1919 North Carolina State League — Regular Season Recap
Asheville holds on down the stretch
Tourists fight off three others for regular season crown
FINAL 1919 STANDINGS
Code:
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Asheville Tourists 65 55 .542 - 63-57 2 32-28 33-27 10-4 21-17 Clinched L1 5-5
Charlotte Hornets 63 57 .525 2.0 68-52 -5 27-33 36-24 5-9 17-20 L2 5-5
Winston-Salem Twins 62 58 .517 3.0 62-58 0 29-31 33-27 6-5 21-22 W2 5-5
Durham Bulls 61 59 .508 4.0 61-59 0 28-32 33-27 10-8 25-20 W1 5-5
Greensboro Patriots 57 63 .475 8.0 56-64 1 25-35 32-28 4-7 20-20 W2 5-5
Raleigh Capitals 52 68 .433 13.0 50-70 2 28-32 24-36 5-7 16-21 L2 5-5
North Carolina State League officials may want to rethink their ideas about extending the season to 154 or 162 games. Right now, the 120-game schedule is producing some dandy finishes in the NCSL standings.
This year, five out of the six clubs finished within eight games of each other. Four of those teams had winning records in what looks like the most balanced year in the seven-year history of the North Carolina State League. All six teams were 5-5 over their final 10 games.
Asheville took the lead in June and despite some white-knuckle moments down the stretch hung on to claim the regular season banner. Charlotte edged rival Winston-Salem for the runner-up spot by one game, with Durham lurking just one game behind the Twins. This will bet the fourth year in a row that Charlotte has made the playoffs, while Asheville is returning for the first time since the 1916 season (when the Tourists also won the Carolina Champions Cup).
Asheville was the team making the deft roster moves this season. Trading for glove-wizard catcher
Vincente Nieves (formerly of Raleigh) proved big. Nieves also had his best year at the plate since 1914, batting .281 with 23 doubles, 50 RBIs and six triples. Pretty solid for the usual No. 8 guy in the lineup.
Shortstop
Jerry Johnson had his best season with the Tourists by far since joining the club in 1915, hitting a whopping .341 with 22 doubles, five triples and three homers. He drove home a team-best 62 runs. Cousins
Alfredo Perez (LF) and
Jose Perez (3B) had 61 RBIs each in a year when scoring and hitting numbers went up pretty substantially around the league.
Pitching-wise, no one really dazzled for Asheville but everyone was pretty dependable.
Chris Lloyd led the way in wins with 15.
Merlin McNeill had a rougher time (16 losses) but still picked up 12 wins. Newcomer
Johnny Ward finished 12-6.
Popular 3B
Chris Hartle saw his first action with the Asheville big club. He didn’t come back from an 1918 injury until June of this season. He had 11 at-bats with Hickory of the Western Carolina League, then the Tourists brought him up the mountain. Hartle ended up platooning at third base with Jose Perez, finishing with a .321 average in 53 at-bats (17 hits, 5 doubles, 8 RBIs). Pretty solid for a 22-year-old. It will be interesting to see if Asheville keeps him up in 1920 -- and how much he‘ll factor into this year‘s playoffs.
When Charlotte’s No. 1 ace pitcher,
Craig Clark, went down with a season-ending injury in May, many thought the Hornets would be done. But Charlotte just plugged some others into the rotation and fought their way to another playoff berth. The new No. 1 pitcher turned out to be
Javier Guerra, who was 16-8 with a sub 2.50 ERA.
Rudy Young, a past Most Outstanding Pitcher winner, went 14-11.
Tim “T-Rex” Johnston was 13-14 in his first full season in the NCSL.
Ivan Martinez (1B) and
Antonio Arevalo (RF) continued to carry big sticks for Charlotte. Each had 67 RBIs and averages right near the .300 mark. Shortstop
Craig Gray had a breakout year, batting .306 with a league-best 13 triples. The man could motor around the bases and find the gaps the defense for sure…
The Winston-Salem Twins got their usual production from OF
Angel “Sweetness” Pellicer. Can he win a fifth Most Outstanding Batter title? His numbers should put him in the running: .349 average, .439 OBP (tops in the league), 54 RBIs, 10 triples, 18 doubles. He was the league Batter of the Month for July.
Winston had four regulars bat .297 or better -- Pellicer, SS
Carlos Rodriguez (.318), CF
Ryan Travis (.308) and 1B
Henry “Boom Boom” Butler (.297). Butler had a 21-game hitting streak going at one point. Late-season call-up
Colton McQueen, a 21-year-old second baseman, posted a .319 average with 20 RBIs in 119 at-bats for the W-S crew. He had six triples and stole 20 bases. Winston could hit it with anyone but just didn’t quite have enough pitching to get back into the playoffs this season (much to the chagrin of AzTarHeel’s prognosticating skills). After starters
Jack Fry (14-10) and
Gary “Brick” Lee (14-13), the Twins really lacked dependable arms.
The Durham Bulls’ fortunes took a wrong turn when the club lost ace pitcher
Dan “Little Rat” Sutton for the season due to injury. The ruptured disc in his back likely means he won’t be at full health at the start of next season either. The real highlight for the Bulls was the play of right fielder
Garrett McDonald. The 26-year-old (pictured) earned a .352 average to win the regular season batting title. His previous best season was .301, the only time he crossed into the .300s since joining the league in 1913. LF
Jason Wilson stole 63 bases for the Bulls.
Well, what do you know, the Greensboro Patriots didn’t finish last! In fact, the Patriots took great pride at only being eight games back of the champion Tourists after the season ended. They improved by 10 games from their 1918 win totals. In their final game, the Pats drilled Charlotte 12-8, going into the off-season on a great note (with back-to-back wins over the Hornets, who seemed to be resting a few starters for the playoffs).
After winning the 1918 Western Carolina League Most Outstanding Hitter award,
William Sullivan (1B) spent his first full season with Greensboro’s Big Club. He batted a cool .316 with a league best 32 doubles. RF
Lester “Blitz” Kennedy led the Patriots’ offense with a .329 average, 22 doubles and nine triples. He batted home 52 runs. If Greensboro fans can hold on another few years, maybe they’ll see some playoff baseball in their town. Maybe.
The Raleigh Capitals are the club that’s reeling these days. The Caps suffered their worst season in their seven-year history, winning only 52 games (and finishing behind Greensboro -- ACCK!). It wasn’t really a ton of injuries that did the team in, though their top bat (RF
Bill Robbins, .343 average in 72 games) missed nearly half of the year recovering from a 1918 ailment. The Caps just weren’t that good as a unit. No. 4 starter
Jake Renz was 6-18 after coming to Raleigh from Asheville as part of the Vincente Nieves trade.
On to the playoffs, where Asheville will try to derail Charlotte's bid for a three-peat...