Amsterdam Fire Ants Baseball Club est. 2004

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2008 Preview

Inside Tip
2006 record: 68-94, 4th in the EHL Central
2005 record: 58-104, 5th in the EHL Central
Runs scored: 634, T-10th in EHL (+ 23 from 2005)
Runs allowed: 826, 13th in EHL (+ 29 from 2005)

Synopsis:
2007 in review

What went right?
The team went to its youth in 2007, and for the most part, it proved beneficial. Second baseman Craig Cerone won EHL Rookie of the Year and finished with the second highest average in the UBL, hitting .343. All this despite missing 19 games due to injury. Third baseman Archie Schwind played all 162 games and finished with a healthy .282 average. First baseman Bob Kerr hit .276 with 19 home runs and 76 runs batted in and collected a gold glove in the process. Catcher Bobby Baxter, who was hitting .230 at the break, finished the 2007 campaign with a .249 average and 17 homers.

What went wrong?
After making a 10-game improvement from the 2005 season, the Ant faithful hoped another 10-game leap would bring them towards .500. Instead, the Fire Ants eclipsed the 100-loss total for the second time in three years, finishing with a 59-103 record.

While the 2008 edition of Amsterdam baseball will not throw any rookies into the "fire," the youth will still be depended upon to help the Ants avoid another 100-loss season. Lets take a look at how the 2008 Fire Ants will look�

2007 Leaders
Batting			Pitching
AVG	Cerone	.343	W	Guerrero	9
OBP	Cerone	.391	L	Savage	19
SLG	Cerone	.558	S	Gehringer	14
R	Cerone	84	Hld	Fowler	12
H	Schwind	201	ERA	Guerrero	3.73
2B	Schwind	46	OAvg	A.Holmes	.241
3B	Moore	1	OSlg	Guerrero	.377
HR	Cerone	28	IP	Savage	206.1
RBI	Cerone	80	SO	Savage	140
RC	Cerone	127	BB	Meehan	83
BB	Schwind	53	H/9	A.Holmes	8.30
SO	Schwind	125	SO/9	Fowler	6.16
SB	Schwind	9	BB/9	Poole	2.16

Catcher
As mentioned above, Baxter had a strong final third of the season and while he is progressing a little slower than his counterparts, Ant management is expecting him to make another step forward. Joseph Sterrett knows his playing days are coming to an end, but is excited about the direction of the Ant squad. Look for Sterrett to see time here and there, but he's mainly along to for his veteran leadership and clubhouse presence.

First Base
Bob Kerr had many ups and downs last year, seeing his average go as high as .290, but as low as .250. Kerr has reportedly gone through a vigourous off-season regimen and is looking to fully reach that potential scouts saw when he was drafted in 2004. Veteran Herbert Moore, like Sterrett, knows his playing time may not be plentiful this season, but will see time at DH.

Second Base
We all know what Craig Cerone did last season. The question is, can he keep it up? Not only were his rookie campaign numbers unreal, but if you took his first 162 games as a pro, he would have hit .355 AVG (232-654), 46 2B, 36 HR, 99 RBI, 154 RC, .401 OBP, .590 SLG. Not too shabby. Like we said, if he can keep this up, EHL pitchers will be dreading this guy for years to come.

Third Base
Archie Schwind ended up leading the league last year� in strikeouts. As long as he gets a little more selective at the plate, he should remain a constant at the top of the lineup.

Shortstop
As "Tenacious" Demetrius Ozaki's arrival is a season or two away, the Ants will continue to play the two headed monster at short of Fred Strang and Chuck Lasley. Strang held his own against righties last year, hitting .316 with 17 homers and 62 RBI in 488 at-bats, while Lasley saw time against lefties and was solely in there for his glove. In the "how is that possible" department, Strang ranks ninth all time in the EHL for slugging percentage, clubbing .481 lifetime.

Outfield
Ant management toyed with speeding up Walt Royer's development process and pushing him to the bigs this season, but decided to give him another year in the minors to fine tune his game for the 2009 campaign. Therefore, nothing is changing in the AMS outfield. Virgil Bridwell played a respectable center field last year (.265/19/70), but managemnt is looking for more. Left field will be patrolled by catcher Cloy Alberts. Alberts was a mid-season pickup last year, and while he didn't do much with the bat the Ants are hoping he returns to his 2001 Rookie of the Year form rather than replicate the poor numbers he's put up since then. In right will be combination of Jesse Park and Bob Barnes. Park hit .296 against RHP last year, and Barnes will see time against lefties. Bill Bruckmiller will also get a few at bats every now and then.

Rotation
Management again couldn't pull the trigger on a trade involving their "franchise" player Hank Guerrero. As a result, he'll again anchor the Ant staff and hope for better support from his defense and bullpen. Had they helped last year, he would have had a bigger win total (9), as his ERA (3.73) and OAvg (.241) were the lowest they've been in years. Doc Deer was given a shot last year, was hit hard and sent back to AAA. He looks to bounce back and provide more quality starts then not. After those two, the usual suspects of Mel Poole, Wedo Savage and Mark Meehan among others will be counted on to eat innings. As usual, it wont be pretty.

Bullpen
Not much to report here, either. The pen is the weakest spot of this Amsterdam team.

Closer
Jim Gehringer was another streaking Ant last year. At times he was lights out (14 saves, 4 holds), but too often he wasn't (7 losses). If he cant become more consistant, he may be used elsewhere, or play elsewhere.

Outlook
Same old song and dance in Amsterdam. The future looks so bright, they gotta wear shades. However, the present isn't pretty, namely the pitching. Will management ever pull the trigger to get some pitching here? Without some kind of deals for arms, one has to wonder how much this club can improve. A third place finish in the EHL Central is a reasonable goal for the Fire Ants to shoot for.