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Season Summary
- Second Half: 41-29, .586 (2nd place, 7.0 behind)
- First Half: 33-33, .500 (3rd place tie, 7.0 behind)
- Pitching: 74-62, 3.93, 36 saves, 5 complete games, 938 strikeouts
- Hitting: .259, 627 runs, 85 HR, 77 steals (60% success)
- Defense: 149 errors (1.10 per game)
- April: 9-15 .(375)
- May: 15-10 (.600)
- June: 16-10 (.615)
- July: 17-11 (.607)
- August-September: 17-16 (.515)
- Playoff Round 1: 0-2 (.000)
- Position Players used: 16
- Pitchers used: 18
- Pitchers per game: 3.1
Leading Players
- Best Player on the Team: Closer Kyler Newby
- Best Starting Pitcher: Vincent Bongiovanni (3.75, 7-3, 67 strikeouts)
- Bullpen Stopper: Kyler Newby (2.05, 6-1, 11 saves, 1 hold, 64 strikeouts)
- Strikeout Pitchers: Ryan Doherty, Kyler Newby
- Control Pitchers: Eduardo Baeza, Cody Evans, Forrest Cory, Ryan Doherty, Adam Howard, Donald Julio, Kyler Newby, Kyle Wright
- Best Hitter: Ricardo Sosa (.290, 5 HR, 36 RBI) or Frank Curreri (.285, 6 HR, 38 RBI)
- Home Run Leader: Will Crouch (13)
- High Batting Average: none
- High On Base Percentage: none
- High Slugging Percentage: none
- Notable Baserunners: Pedro Ciriaco, Trey Hendricks, Leyson Septimo, Greg Thomson, Justin Upton
- Notable Batting Eye: Orlando Mercado
Mid-July Profile
The Hawks have pulled things together and are contending with the Whitecaps and the Cougars for the league's best team in the second half. This is a team with a fairly good offense, adequate pitching, and a fairly leaky defense. While there are no strong sluggers, there's power throughout the lineup; there's some speed, though the team's not particularly quick.
The Hawks don't have a true star hitter, instead, there's solid talent throughout the lineup. First baseman Will Crouch is having the best season; he's shown enough power to be convincing, after you allow for the vast SB ballyard. OF Justin Upton's a bit of a disappointment, though he's playing adequate baseball.
Adam Howard's been the most successful rotation pitcher, though his record partly reflects good luck. The relief staff's been terrific; particularly Kyler Newby, Ryan Doherty, Donald Julio, and Vincent Bongiovanni.
May Profile
The Hawks have scored 214 runs while permitting 238 opponent runs; they've won a few games more than you'd expect from those numbers, both of which are fairly weak, though not disasterously so. The defense has been good except at shortstop, where Pedro Ciriaco leads the league in errors. Baserunning is not part of this team's game, which is fortunate because they've been remarkably ineffective when they have run.
This team's great strength is that the hitters are pretty good at getting on base. Outfielders Greg Thomson and Justin Upton almost made my OBP cut, and catcher Frank Curreri's success rate isn't far below them, while first basemen Bryan Byrne and Steve Mena have also been reasonably successful. While there are no big sluggers on this nine, there are several guys with a little power.
Eddie Baeza's still the only consistently-successful starter, though much of Cody Evans' problem has been bad luck. The bullpen, on the other hand, has been pretty consistently excellent; Forrest Cory, Ryan Doherty, Adam Howard (now a rotation starter, it looks like), Don Julio, and Jon Valverde all deserve mention. It looks a lot like manager Mark Haley needs to rearrange the pitching assignments.
April Profile
An odd team in South Bend, this summer: The offense is sort of a perpetual motion machine, and fun to watch. The pitching rotation's a disaster, and the problem's aggravated by poor defensive support. So the Hawks have scored their share of runs, but they've permitted so many that they're drowning.
This team doesn't hit many homers--that's partly a park effect--but they really do a fine job of getting on base. Shortstop Pedro Ciriaco and catcher Frank Curreri are surprisingly similar slap hitters. Outfielders Gregory Thomson and Justin Upton are both hitting well, though Upton's toolset is clearly superior. Catcher Orlando Mercado's the closest thing to a power source in this crew; Manuel Ferrer has some speed but hasn't earned an everyday playing slot.
Eddie Baeza's the only starter who's pitched well, though Ryan Schreppel's record would look better with a little luck. If the team's still in the game when the bullpen gets involved, Vince Bongiovanni, Forrest Cory, Adam Howard, and Don Julio have all shown well in short relief.
Pre-Season Profile
Manager
There's nothing unusual about Mark Haley's management style.
First Round Draft Selection
- None. Justin Upton (first pick overall in the 2005 draft) is likely to join the team in a few weeks; the Diamondbacks have done this before--they apparently like to protect their investments from our cold weather....
Team Age Information
- Average Team Age: 22.0
- Pitchers: 22.2
- Hitters: 21.9
- Oldest Player on the Team: Trey Hendricks (born 8/8/1982)
- Youngest Player on the Team: Peter Ciriaco (born 9/27/1985)
The average player in the Midwest League this season is 21.9 years old. This information is based on opening day rosters as published on the team website and will not be updated.
Where they played last season
This summary is based on the team's opening day roster and will not be revised to reflect roster changes.
The new Silver Hawks squad is built about evenly from the D'Backs' short season squads, with a handful of holdover Hawks and three additions from outside the Arizona system.
Team League W/L Place Hitters Pitchers
(Teams)
Lancaster California (A+) 75/65 3(10) 0 0
South Bend Midwest (A) 84/56 1(14) 2 2
Yakima Northwest (A-) 30/46 8(8) 4 5
Missoula Pioneer (R+) 34/42 6T(8) 6 6
While the Diamondbacks moved a few of these players around last summer, most of 'em spent the season on one roster. One appeared briefly--one game--at the Triple A level. Three of these folks apparently did not play professionally last year. Believe it or not, this is a perfectly typical writeup for this team. (You can check it out.)
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