Daily Notes: That Can-Am Coverage You Wanted
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. By Popular Demand: Notes on the Can-Am League
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
By Popular Demand: Notes on the Can-Am League
Here are those notes on the Can-Am League which you, the Public, demanded via a purposeful and spirited letter-writing campaign to various media outlets and civic leaders.
First of All, What Is the Can-Am League
The Can-Am League is an independent baseball league which appears to consist presently of five teams: the New Jersey Jackals, Newark Bears (formerly of the Atlantic League, also independent), the Québec Capitales, the Rockland Boulders, and Worcester Tornadoes.
Other Indpendent Leagues, Their Names
Here are the names of two other independent baseball leagues, with relevant Wikipedia hyperlinks: the Atlantic League (located predominantly along the Atlantic coast, from New York to Virginia — and also Texas, somehow) and the Frontier League (located largely in the Middle West).
Some Names You Might Recognize
Here are some names you might recognize of players and managers currently involved in the Can-Am League:
| Name | Team | Pos |
|---|---|---|
| Daryle Ward | Newark | IF |
| Ken Oberkfell | Newark | MGR |
| Tim Raines | Newark | AST MGR |
| Matt Chico | New Jersey | LHP |
| Angel Berroa | New Jersey | IF |
| Dexter Bobo | Quebec | LHP |
| Max St. Pierre | Quebec | RHP |
| Jose Canseco | Worcester | IF |
The Can-Am Leader in Runs Created
The current Can-Am leader in runs created is New Jersey’s Nick Giarraputo, 24, who was slashing .429/.464/.831 through 77 at-bats after play on June 10th.
Regarding Nick Giarraputo, Whether His Name Is in Our Database
It is. He was actually picked by the Mets in the 12th round of the 2006 draft (according to Baseball Reference) and played within said organization for four years.
The Can-Am Leader in Strikeout Rate
The current qualified Can-Am leader in strikeout rate appears to be Stephen Fox, also of New Jersey. His line on the season: 24.2 IP, 10.9 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9.
Regarding Stephen Fox, Whether His Name Is in Our Database
It also is. Fox, 26, was part of the Boston system in 2010. The site Sox Prospects noted last March that his (i.e. Fox’s) fastball sat at 91-92 mph.
A Note on Can-Am Scheduling
The Can-Am League schedule appears to span May through September. Of note: in addition to the games they play amongst themselves, Can-Am teams actually also play regular season games against the independent American Association, of which league, for example, the St. Paul Saints are members.
Today’s Notable Games
New York AL at Atlanta | 19:10 ET
If CC Sabathia (85.1 IP, 77 xFIP-, 1.9 WAR) continues pitching like himself for the remainder of the season, he’ll post his eighth consecutive season with an xFIP more than 10% better than league average. He’ll also record a WAR of 5.0 or greater for the seventh consecutive year.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Atlanta Radio.
Detroit at Chicago NL | 20:05 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
Despite an ERA (5.88) that would suggest otherwise, Tigers right-hander Max Scherzer, who pitches tonight, is very probably having his best season. His line right now: 64.1 IP, 27.4% K, 8.2% BB, 37.6% GB, 3.07 SIERA, 83 xFIP-, 0.7 WAR. And the batted-ball numbers that are inflating said ERA: .378 BABIP (.313 career), 18.1% HR/FB (11.7% career).
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.
Houston at San Francisco | 22:15 ET
Gregor Blanco Status Update: 177 PA, .283/.379/.447 (.354 BABIP), 131 wRC+, 2.0 WAR.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio.
Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 4.5.
Note: the following Game Scores include the poorly conceived playoff-odds adjustment discussed in a recent edition of Daily Notes. Also note: the following table is entirely sortable.
| Away | Â | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Â | Home | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brad Lincoln* | PIT | 5 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | BAL | Wei-Yin Chen | 19:05 |
| Chien-Ming Wang* | WAS | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | TOR | Henderso. Alvarez | 19:07 |
| Clay Buchholz | BOS | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | MIA | Mark Buehrle | 19:10 |
| Jeanmar Gomez | CLE | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | CIN | Johnny Cueto | 19:10 |
| CC Sabathia | NYA | 9 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | ATL | Mike Minor | 19:10 |
| Chris Young* | NYN | 4 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 4 | TB | Alex Cobb | 19:10 |
| Ian Kennedy | AZ | 6 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 5 | TEX | Colby Lewis | 20:05 |
| Max Scherzer | DET | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | CHN | Paul Maholm | 20:05 |
| Zack Greinke | MIL | 10 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 0 | KC | Luis Mendoza | 20:10 |
| Kyle Kendrick | PHI | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | MIN | Nick Blackburn | 20:10 |
| Jose Quintana* | CHA | 4 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 8 | STL | Adam Wainwright | 20:15 |
| Bartolo Colon | OAK | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 0 | COL | Jeremy Guthrie | 20:40 |
| Jerome Williams | LAA | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | LAN | Aaron Harang | 22:10 |
| Clayton Richard | SD | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | SEA | Felix Hernandez | 22:10 |
| Bud Norris | HOU | 8 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 7 | SF | Madiso. Bumgarner | 22:15 |
To learn more about Pitcher and Team NERD scores click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
Unless Max St. Pierre changed positions, he’s a catcher.
In fact, he did change positions.
Link: http://canam.bbstats.pointstreak.com/player.html?playerid=297577.
We need more updates (in terms of both quantity and quality) on Dexter Bobo in the future.
The key to Sabathia’s success? A box of Cap’n Crunch in the morning.
I’m actually going to a Worcester @ Rockland game this Saturday.
Odd timing for such an update
Have you been before? How’s the stadium/atmosphere there?
This will be my first trip to a Can-Am game. The Rockland stadium was constructed just last year (this is the team’s 2nd year in existance) so I imagine the stadium is nice, it is of my understanding that it was partially designed by some of the same people who designed Space Coast Stadium in FL. The Boulders do lead the league with an AVG attendance of 2,808, should be a fun atmosphere.
I’ll comment back here after I go to the game
I went to a Jackals home playoff game last year. It was nice to sit so close to the field and pretty much sit wherever you wanted. I was kinda shocked that suburban New Jersey didn’t fill the place up. But $20 for tickets and another $20-30 for food and drinks made it a fairly cheap and entertaining date. If you go on a day when they have a food or drink special promotion, I’m sure it’s an even better value for some decent baseball. I’m only hoping Canseco lasts long enough for his visit.
I’ve gone to several Atlantic League games in my day. Got tickets for this Sunday actually (York Revolution @ Somerset Patriots). Last year, Antonio Alfonseca threw me a ball after the game. I still get chills knowing all six of his fingers touched that ball.
Frontier League is pretty sweet… The Southern Illinois Miners are always doing great promotions like all you can eat and drink (unlimited soda/3 beers) for I think $25
don’t know how to edit my above post but the price of tickets is included in the above promotion…
Additional variable: viewers of the CHA/STL matchup get the pleasure of watching Adam Dunn flop around in left field.
I used to work for the New Jersey Jackals. They have a wonderful stadium and a great atmosphere for games. They have a dollar beer night every homestand, which is a great value. Also on site of the stadium is the Yogi Berra museum, which has really interesting baseball memorabilia.