2013 League Projections

2013 League Predictions by Mitch Pollock

It’s been a long winter, but finally the 2013 softball season is here. This is being published on the final night living in my Freehold home. As I write this, I think back to all the fond memories of making some horrendous picks from this computer (Predicting Younger would be the worst team in the league) to some of bold ones that paid off (Jordan Krant’s breakout year). Here’s hoping that this year’s edition will be dead on accurate. As always, I hope everyone enjoys reading the blog, and uses it to start some softball dialogue. For some reason it is hard to actually post on this site, so feel free to post comments on the Marlboro softball facebook page. Good luck to everyone, especially Team Pollock.

American League:

Team Lapine- Great power to start the draft when Dave Silverberg is playing, but the numerous missed games will obviously cost the team some wins. A couple of good value picks in the second half of the draft makes this offense formidable even when it gets towards the bottom. Infield defense may be a concern, but Herm will take care of many of those problems since he’s perhaps the best fielding pitcher in the league.

Overall Record- 12-10

Team Carlin- Last year I (and many others) felt Carlin had one of the best teams going into the season. Obviously, their 10-12 record and early bounce from the playoffs made last year a huge disappointment. This year’s squad is similar to 2012’s team in several ways. Does that mean they’re headed for a similar mediocre season? The team can hit, but I actually like their offense better last year. The bold move to draft a pitcher and move Ronnie to the OF might be what makes this team more successful than last year’s team, but it might make their offense worse. For now I’m only predicting a moderate change.

Overall Record- 11-11

Team Goldfarb- Despite Alex Goldfarb in the OF and Nick Martino at short, I think this team can have some defensive issues. I can’t believe Greenspan fell to the third round (well technically it could be the 2^nd round since Goldfarb had last 2^nd round pick and first third round pick). Greenspan was one of the best picks in the draft and is part of what should be a very powerful heart of the lineup. I just have my doubts that this will be enough to make them a top team.

Overall record 10-12

Team Younger- Last year’s formula of fielding the best defense possible was very successful until the finals. I don’t think the lack of offense should be blamed for falling just a bit short of the championship. I thought Younger would repeat that same “defense first” philosophy this year, but I think he went an even better route. Rather than drafting the best defensive SS just for the sake of defense, he got the best offensive player left. The key question will be is there enough offense in the second half of the lineup to make up for the downgrade in defense from last year? It’ll be nearly impossible to repeat what was a historically great regular season in 2012, but at least Younger should another very competitive team.  

Overall Record 13-9

Team Bykofsky- The Bykofskys are always part of a winning team, and I expect that trend to continue now that Justin is captain. This team can hit. They won’t hit a lot of homeruns, but with a team that includes the Bykofskys, Messinger, Krant, and Kastner as well as late draft value picks such as Mike Iorio and Joshi, the lineup should keep turning over. Like Lapine, Bykofsky surprised many by taking a pitcher in the 4^th even though they have a Cy Young award winning pitcher on the roster. This move will boost the infield defense by shifting Rob to third, but would they have been better off getting another good defensive outfielder instead In the end, I think Bykofsky will figure out how to make it work. I’m going against the grain here, but this is one of the best teams in the league.

Overall Record- 13-9

Team Wallman- I’m sure there aren’t a lot of situations that would make a good fielding shortstop draft another player at that position thus forcing himself to shift spots in the infield.  We’ve officially reached the point where the Brocks, probably rightfully so, are the automatic first picks in the draft. What follows is a solid draft featuring a nice blend of power and defense. And while I would’ve gone in a slightly different direction with some of the late picks, I think grabbing the indoor softball MVP Sal Sicurella was a savvy move.

Overall Record- 14-8

Team Marrone- I’m impressed. I’d like to think that my brother has set the standard for putting together the best hitting teams, but Team Marrone wins that award this year. This is a team that will cause problems even when it gets towards the 7-8-9 part of the lineup. Naturally, to build this kind of powerhouse means defense has to be sacrificed a little bit. But as a subscriber to the theory that it’s more important to have a balanced offensive team than it is to have the best defensive team, I think Marrone will be tough to beat.

Overall Record- 14-8

Team Beilis- I feel like this can be said every year, but once again I think Beilis will have trouble competing in a very difficult American League. There’s no question that Jason Taub and Mike Conti make for a scary 3-4 in a lineup, but I don’t see many threats elsewhere. And for a team that will most likely have some offensive deficiencies, I don’t see enough gold glovers to even out the balance. Oh well. Nobody knows it better than Beilis that it all comes down to the post season anyway.

Overall Record- 8-14

National League:

Team Pollock- Once again, we have a team that should be able to score runs in bunches. Besides having a strong top of the lineup highlighted by one of the best all-around players in Glen Roland, Matt bolstered the club with additions like the reigning batting champ Darren Freeman, OBP machine Jerry Silberman, and late round power source Jeff Turtz. Defense may be an issue, especially with Matt out a few weeks, but playing musical positions is something we know well. Besides, as a certain Pollock likes to point out, we DID go 15-7 with Ross as our SS in 2011. You would think that two seasons of massive success would earn Matt the benefit of the doubt, but apparently there are still a few skeptics remaining. Once Matt comes back from his broken finger and people get settled into their positions, this team will be as dangerous as Pollock’s teams from the last two years. We’re looking forward to having a successful season with our dad back behind the plate.

Editor’s Note: Glen Roland is now our SS. Ross is back in the OF.  

Overall Record: 12-10

Team Jacoby- Time for a fun fact. The last three Marlboro Softball Champions had two interesting things in common:

1.      They had at least two rookies on the team.

2.      They had no players from the previous year’s championship team.

Out of the three teams that fit these criteria, the one that has the best chance at continuing this trend is Jacoby (the other two teams are Mamone and Beilis). Clearly, Jacoby would not make the same mistake twice as he picked a solid strategy of taking as many guys from last year’s best team as possible (Kay, Frank, Lurie). Where last year’s Younger team lacked some pop, Jacoby made sure to address the need by getting two of the best- Schindelheim and Golden. This is one of the league’s best teams.

Overall Record: 13-9

Team Mamone- By drafting Jordan Priess in the first round, Mamone is certainly going to try to make many hitters change their swing to go opposite field. But as Bobby Harris so astutely pointed out, what happens during all the missed games? More worrisome is the lack of offense. As great as Priess is defensively, he does not carry the offensive load as much as most other first round picks. This wouldn’t be a problem if some of the later picks compensated for the lack of pop, but unless the two new rookies step up big time, I think this team will struggle to score runs to consistently compete.

Overall Record: 8-14

Team Applebaum- So this is where captains go when they no longer want to run softball teams. Too bad they didn’t draft Spiegel as well. This is a team that is going to have to score a ton of runs with the top of the lineup, which shouldn’t be a problem. Applebaum remains undervalued as a third rounder, and to get Lenny in the 4^th round is a great boost to the offense. I could be proven wrong (as I often am), but the bottom of this team is going to have troule scoring. And other than Peragine, this is going to be pretty much a station to station club on the bases. With a lot of fiery personalities on the team, I wonder what the atmosphere will be like if the team starts off slowly.

Overall Record: 9-13

Team Granese- After a tough 2012, Granese is hoping to have a full 13 for most games. Showing up is half the battle, as Matt learned last season. This is a very balanced team that should feature nice outfield defense to go along with a strong offense from top to bottom. If Polzer can bat close to .600 like his first two seasons, and Jay Rosenthal can continue to be a nice value pick as a 6^th rounder, then this will be a team that can go deep in the playoffs.

Overall Record: 13-9

Team Feldman- Sorry Glenn for taking Roland. I can vouch for Matt the fact that he was high on our radar for months.  Picking the best defensive shortstop in the league is not a bad consolation prize, but picking another shortstop in the second round is  a controversial move. I’m not sure how that will pay off as it will weaken your outfield defense. Attendance will be an issue (and the only reason Glenn was able to get Paladino in the second round), but I expect future ROY Lazzaro to be a monster pick and pick up some of the slack. Still, several players from the second half of the draft will have to step up in order for this to turn into a contender.

Overall Record: 9-13

Team Randell- Is history repeating itself? After last year’s rough regular season that features Brad at SS, and JZ and Rothschild in the OF, Randell drafts the same exact combination this year. The good news is that if Dell’alba can return to his 2010-11 self, then this is the most potent 1-5 in the league. I think the lack of defense, however, will be hard to overcome. There’s little reason to think that 2013 won’t be similar to 2012 . The good news is they may be getting a break August 4^th when they play a team Pollock that is missing all the Pollocks and Ferrarese.

Overall Record: 9-13

Team Harris- Is this mad genius or just mad crazy? Right now I’m thinking the latter. That’s not to say I think the roster is filled with bad names. I like several of the players on this team, but they could have been drafted at least one round later which would have allowed for a stronger team overall. For a captain who is very keen on noticing others’ lack of positional depth, it’s curious that there is not a proven shortstop or pitcher on this club. Still, Vaccaro can easily prove to be the best player in the league, and Kushner can build on his tremendous post season to have a great regular season as well. Even if these pieces come together, there will be several missing pieces in the puzzle. We’d also like to thank Harris in advance for providing plenty of material for pre -game “Nobody Believed In Us” speeches.

Overall Record: 8-14