by Corella » Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:30 pm
Facts are that the only pitcher who could even be considered dominant returning this year in the East is Alex Kreis from Central, and given Central's offense graduated last year, his ERA and K's will remain solid, but his W-L record may not look too good.
That said, the fact that there are no dominant pitchers returing, the preseason poll in the East is largely based on the returning position players for each team. RR returns Meland, who took either 1st or 2nd in the EDC with an average of around .470 and was All-EDC, and Andy Sadler, who is a 2 time All-EDC player and undoubtably one of the best talents in the state along with the fastest. Also returing to the starting lineup are Compton at 2B, Meland at SS, Charlie Miller at 3B, Sadler behind the plate, and Jones and Galbreath in the OF. Garrett Sondrol and Peter Brekke also played a fair amount last year as SO, and Jordan Bancroft will play a major role on the mound and at SS/3B as a SO this year as will Michael Kraft who had a very good summer pitching for the GF Class B team and also pitched a fair amount for the GF Royals. He also catches and will allow Sadler to play the outfield more this year as he did in the summer.
All in all, it really doesn't matter who has what for returners on the mound this year because there isn't a team in the East that has a dominant starter back other then Central. It will all come down to which team makes the adjustment to woods and which team plays the best defensively, because the pitching end of things is going to be way, way, way down. So as far as returning position players, South and RR are unmatched in the East and can justify their ranking. The preseason poll is based on who has what coming back, and top to bottom the East poll is exactly how I'd expect it to look.
Last edited by Corella on Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.