitter with his team down 2-0 in the series. The only blip on the month was his last outing where he appeared a little less sharp than usual and surrendered a 3 run lead to the Bandits.

It’s not an easy call to make since both guys have demonstrated real ‘DUDE”-like qualities throughout the month of November, but the Defensive Specialist is remunerated handsomely to make the big decisions so with that in mind, the Deep in the Hole Dude of the Month for November 2010 goes to Chris Oxspring. Although Latimore has landed in Australia with his bat blazing, he is surrounded by more firepower that assists in picking up a large amount of the offensive burden. Oxspring on the other hand has been a steadying force on an inconsistent pitching staff, with a middle of the road offense behind him.

Congratulations to Chris Oxspring – Dude of the Month

Dangerous

Iceman: You're everyone's problem. That's because every time you go up in the air, you're unsafe. I don't like you because you're dangerous.



Maverick: That's right! Ice... man. I am dangerous


That quote may in fact represent that most homo erotic part of the most non-intentional homo erotic movie ever made (oh you don’t believe your old pal? How about Mav delivering his retort and thoughtfully dusting off Iceman’s shirt at which point Iceman chomps his teeth!)– well until Point Break came along. Now the Defensive Specialist understands that a large proportion of the Deep in the Hole audience may have just punched their computer screen while screaming “No way Bodhi was gay!!” Watch the movie again – the main characters name was Johnny Utah, he jumped out of a plane without a parachute and landed on Bhodi’s back (a metaphor for unprotected sex)! The Defensive Specialist could keep going....


The reason for the Top Gun quote? Well the Defensive Specialist wanted to spend some time talking about the most dangerous hitters in the league today. We’re not talking about the best hitters in the league, we’re talking about those guys that opposing managers want nothing to do with late in the game with runners on. In the manager’s mind, these guys are unsafe, every time they come to the plate, they’re dangerous.


Before the Defensive Specialist parlays that awesome analogy into a baseball post, we should probably run through the Defensive Specialists series predictions to see how dialled in your dear writer has been lately in picking horse flesh:



Melbourne Aces Vs. Canberra Multiculturalists


The Defensive Specialist called a 2-2 result and low and behold we got a 2-2 split. Both teams have to be happy to get off the schnide and open up the W account. As predicted, it was a scrappy affair with a number of games heading to extra innings but both managers will be pleased that every game was competitive(although Phil Dale may be scratching his head over the state of his pitching staff).


Sydney Blue Sox Vs. Brisbane Bandits


Series prediction was 3-1 to the Blue Sox. Actual result was a 2-2 split. The Defensive Specialist did not anticipate the Bandits kicking the front door down and putting Wayne Lundgren to the sword in game 1 or hanging tough for 12 innings in game 2. Chris Oxspring restored order to the universe in game 3 by reeling off a 1 hitter in game 3 to continue his dominance.


Adelaide Bite Vs. Perth Heat


The Defensive Specialist picked a 3-1 victory to the Heat. The Bite further weakened the Defensive Specialist’s credibility by winning 2 games and splitting the series. Another tight series saw both teams battle it out in 3 of the 4 games, including a walk off Johnson in the 12th inning of game 3.


The lesson learned from all of this? At no stage should you go to your local casino and bet your mortgage on any of the Defensive Specialists series predictions!



Righto, let’s get back on track and start talking about hitters that managers want no part of with the game on the line. The Defensive Specialist needs to put a few parameters on this thing before a raft of angry emails and comments come in stating that “Manager X pitched around hitter Y in the last series which means he must be super dangerous and you’re and idiot for not mentioning him”. Every team has a hitter that you don’t want beating you, but not every line up has a guy that you genuinely worry about giving them anything close to the strike zone in a leveraged situation. Think about Barry Bonds in his homerun mashing hey day – in 2004 he was INTENTIONALLY walked 120 times, including 4 in one game and ended the season with 232 base on balls.


Since the majority of hitters in the ABL are young, we can’t expect Popeye strength but we are looking for hitters with genuine home run power and the ability to drive the ball. There is a difference in pitching to a guy who can line a ball over short for a knock and a guy who can drive a ball over the street behind the fence. Already the list of hitters with this ability is shortening but for the sake of this exercise, let’s take a look at some of the most dangerous hitters in the ABL and figure out who is the most dangerous.


Nick Kimpton – Baseball fans will recall a couple of years ago Kimpton set the Claxton Shield on fire offensively while playing for the Perth Heat. While being a solid contributor for the Multiculturalists so far this season, Kimpton is not a guy who strikes fear in the opposing managers heart as he isn’t the long ball threat and is susceptible to left handing pitching.


Mitch Dening – Loyal readers will be well aware of the Defensive Specialists man crush on Dening’s left handed stroke but even though they say love is blind, you’re old pal is cognizant enough to know that at this stage of his career, Dening doesn’t have the pop to be considered the most dangerous. What he does have is a line drive / doubles swing that with time (and man strength) may develop into a consistent home run stroke. It’s probably too early to call it, but the dude on the Blue Sox who does look a little frisky is Alex Johnson who has emerged from parts unknown to launch 3 bombs and lead the team in RBI’s. Perhaps he is basking in the “who the F is this guy, let’s see if he can hit my fastball?” glow young or new hitters often experience early in their careers. Once pitchers figure that he can hit the fastball and start mixing up their offerings, we’ll get a better read on Mr Johnson.


Justin Huber – On paper he ticks all the boxes but at the present moment 2 for 29 isn’t causing heart palpitations in the opposition dugout.


Robbie Widlansky – The import lefty looks the real deal, leading the team in hitting and demonstrating doubles power however there may not be the juice to be a consistent long ball threat.


Luke Hughes – You don’t get to the big leagues on good looks alone and while Hughes is a decent looking cat, he also has some ability with the bat. Hughes has power to spare at this level but after a lengthy lay off due to injury, he’s just beginning to find his way again as evidenced by his 7 punch outs.


Ronnie Welty – Yes, the Defensive Specialist knows that he has just rattled off 3 Heat players but Welty has the chops to be on this list and was given rave reviews by a number of readers in attendance at the last series. The12th inning walk off effort in game 3 was described as ”one of the hardest and furthest hit balls I have ever seen at Barbagallo Park” which is quite the statement when you consider that balls have to be clobbered to get out of that place (especially to left centre where it exited).Welty does also have an 18 homerun season on his resume in professional baseball which helps back up some of the hyperbole.


James McOwen – You dont often see lead off guys on a “Most Dangerous” list but McOwen has started with a bang and warrants mentioning. Aside from hitting .400, he has an on base percentage of .462, scoring 7 and driving in 9 with 2 home runs.


Quincy Latimore – the Q Tip has decided that playing baseball in Australia is agreeable to his swing with 4 long balls, 3 doubles, 12 RBI’s and 9 runs. If he decided to walk a little more (only 2) his on base percentage would be considerably higher than .482.



So who’s the most dangerous hitter in the league right now? It has to be the Q Tip who is making short work of ABL pitching and provides a legitimate long ball threat every time he comes to the plate. The scouting report on him reads a little like this:


Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.

Now obviously most young hitters don’t fare overly well against good breaking stuff and Latimore is no different. Having said that with the winning run on second would any manager think to pitch to Latimore in the hope that their pitcher can snap off a couple of quality breaking balls to beat him? Probably not, and that’s why we’re crowning him the most dangerous.