Themed Task May 18th 2020- May 24th 2020

Hi Again SBLers!

With the season starting soon lets make this week's themed task focus on the future of this league.

Writing and Podcast Option (200 word minimum or 5 min minimum podcast)

Talk about where you player would like to be drafted in their first season. Feel free to cover both your primary player and your filler. You can also cover what you are most excited about out of the events we have coming up like the prospects tournament and the draft? Other Ideas for this Write up include where you think you'll go in the draft, who you think will go the highest and who you think is a risky bet and why.

Graphic Option

Make a Draft Graphic for a player that shows where you think they will go over all.

With the SBLM just a few days away and Carlos Delgado committed to staying in the SBLM for his first year, we asked him what his thoughts were on the draft and where he’d like to end up.

“We’ll so far I’ve only been contacted by one team, and maybe other teams just aren’t interested, but I do plan on proving them wrong. I don’t want to picked as a “flyer”, I want to go somewhere that did their homework and know that I’m gonna be the best player in the SBLM this year and the best player the SBL will ever see.

I know there are a lot of bigger names out there and maybe other teams plan on going with the “safe” pick, but it’ll be funny when I prove them all wrong.

With the recent addition of two more teams, it does make the draft a little more complicated, but hopefully the added competition will give a guy like me a better chance to prove more teams wrong.

It was a hard decision to play in the minors, but I’d like the chance to see how the SBL teams shape up before I make the move up there. Then I’ll also have a good idea of where I’d like to go, once I do hit the pros

-"Kurtis, where do you think you will go in the draft? "

"One team has contacted me. Basically, three other teams have got to get it together. If you're say, trying to score runs this season, you pick Kurtis McKenzie. I am the best pure hitter in the draft. There are 4 picks in the first round, and im still first round talent. You build an offense around my kinda talent"

"Aren't you a bit cocky for an unproven Texas single A high school player?"

"Cocky? NO, I just know what I am capable of. I've worked out with former pro Johnathon Livingston. Nobody will argue that that guy has some serious stuff. No big deal, I decimated him in practice."

"Ok, sure. In your pre-draft experience, are there any guys you expect to bust?"

"I'm not going to mention any names. But, there are some guys who will be picked all to soon. Name recognition or whatever, but it will happen. And some unfortunate team will be left without the best hitter in the draft by far. "

"Yes, you already said that."

"So? One more time for emphasis. I Kurtis, the ordinary guy, McKenzie am the best hitter in this draft. I will win the leagues first MVP, just you watch. Thanks, bye."

SecondBaseBabe wrote:Writing and Podcast Option (200 word minimum or 5 min minimum podcast)

Talk about where you player would like to be drafted in their first season. Feel free to cover both your primary player and your filler. You can also cover what you are most excited about out of the events we have coming up like the prospects tournament and the draft?  Other Ideas for this Write up include where you think you'll go in the draft, who you think will go the highest and who you think is a risky bet and why.

On where Mekajiki will go in the SBDL Draft
Not knowing where I'll end up in the SBDL doesn't make me too nervous. The four GMs are people I've known before this league was even an afterthought, and I genuinely like each one of them. I just hope that they understand that I'm going to commit to the SBL Draft as soon as possible. I'm going to give them a heck of a player this season, but then I'll leave them. If I'm among the first couple selections of a team, hopefully the others in that core decide to stay down more than a season to compensate for me joining the pro ranks early.

On where Saturn will go in the SBL Filler Draft
Once again, the exact team I go to is not too important. But I do hope that the team that drafts me realizes how important Filler RPs are. There's already less pitchers created than batters, and I doubt any of these pitchers want to end their days as a lowly relief pitcher. This is where Saturn comes in. I left her Stamina low, but gave her a nasty circle change with a lot of movement. She's probably good to pitch for an inning or two as a mid-relief, as a setup or even as a closer for the start. Batting fillers can be good at the start, but when you have a full roster of main players, they'll become useless. Meanwhile, there's always going to be room in the bullpen for more dedicated relief pitchers.

On who will go high in the SBDL Draft
This is so hard because, once again, I guess it depends on what teams value. I guess I'm going to go high, because I'm a TPE whore. But in the SBDL, I guess that's not necessarily what you should be going for. Not with your first pick, actually. That being said, I'm guessing most of the staff should go high, as they are bound to stay active for a while.

Nate Nitro, a starting pitcher that has declared his intentions for the S0 SBLM Draft is somewhat excited for the journey that lies ahead of him. The power-type pitcher straight out of the Bronx borough of New York City has the geographical background working for him - he heavily utilizes his fastball/cutter combo with a devastating Off-speed change-up pitch to great success. When asked which Minor League team he’d like to go to— “I don’t really have any preference. I haven’t gotten contacted by nobody yet so I’m not sure how that works. I guess somebody will eventually come by hollering for me so that’ll be where I am off to next. Got my eyes on Pittsburgh for their dope logo... Las Vegas too. Nothing can beat the Sin City baby.”

Hit ‘Em Where They Ain’t is a speedy, hitting right fielder who shows some defensive ability. He is nothing more than an experiment at this point although he hopes to make an immediate impact and find a starting spot. Hit ‘Em Where They Ain’t also projects to be one of the best fundamental hitter of all S0 fillers and hasn’t quite really done any research on the SBL Teams. When asked about this, he said, “I’m too busy finding the gaps to hit the ball toward, and moving up the runners ahead of me. Any SBL team that needs my hitting service, I’ll play. If not, then screw all of you guys, I’m going home!”

The inaugural season of the SBL draws near. Captain Hook is not sure where he will be playing. No contact has been made to his player at all so at the moment Hook does not have any preference of location. The scouting in the league will need to improve especially if just for keeping members of the league interested. There does not seem to be any communication either on when the draft will be. Organization is not a strong suit of the league right now but that will surely change for the better as the league matures. For right now Captain Hook will just continue to practice and improve his own game so he can make an immediate impact on whatever team decides to give him a shot. Baseball is everything that Hook knows and he plans to be a long time player in the league. Records are meant to be broken, but when you start off with a blank slate you can be the one that sets the original values in those record books. As the days pass Hook becomes more and more anxious to be drafted and start working with a full crew of teammates. On field practice with your team is like nothing else.

Colombian pitcher Cid Ramirez, who arrived in the States just a few weeks ago following a quick scouting bout with SBL representatives, was recently asked via translator about his thoughts on the upcoming draft.

“There are plenty of pitchers in this draft, and many of them are very talented,” he commented through sports league pal and distant cousin Sydney Ramirez, “unfortunately that makes figuring out where I’m going to go a little tough, of course. I don’t know where many of these cities are – though I am most familiar with the American ones like Las Vegas and Chicago.”

“I think I would feel most at home in Miami or Las Vegas in terms of geography,” he continued, giving a quick but knowing smile, “Miami obviously has many Latinos and as a result there are many Spanish speakers. Las Vegas is geographically close as well; since it’s in the Southwest, that city should also probably be easy to get around in, yes?”

Ramirez was asked about his likely draft position, but he was largely non-committal.

“Like I said, there are plenty of pitchers. I’d like to think I am one of the better ones, but how can I say that without seeing others pitch? I trust my knuckle curve and fastball of course – I’m quite well known in Cartagena, and people don’t like to bat against me in pick-up games. But there is still a lot of learning to do. I hope the manager that selects me knows that. I could go in the first or the eighth round as a result.”

It was brought to my attention earlier this evening that I, Insubordinate JelloFace, Third base extraordinaire, was would not be in the draft so I can not really write about this theme, but we will try. I am pretty upset that I can not be in the draft as I was really looking forward to seeing where I would land, but I guess my agent did not send the paperwork in on time or the league did not process it in time or what...I don’t know, but it’s irritating. Every young baseball player grows up playing the game and pretending they are going to be the next big thing in baseball and they dream about hearing their name called on draft day and walking across that stage, but alas, my dream is dead. Instead I will officially be a free agent immediately following the draft so I guess that is kind of cool knowing teams will, hopefully, be going after me, but at the same time if these teams know how to draft properly, they are not going to have holes in their teams, and if they decide to not draft my position they are taking a huge risk in not knowing if I’ll actually sign with them. If they all do draft third baseman I’m going to either be relegated to a role back up player and have to take some lumps until(or if) the other player doesn’t pan out or be forced to play out of position. As much as it is a unique and interesting situation, It is also kind of a shitty situation. One thing is for sure though, only time will tell where I end up and where, or if, I end up playing.

Honestly, I have no idea of where I might end up going in the draft. That’s for both the pick and the team. We’ve got a lot of talent in this upcoming draft so I don’t think that anyone has much of an idea of where they might go. It’s going to be a huge mystery but an interesting one, that’s for sure. I’ve received no contact from any of the teams so that’s another toss up. I’m not sure who might be interested in me but you better believe that I’m going to be giving the game my all. Tracy Prezzy Jr. is a future superstar, you heard it here first!

As for who I’d like to be picked by in the draft, I’d have to go with either Pittsburgh or Chicago, solely based off of the branding. Not that the other guys don’t have nice branding, because they do but they’re not my favorites out of the four. Regardless of who picks me though, I’m extremely excited and ready to get out there on the field. I’m prepared to play for any of the teams just as equally and I can promise that whichever GM picks me, I’ll be giving it my all! Wanna grab ourselves a couple of ‘ships before moving up to the SBL.

Heading into the draft, I was hoping to go to the Chicago Storm the most because their GM reached out to me and sounded like he had a solid idea for building around Cooper. I’m very glad to be in Pittsburgh though because I think the Pioneers have the coolest branding in the league, and because I think they had a hell of a draft to set us up for success early on. I like that they prioritized me as the guy to lead them in the outfield, and I think that we’ve got a really nice balance on our roster for pitching and fielding prospects.

I went a little bit higher than I expected to go in the draft since I don’t hold a job in this league, but I’m determined to justify the selection for Pittsburgh. I want to establish myself as a defensive force and a menace at the top of our lineup, and I can’t wait to show the fans in Pittsburgh what kind of a player they just drafted. This team is filled with talent all around, and I think that we’re the most talented team in the league straight out of the draft. Excited to see what we can accomplish as a squad.

Too Late, Not Drafted :pingusad:

https://simbaseball.forumotion.com/t216-s0-sblm-draft
Just gonna link to this as I made these and I already knew the outcome of the draft...
Will edit if this is not allowed...

Themed Task + Rookie Point Task #2 (Not sure if these both count for TPE)


Austin Schwartz Scouting Report

Austin is a big lefty coming out of the Chicago area. He throws with a three-quarters arm slot and boasts a fastball in the upper 80s and will occasionally hit 90 or 91. However, he is still fairly skinny and as a high school player he has plenty of time to fill out his 6'3'' frame moving forward. His mechanics look pretty solid for such a hard-throwing young player, and while wear-and-tear will certainly take a toll, he doesn't look to be at any particular risk of injury.

Pitch-wise, Austin throws a pretty traditional fastball, curveball, and change-up combination that has left high school hitters baffled. He has good command of all his pitches, especially his fastball, and his off-speed pitches are all the more devastating when he can throw them for strikes. All three of pitches show good movement, but his curveball can turn into a cement mixer at times if he's not careful and the change up has proven fairly inconsistent so far. But when all his pitches are working, his stuff is electric.

As for his draft position, Austin has said he is committed to college for the time being, so teams may pass on him as to not pay that additional bonus slot. However, he has said that he will consider offers from teams that did not draft him in hopes that they will give him better bonus money. Otherwise, Schwartz may continue to display his star potential at the college level.

Draft? What draft?

Shortly after announcing his intent to play in the SBL, and even before some news outlets could announce that he was even eligible, Wade Landry already had a new home. After the SBL Draft had passed, the Sherbrooke Mohawks announced that Landry had been signed to an entry-level contract as the team's every day right fielder.

"The Sherbrooke Mohawks are pleased to announce that we have signed Wade Landry to an entry-level contract," said Maurice "Mo" Hawk, the General Manager of the Mohawks. "We're big fans of the energy he brings to the game, and he's shown a penchant for getting on base and creating opportunities with his speed. We weren't going to pass up on a talent like that."

While it's not entirely known yet what Landry's role will be yet with the team, he will be getting ample opportunities to ensure that he can become a key part of the time. His skills make him an ideal candidate to be a leadoff hitter, or at least in the top of the order. His defensive range in right field also makes him a safe play while his offensive abilities develop. Either way, this article ensures a good start to that development.

Going into the draft I had only been contacted by one SBLM General Manager. This GM was Snussu, the person whose team I would eventually wind up joining.
I was very excited for the draft, because it indicates that the season will start soon. Furthermore, it allows me to see who my future teammates will be. I like having new teammates, because I found that for the most part everyone in these sim leagues is pretty fun and I like meeting as many people who are active as possible.

This may sound cheap, but the Sherbrooke Mohawks were the team that I liked best from day 1. Knowing literally nothing about the teams other than the team logos, I thought that the Mohawk logo was the best looking in my personal opinion. Whilst I have no clue where the hell Sherbrooke is, I am glad that this is the team I was eventually drafted to.

As of right now, I can’t wait for the Prospect Tournament, as it will be the first show of how my player will do. Furthermore, it is yet another step to the beginning of the regular season, which I am greatly looking forward to. I’m happy my “career” as a baseball player has now officially started, and I can’t wait to see how it goes.