April, 2083 recap:
The Broncos' shaky start in the season opener against Green Bay was forgotten very quickly as they roared to a league-best 19-7 record. Following that first series, Denver swept a four game series with Kansas City, outscoring the Royals by a combined 36-4. Denver then took two of three against both Memphis and Tucson, split a two game set against Grand Rapids, and gained some revenge against the Packers by winning two out of three. Following the second Green Bay series, the Broncos swept three games from Memphis and took two of three from Knoxville. Finally, Denver closed out the month of April by winning the first two games of a three game series against Charlotte.
Amazingly, the Broncos' strong start hasn't been completely dependent on their powerful offense, which, admittedly, ranks fourth in the league in runs scored. Instead, Denver's pitching has been the best in baseball, ranking first in both ERA and runs allowed. The Broncos' pitchers have done it by preventing hits(first in batting average against), walks(first), and homeruns(second). Leading the charge has been
Kenny Pillsbury, who after surrendering 7 runs in the opener, has allowed only 5 total runs in his five starts since. He has tossed three complete games, including a pair of shutouts. One of those was a one-hit, 11 strikeout masterpiece in the second series against Green Bay. By going 5-1 with a league-leading 1.58 ERA,
Pillsbury was named the American League Pitcher of the Month.
Pillsbury is now just one win away from his 100th career victory.
Surprisingly,
George Buentello has posted both the second best ERA on the team and the second best ERA in the American League, with a mark of 2.17 in five starts. Both he and
Robert McNett have earned 4 victories so far this season.
Christopher Kirk has been the most inconsistent of the starting pitchers so far.
Kirk fired a one-hit shutout over Grand Rapids, and has had two other superb starts. But he also has two starts in which he has surrendered 19 runs in a total of 12 innings.
Offensively, the Broncos have been led by the usual suspects.
Ellis Bolling leads the team with 9 homeruns and 27 RBI, while
Alexis Vazquez is second in RBI with 26 and tied for second in homeruns with 7.
Lee Chappel leads the team with a 1.078 OPS and 10 doubles. He is tied for second with 7 homeruns.
Asbel Fuentez leads all starters with a .356 AVG and is second with a 1.044 OPS.
The starter who has struggled the most so far is third-baseman
Michael Phillips, who, despite a .351 OBP, has just a .674 OPS.
Marvin Lore has been excellent coming off the bench and making some starts in right field against left-handed pitchers. In 39 at bats,
Lore has hit .359 with an .855 OPS.
In minor league news, AAA pitchers
Valentine Mcgurk and
Robert Soto have both suffered arm injuries. Neither will be available to pitch over the next month. Therefore, if the Broncos were in need of a replacement pitcher, the most likely candidate would be 36 year old reliever
Steven Poe, owner of a 3.85 ERA in 74 major league appearances.
Poe would get the call regardless of whether the injury was to a starter or reliever, as either
Larry Waltz or
James Myatt could move from the bullpen to the rotation in the event of an injury to a starting pitcher.
It also may be worth it to pay attention to 26 year old outfielder
Arthur Elbert. With reserve outfielder
Armando Navarro off to an uninspiring, 2 for 12 start, Broncos' GM
John Mounts has to have noticed
Elbert's .327/.391/.644/1.036 line at AAA.
Elbert also has 9 doubles and 8 homeruns.
24 year old catcher
John Landon was promoted to AAA after hitting .438/.495/.479/.974 in 96 at bats at AA.
First round draft pick
Henry Lewis, Jr. has been promoted to AA after hitting .318/.380/.409/.789 in 110 at bats at single A.
On the less positive side, 20 year old starting pitching prospect
Christopher Hicks, who was considered one of the best prospects in Denver's organization, suffered a serious injury on Opening Day. He tore the bicep muscle in his pitching arm and there are serious doubts as to whether he will be able to recover from this injury. Considering the sparseness of the Broncos' system, this was definitely not what the Broncos needed.
Denver's batting stats through one month of play:
Code:
Name G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K AVG OBP SLG SB CS
A. Vasquez 26 111 31 7 0 7 26 15 5 21 .279 .316 .532 0 0
E. Bolling 26 108 33 9 1 9 27 22 10 17 .306 .364 .657 0 0
R. Diaz 25 98 32 7 0 5 12 17 4 15 .327 .365 .551 0 0
L. Chappel 24 96 33 10 0 7 19 20 11 7 .344 .411 .667 1 0
R. Thomas 23 96 32 3 0 2 10 19 5 5 .333 .369 .427 3 0
M. Phillips 25 93 23 4 0 1 15 17 14 9 .247 .351 .323 1 0
B. Romero 25 87 24 8 3 1 11 14 10 21 .276 .350 .471 2 0
J. Rumfelt 25 83 27 8 0 1 13 11 14 7 .325 .423 .458 1 0
A. Fuentez 18 73 26 8 2 3 12 14 4 6 .356 .400 .644 1 1
M. Lore 14 39 14 2 0 0 5 4 6 7 .359 .444 .410 0 0
A. Mingo 7 13 2 1 1 0 2 3 0 0 .154 .154 .385 0 0
A. Navarro 8 12 2 0 0 0 2 2 3 1 .167 .313 .167 2 1
G. Lauritsen 4 12 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 .333 .333 .333 0 0
Denver's pitching stats through one month of play:
Code:
Name G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER BB K CG SHO
K. Pillsbury 6 6 5 1 0 1.58 45.2 33 12 8 9 32 3 2
G. Buentello 5 5 4 1 0 2.17 37.1 29 11 9 6 19 0 0
C. Kirk 5 5 2 2 0 5.75 36.0 32 23 23 12 21 1 1
R. Lockridge 5 5 3 2 0 3.60 35.0 36 18 14 5 33 0 0
R. Mcnett 5 5 4 0 0 3.23 30.2 25 11 11 7 29 0 0
J. Virgen 8 0 1 1 3 2.38 11.1 5 4 3 2 6 0 0
R. Gomez 9 0 0 0 5 4.82 9.1 8 5 5 3 9 0 0
F. Lemire 5 0 0 0 0 0.00 6.2 3 0 0 2 6 0 0
O. Lopez 3 0 0 0 0 1.50 6.0 4 1 1 0 4 0 0
L. Gwinn 3 0 0 0 0 5.40 5.0 7 3 3 0 7 0 0
L. Waltz 3 0 0 0 0 6.75 4.0 8 3 3 1 5 0 0
J. Myatt 2 0 0 0 0 13.50 3.1 7 5 5 1 4 0 0
Next up: The Standings through one month of play.