The North Carolina Aviators Thread

[Chappy]

Another Year, Another Battle for the Bottom of the Rotation
Don Wilson, Jeremy Guy, Tommy Blake & Rhett Miller Battle for 4th and 5th spots

At least one thing is clear as the North Carolina Aviators - last year's runners up - begin training camp this week; 27-year-old Big Boots Thompson (17-9, 3.31) will be the Aviators' 3rd starter in the rotation this year. 

Joe Haines (15-3, 2.32) and Norberto Leon (22-5, 2.55) will be the top two starters, although not necessarily in that order.

Meanwhile, there are four pitchers battling it out for the 4th and 5th slots.  Let's take a look at them:

Don Wilson - 20 years old - RHP
Last Season Posted an 11-9 record with a 4.70 ERA in 28 starts
Projection Wilson is primed to have a breakout year.  He's just 20 and is entering his 3rd big-league season.  Wilson is rated 8/6/8 over 8/7/8, and has one of the best change-ups in baseball, as well as an excellent splitter, a good fastball, and an above-average cutter.  Pretty much a lock for the 4th or 5th spot, but he's got to earn it this Spring.

Jeremy Guy - 27 years old - LHP
Last Season Posted a 12-11 record and a 4.41 ERA in 33 starts
Projection Guy has not returned to the form of his 2013 season, where he was 15-14 with a 3.62 ERA, but he did rebound from an ugly 2014 season (4-13, 6.12) last year.  He's got a trio of excellent pitches (Fastball, Slider, Forkball) and is rated 8/6/6, and has the best stamina of any of our SPs.  Guy could be the 4th starter with a good Spring or a bad Spring could land him in AAA.

Rhett Miller - 27 years old - RHP
Last Season 10-5, 3.40 in 20 starts at AA Greensboro, 3-3, 5.82 in 6 starts at AAA Raleigh, 0-1, 13.50 in 1 start in North Carolina.
Projection Obviously a longshot, the 6/6/6 over 6/6/6 rated pitcher is not particularly good at anything, but conversely, he's not particularly bad at anything.  Look for Miller to wind up in AAA for at least the start of the season.

Tommy Blake - 29 years old - RHP
Last Season 8-10, 5.59 in 26 starts in AAA Raleigh, 0-1, 3.75 in 2 starts in North Carolina
Projection Blake is seen by scouts to be a bit better than Miller at 6/7/6 over 6/7/6, but he has less stamina and his pitches aren't quite as refined.  He's got a good cutter, an above-average fastball, an average curve and a below average change. 

[Chappy]

Aviators Favored to Win Patriot League
Chavez, Leon predicted to lead the way

Here's a look at the media's recent predictions for the upcoming season:

Code: [Select]

Team W L PCT GB Runs AVG HR SB Runs against ERA K BB
North Carolina Aviators 94 68 .580 - 764 .270 173 115 635 3.66 1260 454
New Jersey Athletics 93 69 .574 1 744 .259 154 81 633 3.61 1230 408
Pennsylvania Railroaders 91 71 .562 3 822 .277 186 53 672 3.82 1219 410
West Virginia Hollers 89 73 .549 5 760 .269 163 90 686 3.99 1250 463
Ohio Knights 80 82 .494 14 762 .266 163 72 764 4.39 1254 489
Ontario Blue Pirates 77 85 .475 17 681 .252 166 132 777 4.37 907 558
Kentucky Lions 68 94 .420 26 563 .245 116 62 698 4.01 1313 578
New York Brewers 58 104 .358 36 637 .253 126 77 869 5.01 1029 692
For the Aviators, the role of the favorite is new, having been predicted to finish 2nd or worse in previous seasons.  Hopefully, the team will be up to the task.

Aviators Announce Opening Day Lineup/Roster
Two projected roster members start the season off on DL

Opening Day Starting Lineup (All Stats Listed are 162 Game Averages):

1 - R - Crawdad Hicks - CF

.306-2-49 - 112 walks, 46 steals
One of the best leadoff men in the game, Crawdad failed to make the all-star game for the first time in his career despite setting career highs in Runs Scored (107) and Batting Average (.325).  The 28-year-old is a little bitter about the ASG snub, and wants to prove he's among the game's greats.

2 - R - Curds Campos - SS

.289-6-64 - 7 3B, 69 steals
Curds rebounded from an injury plagued 2014 campaign to post career bests in hits (186), doubles (36), triples (, and hit .279 in the postseason.  Curds led the league in steals (61) for the 2nd time in his career and led the league in sacrifice hits (20) as well.  Small ball is Campos' specialty.

3 - L - Greg Smith - LF - *ROOKIE*

.381-8-41
Rookie of the Year candidate Greg Smith will start the season in the 3 spot thanks to a hot spring (.357-4-8).  Smith is the #26 prospect in the league, and the #1 prospect in the Aviators organization.  He's a natural right fielder, but will start in left because he plays left better than Jose Chavez, a veteran.

4 - L - Jose Chavez - RF

.289-39-122
Chavez, the only perfect 3-for-3 All-Star in North Carolina, is coming off a year in which he led the PL in RBI (133) and hit over .300 for the first time in his career (.302).  Now 35, the Aviators are in a rush to win a title before Chavez begins his decline. 

5 - L - Rory White - 1B

.271-37-101
Surprisingly, NC made it all the way to the finals despite White going down with an injury in September and missing the final 20 games of the season and the entire postseason.  The 33-year-old is back and ready to play, albeit without quite as much pressure on him now that the organization has added another pair of power hitters (in rookie Greg Smith and veteran Jesus Gutierrez).

6 - R - Jesus Gutierrez - 3B

.260-23-82
The Aviators acquired the 2-time Best Defender at 3B from Kentucky in exchange for 7 draft picks, turning heads and attracting a mixture of praise and criticism.  At 29, he should have quite a few good seasons ahead of him, and so far he has hit well in an NC uniform (.311-5-12 this Spring).

7 - R - Juan Rodriguez - 2B

.273-9-67
The former Oregon Explorer had a banner year last season, batting .320-13-70 and spending most of the season in the #3 spot.  He moves from 3B to 2B this season, and falls in the lineup due to a miserable Spring Training at the plate.  Hopefully he can rebound once the season starts and provide some clutch hits late in the order.

8 - R - Steve Wright - CA

.232-22-76
Wright was so bad last year (.186-6-23 in 66 games) that he was in AAA by June.  This year, he was the best of the 3 backstops on the roster in camp, but that's not really saying much.  Don't tell Steve, but he's really just filling in until one of our catching prospects is ready for the bigs.  At 38, he probably know it already... I just don't want to hurt his feelings.

Benchwarmers & Waterboys



CA Sid Matthews - .202-6-26 - Better defensively than Wright, which is not to be confused with 'good' defensively.

2B Kurt Clay - .251-6-47 - This 2014 best defender award winner hit .389 this Spring.

3B Eddie Kinlaw - .224-11-45 - A .308 average with a pair of dingers solidified his spot on the roster.

LF Jeff Phillips - .192-10-34 - This 37-year-old is here for veteran leadership.  And a little power off the bench.  Too bad he can't hit for average.

RF Norm Hughes - .246-5-30 - Hughes has been one of our best pinch hitters, and has good gap power. 


Starting Rotation

1 - R - Joe Haines

16-6, 2.56, 198 Ks
Haines led the PL in both ERA (2.32) and K/BB (8.00) last season, but he turns 39 next season.  The Aviators need to win NOW.

2 - R - Norberto Leon

18-7, 3.08, 228 Ks
Having the defending Most Valuable Pitcher Award winner as your #2 arm is a luxury for us.  The 27-year-old Leon won the award after leading the PL in Wins (22), WHIP (0.90), and K/9IP (10.73) last season.  That's why he was drafted 2nd overall in the inaugural draft. 

3 - L - Big Boots Thompson

15-11, 4.09, 166 Ks
Double B set career bests in Wins (17), ERA (3.31), K's (190) and just about everything else last season.  If only he hadn't gone 0-2 in 4 postseason starts we'd have rings by now.  Oh well, he's only 27, and needs to improve so we can find continued success after Haines retires.

4 - R - Don Wilson

12-12, 4.89, 178 Ks
Don Wilson might look like just another 4th starter on the surface, but the fact is, he's one of the most important pieces of our puzzle and a key to long-term success.  Wilson was taken in the 3rd round of the inaugural draft, and has 2 full seasons under his belt already and he's only 20.  He's got the potential to be another Leon/Haines type Ace, but he's got to keep growing.  From his rookie year to last season, he improved from 7 to 11 wins and from a 5.14 ERA to a 4.70 ERA.  Will this be his breakout year?  Side note - Wilson is a career .312 hitter in 80 big-league at bats.

5 - L - Jeremy Guy

11-14, 4.56, 183 Ks
Guy was 12-11 with a 4.41 ERA last year, with a career best WHIP of 1.29.  He's a solid guy for the 4 or 5 spot, but we wouldn't want him in our top 3.  I believe his 3 career shutouts are tops in the organization.

Bullpen

CL - R - Daryl Clark

7-4, 1.61, 37 Saves
Clark failed to make the All-Star squad for the first time last season, but still managed career highs in Wins (10) and Saves (47).  However, his 2.18 ERA was a career worst, as was his 1.24 WHIP.  At 29, we expect him to rebound nicely and be back on the All-Star team this season.

SU - R - Randy Duke - 4-3, 2.42, 3 saves
SU - R - Lou Roberts - 2-4, 3.02, 3 saves

Both of these setup men posted career bests in WHIP last year, so I'm feeling pretty good about this position. 

MR - R - Hector Silva - 5-6, 3.05, 2 saves
MR - L - Augusto Rivera - 4-1, 3.66, 1 save
MR - R - Juan Malavos - 3-1, 3.65, 1 save
MR - R - Ken Kerfoot - 6-3, 5.58

With the exception of Ken Kerfoot, all of these guys are good, experienced players who are pretty consistent from year to year.  Kerfoot, on the other hand, only has about 31 innings of experience and is a bit inconsistent.  Still, he was a minor-league All-Star last year, and is only really on the team because of an injury to Rod Johnson. 

Injury Notes

Johnson will miss the first two months of the season with an elbow injury.

The only other player missing from the roster is veteran outfielder Benjamin Barbier, a career .261 hitter.

[mstreeter06]

Nice work especially with the player photos!

[Chappy]

NEWS CLIPPINGS
Aviators Rookie Greg Smith Grabbing Headlines

Below are just some of the stories in the national press about North Carolina Aviators rookie Greg Smith:

Smith Has 20-Game Hitting Streak
Sunday, May 15th, 2016
Greg Smith of the North Carolina Aviators has now hit safely in 20 straight games. He socked 1 hit in today's 9-3 triumph over Pennsylvania at PNC Park.
Greg Smith struck out in the 1st, hit a two-run home run off Tim Houston in the 3rd, flied out in the 4th, struck out in the 6th and flied out in the 8th.

This season Smith is hitting .353 with 53 hits, 11 home runs, 40 RBIs, scored 27 runs and played in 38 games.

PL Awards Best Batter Prize to Smith
Monday, May 16th, 2016
Greg Smith demonstrated his potential to be a star in the game last week and today he took home the Patriot League Player of the Week Award.

The North Carolina left fielder wreaked havoc on opposing pitchers last week, pounding them for a .333 average (8-24) with 5 home runs and 12 RBIs on his way to claiming the honor.

This season Smith is batting .353 with 40 RBIs, 27 runs scored and 11 home runs.

Athletics Chill Smith's Hot Streak
Wednesday, May 18th, 2016
Greg Smith, left fielder for the North Carolina Aviators, gave it a good try, but his day in history finally came to an end, when he went hitless in 3 tries against the New Jersey Athletics. Not only had they stopped his 21-game hitting streak, they had beaten North Carolina 3-0, too.

Speaking with the media after the game, Smith said, "Now that the streak has ended, I admit I will breathe a bit easier the next time I step up to bat. It was tough because I put a little pressure on myself. Now that it's over, I will definitely be a little bit looser at the plate."

So far this year in 40 games Smith is hitting .354 with 12 home runs, 43 RBIs and 28 runs scored.