Pastime Baseball League
Preseason 2010 Edition (cont)
Chicago Hitmen
2009 Record: 58-104, 4th Place, 50 GB
Draft Recap: Babe Ruth (RF), Rube Foster (P), Joe Bush (P), Dizzy Dismukes (P), Ossie Vitt (3B)
Big Question: How much impact can Ruth have?
He's the prize of the draft, the top pick and a once-in-a-lifetime talent. But can Babe Ruth save the Hitmen? It's important to remember that the Hitmen had virtually everything go wrong last year. They had injuries all over the place and were baseball's youngest team. The talent here is amazing to consider. Albert Pujols, Mark Teixeira, Adam Dunn, Josh Hamilton - a team that will greatly benefit from the PBL's move to the DH. Add a year of growth from Cy Young, Amos Rusie and Johan Santana and the incoming arms of Foster, Bush and Dismukes, and fans in Chicago have every reason to believe their team will improve. Sharing a division with the world champs is tough, but Chicago could hit .500 this year...a 23 game improvement.
Indianapolis Engines
2009 Record: 82-80, 2nd Place, 26 GB
Draft Recap: Joe Harris (1B), Les Nunamaker (C), Wally Pipp (1B), Milt Stock (3B), Ferdie Schupp (P)
Big Question: Are their pitchers indestructable?
The Engines had four starters make 33 or more starts last year, and ended up using an amazing nine pitchers TOTAL for the season, throwing a PBL-best 53 complete games. They drafted one pitcher and have only two on their reserve squad. If health falters on the staff, it will be a scramble to plug the holes.
Sacramento Stingers
2009 Record: 63-99, 3rd Place, 45 GB
Draft Recap: Harry Heilmann (RF), Ray Chapman (SS), Jake Daubert (1B), Bob Shawkey (P), Wilbur Cooper (P)
Big Question: Can they pitch?
Beyond Jim Devlin and Guy Hecker, the Stingers pitching was downright awful. Their team ERA came in a shade under 5, Bill Bernhard went 2-18 and Cole Hamels lost 16 games, too. The additions of Heilmann - who shoots into the PBL's top 5 prospects - Chapman and Daubert should help an already solid offense immediately. Shawkey and Cooper will be called on to produce, perhaps a bit too quickly. But they and Hamels, in particular, will need to step up if the Stingers are to make headway on the defending champs.
Wichita Brigade
2009 Record: 108-54, 1st Place, Won PBL Championship
Draft Recap: Rube Bressler (LF), Del Pratt (2B), George Cutshaw (2B), Claude Hendrix (P), Mike Gonzalez (C)
Big Question: Can they repeat?
The Brigade won their divison by 26 games, had their top four starters post ERA's below 3 - including the league's top pitcher, 27-game-winner Rube Waddell - and scored more than 5 runs a game. The drafting of two second basemen behind Robinson Cano, who was excellent last season, is surprising, but at this point nobody doubts Wichita's moves. They get benefit of the doubt, and their pitching alone makes them a good bet to repeat at the very least for the division crown.