Midseason Moonlight Graham Awards

Way back in 2009, we established the Watching Durham Bulls Baseball Moonlight Graham Award to recognize the hitter and pitcher who spent the least amount of time in a Durham Bulls uniform that year. We had fun with it. We let the idea lapse a few years ago, but with this two-part season upon us, we thought we'd bring it back as a "mid-season" award. So here we go ...

The 2023 Midseason Watching Durham Bulls Baseball Midseason Moonlight Graham Award recognizes the hitter and pitcher who has spent the least amount of time in a Durham Bulls uniform during the first 75 games of the season. The award is named in honor of North Carolinian Archibald “Moonlight” Graham who famously played only two innings for the New York Giants in 1905, never coming to bat.

We have just a few criteria for selection. Not considered are players who come through on a rehab assignment, or (for the pitcher award) a position player thrown to the wolves at the end of a game (regrets to catcher Nick Dini who had an inning back on June 8th that did not go well: box).

Hitter

The Midseason winner in the hitter/position player category is:

Gionti Turner

Right-handed infielder Gionti Turner is from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Twenty-two year-old Turner came to the Bulls from Single-A Bowling Green to play in one game in Charlotte on May 9. Box. He had a decent day, notably participating in 3 double plays. At the plate, he had a single and drew a walk. He then went over to Double-A Montgomery, where he's having a decent year. Reasonably good chance we could see the Arkansawyer again before the year is out.

Pitcher

The midseason winner among the pitchers is:

Alfredo Zárraga

Right-handed reliever Alfredo Zárraga came up from Bowling Green to appear in 2 innings on June 3. He then went back to Bowling Green. The twenty-two year-old Venezuelan didn't have a particularly good day: 2 innings, 3 hits, 1 SO, 1 BB, 1 HR, 2 earned runs. Box. Nevertheless, he's doing ok in Single-A. He could be back as well.

Congrats to Gioti and Alfredo. Hope to see you back in a Bulls uniform!

About Moonlight Graham

Archibald “Moonlight” Graham achieved lasting fame as a character in the W.P. Kinsella novel, Shoeless Joe, and then became even more famous when he was played by Burt Lancaster (and Frank Whaley) in the Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams. As a ballplayer, Graham played two innings in the major leagues as a right fielder for the New York Giants in 1905. He never came to bat. You can look it up. He went on to a career as a well-loved physician in Chisholm, Minnesota.

Of interest to us is that he was a North Carolina native (born in Fayetteville, and grew up in Charlotte); graduated from UNC (where he played baseball); and was the older brother to UNC President and US Senator Frank Porter Graham. If you find him to be an intriguing character, the Wikipedia article is a good start. There’s a nice NBC piece done on him a few years ago. And then there’s a terrific book by Fayetteville writer (and Bulls fan) Brett Friedlander and Robert Reisling, Chasing Moonlight. 

Canadian author W.P. Kinsella died in 2016 and is remembered on his website and elsewhere.

The Bulls at Mid-Season

The Durham Bulls played their 75th game yesterday. That marks the end of the first half of the 2023 season for the 20-team International League. 

How Did the Bulls Do?

Just OK. They ended up in 6th place in the league, 8½ games behind the Norfolk Tides, who won the first half of the season. Standings. Most of the season we saw a cluster of 7 or 8 teams near the top of the standings (all well below Norfolk), led by Iowa and St. Paul, who finished #2 and #3. 

Now there will apparently be a Great Reset of the won-loss numbers. We will have a new race to see who will win the second half of the season. Playoffs.

The Bulls peaked in early June when they hit 10 games above .500, but went south after that. Against Memphis, Charlotte, and Syracuse the Bulls won 7 and lost 11. So the reset will be welcome.

Beyond simple won-lost, how do the Bulls look?

	75 games	Rank (of 20)
OPS	.806	9
BA	.256	14
OBP	.350	14
Strikeouts	781	1
Fld %	.976	17
Stolen Bases	56	17
Caught Stealing	34	1
ERA	4.84	7
WHIP	1.44	3

At bat, not so good. Most notably, the Bulls strike out a lot—781 times in their 2907 plate appearances. That means roughly a quarter of the time a Bull comes to the plate, he strikes out. Yesterday was a good example, even though they won. Over 9 innings Bulls batters struck out 14 times. Every Bull in the game struck out at least once. In the 7th and 8th innings every Bull who came to bat struck out. Box.

Plus they have trouble running bases. They've stolen only a few in comparison to the rest of the league and were caught a lot.

Lastly, on the position player side, the Bulls are not fielding the ball all that well. Their .976 fielding percentage is 17th in the league. They've allowed 49 unearned runs, 12% of the runs scored against the Bulls.

Pitching is so-so. On the positive side, WHIP does stand out. It reflects the Rays' obsession with not allowing walks.

Speaking of the Rays, how are they treating the Bulls? Not bad. It's been worse. Mostly pitchers to and fro from St Petersburg to Durham and from Durham to Montgomery. 

Needs for the second half

• Better plate discipline (improve OBP and BA, fewer Ks)
• Slightly better pitching.
• Get better at stealing bases.

How about the Automatic Ball & Strike System? 

I think I like it, especially when the challenge system is used. I noticed that some umpires are better at signaling what's going on to the crowd. Even then I couldn't always tell what was up unless I was listening to the radio. What about in the Major Leagues? Maybe.

But I can't pass up the opportunity to plead, again, for a four-umpire crew. 

Split in Memphis; Charlotte in Town

6/12: Week 11		Change
OPS	.793	+.015
ERA	4.54	+.16
WHIP	1.42	+.03
uERA	.603	-.025
Run Diff	16	-1

The Bulls went off to Memphis and lost the first three games. But they won the last three games. Statistically, the week was about a wash.

Compared to every other team in the International League — with one notable exception — the Bulls are doing just fine. Standings. They are in a tie for 3rd place with the Louisville Bats, and just a ½ game back from the 2nd place team, the St Paul Saints. But they are 7½ games back from the Norfolk Tides. The first half of the season (75 games, or so) is almost over. The prospects of getting into the playoffs in this really dumb championship process are not good.

Roster turmoil continued. Of most interest to me is that they have a new catcher, Blake Hunt. He got called up from Montgomery when Rene Pinto went on the injured list. He is off to a good start with a home run and two singles in two games. As usual, lots of pitchers going back and forth as the Tampa Bay Rays continue their extraordinary run. Transactions.

Matchup

The Charlotte Knights are in town. They are not having a very good year, especially their pitching. We'll see if the Bulls can take advantage of that.

Matchup: Bulls vs Knights, June 13, 2023
As of June 12, 2023	W-L	Rk	RDiff	OPS	ERA	WHIP	uERA
Durham Bulls (Rays)	36-27	2	16	.793	4.54	1.42	0.60
Charlotte Knights (White Sox)	29-34	15	-91	.754	5.91	1.65	0.55
RDiff-Run differential;  Rk - Rank in International League; WHIP - Walks/Hits per Inning; uERA-unearned runs per 9 innings

Week 10: Great Home Stand

 

The Durham Bulls had a stellar home stand last week. They won 6 out of 7 games against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and moved up into a tie for second place. Standings.

Sad to say, that success does not actually mean all that much given the bizarre approach to "championship" chosen for the International League by Major League Baseball. The Bulls only have 18 (or so, not really sure) games left in the first half of the season and they are 7 games behind the Norfolk Tides. The Tides are not waiting for any of the teams chasing them. The Bulls may be 8-2 in their last 10 games, as are the St Paul Saints, but the Norfolk Tides are 7-3 and still looking very, very good. After the first half, it's a reset. The 20 teams start over for the second half. How weird is that? And why are they doing it?

Still, let's celebrate the pitching we saw last week and the ticking upwards of the Bulls' stats in all major categories. If the Bulls are far from the top in hitting (13th in OPS), their pitching is doing just fine.

6/5: Week 10		Change
OPS	.778	+.007
ERA	4.38	-.38
WHIP	1.39	.06
uERA	.628	-0.15
Run Diff	17	+21

The Bulls are in Memphis, Tennessee this week. The matchup is quite close. The Redbirds have not had quite the roster turmoil of the Bulls, which may give them an edge. 

Matchup: Bulls vs Redbirds, June 6, 2023
As of June 6, 2023	W-L	Rk	RDiff	OPS	ERA	WHIP	uERA
Durham Bulls (Rays)	33-24	2	17	.781	4.38	1.39	0.63
Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals)	31-26	5	43	.783	4.44	1.51	0.64
RDiff-Run differential;  Rk - Rank in International League; WHIP - Walks/Hits per Inning; uERA-unearned runs per 9 innings