Lansing Lugnuts - Hitters Update

Pos	Player	Age	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
OF	Markus Brisker	18	105	7	12	1	0	0	2	12	4	10	35	0.114	0.19	0.124	0.313
OF	Yohermyn Chavez	20	179	32	51	7	5	8	31	2	2	13	43	0.285	0.333	0.514	0.847
SS	Jonathan DelCampo	21	118	12	25	4	2	0	8	0	0	4	16	0.212	0.238	0.28	0.517
OF	Christopher Emanuele	25	25	3	6	1	0	1	2	1	1	1	5	0.24	0.296	0.4	0.696
2B	Luis Fernandez	21	13	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	0.154	0.313	0.154	0.466
3B	Balbino Fuenmayor	19	131	9	33	3	0	3	11	0	1	2	37	0.252	0.263	0.344	0.607
C	Antonio Jimenez	--	89	8	20	5	1	0	7	3	1	1	20	0.225	0.231	0.303	0.534
1B	Justin McClanahan	23	110	16	30	10	0	4	19	4	5	4	33	0.273	0.319	0.473	0.792
1B	Michael McDade	20	160	16	40	10	0	6	21	0	0	11	38	0.25	0.302	0.425	0.727
SS	Tyler Pastornicky	19	186	29	46	4	3	0	12	19	9	17	29	0.247	0.317	0.301	0.618
2B/3B	Robert Sobolewski	22	129	17	36	10	0	2	17	5	0	14	24	0.279	0.35	0.403	0.753
C	Jonathan Talley	20	76	4	19	4	1	0	11	0	0	12	25	0.25	0.348	0.329	0.677
OF	Brian Van Kirk	23	142	17	42	8	1	8	26	0	0	12	34	0.296	0.365	0.535	0.9
OF	Kenneth Wilson	19	137	21	30	3	1	3	12	14	8	14	40	0.219	0.299	0.321	0.621

Lansing has had a rough time getting wins this season with a 19-32 record thus far, and hitting has been a major reason for their losses. 20 year old Johermyn Chavez and 23 year old Brian Van Kirk provide the only real pop on this club with 8 home runs a piece and decent averages. Chavez should get the call to HiA or AA very soon since the OFers there are not exactly top-notch prospect guys, while Chavez seems to be lacking support in Lansing to show his full potential. The peskiest guy on Lansing's squad is Tyler Pastornicky, a 19 year old SS with 19 SBs and a 17/29 BB to K ratio that is very nice for someone his age. If Justin Jackson isn't careful, he could get a real challenge for at SS from this kid. The only other impact bat for Lansing is the same guy that was reported here earlier in June, 3B Balbino Fuenmayor. His stats were horrific in April, but he has managed to improve trumendously since then and seems to be finding his way through the mud. The Jays can be patient with him since he is also only 19 years old and had to adjust to living in the U.S. full time.

Some striking facts that can account for why Lansing has had a hard time hitting include the fact that the average age of their hitters is lowest in the league by quite a margin. The average age of Lansing hitters is 20.4 years old, while all other teams are over 21.1 years old and the league average is 21.7 years old. So I would expect the hitting to get batter as they gain experience this season. Another reason is the lack of runs they've been able to produce, which again is directly linked to inexperience of the players in hitting with runners in scoring position. It's hard for Lansing hitters to get on a streak if they keep getting hits with nobody on base either, so hopefully the majority of them can get their averages up and mimic the big club by cycling through the lineup more often to drive in runs.