1921 North Carolina State League — Preseason
Baseball’s expansion well received
All eight teams are back, 162-game schedule will stay
The addition of clubs in Wilmington and Fayetteville, the expanded 162-game schedule and the longer best-of-seven playoff format all were well-received in 1920. So, the North Carolina State League will stay the course for 1921. No new real changes are planned, except several teams (Raleigh, Fayetteville and Shelby of the Western Carolina League, etc.) are pledging to be a lot better this season. We’ll see how that all pans out.
New Player Draft
The Fayetteville Highlanders earned the first pick in this year’s player allocation draft and used it on 24-year-old pitcher
Matt Haynes (pictured above). The Youngwood, Pa. native is a right-hander known for putting a lot of zip on the ball. He’ll start the season in Shelby, hoping to lift the Farmers’ fortunes. Fayetteville officials don’t want to rush Haynes but believe he may be able to help them on the big club late in the year.
The Raleigh Capitals also went for pitching with their first selection. But many pundits were surprised to see the Caps take little known
Jose Garcia of Leavenworth, Kan. with the second overall pick. Garcia just wasn’t on many radars as a top prospect. Raleigh officials seemed smitten with his screwball.
The Wilmington Pirates picked third and selected the first position player of the draft, centerfielder
George Rhodes, 18, of Arnold, Miss. He’s long and lean, with quickness on the base paths. Rhodes has decent pop in his bat, and if pundits are right, he could be helping the Pirates pretty quickly.
Pitching was a premium early in this year‘s draft (six of the top eight), then five catchers were selected in the second round.
Top 10 Prospects
Wilmington’s new first-round pick, CF
George Rhodes, tops this year’s list before even swinging a bat. Durham likes catcher
Boyd Carlson and thinks he’ll have a solid future in the Bull City. He comes in at No. 2. Here is the entire list. Those not part of this most recent draft class will have 1920 stats listed in parenthesis.
1) CF George Rhodes, 18, Wilmington Pirates
2) C Boyd Carlson, 25, Durham Bulls (hit. 373 in Lexington and .306 in Durham in 1920)
3) SP José García, 19, Raleigh Capitals -- his stock soars with high pick, but ratings seem really low
4) SP Carlos Sánchez, 19, Charlotte Hornets
5) SP Junior Moore, 18, Greensboro Patriots
6) SP David Todd, 23, Wilmington Pirates (1919 draftee was 4-2 with 6 saves for Mooresville in 1920; traded in early January 1921 to Wilmington)
7) C Anthony Stephenson, 22, Raleigh Capitals (1917 draftee finally got his feet wet with big club in 1920, batting .306 in 74 games)
8) SP Matt Haynes, 23, Fayetteville Highlanders
9) SP Willard Richards, 20, Asheville Tourists (10-14, 2.03 ERA for Hickory)
10) SP Jim Hamelton, 20, Charlotte Hornets (11-12, 3.48 ERA for Mooresville)
Top 10 Position Players
Raleigh looks ready to have a big hitting year based on this list. Several familiar faces on here.
1. CF Bill Robbins, 36, Raleigh -- heavy hitter set single season average record in 1920 (.378)
2. LF Antonio Arevalo, 32, Charlotte
3. LF Angel “Sweetness” Pellicer, 32, Winston-Salem -- wants his batting championship back
4. C Boyd Carlson, 25, Durham -- also a top prospect
5. RF Arturo Martinez, 24, Raleigh -- quietly batted .355 in Robbins’ shadow last season
6. 3B Chris Hartle, 24, Asheville -- popular third-sacker hoping for another title
7. C Marvin Young, 31, Charlotte -- he was in this spot a year ago, hit .268 for season
8. 2B Joe Herrera, 27, Greensboro -- giving Patriots’ fans some hope for this season
9. CF Ryan Travis, 32, Winston-Salem
10. RF Garrett McDonald, 28, Durham
Top 10 Pitchers
A pretty balanced list among the top six teams in the league (i.e. non-expansion teams). Asheville, Durham and Winston each have two pitchers in the top six. That bodes well for this trio.
1. Dan “Little Rat” Sutton, 24, Durham -- not very likeable guy but solid hurler
2. Jack Fry, 24, Winston-Salem -- has been injury prone
3. Chris Wilson, 31, Asheville -- beloved in the NC mountains
4. Merlin “The Wizard” McNeill, 38, Asheville -- also beloved and still going strong at 38
5. Howard Miller, 26, Winston-Salem -- solid young pitcher
6. Curt Dunham, 28, Durham
7. Jose Andres, 32, Greensboro -- more hope for the Pats!
8. Rudy Young, 36, Charlotte
9. Gary “Brick” Lee, Winston-Salem
10. Kenny Craft, 28, Greensboro
AzTarHeel’s Prediction for 1921
Durham really took it to everyone last season, then Asheville took it to Durham in the playoffs. I really like Asheville’s mix of pitching and hitting. I’ll go with the Tourists to keep their mini-dynasty rolling, taking out a revived Winston-Salem team in six games in the playoff series.