The Pitching
RHP Rafael Crawford has finally come into his own and currently leads the MLBC with 9 wins. Rob Martinez was plucked from the Free Agent draft and has gone 6-2 with a tidy little 2.88 ERA in eleven starts. Rookies Gus Buhner, Walt Briggs and Michael Wright all have winning records from the Lakewood rotation. Vance Williamson has emerged as a dominant closer, at least so far this year after toiling in obscurity for several years in long relief. When it became apparent that the Crabs would be serious contenders this year, Akin went out and got a couple of solid relief pitchers in Danny Coughlin and Charlie Miller to add to an otherwise shaky core of righthanders, including rookie Il Yop Kim, who answered huge questions with his performance. Lefties Don Hearn and George Bates have been outstanding from the left side, each posting sub 3 ERAs. At this point the Lakewood bullpen would have to be an asset where it was a huge liability before the season started.
The Hitting
2B Fritz Yount is having a banner year with a .341 average and .389 OBP. Long-time Crab RF John Dixon is hitting .332 and racking up an eye popping amount of doubles in his 7th and best year. DH Tony Fields has been up and down this year, and despite hitting just .250 is reaching base at an excellent .350 clip, setting the table for mashing Rookie 1B Ferguson Smith, who has hit 12 homers and driven in nearly 50 runs already this year, good for fourth in the league. Another Rookie, 3B Tom Leach is hitting a Godlike .354, good for 10th in the league. Last year's Rookie of the Year candidate SS David Patterson hits next and is putting up solid numbers again, slightly better than last year's at this point, and playing stellar defense. The third of four Rookies playing in the everyday lineup is CF Jim Edwards, who is quietly hitting .291 but has come on strong of late. Veteran switch hitting C George Connolly has cooled somewhat but is still hitting a solid .301. Rookie LF Jesse Larkin is just a few at bats shy of qualification for batting title honors, where he would he in a tie for 11th at .351 if he was eligible.
The Minors
The Crabs can expect a little help next year from AAA as C/IF John Schulte, RHP Marc Foster and IF Bill Sullivan should be ready to graduate to the big leagues. The following year future ace Steve Adams should be ready to make his mark on the league. In AA, there is a lot of help on the way that should reach the Majors at the same time as Adams. OFs Bob Callahan and Jerry Whitehouse along with C Eddie House all swing extremely potent bats and should be ready after a full year in AAA. Another year behind them finds an excellent group of arms including LHP Bill McRae, and RHPs Makoto Clark, Tim Good, Al Haas, and Johnny Connell. The best arms in the entire organization however are down in A ball where five first round picks (and 4 of the top 5 overall ranked Lakewood picks) from last year's draft are now residing.
Overview
All in all, Lakewood has been very fortunate in their dealings over the past three seasons which have been a catapault for what should be a very long stretch of Lakewood fielding good teams in search of their second World Series title. This year's start plus the stockpile of fine young minor leaguers should serve notice to the rest of the league that Lakewood will be a familiar sight on top of the AL's central division for many years.