Finally, a glimpse of the team. I still don't know everyone that well, so I've kind of held off on this.
Senior Chief Langlois and Chupco are good pitchers, so we're kind of set in that area. Chupco can play first and some outfield if needed as well. Langlois is kind of stuck due to a lack of speed.
We have a couple of catcher candidates. Philips (?) and Black both complain of back problems, but Black and Langlois have had the lion's share of innings behind the plate. Philips would be ideal there, because he has tried to play second base, and simply isn't good out in the field.
At first, we have Bill. That's all I know him as. He teaches at ET A school, and is a big tall guy. I like throwing to him, because I don't have to necessarily focus on accuracy.
Bill doesn't hit well, unfortunately, for his size, and is limited to first base.
2nd base. Vinson and Philips appear to be in a semi platoon over there. When Vinson shows, I imagine he'll play, but he hasn't shown with regularity. Philips is awful. He boots nearly every grounder, and gets anxious in his recovery. He has no range, and has trouble with pop ups. One tattooed him in the forehead. All ball, the glove didn't touch it. He has seam marks on his forehead. Ouch. That said, I might be an option there from time to time as well.
Vinson is the preferred choice, since he'll cover the bag when needed. Philips likes to stand in one spot and watch the play. I know I'm bagging on Philips quite a bit, but he confuses me. This guy likes to tell anyone that'll listen about his baseball knowledge and that he played a year of college baseball, and from what I heard from him, he's pretty knowledgable. He knows a lot more about this stuff than I do. But he was a pitcher. It's no wonder why he can't play the field at all. He does seem to have a decent bat, so perhaps he can be an extra hitter or designated hitter.
A dark horse at this position is Will's roommate, Chad. He looks to be in good shape, and played 3rd for us in our first practice. I didn't see him again until the first game of the season. He played a little outfield and then moved to second after 2 innings (Philips, who was playing 2nd was pissed).
At third we have two or three options: Matt Thomas, ET1 Smith, and Will's roommate Chad. Thomas is my preferred choice. He plays close to the line, and moves to his left well. This allows me to play a little deeper than normal, as long as I come up hard on balls Thomas can't get to. Smith is an older guy, though I don't know how much. He prefers shortstop (the hater), and when he plays third he's like a 2nd shortstop. He plays well off the line. Good and bad things about that. It allowed me to play closer and a tad deeper to the bag, but anything hit down by the third base bag will be a hit. There's me, of course, and I have to figure it's my job to lose. Rob Chastain played 3 innings at short in our first game, when Smith didn't show up 30 minutes prior to the game. Will told everyone to be on time if they expected to play. We wanted Smith in there so Rob could play the outfield. That said, Rob played a good game at short, although he air mailed one past Bill...how I don't know.
Smith pouted on the bench while he wasn't in the game, and it ticked me off. I let him know about it later, and he apologized. If I had to pick two people I don't expect to be on the team at the end of the season, it might be Smith and Philips.
Our outfielders are a gangly group. I've offered my horrible services for the chance that both Smith and Thomas show up and we're short outfielders. Hopefully, I'm never taken up on it.
Rob and Will are our best choices, but if I'm not mistaken Rob transfers soon. Eddie our usual left center, does a good job, but seems preoccupied at times. He doesn't talk to the rest of the outfielders, my finger is a testament to that. Hutter plays short field and right center, depending on how he feels at the moment. He's intriguing. He has a lot of energy, but doesn't play up to his potential in my opinion. He'll be gone for the next couple of weeks, so we have a hole there. Finally, right field. No one wants to play there. We have a shore comm student, ET3 Perry, and big strapping young man out there, and he seems to play well. He leaves at the end of June, though. Chief Martin has logged a few innings out there as well, but he has surgery soon and will be gone in a month or two. Outfield is by far our weakest group.
That brings up a little nuance of 80-H. Day games are a disadvantage to the right fielder as the sun sets in their eyes. Night games are a disadvantage to the left fielder, as left field is poorly lit.
This will be one interesting season.