In comparing them to the Lexington Legends full season A level team from last season, this Quad Cities squad has slightly better pitching numbers and lags ever so slightly in offense from their 2012 counterparts. The 2012 Lexington team ended the season with a .500 record. The River Bandits only need 13 more wins out of 36 remaining games to surpass that mark.
The team ERA (8th out of 16 teams) and WHIP (7th) rank in the middle of the pack in the league; however, only one team has walked fewer batters and they rank third in strikeouts.
There has been a lot of flux in the membership of the pitching staff due to promotions and injuries and even one retirement (RHP John Neely), but there are four names that populate the top 20 list of Midwest League leaders among the pitching staff. Among those with enough innings to qualify, RHP Jordan Jankowski ranks fourth in ERA (2.67), second in WHIP (1.061) and 14th in strikeouts (80 in 87.2IP). RHP Lance McCullers is 11th in ERA (3.05), 20th in WHIP (1.320) and third in strikeouts (101 in 88.2IP). RHP Vincent Velasquez is 17th in ERA (3.49), fifth in WHIP (1.133) and first in strikeouts (109 strikeouts in 98IP). And finally, RHP Mike Hauschild, who has since graduated to Lancaster, was seventh in the league in both ERA (2.92) and WHIP (1.140) while he was with Quad Cities.
LHP Colton Cain is not in the league rankings, but that is largely because of a disastrous April. Since April, Cain has a 2.61 ERA and a 1.258 WHIP. Also of note, both LHP Joe Bircher (1.164) and LHP Brian Holmes (1.211) have very good WHIP, but both are just making their way back from injury and have missed much of the season. At 10.2 SO/9, reliever RHP Gera Sanchez has the highest strikeout rate of anyone on the team not named Lance McCullers.
Now for the offense. The team ranks in the lowest third of the league in many of the offensive categories (BA, SLG, doubles, triples, home runs), but there are a few notable exceptions. The River Bandits rank third in OBP which is directly related to the fact that they rank first in drawing walks. They are also fourth in the league in stolen bases.
The one true standout on the team offensively is SS Carlos Correa. He ranks sixth in batting average, eighth in on base percentage, 13th in RBI and 17th in slugging percentage in the league. Other top 20 players in the league are OF Teoscar Hernandez (first in runs scored and tied for 17th in stolen bases), OF Jordan Scott (tied for 12th in stolen bases, 18th in walks and 20th in OBP), 1B Jesse Wierzbicki (18th in RBI), and 2B Austin Elkins (sixth in walks). In a bit of a good news/bad news scenario, Teoscar Hernandez leads the team in outfield assists with nine, but also ranks ninth in the league with strikeouts (98 in 90 games).
Two additional players who are recent additions to the team have definitely helped to boost the offense. In 12 games C Luis Alvarez is hitting .319/.347/.511 with three doubles and two home runs and in 19 games, OF Dan Gulbransen is hitting .299/.405/.418 with six doubles and a triple. Rio Ruiz has made incremental improvements at the plate all season long and is hitting .280/.351/.476 with five doubles, a triple and three home runs in July. As a final note, C Roberto Peña boasts a very impressive caught stealing percentage of 54%. He has caught 37 of 69 base runners.
The Quad Cities team is in third place overall for the season, seven games back, but just made its way to second place in the second half standings after last night's game. They are well poised for, at a minimum, a wild card berth in the playoffs. The improvements by players like Colton Cain and Rio Ruiz, the return of Joe Bircher and, potentially, Brian Holmes and the addition of the offense of Luis Alvarez and Dan Gulbransen will all go a long way toward helping the team get to that goal.
For my earlier take on the short season teams ~
DSL Astros
GCL Astros
Greeneville Astros
Tri-City ValleyCats
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