Tri-City ValleyCats: 2015 Season in Review

Tri-City won the Stedler Division for the fourth straight season with their 42-33 record. Unfortunately, they fell to the Staten Island Yankees in the Semifinals and did not advance to the League Championship series. As usual, Tri-City saw quite a few of the first year draftees as well as some talented free agents. Let's take a look at the team performance within the league and some of the individual standouts.

Dexture McCall - August 2014

Photo Courtesy of Bryan Green

Note all rankings are out of 14 total teams

TRI-CITY VALLEYCATS TEAM BATTING
Batting average: .261 (2nd)
On-base percentage: .345 (1st)
Slugging percentage: .367 (2nd)
Doubles: 128 (T4th)
Triples: 14 (13th)
Home runs: 38 (2nd)
Walks: 297 (1st)
Strikeouts: 569 (6th)
Stolen bases: 78 (4th)

TRI-CITY VALLEYCATS TEAM PITCHING
ERA: 3.79 (10th)
WHIP: 1.318 (9th)
Walks: 211 (11th)
Strikeouts: 635 (1st)

The offense was extremely strong on this team, but the pitching was somewhat uneven. Let's look at some of the team standouts.

TRI-CITY VALLEYCATS BATTING LEADERS (minimum 40 games for BA, OBP and SLG)
Batting Average: Bobby Wernes (.346 - 1st in the league)
On-Base Percentage: Bobby Wernes (.434 - 1st in the league)
Slugging Percentage: Aaron Mizell (.423 - 7th in the league)
Doubles: Brooks Marlow and Pat Porter (tied with 15)
Triples: Aaron Mizell (7 - T1st in the league)
Home Runs: Brooks Marlow (6 - T6th in the league)
RBI: Dexture McCall (37 - T6th in the league)
Stolen Bases: Johnny Sewald (31 - 1st in the league)
Walks: Johnny Sewald (46 - T1st in the league)
Runs: Johnny Sewald (57 - 1st in the league)

3B Bobby Wernes (21)
Wernes, the 2015 30th round pick, won the New York-Penn League batting title in his first professional season. In 53 games, he hit .346/.434/.388 with eight doubles, 29 RBI and three stolen bases. He walked 27 times and struck out 27 times.

OF Johnny Sewald (21)
A 14th rounder out of Arizona State, Sewald broke a couple of single season records for Tri-City this season (for runs scored and stolen bases) and ended the season hitting .289/.413/.341 in 70 games.

OF Aaron Mizell (21)
Mizell, the Astros 33rd pick, started his first season with Greeneville but was promoted to Tri-City after only 20 games. For the season, he hit a combined .263/.330/.421 with 14 doubles, a very impressive eight triples, four home runs, 36 RBI and 16 stolen bases.

1B Dexture McCall (21)
McCall is another later round pick (31st round in 2014) who performed quite well for Tri-City this season, hitting .295/.376/.400 with nine doubles, four home runs and 37 RBI in 59 games.

Also of note are a duo who split their time between Tri-City and Quad Cities: OF Drew Ferguson (.328/.418/.586 in 17 games for Tri-City) and 1B Bryan Muniz (.292/.387/.443 in 29 games for Tri-City). Hector Roa slugged .444 in 27 games at the level as well.

TRI-CITY VALLEYCATS PITCHING LEADERS (minimum 30IP for ERA and WHIP)
ERA: Scott Weathersby (2.48 in 32.2IP)
WHIP: Scott Weathersby (1.133)
Strikeouts: Harold Arauz (52)
Saves: Jacob Dorris (6 - T8th in the league)

RHP Scott Weathersby (23)
Weathersby, a 10th round pick, was only given a couple of starts in his 12 appearances for the season, but averaged almost three innings per appearance. He ended the season with a 2.48 ERA, 1.133 WHIP and six walks to 39 strikeouts in his 32.2 innings.

RHP Chris Murphy (22)
Murphy actually had better numbers than Weathersby, but fell just shy of my 30 inning minimum since he started the season with Greeneville. The 24th rounder ended the season with a combined 2.25 ERA and 1.062 WHIP in 48 innings (14 games/6 starts). He walked seven batters and struck out 40.

Jacob Dorris (22)
Dorris, a NDFA out of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, started the season at Greeneville and ended it in Quad Cities, but it was in Tri-City that Dorris earned six of his seven season saves. Dorris had a 1.80 ERA and a 0.700 WHIP in 10 innings with Tri-City and a combined 0.98 ERA and a 0.759 WHIP in his 27.2 innings pitched at the three levels.

Also of particular note were RHP Elieser Hernandez with a 1.31 ERA and a 0.726 WHIP in 20.2 innings prior to his mid-July promotion to Quad Cities; and LHP Steve Naemark with a 1.54 ERA and a 0.857 WHIP in 11.2 innings at the level.

Previous Season Reviews:
Dominican Summer League Astros
Gulf Coast League Astros
Greeneville Astros