KCL Week #4: Merchants Catch Fire to Tie for 1st
Author: Jackson Ewers
Another week goes by in the KCL. This time, 5 games were played by each ballclub this week. Merchants’ 4-1 week has allowed them to catch up to the Ground Sloths in the season standings. The Sloths still have the better run differential though. Also, an 0-5 week for the Blue Caps (who went 3-1 last week) allowed the Bobcats to pass them in the standings for 3rd place.
Batter of the week goes to Shea Zbrozek. He went 7-11, 3B, 6 RBIs, 5 Rs, OPS 1.51. Also want to mention that Shea had a Shohei Ohtani like performance on the 18th against the Merchants, being batter and pitcher of the game.
Pitcher of the week goes to Cade Sharp. 1 GS, W, 7IP, 5 Ks, 5 Hs, 0 BBs, 3 ERs. We were between Cade and Gus Lucas, but we decided to just go with Cade since his team did better this week. Gus also had a great throwing game last week though.
STANDINGS & MATCHUPS
Season Standings
| Team | Wins | Losses | Games Behind | Run Differential |
| Ground Sloths | 11 | 6 | – | 36 |
| Merchants | 11 | 6 | – | 7 |
| Bobcats | 7 | 10 | 4 | -14 |
| Blue Caps | 5 | 12 | 6 | -29 |
Week 4 Standings
| Team | Wins | Losses | Run Differential | Runs Scored | Runs Allowed |
| Merchants | 4 | 1 | 12 | 33 | 21 |
| Ground Sloths | 3 | 2 | 9 | 40 | 31 |
| Bobcats | 3 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 30 |
| Blue Caps | 0 | 5 | -21 | 16 | 37 |
Week 4 Game Logs
Season Head-to-Head
| Team | Ground Sloths | Merchants | Bobcats | Blue Caps |
| Ground Sloths | – | 4-2 | 4-2 | 3-2 |
| Merchants | 2-4 | – | 4-1 | 5-1 |
| Bobcats | 2-4 | 1-4 | – | 4-2 |
| Blue Caps | 2-3 | 1-5 | 2-4 | – |
Batting/Pitching/Fielding leaders in the KCL can be found on the KCL main page, along with each individual team’s leaders. Below is a more fun and interesting list of leaders that gives a little more insight into who’s doing well in the KCL League.
FANTASY PERFORMANCES
Season Top 10 Hitting and Pitching Fantasy Leaders
| Hitting | Pitching | ||||
| Player | Team | Fantasy Points | Player | Team | Fantasy Points |
| Judah Morris | Ground Sloths | 91 | Will O’Gorman | Blue Caps | 63.0 |
| Caleb Royer | Blue Caps | 60 | Gus Lucas | Ground Sloths | 46.6 |
| Justin Gutierrez | Ground Sloths | 60 | Nathan Garard | Merchants | 38.0 |
| Tyler Thompson | Bobcats | 59 | Ian Donaldson | Merchants | 37.0 |
| Chase Mason | Merchants | 59 | Zach Odonnell | Bobcats | 32.9 |
| Jack Shields | Merchants | 58 | David Smith | Merchants | 26.0 |
| Logan Van Heuklon | Merchants | 52 | Jack Barham | Merchants | 25.0 |
| Alec McGinnis | Bobcats | 51 | Gavin Wernsing | Bobcats | 22.0 |
| Gage Wolfe | Blue Caps | 47 | Zach Diver | Merchants | 21.6 |
| Liam McGill | Blue Caps | 45 | Braden Roesch | Blue Caps | 21.0 |
| Bryce Bishop | Merchants | 45 | |||
Week 4 Top 10 Hitting and Pitching Fantasy Leaders
| Hitting | Pitching | ||||
| Player | Team | Fantasy Points | Player | Team | Fantasy Points |
| Shea Zbrozek | Ground Sloths | 24 | Gus Lucas | Ground Sloths | 19.0 |
| Jack Shields | Merchants | 20 | Cade Sharp | Merchants | 19.0 |
| Riley McAllister | Bobcats | 19 | Will O’Gorman | Blue Caps | 13.0 |
| Cameron Anderson | Blue Caps | 18 | David Smith | Merchants | 11.0 |
| Mitch Murphy | Bobcats | 18 | Gavin Wernsing | Bobcats | 10.0 |
| Eduardo Letamendi | Ground Sloths | 18 | Jack Barham | Merchants | 9.0 |
| Chase Mason | Merchants | 18 | Zach Odonnell | Bobcats | 8.6 |
| Justin Gutierrez | Ground Sloths | 16 | Jacob O’Day | Bobcats | 8.3 |
| Judah Morris | Ground Sloths | 15 | Troy McLeese | Bobcats | 8.0 |
| Logan Van Heuklon | Merchants | 15 | Jesse Courtney | Ground Sloths | 8.0 |
| Gus Lucas | Ground Sloths | 19.0 | |||
Players’ fantasy points are calculated using ESPN’s Fantasy Baseball standard scoring system (excluding pitching holds). (https://support.espn.com/hc/en-us/articles/360057163871-Standard-Scoring-for-Public-Baseball-leagues)
Week 4 Top Batter Game Performances
| Player | Team | Opponent | Date | Game Stats |
| Cam Anderson | Blue Caps | Bobcats | June 18 | 3-3, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 1 R |
| Mitch Murphy | Bobcats | Ground Sloths | June 17 | 2-3, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R |
| Shea Zbrozek | Ground Sloths | Merchants | June 18 | 3-4, 3B, 3 RBI, 2 R, SB |
Week 4 Top Pitcher Game Performances
| Player | Team | Opponent | Date | Game Stats |
| Cade Sharp | Merchants | Blue Caps | June 14 | 7 IP, W, 5 K, 0 BB, 5 H, 2 ER |
| Gus Lucas | Ground Sloths | Blue Caps | June 16 | 7 IP, W, 8 K, 1 BB, 7 H, 2 ER |
| Will O’Gorman | Blue Caps | Bobcats | June 18 | 4 IP, 4 K, 0 BB, 3 H, 0 ER |
GAMES vs GAMES w/ HIT
Top 10 Hitters with the highest proportion of games with a hit (minimum of 12 games played)
| Player | Team | Games | Games w Hit | GwH% |
| Judah Morris | Ground Sloths | 15 | 13 | 0.8666667 |
| Jack Shields | Merchants | 15 | 13 | 0.8666667 |
| Shea Zbrozek | Ground Sloths | 13 | 11 | 0.8461538 |
| Pat Mulcahey | Bobcats | 12 | 10 | 0.8333333 |
| Justin Gutierrez | Ground Sloths | 15 | 12 | 0.8000000 |
| Rance Bryant | Ground Sloths | 13 | 10 | 0.7692308 |
| Tyler Thompson | Bobcats | 17 | 13 | 0.7647059 |
| Logan Van Heuklon | Merchants | 15 | 11 | 0.7333333 |
| Gage Wolfe | Blue Caps | 17 | 12 | 0.7058824 |
| Chase Mason | Merchants | 17 | 12 | 0.7058824 |
HITTING STREAKS
Top 10 Current Game-Hitting Streak Leaders
| Player | Team | Hitting Streak |
| Shea Zbrozek | Ground Sloths | 8 |
| Jack Shields | Merchants | 5 |
| Logan Van Heuklon | Merchants | 5 |
| Justin Gutierrez | Ground Sloths | 4 |
| Rance Bryant | Ground Sloths | 4 |
| Dylan Holmes | Merchants | 4 |
| Tyler Thompson | Bobcats | 3 |
| Eduardo Letamendi | Ground Sloths | 3 |
| Eli Kieser | Ground Sloths | 3 |
| Demetrius Schupp | Merchants | 3 |
Top 10 Season-Long Game-Hitting Streak Leaders
| Player | Team | Hitting Streak |
| Pat Mulcahey | Bobcats | 10 |
| Caleb Royer | Blue Caps | 9 |
| Alec McGinnis | Bobcats | 9 |
| Judah Morris | Ground Sloths | 8 |
| Shea Zbrozek | Ground Sloths | 8 |
| Tyler Thompson | Bobcats | 6 |
| Logan Van Heuklon | Merchants | 6 |
| Gage Wolfe | Blue Caps | 5 |
| Chase Mason | Merchants | 5 |
| Chase Reid | Merchants | 5 |
| Jack Shields | Merchants | 5 |