The North Carolina Aviators start the OOTPXX era and the post-Goppy era simultaneously. Goppy's #14 jersey has been retired, joining Crawdad Hicks (#1) and Norberto Leon (#23) in the Aviators Ring of Honor. Other off-season news includes the retirement of Brad Cooke, who never received significant big-league playing time. Additionally, RF Curt Crosby, RF Kevin Lucero, LF Jamie Phelps, 1B Luis Aragon, LF Jorge Chewie Baca, RP Jose Estrada, RP Jing-yu Wang, C Kevin Roberts, 1B Juan Carlos Lopez, 2B John Seguin and 3B Brendan Wiley were all released and became free agents. The most recognizable name in that group - Jorge Chewie Baca - had a sensational year in 2037, winning the PL Rookie of the Year, being named an All-Star, winning the Platinum Stick in RF, and leading the Aviators to their first and only title by being named Federation Cup Series MVP. Baca hit .304-36-99 and scored a league-high 106 runs that year. He soon after would run into injury problems, and would never again appear in more than 102 games in a season. He's 30 years old, so there's a chance someone picks him up, but if not his career big league line is .259-82-308 in 640 games.
Spring Training Battle to Watch - #1 - First Base - Rookie Kazuhiko Nakashima was granted the starting 1B job on September 1st when he was called up from AAA Raleigh, where he was hitting .373 with 17 HR in 78 games. Just 8 starts into his big league career, Nakashima strained his groin and would miss the rest of the season. He hit .276 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI in his brief time with the club. Mei-shan Lo was the opening day starter last year. Lo is known more for his glove than his bat, so it was surprising when he hit .294 after being scooped out of the FA pool back in 2042. In 2043, he hit .291-31-100 in 149 games with the Aviators, surprising scouts everywhere. But last season, Lo produced numbers more in line with his scouted abilities, hitting .250 with 15 HR and 59 RBI in 154 games. That's what allowed Nakashima to get the starts at 1B when the rosters expanded. Now the 33-year-old Lo needs a strong spring to fed off the younger Nakashima.
2029 #2 overall pick Shane Schute will likely be the odd man out at 1B, meaning the 34-year-old veteran could spend the season in AAA. He has never really lived up to his amateur hype, but he has been a decent big league player. He's one of a long line of Aviators who was never able to match their rookie year success. Schute hit .326-12-91 and led the league with 51 doubles to capture rookie of the year honors in 2033. Now, his 162 game average is .280-15-76. He is gifted at drawing walks, and has a nice career OBP of .384, but he never came close to hitting .300 after that rookie year and he only reached 20 HR once in his career (20 in 2041).
Nakashima wound up winning the starting 1B job, with Mei-shan Lo making the 25-man as a backup/defensive replacement. Through 18 games, Nakashima is batting .349 with 5 HR and 11 RBI. Lo is 3-for-12 with a homer, while Shane Schute is batting .220-1-3 in 15 starts for the AAA Raleigh Explorers.
Catcher Flash Hernandez is tearing up opposing pitchers. In 15 starts, he's hitting .439 with 4 HR and 16 RBI with an OPS of 1.231.
Aviators lose Simpson for 6 weeks... Losing our starting 3B could cause problems. We've got depth at C, 1B and OF, but at the other infield positions we've just got guys who never really panned out waiting in the wings. Ireno Kehlmaier, for example, started at 3B in the first game Simpson missed and went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts. Brought over in a trade with Oregon 7 years ago, Kehlmaier hasn't hit north of .200 in the last 3 years and has a career .208 average as an Aviator.
Also, if it makes you feel any better, the guy you traded for him (Charlie Dickinson: https://www.afblbaseball.com/reports/news/html/players/player_3224.html ) didn’t really pan out either.
Aviators lose #2 starter Kiristopa for 11 months... Enter 4-time All-Star Jesus Ortega to take his place! But be warned, this is not the same Ortega we saw a year ago (when he was 12-8). He's deteriorated a bit, and has been so-so in AAA Raleigh this season. Still, it would be nice if he were effective enough that we wouldn't have to go out an make a trade.
After impressing with a 0.66 ERA in 7 appearances in September of 2042, Chris May went 5-3-6 with a 2.45 ERA in 39 appearances as a rookie in 2043. Last year, he appeared in 49 games and posted a 2.50 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. This year, however, the one-time reliable reliever is 1-4 with a 7.31 ERA in 26 appearances. We keep thinking the 26-year-old will turn it around, as scout still see him as an exceptional reliever, but for some reason, he keeps performing poorly.
May is still in a great mood, so it's good to see his struggles haven't hurt his morale, but it would be nice if he'd quit giving up so many runs. Perhaps a trip to AAA Raleigh is in order.
In a surprise move, the North Carolina Aviators released veteran 1B Mei-shan Lo after Saturday's game. The Taiwanese star won back-to-back gold gloves at 1B for the Aviators before losing his starting job to rookie Kazuhiku Nakashima this season. Lo's been cut before, previously by Idaho where he logged just 47 games at the big league level. When NC picked him up as a 30-year-old free agent during the 2042 season, he exploded onto the scene, batting .294 with 6 HR and 19 RBI in 45 games. He was the starting 1B in NC for the entire 2043 and 2044 seasons (when he won the gold gloves). He hit .291-31-100 and was named an All-Star in '43, but fell to .250-15-59 in 154 games in '44. This year, as a backup, he was hitting .244 with 6 HR and 19 RBI when he was cut.
27-year-old rookie Nakashima is batting .327-21-61 thus far in 2045. That's not what led to Lo being cut though. Lo has been moved to make room for a number of 1B prospects climbing up the rungs, and with veteran 1B Shane Schute leading AAA Raleigh in many offensive categories, there was no room for Lo in AAA.
2041 18th overall pick Steve Larsen (with an 'e') has taken Lo's spot on the Aviators (not to be confused with starting RF Steve Larson (with an 'o')). He was hitting .275-11-49 for AAA Raleigh but scouts feel he's ready for the big time, plus he's a much better presence in the clubhouse than Lo. Additionally, prospect Jesus Guerrero moves from AA (where he was hitting .320-10-65) to AAA, Pete Jansen moves from A (where he was hitting .297-27-75) to AA, and 2042 17th overall pick Bobby Godwin moves from R (where he was hitting .320-23-99) to A.
Dude had the bad ‘tude and i could never find a spot for him. Glad you were able to give him a couple seasons worth of at bats.
Agree lt... I brought him in mainly for his glove. I was hoping he’d be like a Mark Grace or Keith Hernandez for me. He did that (30 HR) with all 6’s and 5’s for contact and power. Crazy.
When we signed him as an international fA he looked like he had some potential, but had attitude issues - but he hit at every level. But i had solid or better 1b in Idaho. So his only action was as a September callup for defensive purposes...
21-year-old 1B Steve Larsen, my 1st round pick (18th overall) in 2041, and the guy I mentioned a few posts back as being the one that forced me to cut veteran 1B Lo, received a talent boost on the September 1st development report. He's now graded 7/8/7/5/6 out of 7/8/7/5/7. When he was originally drafted he had 7 contact and 8 power but they had fallen to 6 contact and 7 power when he was in rookie league. Good to see that contact back up to a 7, and fully developed too.
That puts pressure on probable rookie-of-the-year Kaz Nakashima, who is rated 6/7/7/6/6 (fully maxed out). Although Larsen has the better batting ability based on the latest scouting reports, Kaz is much better defensively and will hold onto the starting job while he's hitting like he is now (.332-29-90 through 124 games). Veteran OF David Ruiz, who is currently holding down the DH role (.288-17-48 in 124 games) might be starting to feel the pressure as well.
With reliever Juan Roman (4-3-2, 3.05, 1.20 WHIP) and Antonio Sosa (0-0-0, 4.50, 1.13 WHIP) both suffering 6-week injuries, joining starters Teimua Kiristopa and Jesus Ortega on the IL, our post-September 1st expanded pitching staff was back to regular size. So the Aviators have promoted fringe reliever Ivan Julio to the big league club. Julio is an interesting cat... he's one of those pitchers with 10+ stuff but below average movement and control. He's also much better vs lefties than righties, so he's found a niche as a lefthanded specialist. He rarely faces more than one batter. In his 85 big league appearances, he's totaled just 37 innings pitched. His career high in innings pitched - 11.1 - came in 30 appearances in 2042. He's posted a 3.13 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP in his career, so it works well for him.
The Aviators have clinched our 8th Division Crown. It's our 7th division title in the last 14 seasons and we will be making our 6th straight playoff appearance and 13th playoff trip in the last 14 years.
Prior to our current 13 of 14 playoff streak, we had missed the playoffs 12 years in a row. While it was painful, it allowed us to acquire the talent foundation we've build this current run on. Unfortunately, we have only one AFBL championship ... perhaps that will change this year.
The only fielder from our 2032 playoff team - the first one following the 12-year drought - currently with our team is 1B/DH Shane Schute, who spent most of this season in AAA He has appeared in just 7 big league games this year. We did have Choppy Orozco's cousin Slappy back then though. 😉 Two pitchers, Ron Carmichael and Bertil Aarden, are still with the club. They each made 34 starts for that 2032 team, but this year only Carmichael was a fixture in the rotation (32 starts so far) while Aarden spent most of the season in AAA (4 appearances including 1 start in the bigs this year).
At any rate, I think it's a good indicator of how well this big red machine is rolling that we are still a contender 14 years later with only 1 key player yet to be replaced.
AVIATORS WIN 2045 CHAMPIONSHIP - Norman Cornell (4-1, 3.35), Ron Carmichael (4-1, 2.95) and Jorge Marquez (4-0, 2.08) pitched the Aviators past Maryland, West Virginia and Oregon, while 6 players posted double digit RBI totals for the playoffs to lead the offensive attack as NC wins their 2nd title. Flash Rodriguez will likely be the MVP. The young catcher hit .426-4-14 with a 1.162 OPS and was named LCS MVP. The league owners will vote for the FCS MVP in the coming days.
It's time for spring training, and from a positional battle standpoint, this will be the lease interesting Spring ever for the Aviators. Flash Rodriguez is our C, Kaz Nahashima is our 1B, Eddie Wheeler is our 2B, Luis Martinez is our SS, Jim Simpson is our 3B, LF is Choppy Orozco, CF is Turd Newton, RF is Steve Larson and DH is rookie of the year candidate Steve Larsen. The only thing not decided is where Lou Moore will slide into the rotation while Jae-shin Hong moves to the bullpen.
Where'd They Come From?
A look at how the starters on the 2048 championship team came to be in NC
1 - 2B - Rod Crews - 2044 Draft, 1st round, 15th overall
2 - RF - Ernesto Gonzales - 2041 Draft, 4th round, 78th overall
3 - CA - Flash Rodriguez - 2036 Scouting Discovery
4 - LF - Choppy Orozco - 2037 Scouting Discovery
5 - DH - Steve Larsen - 2041 Draft, 1st round, 18th overall
6 - 1B - Turd Newton - 2037 Draft, 2nd round, 40th overall
7 - SS - Luis Martinez - 2038 Draft, 2nd round, 39th overall
8 - 3B - Jim Simpson - 2038 Draft, 1st round, 19th overall
9 - CF - Nick Orchard - 2039 Undrafted Free Agent Signing
SP - Teimua Kiristopa - 2033 Scouting Discovery
SP - Norman Cornell - 2031 Scouting Discovery
SP - Jorge Guerra - 2037 Scouting Discovery
SP - Jorge Hernandez - August 9th 2048 Free Agent Signing
It looks like backup 2B Orlando Garcia is the only member of the team acquired via trade (4/2/2046 w/Virginia).
Aviators who Crashed and Burned
A look at NC players who were really good one year, then gone the next...
CF Nick Orchard - Age 27: .343, 70 RBI - Age 28: .241, sent down to AAA
1B Kaz Nakashima - Age 27: .325, league leading .432 OBP, 32 HR, 100 RBI - Age 28: 5 HR in 193 AB, released
RF Jorge 'Chewie' Baca - Age 23: .304-26-99, ROY - Age 24: .279-15-59 - Age 25: .228-9-38
LF Sal Belcher - Age 28 - .291-10-41 - Age 29 - .196-3-3
LF Gabe Wilkerson - Age 23 - .348 (batting title), 18 HR, 90 RBI - Age 24 - .252-5-47 in 573 AB - Age 25: Minor league pitcher - Age 28: 3-0, 2 saves, 2.11 ERA in 16 appearances from the NC bullpen