Contemplating the Crawdads

(pictured, Wilmer Font)

The Hickory Crawdads pitching staff currently leads the South Atlantic League in ERA (.206). It seems that every night a Crawdads pitcher takes the mound, Ranger fans begin drooling simultaneously. Almost every minor league recap I get my fingers on contains glowing reports of the previous night's SP in Hickory.

I'm as excited as anyone and the attention this staff is receiving is well deserved, but as a Rangers fan I have learned to temper my enthusiasm over the years. Let's consider the context in which these achievements have occurred.

Consider the opposition. Up to this point, Hickory pitchers have been beating up the worst hitting teams in the league with the exception of 4 games against Asheville (team BA .285, 2nd in the SAL). These poor hitting teams include:

Bowling Green (team BA .233, 12th of 16)
Greenville (team BA .245, 9th of 16)
Lexington (team BA .212, 16th of 16)
Kannapolis (team BA .218, 15th of 16)

So, the Crawdads pitching staff has been working against the worst hitters a poor hitting league has to offer.

Going forward, the Hickory pitching staff will not face a top 5 hitting team until mid July.

Enough being a downer...enjoy the early Rangers game.