Month in Review

I'm probably not going to do this every month, but the off day comes at a convenient time for something like this. I'll look at some individual and team statistical leaders and offer some other thoughts on the season so far, including a look back on how my predictions are doing so far.

Batting Average
1. Jimmy Cesario, MOD .413
2. Brandon Belt, SJ .400
3. Nate Tenbrink, HD .396
4. Roberto Lopez, RC .386
5. Jordan Pacheco, MOD .380

1. High Desert .288
2. Modesto .280
3. Rancho Cucamonga .278

Runs
1. Tyson Auer, RC 22
1. Marc Krauss, VIS 22
3. Kyle Seager, HD 21
4. Drew Cumberland, LE 18
5. Five tied with 17

1. High Desert 132
2. Lake Elsinore 124
3. Rancho Cucamonga 119

Home Runs
1. Stephen Parker, STO 6
2. Three tied with five
5. Six tied with four

1. Lake Elsinore 22
2. Rancho Cucamonga 20
3. Stockton 18

Runs Batted In
1. Rich Poythress, HD 23
2. Gabe Jacobo, RC 22
3. Roberto Lopez, RC 21
4. Jordan Pacheco, MOD 20
5. Dillon Baird, RC and Vince Belnome, LE 19

Steals
1. Francisco Peguero, SJ 12
2. Tyson Auer, RC and Jay Austin, LAN 11
4. Drew Cumberland, LE 10
5. Brandon Belt, SJ and Rian Kiniry, RC 7

1. Rancho Cucamonga 41
2. San Jose 37
3. Modesto 34

On Base Percentage
1. Tony Delmonico, IE .507
2. Brandon Belt, SJ .494
3. Jimmy Cesario, MOD .460
4. Jordan Pacheco, MOD .458
5. Nate Tenbrink, HD .455

Slugging Percentage
1. Brandon Belt, SJ .643
2. Roberto Lopez, RC .627
3. Michael Collins, LE .618
4. Marc Krauss, VIS .617
5. Jimmy Cesario, MOD .613

OPS
1. Brandon Belt, SJ 1.137
2. Roberto Lopez, RC 1.074
3. Jimmy Cesario, MOD 1.072
4. Marc Krauss, VIS 1.052
5. Nate Tenbrink, HD 1.049

1. High Desert .785
2. Modesto .764
3. Rancho Cucamonga .751

Wins
1. Three tied with 3
4. Many tied with 2

Innings Pitched
1. Ethan Hollingsworth, MOD 32.2
2. Will Smith, RC 30.2
3. Anthony Bass, LE 29
4. Kenn Kasparek, HD and Matt Shoemaker, RC 28.1

Strikeouts
1. Ethan Hollingsworth, MOD 35
2. Matt Shoemaker, RC 33
3. Shawn Haviland, STO and Jake Wild, HD 27
5. Aaron Miller, IE and Juan Nicasio, MOD 26

Saves
1. Brad Brach, LE 8
2. Adam Jorgenson, MOD 7
3. T.J. Hose, VIS and Jason Stoffel, SJ 5
5. Three tied with 3

ERA
1. Craig Westcott, SJ 0.00
2. Ethan Hollingsworth, MOD 1.65
3. Rob Scahill, MOD 2.00
4. Bobby LaFromboise, HD 2.01
5. Eric Surkamp, SJ 2.35

1. Modesto 2.89
2. Visalia 3.44
3. High Desert 3.55

WHIP
1. Ethan Hollingsworth, MOD .80
2. Eric Surkamp, SJ 1.00
3. Bobby LaFromboise, HD 1.07
4. Anthony Bass, LE 1.10
5. Craig Westcott, SJ 1.11

1. High Desert and Modesto 1.27
3. San Jose 1.28

Enough of that.

Bakersfield Blaze
Currently: 5th in CAL North
Predicted: 5th in CAL North

Performing well: Mike Bianucci and David Paisano have led an okay offense. Engel Beltre is heating up a bit repeating the level.

Disappointing: The rotation isn't as good as I thought it would be. Three starters have an ERA over 5.

I predicted Bakersfield to be last, but they're not doing it the way I thought they would. I expected them to have pretty good pitching, but the rotation has performed pretty poorly. The Blaze could lose some of their better players to promotion, which isn't good news for a team struggling to draw crowds.

High Desert Mavericks
Currently: 1st in CAL South
Predicted: 3rd in CAL South, losing in the Division Semis

Playing well: Rich Poythress and Nate Tenbrink are killing the ball. Johermyn Chavez is working towards realizing his potential, and the pitching has been great.

Disappointing: It's hard to find an issue with this team so far, but I thought Andrew Carraway would be pitching better.

High Desert has been outperforming my expectations so far despite Maikel Cleto being on the DL. They're showing their trademark high powered offense and getting surprisingly good pitching. Bobby LaFromboise really wasn't on my radar coming into the season, but he's been one of the best starters in the league.

Inland Empire 66ers
Currently: 4th in CAL South
Predicted: 2nd in CAL South, losing in Division Finals

Playing well: Kyle Russell, Andres Perez and Tony Delmonico are killing the ball. Their pitching prospects have shown flashes at times.

Disappointing: The offense has been brutal despite the performances of the above players. The starters are inconsistent.

Inland Empire has probably been the most disappointing team for me so far. Coming into the season, I thought this roster had a lot of talent, and they haven't played up to their potential. The lineup isn't deep at all, and if guys aren't getting on base for Kyle Russell, he can't do any damage. Their rotation has a lot of potential now that Nate Eovaldi is healthy and making his regular turn in the rotation.

Lake Elsinore Storm
Currently: 2nd in CAL South
Predicted: 1st in CAL South, League Champions

Playing well: Drew Cumberland has been one of the league's best hitters, and his defense has improved from early in the season. Several other hitters are having great years as well.

Disappointing: The pitching will have to be better to win a championship.

Lake Elsinore is in good shape after roughly a month, and Jaff Decker hasn't even played a game yet. They're scoring enough runs without him, but he'll be a huge weapon when he's in the lineup. Brad Brach has been solid besides one slip up the other day, and the bullpen will need to be good since the rotation seems to be average.

Lancaster JetHawks
Currently: 5th in CAL South
Predicted: 4th in CAL South

Playing well: Albert Cartwright is hitting the ball very well, and Kyle Greenwalt is improving his prospect status.

Disappointing: The other young pitchers in the rotation haven't worked out so far. The lineup is extremely shallow, and Jay Austin isn't getting results with his tools.

Lancaster has been all around bad, but they've been coming around as of late after a horrible start. Lexington's run scoring problem has carried over, and Ross Seaton not meeting expectations in the early going has been a problem. The youth in the rotation has to learn.

Modesto Nuts
Currently: 2nd in CAL North
Predicted: 1st in CAL North, Losing in League Championship

Playing well: Ethan Hollingsworth is repeating the level and has been arguably the best starter in the league this season. The lineup is putting the bat on the ball and pounding opposing pitching staffs.

Disappointing: They should probably be scoring more runs than they are.

Modesto's pitching has been outstanding one month in. Their highest ERA among starters is 4.12, which some teams would probably take at the top of their rotation. Juan Nicasio got roughed up a bit in his last start, but he's been very good. Rob Scahill's ERA is sitting at 2. Kenny Durst is having a good year too. Jimmy Cesario and Jordan Pacheco aren't hitting a lot of home runs, but they've been among the league's most productive hitters.

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
Currently: 3rd in CAL South
Predicted: 5th in CAL South

Playing well: Alexi Amarista is a personal favorite prospect of mine, and his strong 2009 has carried over. Tyler Chatwood and Will Smith are proving themselves as prospects and leading a solid rotation

Disappointing: The real disappointment is how horrible my prediction for them was.

The Quakes have had one of the league's better offenses, led by Roberto Lopez. Every position player on the roster has a steal except one, and we can excuse him because he's the backup catcher. The rotation has lacked depth so far, especially after Manny Flores was promoted. The 5th starter has been a revolving door with varying degrees of success.

San Jose Giants
Currently: 3rd in CAL North
Predicted: 3rd in CAL North, Losing in Division Finals

Playing well: Brandon Belt has the league's longest hitting streak this season and improving his stock. Justin Fitzgerald became a starting pitcher and has had a great start to the season.

Disappointing: Ehire Adrianza still isn't producing at his talent level, and some of the starters are hurting their prospect stock.

Once again, the Giants are one of the league's better teams. The offense is last in the league in runs, but I expect that to improve over time. Craig Westcott, Eric Surkamp and Justin Fitzgerald have highlighted a six man rotation so far while guys like Aaron King and Ari Ronick battle ineffectiveness or injury. They don't have the top prospects last year's team had, but this group should be in contention all year.

Stockton Ports
Currently: 4th in CAL South
Predicted: 2nd in CAL South, Losing in Division Semis

Playing well: Stephen Parker is in the middle of a power surge, and Tyler Ladendorf has done well being shuffled between Stockton and Sacramento. Shawn Haviland has been great in the rotation.

Disappointing: Oakland was probably hoping first round pick Grant Green would be playing better.

I look back on this prediction and kind of wonder what I was thinking. I said the pitching would be good, and it really hasn't been. I said the offense wouldn't be very good, and it's been better than expected. The one thing I did expect that is actually happening is that the lineup would take a lock of walks, and they lead the league in that by a pretty wide margin.

Visalia Rawhide
Currently: 1st in CAL North
Predicted: 4th in CAL North

Playing well: Marc Krauss is one of Arizona's top prospects and is hitting like it. The lineup has been better than in previous years, and the pitching is still solid.

Disappointing: I thought the offense would score some more runs than they are, but they've been good overall.

Visalia is the last team, but it's one more opportunity to look at a prediction that looks pretty inaccurate so far. After a couple years of being at the bottom of the barrel in the league, the Rawhide batters are turning in a respectable 2010. Ryan Cook is having the success I thought he might, although his 1.02 WHIP might not be sustainable.