2007 Scouting Report

West Michigan Whitecaps

2007 Midwest League Champions

Profile

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics are through the end of the 2007 season.

Season Summary

• Second Half: 45-25, .643 (1st place, 2.0 ahead)
• First Half: 38-32, .543 (2nd place, 6.0 behind; Playoff Qualifier)
• Pitching: 83-57, 3.31, 42 saves, 32 holds, 3 complete games, 1081 strikeouts
• Hitting: .268, 648 runs scored, 74 HR, 182 steals (72% success)
• Defense: 118 errors (0.84 errors per game)
• April: 11-11 (.500)
• May: 17-13 (.567)
• June: 19-9 (.678)
• July: 15-11 (.577)
• August: 22-9 (.710)
• September: 0-3 (.000)
• Playoff Round One: 2-0 (1.000)
• Playoff Round Two: 2-0 (1.000)
• Championship Round: 3-2 (.600)

• Position Players used: 16
• Pitchers used: 25
• Pitchers per game: 2.89

Leading Players

• Best Player on the Team: Catcher James Skelton or Starting Pitcher Duane Below
  • most people would pick MWL MVP Gorkys Hernandez

• Best Starting Pitcher: Duane Below (2.97, 13-5, 160 strikeouts) or Matt O'Brien (2.19, 7-2, 41 strikeouts)
• Bullpen Stopper: Brett Jensen (1.79, 5-1, 23 saves, no holds, 66 strikeouts)
• Strikeout Pitchers: Duane Below, Chris Cody, Casey Fien, Charles Furbush, Brett Jensen, Luis Marte
• Control Pitchers: Chris Cody, Casey Fien, Charles Furbush, Jeff Gerbe, Brett Jensen, Luis Marte, Phil Napolitan, Jonah Nickerson, Josh Rainwater

• Best Hitter: James Skelton (.309, 7 HR, 52 RBI)
• Home Run Leader: Ryan Strieby & Jeramy Laster (16)
• High Batting Average: Deik Scram (.327), James Skelton (.309)
• High On Base Percentage: Deik Scram (.416), James Skelton (.402)
• High Slugging Percentage: Jeramy Laster (.468)
• Notable Baserunners: Brennan Boesch, Santo De Leon, Gorkys Hernandez, Jeramy Laster, Deik Scram, Scott Sizemore, James Skelton
• Notable Batting Eye: Scott Sizemore, James Skelton

Pre-Season Profile

Manager

Tom Brookens has been an extremely conservative manager through his first two seasons.

First Round Draft Selections

• none

Team Age Information

• Average Team Age: 22.4
• Pitchers: 23.0
• Hitters: 21.8

• Oldest Player on the Team: Phil Napolitan (born 1/29/1982)
• Youngest Player on the Team: Gorkys Hernandez (born 9/7/1987)

The average player in the Midwest League this season is 22.0 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.

It's probably fair to say that new Whitecaps manager Tommy Brookens brought along his fairly strong 2006 Oneonta squad.

Team          League             W/L    Place    Hitters Pitchers
                                       (Teams)
Lakeland      Florida State (A+) 68/68  6(12)       0      2
West Michigan Midwest (A)        89/48  1(14)       2      2
Oneonta       New York-Penn (A-) 40/34  6(14)       9      9
Tigers        Gulf Coast (R)     32/18  2(12)       3      1

A few of the pitchers played at two levels last summer and are counted twice in this table; the position players wee more stable. One of the new Whitecaps played for Detroit's Dominican Summer League team last summer.