See also: Amended playoff roster.Nomenclature: Our nation is
Quintessence of Dust. Acceptable short-hands are
QoD or
Quod. People from our country are generally referred to as
Quodites. The formal adjective
Quintessential is rarely used. The informal term
Dusty is considered a derogatory slur. Our national baseball team is known as the
Things, as chosen in a fan poll. “Sabermetrics” are known as “
SYBRmetrics” in Quintessence of Dust, in reference to the Yaforite statisticians who first influenced Quintessence of Dust’s fledgling interest in the game. The national league is known as
Minimal League Baseball, in reference to the very short season necessitated by the short summer, and the low standard of play. Most of the better Quodite players have gone on to play in foreign leagues, most notably through the
posting system to play in the Free Austin Baseball League, and later the
Hannasean Baseball League. [OOC: Both of these latter nations are my puppets.]
Chronology: Quintessence of Dust currently exists, relative to RL, in a mid-22nd century paradigm, and would be considered “PMT” or “low FT”. It is
about one hundred twenty four years since the Things last competed in a World Baseball Classic (WBC 19). In our reality, about four years pass between every WBC. Things get a little complex when trying to relate this to WCC, Olympic, or other timelines. The Things were competitors in the WBC’s awkward teen years, debuting in WBC 11 and participating in seven of the next competitions (WBC 18, hosted by current hosts Cassadaigua, the exception). They co-hosted WBC 16, which would have been an embarrassing mess had it not been for WBC 17 being a much more embarrassing mess; reached the third-place playoff on one occasion (losing); and were at one time ranked 5th in the world. Baseball did not have a natural history in the country and the development of its popularity was heavily influenced by immigrant populations, especially Quintessential-Japanese, -Chinese and -Korean, and by foreign countries such as Vephrall, Yafor 2 and Zwangzug. Apparently you could only get our attention by coming
really late in the encyclopedia.
Geography: Quintessence of Dust is the southernmost nation in the continent of Polarverta of the Green and Pleasant Region of Wysteria, and lies on the Antarctic Circle. (Note that the “Antarctic” here refers to another region, Antarctic Oasis – the
real “AO” – with which Quintessence of Dust has historically enjoyed some minor diplomatic ties.) Quintessence of Dust formerly owned two terrestrial colonies, which have now been awarded independence, but it does maintain three space colonies: Moon Base Q, UNIBROW Station Alpha (Mars), and Deep Space 9¾ (Titan orbit). (These exist in the
Wysterian Solar System, and the claims are made independently of the regions of Moon/Mars or of any other claimed territory.) Mainland Quintessence of Dust has historically been divided into five regions: Northern (mountainous, home of the Quintessential Alps); Western (the country’s cultural centre and home of the Liberal tradition); Eastern (the industrial centre, a working class area dominated by the Social Democratic Party); Central (featuring the capital, Highmark); and Southern (little inhabited, heavily industrial, and frigidly cold – this has now been massively redesigned into a spaceport and communications array for liaison with the space colonies).
Home stadiums:MD 2, 15, 16, 28, 29: Frosty Dome, New Cleethorpes
Hitters’ park with a small outfield and very short left field. Favours right-handed batters.MD 5, 6, 18, 19, 22: Raptor Park, Nowy Orpington
Large pitchers’ park. When Quodite batters hit a home run, a giant mechanical orange will rise from the stands.MD 8, 9, 12: Dodger (Not That One) Stadium, Highmark
Average park, favours left-handed batters.MD 25, 26: Alpha Park, Moon Base Q
Low gravity hitters’ park. Please assemble promptly in Eastling for free orbital shuttle connecting flight.Cheerleaders: The official cheerleaders of the Things are “the Riot Squad”, so named for their raucous and lewd behaviour. They consist of two men, two women, and one gender-non-conforming individual, all dressed in shapeless grey outfits collar-to-toe. Their sole dance move consists of standing squarely in place in an exact line, unsmiling. In the event of a particularly brilliant play one member may hold up a sheet of A4 paper printed with a smilie :) in Arial, 10 pt., but this sort of extravagance is usually reserved for something truly special like back-to-back grand slams or unassisted triple plays to cap perfect games.
Fans: Baseball is the tenth most popular sport in Quintessence of Dust behind rugby union, ice hockey, alpine skiing, soccerball, field hockey, netball, swimming, judo, bandy, and synchronized Mornington Crescent (Jubilee Line rules). It enjoys a small but loyal following. Quodite fans are broadly divided into those who enjoy the theatre of the game but aren’t that knowledgeable about the particular rules (they’ll cheer foul balls as home runs and throw foul balls back into play) and those obsessed with SYBRmetric analysis to the point of visualising the game entirely as a set of numerical outcomes without much regard for the actual players involved. Fan loyalties are also fairly strong: even when cheering for the Things, Grey Sox fans won’t be seen rooting for players from the Republicans to do well, and vice versa.
All Quodite fans regardless of their level of baseball knowledge are non-violent and will never engage in violence or hooliganism. Please do not RP my fans ever engaging in such acts. Outside the ballpark, Quodites are generally a little snooty and aloof, especially towards religious people whom they treat with anything from, at best, disdain, to outright persecution. They are pathologically intolerant of monarchies and similar hierarchies, of societies practising systemic racism or ethnic segregation, and of slavery – Quintessence of Dust hosts the headquarters of Anti-Slavery International, and will attempt to liberate any slaves brought into the country.
Doping: Quintessence of Dust has virtually no drug laws (other than a couple of obscure county statutes
mandating drug use). When active in international sport, Quodite players frequently doped, with variable outcomes: widespread and systemic use of 10-minmaxin-93-lovisawinate was suspected of fuelling Quodite Olympic medal winners, while on the other hand rampant amphetamine abuse never managed to lead the ice hockey teams to much success on the rink. Many Quodite baseball players have indulged in drug use, most notably the country’s all-time greatest player, Momoko Koumura, whose use was strictly recreational (though still occasioning controversy, due mainly to its epic scale). While few Quodite players today engage in systematic doping, many will be seen using drugs in their social lives, such as smoking cannabis to relax between games, taking amphetamines and other uppers immediately prior to competition, or micro-dosing designer psychedelics. A newly popular stimulant “Q-Bomb” consists of waste effluence from jet packs on Moon Base Q, and produces a brief euphoric high followed by an intense period of self-reflection accompanied by visual stimuli; as it confers no advantage in being able to hit with power to the opposite field, it’s not banned as a PED. As such, don’t worry if you see people on Moon Base Q wearing breathing apparatus: the artificial air is perfectly breathable without apparatus, they’re just choosing to get high as balls.
Gender: Quodite baseball is unisex. The majority of players are male, although the majority of the Things’ greatest players have been female. Women have represented the Things in every position 1-9, although female catchers and overarm pitchers have been rarer, and no female catcher or overarm pitcher is currently active. Female pitchers are more likely to be sidearm or submarine pitchers using modified softball mechanics, or knuckleballers. Quodite society is nominally relatively gender-neutral and there is disdain for overtly sexist societies. In practice critics of Quodite gender norms still find plenty to complain about. There was a tradition that every WBC’s batgirl becomes a member of the team in the next Classic; this included some of Quintessence of Dust’s all-time greats, including Emily Sanderson, Natalia Kivistö, and Sakiko Wakabayashi, all three of whom are, slightly astonishingly, still alive. Ichiko Aikawa is unfortunately not: batgirl for WBC 19, she was robbed by the team’s non-participation in WBC 20 (and 120 subsequent years of neglect) and passed away a few years ago having never realized her dream, but her 81-year old granddaughter, Nikki, will be given the special honour of throwing out the first pitch at the Things’ first home game. And look out for young Isabella Gennarelli, batgirl at this Classic, to be a star of the future!
Ethnicity: Quintessence of Dust is sometimes referred to as “the melting point that did not melt”. The country had historically open borders (since closed) and an extremely variegated population that included an Anglo-French majority and substantial Fennoscandian immigrant groups. More recent arrivals include Icelandic, Irish, Japanese, Chinese (the country’s largest minority group), Korean, Balkan, Italian, Jewish, Latin American, and Polish immigrant groups. Despite this big mixture and a nominal commitment to absolute racial egalitarianism, ethnic mixing has remained the exception. It’s rare to find someone with forename and surnames from different cultures, and mixed-race relationships and families remain disturbingly uncommon. Essentially Quintessence of Dust isn’t so much one open, universal family, but a bunch of spiky little clans that don’t want much to do with one another. Quodite baseball has been dominated by Quintessential-Japanese players, but players of many ethnicities have represented the Things and are active in Minimal League Baseball. [OOC: Quintessence of Dust recognises the existence of RL ethnicities but not RL ethnic homelands. There are Quintessential-Japanese people, but the status of Japan itself is deeply unclear.] Quintessence of Dust’s population is almost entirely human and only one non-human, Toebacca the Wookiee, has played in Minimal League Baseball, but there is acknowledgement of non-human sapients including elves, bears, vulpines and robots, and respect for the rights of such.
Kits: The Things wear an all-grey kit including grey high socks. They will wear this for road and home alike. The exception is caps: each player is permitted to wear their own team’s cap. Usually this will be the cap of the team they currently play for, but some Things choose to wear their original MLB club cap rather than their current HBL cap while on international duty.
Coach: Bennett Arrighi has been influenced by LAZY League tactics and analysis (though he takes full responsibility for his own idiosyncratic interpretation thereof). As such, Quodite batters will look to take a lot of pitches and foul off anything they don’t like. Quodite batters rarely swing at the first pitch they see. TTO tendencies are very much in vogue. Sacrifice bunts are disdained. Lineup isn’t considered that important, but it will generally be: best on-base player first, best all-round hitter 2nd, and thereafter alternating based on handedness, with the pitcher batting 8th. Alternating handedness is considered more important than strictly ranking on quality. On the basepaths, Quodite batters display aggressive base running and conservative base stealing. Good defence is strongly prized. Minimal League Baseball games use robo-umps incorporating holographic strike zones. As such, the art of pitch framing has gone basically extinct among Quodite catchers.
For home games electronic strike zones will be used, so please do not RP incorrectly called strikes (contact me if you consider this permission unfair); in road games you are free to RP my catchers being exceptionally poor at pitch framing. Pitchers are pulled aggressively. Relief pitchers are used according to leverage, not save situations or kept back for the ninth inning. (Which Quodites, inexplicably given the country’s lack of cricket history, will frequently and often mis-spell as “innings”.) Splits, especially left/left, are favoured. Minimal League Baseball does not use a designated hitter and the dislike of sacrifice bunting means most Quodite pitchers are above average hitters for their position. The defence will generally shift for left-handed pull hitters and not shift for right-handed pull hitters. Whether any of this actually
works is largely besides the point. Also, paradoxically, these tendencies are more pronounced among players who’ve spent most of their career in Minimal League Baseball; those who’ve played in the Hannasean Baseball League may be open to weird, exotic strategies like hitting singles.
Pitchers: Pitchers can be expected to be kept on fairly tight pitch counts owing to concerns by HBL clubs about workload management, usually in the 70 – 90 range. Mayumi is the only pitcher who’ll be allowed a longer leash. Regardless of pitch count, relief pitchers will be used aggressively, especially to give splits. Given the unorthodox schedule, a strict 1 – 5 starting rotation would lead to the same SP starting against each opponent each time. Therefore the team will mix in use of openers to scramble the rotation.
Pitching stats: FIP / WHIP / K/9
#10 Jack Martin (R/R) Pearl City Purple Sox
Starting pitcher (MD1, MD7, MD13, MD19, MD25)
2.00 / 0.94 / 12.3
Four-seam fastball (97 – 99 mph), two-seam fastball, changeup, curveballA gob-smacking pitching prospect, the strongest pitcher Quintessence of Dust have produced since Luke Moran. Martin stands an unprepossessing 6’1” with a relatively lean build, but on the mound he just leans back and
throws. Varying arm positions and grips allow him to add variety, his power doesn’t come with a loss of control, and his off-speed stuff just falls straight off the plate. Not massive movement on his curve, but does he need it?
#32 Snorri Jökullsson (L/L) Angelwood Green Jaxx
Starting pitcher (MD2, MD8, MD14, MD20, MD26)
2.29 / 0.94 / 11.7
Four-seam fastball (97 – 99 mph), two-seam fastball (95 – 97 mph), forkball, circle change6’5” lefties who can throw a circle change near as unhittable as his high-powered fastballs don’t grow on trees, except New Cleethorpes where they literally do. Snorri was a highly recruited prospect and created a bidding war when posted to the HBL. The Green Jackets won out and have benefited from his services as he powered them to a Universal Series title following a Galactic Series MVP showing. Control issues have depressed his numbers (and makes that WHIP rate even scarier). He has thrown three career no-hitters already, and has never posted a season with under 10 K/9.
#11 Hachirou Fujimori (R/R) Coral Coast Silver Sox
Starting pitcher (MD3, MD9, MD15, MD21, MD27)
2.73 / 1.06 / 11.6
Sinking fastball (97 – 99 mph), cut fastball (93 – 95 mph), changeupHachirou rarely throws the cutter: he’s built a 5-time All Star, 2-time Pitcher of the Year, 1-time MVP career throwing mainly just two pitches as a starter, a hard sinker and a Vulcan change. But he’s not a contact groundball pitcher, and the imposing 6’3” fireballer has amassed over 10 K/9 every season. He’s the most experienced and prolific pitcher in the side. Decent, if slap-ish, hitter at the plate.
#71 Mayumi Kawakami (f) (L/L) Greenfield Shamans
Starting pitcher (MD4, MD10, MD16, MD22, MD28)
3.00 / 1.11 / 8.3
Knuckleball, sidearm fastball (<80 mph), sidearm changeupA diminutive leftie on the mound? Mayumi is never going to be another Masami Tamagotchi, but her own version of herself has been very successful. Primarily a knuckleballer using a low release point – when you’re 5’1” is there any other option? – and throwing in some sidearm stuff to keep batters honest. A good enough hitter that she’s been used as a pinch-hitter and even emergency outfield substitute on occasion.
#8 Kaito Nakajima (L/L) New Cleethorpes Republicans
Starting pitcher (MD5, MD11, MD17, MD23, MD29)
2.89 / 1.07 / 7.2
Fastball (89 – 91 mph), changeup, slider, curveballIf Kaito’s raw stuff isn’t unfathomably overpowering, his pin-point control and wicked break on his 12-6 curve has been enough to have batters swinging through all the same. One of the more experienced Minimal League pitchers not to have made the jump to the HBL, where he’s stayed at home and led the ever-dominant Republicans to multiple titles.
#37 Jiro Fujioka (R/R) Oak Park Iguanas
Opener (MD6, MD18, MD30) and short reliever
3.92 / 1.47 / 7.8
Fastball (93 – 95 mph), curveball, changeupJiro has been used in a variety of roles for the Iguanas: starter, long relief, set-up man, closer. He seems to have found his niche as an opener, throwing three hard innings to open a game before a long relief or spot starter is introduced. His very fluid pick-off move is well regarded in the HBL, but it remains to be seen whether international umpires consider it a little balk-ish. Decent bat and good fielder off the mound.
#76 Alexis Lacroix (f) (L/L) New Cleethorpes Grey Sox
Opener (MD12, MD24) and short reliever
2.60 / 1.06 / 7.9
Submarine fastball (80 – 83 mph), sidearm fastball, changeupUsing a variety of delivery mechanics, primarily a quick submarine wind-up that frequently sees her graze her knuckles in the dust, Alex’s idiosyncratic pitching style has been highly successful in MLB for the Grey Sox. HBL scouts are dubious so for now she’s staying at home. Primarily used as a short reliever or opener, the latter especially against lefty-heavy lineups. Given her small frame, durability doubts linger.
#67 Ryouichi Kubo (R/R) Butterfly City Super Hamsters
Long reliever
3.13 / 1.11 / 9.5
Four-seam fastball (98 mph), cut fastball (94 mph), changeup, slider, curveballAnother deceptively lightly built presence on the mound, Ryouichi relies on three pitches: a blazing four-seam fastball, a cut fastball that saws into lefties, and a very nasty slider. The control hasn’t been quite there.
#29 Justin Isaacson (L/L) West Chestnut Dragons
Long reliever
3.52 / 1.13 / 10.7
Fastball (93 – 95 mph), slider, changeupJustin has three quality pitches. His career groundball percentage is just 41%, reflecting a tendency for his fastball to drift high in the zone, but his slider and changeup you’ll have to pick off your laces. Missed most of last season with a shoulder injury and will be kept on tight pitch counts throughout the tournament.
#79 Jules Béranger (R/R) Oakwood Whites
Long and short reliever
3.32 / 1.22 / 6.3
Four-seam fastball (96 – 98 mph), two-seam fastball (94 – 96 mph), changeupHard-throwing control pitcher who started his career as a reliever before being converted to starter. Here, he can be expected to mainly feature in relief. His strikeout numbers aren’t the equal of the others but Jules has posted consistently excellent walk rates – 1.7/9 this season – and a sub .300 BABIP every season despite mediocre groundball percentages. One of the few openly gay players in the HBL.
#42 Jonathan Reenberg (L/L) Upper Niedewe Gael
Short reliever, LOOGY
0.86 / 0.45 / 12.1
Cut fastball (95 – 97 mph), sliderDon’t get too excited, Jonathan has only recently made the jump to the HBL so those numbers probably won’t hold up. A tall man with a jerky throwing motion that worried scouts, so far he’s shrugged off any attempts at mechanical tinkering and just ripped through batting lineups with his vicious cutter and biting slider.
#19 Masahiko Nakamura (R/R) Pintook Saracens
Short reliever
2.54 / 1.64 / 12.9
Fastball (94 – 96 mph), curveballMasahiko is a good pitcher without the glamorous back story of some of his gender-non-specific-bovine-pen-mates. He declared early for the HBL and spent longer than usual in the minors. Control issues and a propensity to leave his changeup up in the zone (he abandoned the pitch and now throws just two, a four-seam fastball and a slurve-ish curveball) held him back, as well as doubts about a slender physique.
#80 Huan Yeung (R/R) New Blopping Corsairs
Short reliever (highest leverage)
Cut fastball (96 – 98 mph), curveball3.22 / 1.17 / 9.7
Huan has been one of the most consistent high-leverage relievers in the HBL for more than a decade. Concentrating on mainly throwing one pitch, a cutter that causes switch-hitters to generally bat right against him, with excellent disguise on a curve he seldom seems to need. He’s led the league in saves only twice because he often enters well before the 9th to put out fires. Despite being a reliever he’s not an incompetent hitter and hit a famous walk-off double as a pinch-hitter during last season’s play-offs.
#91 Zhong Tang (L/L) New Cleethorpes Dodgers
Short reliever (highest leverage)
3.07 / 1.15 / 11.2
Fastball (94 – 96 mph), curveball, changeupSince entering the MLB, Zhong has been one of the pre-eminent relief pitchers. MLB manager prioritize leverage so his save numbers haven’t been super gaudy, but the numbers that actually tell the story that matters: career ERA+ of 154 and a season high K/9 of 14.3 against 0.3 HR/9. Naturally he’s been particularly effective against lefties, and has never surrendered more than one home run
in a season to left handed batters faced.
Position players: The offensive is weaker than the pitcher and might particularly struggle for power against good lefties. Lineups may change but in general one of the better OBA players will leadoff (usually Kayley or Katenka), Naoko will bat second, and whoever is in RF fourth. There are platoons at 1B, LF, and RF. No player is designated designated hitter, if that makes sense, so the position will be used to experiment with different batters in the lineup. Defensive substitutions will be rare as most starters are fairly capable with the glove. Jun will start but Luke catch for Mayumi and in a few other games to give Jun some rest. Off the bench, Mayumi and Hachirou are good enough to be used as pinch-hitters.
Batting stats: wOBA / ISO / LD% / Speed Score
#25 Jun Jiang (R/R) West Chestnut Dragons
.345 / .156 / 18.4% / 2.2
Jun is a well-balanced catcher despite originally being seen as a defence-first prospect. He’s worked hard on his walk-to-strikeout ratio, going from 53 walks and 101 strikeouts as a rookie to 98 walks and 39 strikeouts a decade later. He hits for a decent average, and although he’s not a big extra base threat his 20ish home runs a season are still good for his position. A big-bodied catcher who covers the plate well and has a fair arm to second. Like most Quodite catchers his pitch-framing skills are, let’s charitably say, underdeveloped, but he has a good rapport with most of the pitchers.
#27 Luke Phelps (R/R) Greenfield Shamans
.338 / .157 / 22.6% / 2.8
Luke has been brought along to catch the knuckleball, reflecting his excellent all-round defense. He’s less offensively polished than Jun, strikes out a lot and doesn’t walk much, but hits doubles at a good clip. On defence he’s a prize. Despite being a big man he can get down low to block balls in dirt. His pick-offs are sharp. And he has a cannon, throwing out a career 45% of base runners against. If a defensive catcher seems a luxury in a limited roster, the DRS metrics suggest he’s worth his place.
#65 Hideaki Matsuoka (L/L) Pintook Saracens
.365 / .188 / 22.0% / 2.0
One of the most experienced hitters lineup, Hideaki is a big unit whose power doesn’t quite match his frame – he’s had just one 30+ HR season – but has been a remarkably consistent player for over a decade. Even power to all fields and a good eye. In his younger days he was an award-winning defensive asset; he still has the ability to dig out the throws in the dirt and has good range to his left. His splits to lefties are horrible and he’ll be subbed for, or sit against lefty starters.
#47 Thorsten Kaufer (R/R) Old Blopping Warlocks
.340 / .200 / 21.7% / 3.1
Leading the league in launch angle is the kind of thing only a Quodite could get excited about. Especially as it hasn’t (yet) led to the kind of HR totals that seem within his (long) reach. Once he puts all the moving parts together, he’ll definitely rake. A real TTO guy. Not a defensive wizard so takes his chances at DH when he can, but young enough to still be a regular first baseman for his club.
#33 Kosuke Tamura (R/R) Greenfield Shamans
.326 / .152 / 18.1% / 7.9
Small, scrappy, slap-hitter … uh, yes he does play second base, however did you guess!? Kosuke has led the league in steals (admittedly with the kinds of totals that Newmanistani players collect in a single afternoon) a couple of times and, more importantly, in walks a couple of times. Has a little pop, not a lot. Sprays it to all parts, .003 difference in his left/right splits – basically a very consistent lead-off guy who offers plus defence at a premium position.
#53 Kristoffer Ljung (S/R) Greschmeier MSC
.335 / .164 / 21.1% / 4.3
Consistent switch-hitters offering good infield defence are rare Quodite products, so despite not achieving any particular statistical highs, Kristoffer has his value. Not a major extra base hitter; from the left he hits it out of the screws a lot, whereas from the right he slaps it more. Primarily a third baseman but started out at short and has racked up a season’s worth of games at every infield position.
#66 Jeff Hoggard (R/R) West Chestnut Dragons
.319 / .135 / 20.0% / 2.9
Mediocre hitter, but offers +10 UZR defence at either position on the left side of the infield (coincidentally the side to which he pulls everything as a hitter). Jeff has a rocket arm and a slick glove, backed up by a big, athletic frame. Which hasn’t ever translated to all that much in terms of power despite the huge strikeout totals he racks up each season. At least he draws plenty of walks.
#7 Naoko Hisakawa (f) (S/R) Coral Coast Silver Sox
.390 / .230 / 23.5% / 7.2
In her brief career to date, the team’s unquestioned offensive star has already amassed enough black ink to fill a goth girl’s diary with ten thousand pages of dark scrawls. A smooth hitter from both sides of the plate (though there is a drop-off in power to lefties, partly because of her home park’s dimensions), Naoko is a sharp fielding shortstop proving a consistent threat to walk, hit, hit with power, and steal. She strikes out plenty, but grounds into few double plays. The team’s ultimate hopes rest pretty squarely on her small shoulders.
#74 Arielle Lacroix (f) (L/R) New Blopping Mountaineers
.294 / .143 / 18.0% / 6.9
Arielle has never produced outstanding offence and routinely posts sub-100 OPS+, made up for a little on the basepaths. However, she’s an outstanding defender. Her ill fate is to excel at the one position where a defensive substitution might not be made, because she’s behind Naoko in the depth chart at shortstop and they can’t afford to take out their best bat for the sake of some silky glovework. She’s probably bottom of the pinch hitting roster otherwise so this might be a Classic frustratingly light on playing time for Arielle.
#18 Kayley Symonds (f) (L/L) New Cleethorpes Dodgers
.368 / .171 / 22.6% / 6.2
Kayley owns one of the sweetest strokes in the MLB, though she doesn’t connect with significant power as often as that beautiful swing might suggest. She’s hit over .300 every season but never drawn more than 50 walks. She has great speed on the basepaths but lacks the range in the field to cover centre field, consigning her to corner outfield. These frustrations shouldn’t take away from the undoubted fact she’s a very good player – everyone just wishes she could step it up to become a
great one, which she is, at present, not.
#62 Ben Wilson (R/R) Silver Creek Samurai
.351 / .200 / 22.9% / 5.4
Ben is a great prospect who still strikes out a ton at present, but is already good for power and speed. He has a powerful throwing arm and is pretty reliable under the flyball. He’s working on his patience. Taking the young ballplayer to the WBC is a bit of a gamble, exposing him to international class pitching, but there’s hopes of great things and no better stage for those hopes to be realized.
#26 Katenka Andreeva (f) (S/R) Kent Oranges
.360 / .174 / 23.9% / 7.3
Katenka’s good stolen percentages and poor base-on-balls percentages have prompted many bad jokes about being able to run before she could walk. She’s a speedy centre fielder without a particularly strong arm, and her bat’s pop owes as much to her legs turning singles into doubles as to any great power. Nonetheless she’s a solid hitter from left and right and plays plus defence at the wall.
#11 Johannes Steinnsson (L/L) Pearl City Purple Sox
.391 / .242 / 21.9% / 2.7
The 34 year old Johannes is more of a lumbering giant than he was in his younger, speedier days now, but he’s still a well rounded player. His chief weaknesses with the bat are extreme pull tendencies and terrible left splits; otherwise, he’s a smooth stroker of the ball, regular 100+ BB man who’s led the league in unadjusted OBP five times, and launcher of immense, accurate throws from deep right field. He’ll take some chances to play DH, less because his defence is tailing off – he’s still pretty good – and more to give his aging, aching knees a rest.
#9 Rokuro Tanaka (R/R) Oakwood Whites
.366 / .222 / 19.1% / 8.0
Rokuro made his name as a flier on the basepaths, and then remade his name last season by slamming a wholly unexpected 40 home runs from the leadoff position for the Whites. He does everything with gusto: charges into second, pulls to left field, strikes out often. A little old for the raw unrefined talent tag, instead he’s a player whose development has been inconsistent but whose latest lurches into maturity have definitely strengthened his all-round offensive game. An inconsistent and some would say unenthusiastic outfielder.
RP permissions:You may choose run-scorers and otherwise assign statistics for my players. You may RP baseball events. You may choose my lineup and RP substitutions, in line with my roster. You may assign injuries. You may RP ejections. You may RP any story elements you like. We will waive our right to determine DH preference at home and will use at home whatever the DH preference of the visiting team (unless the team has no stated preference or has a similar permission, in which case to avoid getting stuck in a causality loop we will not use DH). If you consider any of my RP lore wank you may ignore it.
You may
not:
- choose my starting pitchers: please follow the listed pitcher
- godmode unusual statistical events taking place (specifically, no no-hitters without asking)
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iπ + 1