2008 Scouting Report

Quad Cities River Bandits

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics on this page are through the end of the 2008 season.

Season Summary

• Second Half: 35-35, .500 (4th place tie, 8.5 behind)
• First Half: 33-31, .516 (4th place, 6.5 behind)
• Pitching: 3.78, 68-66, 35 saves, 16 holds, no complete games, 945 strikeouts
• Hitting: .241, 570 runs, 101 HR, 97 steals (65% success)

• Position Players used: 30
• Pitchers used: 29
• Pitchers per game: 3.21

Leading Players

• Best Player on the Team: Starting Pitcher Nick Additon

• Best Starting Pitcher: Nick Additon (2.50, 9-5, 108 strikeouts)
• Bullpen Stopper: Pete Parise (2.23, 3-1, 13 saves, no holds, 50 strikeouts)
• Strikeout Pitchers: Blake King, Pete Parise, Cardoza Tucker
• Control Pitchers: Nick Additon, Richard Castillo, Chuckie Fick, Pete Parise, Wayne Daman, Brian Broderick, Ryan Kulik, Jared Bradford, Jon Stambaugh, Shaun Garceau

• Best Hitter: Paul Vazquez (.331, 4 HR, 25 RBI)
• Home Run Leader: Tommy Pham (17)
• High Batting Average: Paul Vazquez (.331), Ben Wallace (.327)
• High On Base Percentage: Brett Wallace (.418)
• High Slugging Percentage: Paul Vazquez (.535), Brett Wallace (.490), Andrew Brown (.487), Matt Arburr (.462)
• Notable Baserunners: Tommy Pham, Adron Chambers, Peter Kozma, Oliver Marmol, Justin Roberson
• Notable Batting Eye: none

May Profile

The River Bandits look for all the world like a .500 team, but have been playing .600 ball. There are some excellent position players on this squad, but the pitching's going to be vulnerable--they let too many guys on base. If this team continues to thrive, either they'll continue to live on an occasionally-brilliant offense or the pitching will come around. If the pitching doesn't come around, it's likely they'll fall back into the pack.

SS Peter Kozma seems to do a little bit of everything and has had a very fine April; if he keeps this up he'll put up some pretty impressive numbers over the course of the season. 1B Oswaldo Morales, OF Charles Kingery, 3B Matt Arburr, and 1B Andrew Brown make for a pretty effective lineup, though there's not a lot of depth on this team's bench.

The starting rotation's a little frustrating: Nicholas Additon, Shaun Garceau, and Blake King have all pitched well, though only Additon's W/L reflects that; a half-dozen potential rotation-mates have not yet shown much promise. From the bullpen, Justin Fiske, Matt Spade, Mark Diapoules, and Francisco Samuel have pitched very well, but only a few innings apiece.

Pre-Season Profile

There are gonna be guys to watch at QC's ballyard. Infielder Jose Garcia's a slap hitter who looks like he'll be on base a lot, while outfielder Beau Riportella's a similar hitter with more speed. If first baseman Charlie Pelt's short Johnson City stint has any relation to his abilities, he'll put on a show. The Bandits' pitching staff doesn't look overpowering, but there's a solid core to the staff, and few weak spots. If I had to bet on a QC pitcher breaking out, that bet would be on Andres Rosales.

Manager

When Steve Dillard was last managing in the minors, he was pretty much a conventional manager.

First Round Draft Selections

• Pete Kozma (2007; 18th selection)

Team Age Information

• Average Team Age: 21.4
• Pitchers: 21.7
• Hitters: 21.2

• Oldest Player on the Team: Justin Fiske (9/3/1984)
• Youngest Player on the Team: Domnit Bolivar (5/12/1989)

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 MILB.com 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.

Most of these guys played at Batavia and/or Johnson City last season. Neither of those teams was particularly strong.

Team            League             W/L     Place    Hitters Pitchers
                                          (Teams)
Palm Beach      Florida State (A+) 71/69   6(12)       0       0
Quad Cities     Midwest (A)        78/61   3(14)       1       2
Batavia         New York-Penn (A-) 31/43  12(14)       8       8
Johnson City    Appalachian (R+)   28/40   7(9)        8       4
Cardinals       Gulf Coast (R)     24/30  12(16)       4       2

Lots of movement, here; ten players are counted twice in this table, and two more make three appearances. One of the new River Bandits played in another organization last summer.