Following the Meinert Hops acquisition of Corbin Burnes, Roger Dorn Baseball League's official Twitter account boasted the Hops as having the league's best rotation. Lake Merced Goutfish President of Baseball Operations Ryan Atkinson couldn't help but disagree, knowing the talent they already boasted as the league's top scoring Regular Season rotation along with the impending return of Max Fried and Brandon Woodruff.
Fast forward two months and Atkinson certainly had the last laugh as the Goutfish capped off a dominant five week stretch of pitching to capture the 2023 Roger Dorn Baseball League Title. The Goutfish join the Spokane Fightin' Fish, who they fended off Sunday, as the only two-time League Champions while Atkinson boasts two of the last three trophies.
Atkinson entire pitching staff was up to the task over the final five Periods of the season, breaking the RDBL Record for Playoff Team ERA with a ridiculous 2.52 mark. The group was led by Blake Snell, the National League's likely Cy Young winner, who led all pitchers in scoring while notching 0.47 ERA and 0.89 WHIP over 38.0 innings. His 170.0 pitching points were the seventh highest in RDBL History.
The pitching production hardly stopped with Snell as the Goutfish produced seven of the top 19 on the mound for the final five Periods. Mid-season acquisition Brandon Woodruff was elite, posting a 1.91 ERA and stellar 0.76 WHIP over 33.0 innings while Kodai Senga continued his dominant Rookie campaign with a 2.10 ERA.
All told, the Goutfish produced 821.0 pitching points, the third most in RDBL Playoff History while allowing just 179 hits in 254.0 innings of work.
Amazingly still in just his 2R/$3 season, Yordan Alvarez helped the Goutfish to the 2021 RDBL Title as a Playoff Activation but took the reigns of the offense this year. The slugger hit .333/.470/.695, producing 133.0 points, fourth most in the RDBL this season and the 10th most in RDBL Playoff History.
The Goutfish certainly faced some stiff competition, pushed by both the Spokane Fightin' Fish, the league's Regular Season Champions, and the Mission Viejo Maulers. Both clubs sat within 100 points of the lead through the final days, but the Goutfish rotation kept the clubs at arm's reach before cruising in the final day.
Atkinson will bid farewell to several key pieces of the organization as Fernando Tatis, Brandon Woodruff, Max Fried, Clay Holmes, Felix Bautista, Joe Musgrove, Randy Arozarena, Alejandro Kirk, Tommy Edman, Alec Bohm, Salvador Perez and Daulton Varsho are all set to hit Free Agency.
The cupboard is hardly bare though for the Goutfish with Alvarez (3R/$5), Christian Walker (3D/$15), Rafael Devers (2/$44) set to return on offense while a stable of rotation options like Snell (3/$10), George Kirby (3R/$5), Kodai Senga (2/$12), Framber Valdez (2/$48), Dylan Cease (3R/$5) and Marcus Stroman (2/$5) give Atkinson a great deal of off-season firepower.
The Farm System looks ready to help in a big way in 2024 with Bobby Miller (Minors) and Ronny Mauricio (Minors) looking like potential Opening Day activations while Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Minors) could rival Jackson Holliday and Eury Perez as the most valuable asset under a Minor League deal in the RDBL.
All that spells another likely season of the Goutfish being right in the mix for Division and League Titles.
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