[DROP 100] The DROP 100 for 2019: #100 - #81

---

---

100. Nate Cruz
AWAA Blue Kamikazes

Key Stats: 45 PA | 5 H | 2 XBH | .511 OBP | .185 ISO | 135 OPS+ [NWLA Tournament]

Through his first five games at the NWLA Tournament – in which he faced several tough pitchers including Ridley Park’s Teddy Drecher, Tommy Loftus, and Sean Bingnear; Skibee Wiffleball’s Cameron Smith; and 2018 Tournament MVP Jordan Castelli – Nate reached base in 24 out of 36 plate appearances, which was good enough for a ridiculous .667 on-base percentage. Cruz’s on-base onslaught came to a halt in the eventual champions’ final two games of the tournament, but his ability to set the table for his teammates was a huge part of the Kamikazes’ run. Nate also played quality defensive during the tournament for the 2019 champions.

99. Mike Tuohy
Boston Bend

Key Stats: 8 IP | 2 H | 1 R | 0 BB | 74% SO rate | 309 ERA+ | 27 PA | 9 H | 3 XBH | .347/.370/.577 | 183 OPS+ [GSWL Pro] **

It had been about five years since Mike Tuohy competed regularly in fast pitch events, but he showed little rust in his two weekends playing GSWL Pro this September. Mike won a pair of games on September 15th in dominant fashion. He started the day with a complete game against Brian DiNapoli and the New England Cannons where only one hit (by Dinapoli) was the difference from a perfect 15 up, 15 down all strikeout game. Tuohy hit well in four games and led GSWL Pro in batting average and slugging percentage, while trailing only DiNapoli in OPS.

** Statistics are incomplete

98. Dan Potter
Juggernauts, MAW Mafia, York Yaks

Key Stats: 83 PA | 13 H | 2 HR | 96 OPS+ [MAW Regular Season]

The erstwhile York Yak switched uniforms this season in Mid Atlantic, joining the newly formed Juggernauts. It was not Potter’s best season at the dish, but he still ended up around a league average OPS over 83 plate appearances. Potter’s middling season extended to his non-BIP results. Both his walk rate (12% compared to 15% league average) and SO rate (57% compared to 60% league average) were within 3% of the league averages. Potter gained value with his defense and was once again among the more reliable (and occasionally spectacular) fielders in MAW. He also contributed greatly on defense at the NWLA Tournament, which included a couple of spectacular plays in support of Jordan Robles against GBL.

97. Scott Coleman
Green Mountain Sasquatches, Bay Area Fog

Key Stats: 54 IP | 41% SO rate | .183 avg. against | 148 ERA+ | 109 PA | 15 H | 11 XBH | 111 OPS+ [JAL XIX]

Scott Coleman continues to be one of JAL’s most consistent season-to-season players. By OPS and ERA, he was an above average hitter and pitcher in JAL 19. Scott changed teams three times between the end of the JAL 18 season and the end of the JAL 19 season, but changing uniforms did little to change his performance. Thanks to an early season trade, Scott got in three more games than any other player in the league and led all JAL pitchers with 54 innings pitched. A veteran wiffler whose experience predates the formation of JAL, Coleman uses a non-scuffed riser from a low arm angle as his main pitch but works in a couple of other pitches as well. Coleman had 11 extra base hits out of 15 total hits which helped drive his OPS.

96. Dave Clark
Lemonheads, POC

Key Stats: 51 PA | 10 H | 6 XBH | 4 HR | 11 AB/HR | .227/.333/.568 | 153 OPS+ [MAW Regular Season]

It was a relatively small sample, but POC’s Dave Clark hit well in three MAW tournaments (plus the Winter Classic) this past year. Clark’s 11 AB/HR was the second among any player who competed in two or more Mid Atlantic tournaments and his .341 ISO also placed him in exclusive company with some of the better power hitters in Mid Atlantic. Dave did not necessarily feast off subpar pitching, either. Two of his four homeruns were hit off Chris Sarnowski and Nate Smith, respectively, with the other two coming at the expense of the Longball’s Dylan Harshaw. Thanks to a bum shoulder, Clark isn’t much of a pitching threat these days but did show flashes of his potential were he fully healthy, particularly at MAW Opening Day versus the York Yaks. 

95. Evan Bates
Cobras

Key Stats: 38 IP | 14 H | 50% SO rate | 1.3 K/BB ratio | 2 HR | 244 ERA+ [JAL 19]

From the bottom of the fourth inning of the Cobras’ Opening Day game against the Waves through the third of their August 11th game versus the Bison, Cobras’ pitcher Evan Bates did not allow a single run. The streak encompassed 24 innings through parts of six games and included four complete game shutouts. Bates would add another shutout that season for five total - an impressive feat considering only 8 shutouts total were thrown in the 54 games played during JAL 19. Bates uses a riser from a near-submarine position. He gets a big stepping start into his motion with - when combined with the low arm angle - looks like it makes pitches difficult to pick up. He relies mainly on an average velocity riser that plays up due to the aforementioned factors. While Trevor Goforth dominated JAL 19 with overpowering stuff, Bates minimized runs in part because of how he pounded the strike zone. His 1.3 K/BB rate was among the best in JAL last season.

94. Jackson Buzea
Clay Street Crocs

Key Stats: 20 IP | 18 H | 5 R | 53% SO rate | 397 ERA+ | 81 PA | 35 H | 9 HR | 116 ERA+ [Leroy]

A leg injury suffered just prior to the NWLA Tournament limited Jackson Buzea to watching on crutches from the sidelines in Morenci. The injury put a premature end to what was shaping up to be a great two-way season in Leroy for Buzea. Jackson excelled on both sides of the ball during his abbreviated season.

93. Adam Milsted
Juggernauts, Way too Beautiful, York Yaks

It was an unusual season for this prolific New Jersey wiffler, but was not without its bright spots. Adam never got the opportunity to get things going at the plate or on the carpet in MAW and performed below league average – and below his own career averages – all season long. Adam didn’t see much playing time in Morenci at the NWLA Tournament either, filling in as a quality extra hitter and designated fielder. In February, he led his 2018 MAW squad, the York Yaks, to a solid 8th place finish at the Winter Classic; solid considering that Adam was the team’s only effective pitcher that night. On Labor Day Sunday, Milsted and his Way too Beautiful squad captured the Kat Hall Classic – a 60-team unrestricted pitch speed tournament in Hatboro, PA. Milsted had the big blow for W2B in the finals in the form of a walk-off grand slam. If you are looking for a player to jump [back] up the list in 2020, Milzy is as good of a bet as any.

92. Behn Worley
RPWL Dodgers

Key Stats: 32 2/3 IP | 17 R | 103 ERA+ [RPWL Regular Season]

Once a diamond-in-the-rough himself in the Ridley Park Wiffleball League, Tommy Loftus knows a thing or two about identifying and developing under-the-radar pitchers. After taking rookie Ethan Pecko with the eighth overall pick in the RPWL draft, Tommy selected returning player Behn Worley in the second round. In 2017 and 2018, Worley was an okay hitter in a pitching-dominated league, but his pitching numbers were completely forgettable. In 6 ½ innings pitched between the two seasons, Worely walked 25 batters. Despite that - and knowing that his Dodgers needed pitching - Loftus took a chance on Behn. It paid off. Worely threw 49 two-out innings for the Dodgers in 2019 and allowed only 14 earned runs. Worely got his walk rate down to 26.2%, which is still on the high side but a far cry from what he did in 2017 and 2018. Not only did he win the Dodgers some games, he allowed Loftus to rest his arm for other tournaments and allowed for the prospect Pecko to be brought along at a deliberate pace.

91. Sam Skibee
SWBL Cardinals

Key Stats: 45 PA | .242/.444/.455 | 2 HR | 138 OPS+ | 4 IP | 1 H | 1 R [NWLA Tournament]

Sam stepped down as the manager of the SWBL Cardinals prior to this year’s NWLA Tournament but was still a vital component of the Cardinals’ roster. Sam’s batting statistics were significantly boosted by two games against the overmatched HWBL Hooligans, but he also reached base in all six of his team’s games. Sam is a good yellow bat hitter and also a quality defender, as he demonstrated by going over the fence to take away what would have been a game winning home run during the Cardinals’ 15-inning marathon against Circle City. Following that game, Sam took the ball for the Cardinals as they tried to stave off elimination. He pitched well for four innings, allowing one run against a good hitting OCWA squad.

90.    Anthony LaValley
AWAA Blue Kamikazes, NY Meats

Key Stats: 7 1/3 IP | 4 H | 0 R | 53% SO rate [NWLA Tournament]

The AWAA Blue Kamikazes’ victory at the NWLA Tournament was a true team effort, which was perhaps best exemplified by the brief but very important contributions of Anthony LaValley. LaValley was thrust into the tournament at least a couple of innings earlier than anticipated when Vin Lea was ineffective during the Kamikaze’s second pool play game. He threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings to close out what would end up being his team’s only loss of the tournament. More importantly, he saved his team from having to go to Kyle VonSchleusigen before bracket play. With Jimmy Cole (who already pitched in that game), Tom Gannon (unable to pitch after throwing the first game due to rotation rules), and Lea unavailable, LaValley was the team’s only option and he came up big. His biggest game of the weekend, however, was Sunday in the tournament semi-finals. Taking over for Cole in the third inning – and with K-Von unavailable – LaValley struck out ten GBL batters while allowing just two hits to get AWAA into the title game. Elsewhere this year, Anthony tossed a shutout at the MAW Winter Classic and hit a walk-off home run in pool play versus Tom Gannon.

89. Craig Skinner
Stinky Nuts

Key Stats: 68 1/3 IP | 27 R | 56% SO rate | 162 ERA+ [WSEM Regular Season]

Craig led Wiffle in Southeast Michigan in strikeouts last season, finishing ahead of quality pitchers like Chandler Phillips, Travis Stronjy, and Scott Kujawa, while pitching roughly as many innings as Phillips and Stronjy. Skinner’s motion starts with a side step onto the rubber. He uses mainly an overhand fastball and will also drop down to a side arm position for sort of a short arm, slinging riser. The combination of those two pitchers along with good velocity make him hard to barrel up on in the black bat only league.

88. Tim Trenary
Palisades Dodgers

Key Stats: 24 1/3 IP | 19 H | 14 R | 100 ERA+ [Palisades Regular Season]

The Palisades veteran had his worst statistical pitching season by a pretty wide margin in 2019. Trenary’s struggles were rooted in a diminished ability to miss bats. His strikeout rate plunged from 56% in 2018 and to 46% in 2019. The additional balls in play led to a significant increase in hits. Tim allowed 15 hits in 45 1/3 innings in 2018. This year, he allowed only one less hit while working 21 fewer innings. While it is tempting to blame all of that on a decline in his overall stuff – and that could very well be at least part of the equation – another possibility is that Tim might have thrown too many strikes this season. Prior to 2019, Tim had been effectively wild, pairing a higher than average walk rate with impressive strikeout rates. He posted the third best walk rate of his career this past season and perhaps being over the plate made it easier for his opponents to get a beat on him.

87. Hunter Bradley
WWW Mothmen

Key Stats: 18 IP | 4 H | 1 R | 15 BB% | 893 ERA+ [NWLA Tournament]

Hunter Bradley had an inauspicious start to his 2019 NWLA Tournament. He worked two innings of one-run ball against WILL long after the game was already out of reach. It would have been impossible to predict based on that performance that Bradley would go onto pitch 16 shutout innings later that day against BWACS and WSEM. Bradley won both of those games and allowed just a single hit in each. Against BWACS, the righty let just three men reach base during his ten innings of work. Bradley walked a tightrope against WSEM. He worked around seven walks and less than half (8 out of 18) of his outs were via strikeout, but he made it work. Bradley didn’t hit a ton at the tournament, but he did draw a walk in a quarter of his plate appearances. It was his pitching performance – morphing into his team’s unexpected ace as Saturday rolled on – that defined his tournament.

86. Vince Carullo
Marvelous Maniacs

Key Stats: 36 IP | 21 H | 6 R | 60% SO rate | 596 ERA+ | 140 PA | 56 H | 17 HR | 111 OPS+ [Leroy]

In the high run scoring environment of Leroy, Vince stood out for his effectiveness in preventing them. Only Caleb Jonkman was better than keeping runs off the board in Leroy than Vince. Vince largely kept things out of the hands of his defense by striking out 60% of batters he faced. Again, only Jonkman performed better than Carullo in that facet of the game. While his pitching performance is what really stands out about his season, Carullo was an above average hitter in that league as well.

85.    Josh Burckhardt
Missouri Express

Key Stats: 101 PA | 23 H | 14 XBH | 44 BB | 22 SO | 137 OPS+ | 22 IP | 187 ERA+ [JAL 19]

The offensive keys to success in a one-pitch-and-done league like JAL are a little bit different – or at least a little more exaggerated – than in leagues with a more baseball-like count. With just one pitch to make good, the ability to take close pitches and do damage on a single strike are heightened. To that end, Josh Burckhardt was one of the most efficient hitters in JAL 19, as he walked in 44% of his plate appearances, struck out in 21% (well below the league average of 36%) and got a hit in 23% of his total plate appearances (well above the 10% league average). For every strike/strike out, Josh drew two walks and his .404 batting average was easily the best among JAL regulars.

84.    Phil Fresiello
ATF, Palisades Giants

Key Stats: 58 PA | 6 H | 4 HR | 94 OPS+ [MAW Regular Season] 14 PA | 3 H | 2 HR | 124 OPS+ [Palisades Regular Season]

Phil made the most of his fast pitch hits in 2019, sending six out of nine in MAW and Palisades over the fence. He was aggressive at the plate, but not recklessly so, as his 11% walk rate proves. The veteran hitter is an excellent mistake pitcher and didn’t miss often when the ball ended up in the middle of the strike zone. His MAW home runs came off quality pitchers including Noah Silverman, Gino Joseph, and Johnny Costa.

83.    Jake Davey
WILL Waves

Key Stats: 40 PA | 11 H | 3 HR | .407/.564/.852 | 217 OPS+ [NWLA Tournament]

By virtue of winning the 2018 NWLA Tournament, the WILL Waves received the first and seventh pick in the 2-team pool play draft. The result was a pair of pool play games that the Waves won handily 12-0 and 10-2. Those landslide victories gave the Waves a high seed in the double elimination bracket which resulted in a 23-8 drubbing of their opening round bracket play opponents.  Although the competition was obviously below par, Waves’ captain Jake Davey took full advantage. In those three games, he went 8 for 13 with a double, three homeruns, and six walks. Facing some better pitching later in the tournament, Davey continued to hit and reach base – just not at the same rapid clip – and ended the weekend with at least one hit and one walk in six of his team’s seven games. A lefty with quick wrists and a swing that generates a lot of easy power, Davey has the potential to be an above average hitter against any type of pitching with more consistent reps. He had quality at bats throughout October’s MAW Draft tournament. In unrestricted pitch speed competition, he is a third/fourth starter but adds additional value as a plus defender in both running and non-running environments.

82. Gerard Fitzgerald
ATF

 Key Stats: 45 PA | 10 H | 4 XBH | 1 HR | 118 OPS+ [MAW Regular Season]

When he was on the field this season, Gerard was as tough of an out as he has always been and was a major contributor in ATF reaching the semi-finals at the MAW tournaments in Jackson, New Jersey and Ridley Park, PA. The veteran still has his same easy swing, which - when paired with the sheer number of pitches he has seen over the years - makes it difficult for opposing pitchers to beat on a regular basis. Gerard has long been cherished for his distinctive personality on and off the field and fittingly became the first MAW player to celebrate a home run with a trot around the bases following his blast off Gino Joseph on June 1st.

81. Brendan Dudas
Short Shorts, CCWB Chasers

Key Stats: 174 PA | .461/.640/1.035 | 17 HR | 119 TB | 152 OPS+ [Circle City]

Who the best hitter was in Circle City’s first year as an unrestricted pitch speed league is not subject to debate. Brendan Dudas lapped the field by leading in batting average, slugging, and OPS. By OPS+, Brendan performed 150% better than the league average hitter and his OPS+ was more than 20 percentage points higher than the next closest player. While there was a large discrepancy between the top-level pitchers and the rest in Circle City in 2019, Dudas did his fair share of damage against the league’s best. Against the league’s top three performing pitchers – Mike Speek, Jr., Mike Speek Sr., and Rudy Lyon – Dudas went 7 for 18 with 4 home runs, a double, and four walks. Brendan struggled offensively in the NWLA Tournament as he failed to get a hit during his team’s final four games. However, he made up for that by taking home top fielding honors on the all-tournament team in addition to making a spectacular over-the-fence home run robbing catch against Skibee.