Thunderchickens roll a lot more fun in 2017

Eight HR for April

So I’m in the middle of Big Ten baseball season (Go Illini!) and planning for the Prairieland 2 Tournament which is this weekend so it is quite busy.  But it’s March 28th and that means Illowa APBA League stats are due.  My time management skills must be getting better because last night, I powered through all through 30 games from our draft weekend in one sitting. 

So how are we doing?  Well, we’re 14-16 for the young season.  I’ll say one thing though.  Win or lose, the Thunderchickens of 2017 are a lot more fun.  Up and down the order we have production.

Hitting is fun…

A couple newcomers are making waves.  Recent acquisition Asdrubal Cabrera (his former manager Marcus Bunch was fond of calling him “ass-dribble” or “ass-dribs” for short.  Maybe that was bad for motivation).  His hitting .287 with 7 homers and leads the T-chix in rbis with 17 and hits with 35.  Catcher Wilson Ramos who was also acquired in a trade from Don Smith, started his season out by hitting in his first ten games.  He has 17 hits and nine runs in 16 games.  Joc Pederson who was part of a first round pick swap with the Missoula Rattlesnakes, has 26 hits including four homers and 15 rbis. 

The team’s homerun leader may surprise you.  It’s not JD Martinez nor is it Kris Bryant. Jason Kipnis currently leads the squad with 8 dingers.  Kip has been leading off most of the early season. 

I did give first round rookie pick Trea Turner a trial run for ten starts.  He’s 10 for 45 but is easily leading the team in stolen bases with four. 

…but pitching wins games!

There are some surprises on the pitching staff.  They are actually holding their own.  Four of our fourteen wins were shutouts.  Rookie Tyler Anderson pitched one in his first career start.  For the season, he is 2-2 with a 2.57 ERA and 41 Ks in 35 innings.  Tanner Roark (go Illini!) is doing fine with nifty 2.72 ERA and 3-2 record.  Set-up man Kevin Siegrist has allowed just one run in 13 innings and has struck out a total of 21 batters.  Closer Jeurys Familia (3.95 ERA) was doing fine until he blew two saves in a row. 

Jon Niese (2.84 ERA) hasn’t gotten the memo that he is a D pitcher this year.  Please don’t tell him. 

The Trea Turner experiment during the opening weekend was just that… an experiment.  I’m going to rest him a lot more and start using him more in the later half of the season.  His card is limited at 73 games and 307 at-bats but is quite nice with power numbers 1-4-5-6 and three 11s and a 10.  It’s been a long time since I led off a player with a first column but I can afford to do that with this team.  Until he comes back, Brandon Drury (1-0-0-0, 44-7) will fill in nicely). 

The Thunderchickens have the month of April off before they take on the Bunch brothers, Marcus and Dan.