Now the Tankers are one franchise I could not wait to get to. The team was taken for spite, and the owner usually does not watch his minors. With that being said, it is a very consistent franchise...ML level, AAA,AA, and High A, are all 31-19. The Low A brings up the rear with a 26-24 record. Speaking of rear, the owner mr. ploppie has an act for making teams excel.
1.Christian O'Connor........ Christian has a great batting eye, decent splits, and super speed. He should be a very nice player in the minors, and eventually the major leagues. He has 16 doubles, 3 triples, 3 homers, and has driven in 26 runs in High A ball. He has walked 32 times, while only fanning 17. Add 12 steals to that, and his potential to improve is greater every day. His OBP is.442, and with a .342 average he reminds me of Tom Herr of the Cardinals.
2.Dennis Harriger......Dennis has spent most of his time in Low A and High A thus far....But patience is a virtue for this guy. He has 20 doubles, 17 homers, 64 runs batted in, while hitting .337. A .413 OBP and a mere .699 SLG...makes him a potential dangerous player. What is impressive is his walks (26) and strike outs (26) in almost 200 at bats.
3.Alfredo Melina......Alfredo is going to be a very good Ml bullpen pitcher. He has shown great control so far in AAA. In 21 innings, he has only walked 5. He has given up 24 hits and 2 homers. He is 0-1 with 11 saves, in 14 chances. his ERA is higher than it should be as a closer (3.77) He had very good splits, great control, and 2 very good pitches. He will get better as time goes along.
4.George Walbeck...... George is going to be a nice sleeper in the major leagues in the near future. He has good control, good splits, and is a 5 pitch pitcher. This should keep hitters guessing at the plate.
In AAA he is 2-2 with 2 saves in 2 chances. He sports a very fine 1.85 ERA. In 24 innings, he has given up 17 hits,2 homers, 3 walks, while fanning 18.
5.Warren Martin......Warren should be in the big leagues really soon. He has had a taste of it, but he wants more. He has good power, decent contact, medium splits, and a decent eye. He is a pudgie guy 5'5 193. My guess is being from the Bronx, he is eating all the stray bullets on the ground. In AAA he is hitting .320, with a .430 OBP. I say he should be a nice 30/100 guy in the future.
6.Jaime Davis....... Jamie should be a future big league player. He has great contact, good power, good splits, and a good eye. If you add that up, that should give you a .300 hitter with 25 homers, 100 RBI'S, 30 doubles, 5 triples, and about 80-90 runs batted in.But as of now, he has yet to reach that potential. In AA he has 11 doubles, 2 triples, 10 homers, and 29 runs batted in. He has a .301 average, with an OBP of .364. He only has 18 walks and 28 strikeouts in just over 200 at bats. They are not bad numbers, but with time he should improve his OBP .
7.Bob Halter...... Halter is going to be a very fine major league pitcher. In high A, he is 6-4 with a 4.43 ERA. In 67 innings, he has given up 75 hits, 9 homers, only 16 walks, and has struck out 67. He has good control, good splits, and a very fine future as a rotation pitcher.
8.Tommy Hernandez.......Tommy will be a very good bullpen pitcher for years to come. His stats are not accurate, due to being used and abused. In 41 innings, he has given up 31 hits, only 1 homer, 8 walks, while fanning 28. He has excellent control, 2 very good pitches, and he also has good stamina for a future closer. With that being said, why he is inactive (hint hint) is beyond me.
9.Von Chatwood..... Von is your typical power hitter.....High power, low contact. He has 10 doubles, 28 homers, and has driven in67 runs . He strikes out twice as much as he walks. He has a .308 average while supporting a .383 OBP. If he controls his strikeouts he will be a very decent minor league player.
10.Harpo Aven.......Harpo is spending time in AA. Rumor has it , he was given 5 to life for a crime involving ploppie's sister. He has shown very good numbers, and the ability to get on base.This season he has 13 doubles, 3 homers, 32 RBI'S and a respectable .379 OBP.Time will tell if he gets paroled from AA or not.