Season 8 Big League Recap: Position Players

After a long break from recapping which included a rollover to Season 9, we'll finish our Season 8 Big League Recap by scrutizing the play of the fake ball players in the field.

Catchers:
Opening Day Catchers:___________________Season Ending Catchers:
Fernando Matos (vR)____________________Matos (vR)
JJ Malloy (vL)_________________________James O'Connor (vL)

The ML catching jobs were handed to a couple youngsters in S8. Rookie Fernando Matos struggled through his first season in The Show batting .254 with 11HR and 54RBI. Although he called some good games he also had difficulty throwing out baserunners.

While Matos platooned versus righties, JJ Malloy began the season as the defensive specialist and took on lefthanded starters.

After a decent start, Malloy was shipped in a wooden crate to Cincy as part of the Jeff Jennings trade. This open the door for career DH James O'Connor to showcase his catching skills.

Known around my apartment for his bat, in 78 games O'Connor hit .341. The shocker was that he gunned down 5 of 6 baserunners during 12 late-season starts, cementing him into a S9 Opening Day roster spot.

Overall Grade: B
This Grade Would've Improved If...Matos hit as well as his ratings suggested he should.

Infield:
Opening Day Infield_______________________Season Ending Infield
1B: Adrian Parker________________________1B: Jeff Jennings
2B: Pascual Guzman______________________2B: Scott Springer
3B: Alex Woo___________________________3B:Darrin Beam/Woo
SS: Chris Peterson_______________________SS: Peterson

As Season 8 moved forward, changes were made to continue shaping the future nucleus of the Hula Dolls. Former MVP Jeff Jennings was acquired in a moster trade with Cincy and top prospect Scott Springer made his appearance on the Big Stage.

Jennings hit .332 with 22HR and 46RBI in just 60 games in the AL and provided a consistently terrifying bat for opposing pitchers.

Springer struggled in his ML debut after replacing veteran Pascual Guzman, who set several team records in Season 7. Management expects an improvement in Springer's first full season in the Bigs.

The 3B platoon of Darrin Beam (.287, 20, 75) and Alex Woo (.283, 19, 75) put together solid seasons and almost identical numbers.

Overall Grade: B-
This Grade Would've Improved If...Jennings had played a full season in Hawaii.

Outfield:
Opening Day Outfield:____________________Season Ending Outfield:
LF: Jimmie Flores_______________________LF: Adrian Parker
CF: Nicholas Lemon___________________ __CF: Lemon
RF: Rob Sweeney_______________________RF: Sweeney

In S8, the outfield produced several big hits, including Your Love (one of the greatest songs of all-time). Nicholas Lemon was a pleasant surprise in CF, hitting .287 and playing solid defense. Hopefully a late season injury doesn't affect his future play too much.

Rookie Jimmie Flores started off hot in LF, batting .298 with 15HR and 56RBI before being sent to Vancouver for Gene Fox, Dmitri Hull and Pavel Bure. He was replaced late in the season by 1B/DH Adrian Parker who, despite playing out of position, committed no errors or minus plays in 25 starts.

RF Rob Sweeney performed fairly well throughout the season driving in 99 runs. Unfortunately, he also set a franchise record for Ks in a season with 139.

Overall Grade: B
This Grade Would've Improved If...there were fewer Ks and more power from the corner OF positions.