BoS A.L. Leaders - End of April 2016

Week 2 & Week 3 - Weekly Award Winners (2016 BoS Season)

WEEK 2 - BoS Player of the Week Awards

A.L. WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS

Jake Arrieta had 2 wins for Corktown while allowing only 7 hits, 2 earned runs & 2 walks -- while striking out 21 batters (1.20 ERA for the week); His teammate Justin Upton wins the batter element of the A.L. weekly award, by going 10-for-22 (.455) while hitting 2 HR & 8 RBI.

Honorable Mention: Micatin's A.J. Pollack (.379, 2 HR & 9 RBI), Buffalo's Ian Kinsler (.407, HR & 3 RBI), Spartans' Mark Teixeira (.357, 2 HR & 6 RBI) & Edison Volquez (2 W, 4 ER - 2.12 ERA in 17 IP) for Brooklyn.

Brandon Phillips keeps hitting well for Swatara through 2 weeks, as he went 9-for-22 (.409) with 2 HR & 3 RBI for Week 2.

N.L. WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS

The National League was not as clear-cut, but Robbie Ray made it worth his only Week 2 outing, with a two-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts for the Seattle Rainiers; Once again, it was another teammate to take the batting award for the week, Ray's teammate & All-Star vet Joe Mauer (acquired from Micatin in the off-season) went 7-for-16 (.438) with 2 HR & 8 RBI.

Honorable Mention: Holland's Johnny Cueto (9 IP, 2 H, 2 ER with 9 K's & win), King Road's Clayton Kershaw had 9 K's - allowing an earned run in a loss; Also Portland's Todd Frazier (.391 with 6 RBI) and San Diego's Nelson Cruz (.360 with 2 HR & 5 RBI).

WEEK 3's BoS Player of the Week Awards.

A.L. WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS

The Micatin Destroyers' two pitchers Jake Peavy and John Lackey each pitch a one-hit shutout. Peavy gets the edge by striking out one more batter in his outing (finishing with 9 K's), while both allowed two walks against Corktown.

It was tough to decide from the hitters, so I went with the player who had the most impact (despite a .250 avg, 4-for-16) in Mark Teixeira, hitting 3 HR & 8 RBI in big clutch moments for the South Side Spartans against the Swatara Eliminators.

Honorable Mention: Chicago's Nolan Arenado (.333, HR, 3 RBI, plus 3 doubles & triple), Buffalo's Jordan Zimmerman (8 IP, 5 H, ER with 10 K & BB), Fairgrove's Mike Mahtook (.429, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 5 runs & double) & Patrick Corbin (8 IP, 6 H, 0 ER/2 R, with 7 K's)-- while Gregory Polanco, Adam Eaton and Neil Walker all had a productive series for the Spartans.

N.L. WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS

King Road's J.A. Happ had the strongest outing in the N.L., by allowing only two hits in a shutout performance against a tough Portland team, all while racking up 12 K's & allowing only one walk.

The offense was tough to pick, but I decided to go with T.C's Eddie Rosario, who seemed to be everywhere in the Panthers' 3-2 series win over Holland. Rosario went 8-21 (.381) with 2 HR, 4 RBI & 7 runs.

Honarable Mention: Holland's Evan Gattis hit 3 HR with 6 RBI (6-for-18, .333), while his teammate, Mike Moustakas batted .421 with a HR, 3 RBI & 5 runs. San Diego's Francisco Lindor gave the Player a run with Gattis, while going 7-12 (.583), HR, 4 RBI & 6 runs -- while Heroes teammate Danny Salazar looked sharp on mound with complete game victory (improving to 3-0, 1.17 ERA) with 11 K's, while allowing 1 run on 3 hits & 2 walks.

Opening Week - 2016 BoS Season

SEASON OPENER - WEEK 1

The Boys of Summer APBA Baseball League is underway, starting our 4th season! Plenty of excitement for this upcoming year, with an influx of rookies (due to MLB's "Year of the Rookie" - 2015). The rosters have completely took a overhaul with so many transactions, signings & releases this off-season! Every team has a reason to be optimistic and excited for this 2016 BoS Season -- plus two big questions are: 'Can the Portland Microbrewers repeat?'... and 'Are the Chicago Nine, truly the team to beat in 2016?'

We'll find all that out by the end of the season.

The first week was a big one for the Fairgrove Tigers, who opened up a 6-0 series victory over a talented South Side Spartans team -- with Chris Davis batting .368 with 3 home runs & 4 RBI, plus 2 doubles & 4 runs; Their ace Madison Bumgarner also had a good week in his two starts, 16 K's & only 2 earned runs allowed in 16 innings -- including a shutout.

On the National League side, the other undefeated team from Week 1 was the Louisville Sluggers, with the return of manager Larry Waddell, back at the helm; His rotation was excellent against the Seattle Rainiers -- led by Sonny Gray (2-0, 0.52 ERA, 16 K & 4 BB in 17.1 innings)!

There was plenty of shutouts this first week and there was plenty of contenders for this week's pitching awards in both leagues, but in the end it came down to these two...

• Zack Greinke (Swatara Eliminators/A.L.): W, 15 K's, no earned runs (including a shutout & no-decision) with only 5 hits allowed -- in 15.2 innings.
• Lance Lynn (Holland Hitchhikers/N.L.): 2-0, 0.53 ERA (1 ER, 8 H & 5 BB's allowed) with 15 strikeouts for Holland -- just edging Louisville's Gray for this week.

There was plenty of offense as well -- but none was as impressive as these two...

• Bryce Harper (Holland Hitchhikers/N.L.): .435 AVG (10-23), 4 HR, 12 RBI & 1.635 OPS.
• Chris Davis (Fairgrove Tigers/A.L.): .368 AVG (7-19), 3 HR, 4 RBI & 1.426 OPS.

Most disappointing start may have to go to the #1 Overall Draft Pick (in this year's 2016 BoS Draft) - Kris Bryant (Third Baseman of the Micatin Destroyers) -- in which he went 0-for-21, striking out 10 times!