50 Games In: Somerset in First, Primed to Clinch First Half Liberty Division Title
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50 Games In: Somerset in First, Primed to Clinch First Half Liberty Division Title Pat Boyle 2:00 PM ET Broadcast/Media Relations Asst BRIDGEWATER, N.J. – 50 games into the 2018 Atlantic League season, and the Somerset Patriots are in contention for another First Half Liberty Division Title. With just 13 games remaining in the first half, the Patriots hold a slim two-and-a-half game lead over the Long Island Ducks. It’s been this way the entire first two months of the season, and Somerset does not seem to mind. Rather, it’s a place of familiarity for them. The Patriots have held a division lead in the first half for 52 consecutive days to start the season, but their lead over Long Island atop the standings has not been larger than four-and-a- half games at any time this season. It can be said that one of the many reasons for this team’s success is their ability to compete in pressure-packed situations and with playoff implications on the line. Sixth year manager and 2015 Atlantic League Manager of the Year Brett Jodie certainly seems to agree. “We’re in every game, even if we’re behind late. We feel like we have a chance to win. Everybody on this team has a winning mentality, and none of these guys ever give up,” said Jodie. Over the span of 50 games (let alone an entire season), it can be difficult to pinpoint where a team has enjoyed competitive advantages over their opposition. So, to get a better understanding of exactly what kind of team the Somerset Patriots are—a team that may very well be playing for a seventh Atlantic League Title at the end of September—it’s best to hone in on their strengths, as well as their one main weakness. Ability to Compete If you take a look at any of the box scores from this year, you will find a plethora of tight ballgames. The Patriots are not a juggernaut team that will blow out their opposition. They find peace of mind in the types of games that cause most people’s heart rate and anxiety levels to go through the roof. In 50 games thus far for Somerset, 19 have been decided by one run. They have only lost five of them. When more than one-third of a team’s games feel like the playoffs, you have to find a way to compete. This Patriots team has had no problem doing that. Duane Below and the pitching staff in particular know how to compete. Ask any front office in professional baseball how to win a championship, and an overwhelming majority of them will say “great pitching.” Luckily for Somerset, that is another one of their assets. But, they are not composed of a bunch of flame-throwing strikeout artists. Pitching coach Jon Hunton and his staff take pride in pounding the strike zone and attacking hitters, and they have been one of the best in the league at doing exactly that. “We have a good staff, and we all want to go out and help each other and perform and try to help the team win as much as possible because that is the most important thing,” Below said. “It’s our job to compete. We have a good lineup, so even if we fall behind, we’re still going to compete because we know that our offense is going to give us a chance to win.” Excellent Pitching with Superior Command Somerset starting pitchers are 8-2 with a collective 2.30 ERA over their last 18 games. None of them have gone less than five innings and given up more than three earned runs. Patriots starting pitching has logged 109.2 IP over this stretch, with 112 strikeouts compared to only 29 walks. These kinds of performances have become the norm for this pitching staff, so much to the point where guys like Vince Molesky can’t even find a spot in the rotation. Molesky had proved his worth as a long reliever in the beginning of the season, who was yearning for a shot at the starting rotation. When he earned his shot in the beginning of June, he did not disappoint. Six shutout innings with nine strikeouts and yielding just one hit brought Molesky’s ERA to a then league-best 1.30. However, Molesky went right back to the bullpen to make way for the rest of this Patriots starting pitching staff, which has been healthy since. Four of the six starters have an ERA of 3.50 or lower. Therefore, not only is the starting rotation talented, but they are extremely deep. The band of renegades that make up the Somerset bullpen are just as dangerous, and they have proven it for the majority of this first half. On June 8, this bullpen had an ERA of just 3.03, which ranked at the top of the Atlantic League. Some recent rough outings from Patriots relievers have slightly distorted that stat, but manager Brett Jodie has kept his faith in his bullpen, and they rarely relinquish any lead they are trusted with. When leading after six innings, the Patriots are 21-3. When leading after seven innings, 18-2. When leading after eight innings, 20-0. If you factor in the multitude of close ballgames that this team has played in, these numbers are even more impressive. This bullpen is composed of former major league arms and gutsy bulldogs who have nearly made it to baseball’s highest level, and they all have performed well in their respective roles. Guys like Mike Antonini (1.68 ERA), Logan Kensing (2.66 ERA) and Ryan Kelly (nine saves in 10 chances) make up the feared back end of this bullpen. What is most impressive about this entire pitching staff is their laser-like focus on throwing strikes and limiting walks, something that Hunton has preached since day one. “These guys all realize the importance of throwing strikes. That has been a talking point since the first day of spring training,” Hunton said. “When you get ahead of hitters, it makes it easier for all of them to work in their secondary stuff and be that much more dangerous.” Hunton, who is also the team’s Director of Baseball Operations, runs a tight ship, and everybody has been on board from the onset. The Patriots lead the league in allowing the least amount of walks, yielding only 133 free passes through the first 50 games. This includes starting pitchers Duane Below and Cory Riordan, who both rank in the top five in the Atlantic League in BB/9 IP (they both allow less than one-and-a-half walks per every nine innings). David Kubiak, who has been the most impressive starting pitcher since joining the team in late May (3-0, 1.50 ERA), has only yielded six walks in 30 innings. Overall, this is a pitching staff that ranks third in the league with a 3.62 ERA, and has been one of the main reasons for the Patriots success. On the offensive side, they mirror a formula that isn’t particularly sexy, but is consistent and has led to Somerset scoring the fourth most runs in the league. Small Ball and Manufacturing Runs The Patriots’ offense is not going to wow anybody. It simply isn’t. However, 29 wins and a first place spot in the Liberty Division doesn’t appear out of the air. And one certainly cannot credit the pitching staff for all of the success. There’s a lot of pride in the locker room in how this offense has been able to generate run-scoring opportunities, and then cash in on those chances. Somerset ranks second in the league in hitting (.267), OBP (.345), third in walks (177), and have struck out the second least amount of times in the league (342). There’s four guys hitting .300 or better (all top 20 in the league), and there are seven hitters with 15 RBI or more (only Sugar Land has more hitters with at least 15 RBI). Those numbers do this offense a decent amount of justice. However, there is a ton of offense, and a ton of hustle, that stats cannot measure. So much of the production and manufacturing that Somerset hitters contribute to will go unnoticed by the casual fan. All of the ground balls to move a runner over with no outs in an inning. All of the times a baserunner has turned a single into a double by busting it out of the box, or the times a runner has taken the next base on a ball in the dirt because of hustle. All of the sacrifice flies (Somerset is fourth in the league with 18) and sacrifice bunts (leads the league with 22, and leads the league in total sacrifice hits with 40) also attest to the success this offense has enjoyed. There’s something to be admired about the grittiness and persistency of this team, too. There have been seemingly countless times where the Patriots have had two outs in an inning and nobody on, and end up scoring runs in the inning. They have scoffed at one-two-three innings with two-out hard fought walks, infield singles, gritty at-bats, all of which have led to crooked- numbered innings being sprinkled in throughout a game. Again, when you consider the fact that Somerset has played 19 one-run games, this is another huge factor that ultimately differentiates between a win and loss.