Quad Cities River Bandits: Two Month Report Card

Two months plus into the minor league season, let's see how the Astros full season affiliates are shaping up. Today, we'll look at the Low A Quad Cities River Bandits ...

Forrest Whitley - August 2016

Photo by Jayne Hansen

STANDINGS

33-28 (12-10 in April; 14-15 in May; 7-3 in June)

Third Place (out of eight teams in the division; elimination number for winning first half at 7)

2 Games Behind

29-20 within the Division

19-13 at Home

14-15 on the Road

7-3 in Last 10 Games

TEAM BATTING

.260 AVG: 4th out of 16 teams

.337 OBP: T-3rd

.434 SLG: 1st

.771 OPS: 2nd

122 Doubles: 1st

14 Triples: 14th

69 Home Runs: 1st

223 Walks: 5th

526 Strikeouts: 9th

54 Stolen Bases: 9th

TEAM PITCHING

3.58 ERA: 5th out of 16 teams

1.275 WHIP: 5th

46 Home Runs Allowed: T-5th

224 Walks: 4th

556 Strikeouts: 5th

INDIVIDUAL LEAGUE LEADERS

OF Marcos Almonte

.292 AVG: T-20th in the Midwest League

.487 SLG: 15th
.808 OPS: 20th

7 Home Runs: T-20th

C Chuckie Robinson

.475 SLG: 19th
12 Doubles: T-19th
32 RBI: T-16th

OF Carmen Benedetti
12 Doubles: T-19th
31 Walks: T-4th

OF Ronnie Dawson
12 Doubles: T-19th

IF Rodrigo Ayarza
7 Home Runs: T-20th

OF Daz Cameron
13 Stolen Bases: T-12th (4 Caught Stealing)

RHP Carson LaRue
2.18 ERA: 8th
0.936 WHIP: 3rd

Don't be fooled by the lack of individual league leaders on the Quad Cities team. They are to a large part a victim of their own success. On the offensive side, they lost IF Rodrigo Ayarza (.316/.345/.544), OF Stephen Wrenn (.288/.363/.431) and 3B Randy Cesar (.302/.368/.462) to promotions in May. Similarly, three of the River Bandits top pitching performers were also promoted in May: LHP Brett Adcock (1.14 ERA/0.930 WHIP), RHP Jorge Alcala (2.03 ERA/0.903 WHIP) and  LHP Ryan Hartman (2.72 ERA/1.160 WHIP).

The good news is that recent additions 1B/LF/DH Yordan Alvarez (.356/.450/.589) and SS Jonathan Arauz (.321/.387/.393) are already keeping the Banditos offense humming along nicely. The pitching side of the equation hasn't always gone as smoothly with top prospects RHP Forrest Whitley (3.78 ERA/1.350 WHIP) and LHP Cionel Perez (5.05 ERA/1.178 WHIP) having mixed results early on. But Perez has shown vast improvement and Whitley should continue to do so as well. They are joined in the rotation by league leader LaRue and by RHP Enoli Paredes (2.11 ERA/0.887 WHIP) who is currently on the DL, and are supported by solid bullpen pitchers RHP Lucas Williams (2.45 ERA/1.318 WHIP) and RHP Erasmo Pinales (3.18 ERA/1.200 WHIP).

With seven games remaining in the first half, the Bandits are only two games out of first place and will be playing three of those games against the first place Cedar Rapids (Twins) team. With a little cooperation from second place Kane County (D'Backs), Quad Cities still has a decent chance of coming out on top in the first half of the season.