Bonus

New York Penn League Season Ends, Playoffs Begin

By John Doucette

Posted on September 9, 2017

The regular season has come to an end in the New York Penn League for the summer of 2017. Four teams will move on and play for the league championship starting on Saturday night. Those teams are the Vermont Lake Monsters, winners of the Stedler Division, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, winners of the Pinckney Division, the Staten Island Yankees who won the McNamara, and the Hudson Valley Renegades who are the wild card team. Congrats to these teams and good luck in the playoffs!!!

Speaking of the Scrappers, Nolan Jones put together a fine season for them at the plate. His batting average of .313 has him second in the batting chase and he is third in hits with 67, second in on-base percentage at .429 and second in extra-base hits with 24. He ranks second in slugging percentage at .477, fourth in runs scored with 39, second in total bases at 102 and leads in walks with 43, and second in doubles with 17. He kept the line moving and was at the center of Mahoning Valley’s offense all summer long.

Jones was not the only member of that team to make noise with the bat. Will Benson is tied for the league lead in long balls with 10 and is third in RBI with 36. Benson is right behind his teammate in slugging percentage at .475 and leads all hitters with the best HR/AB Ratio 1 HR in every 19.80 at bats.

On the pitching side of things, Hudson Valley’s Resly Linares won loss record of 3-3 may not sound great but it does have him in the top ten in pitching. His WHIP of 0.96 is third in the league, and his .171 average has him ranked number one.

Not everyone playing in this league is having a good season. Even playing on a good team doesn’t always work out. Take Argenis Blanco who toes the rubber for Vermont. While the rest of his staff is doing well for a team heading to post-season play, it has been a struggle for Blanco. He leads the pitching stats in two categories, home runs allowed with 10, and is tied for the lead in losses at 7. He shares that with two other hurlers. He also leads in earned runs allowed at 41 and leads in runs allowed at 46. Even good teams have that one player that is struggling.

Going into the final day of the regular season, it can be said that the NYPL was a hit at the box office. Total attendance stood at 1,380,201. With six games that could not be made up because of scheduling difficulties, Minor league baseball, even at the short season level is thriving.

We at NGSC Sports would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read the notes column throughout the year. And thank the NYPL for giving us the opportunity to cover the league in 2017, we look forward to many years ahead.