Period 4 kicks off Monday with every Roger Dorn Baseball League team remaining within 175 points of a Playoff spot. While it remains early in the calendar, it will be an important week for the Asti Grape Stompers and Idaho Taters to right the ship and push themselves closer to the pack over the next week. The Grapes will look to start that push Monday with 2021 RDBL Pitcher of the Year Walker Buehler on the mound.
Here's what else to look out for on Monday:
Aristocrats Starter Dominance
The Las Vegas Aristocrats might be sitting in 12th place with the league's 14th ranked offense, but there's plenty to like for GM Nick Holz and Assistant GM Nick Kusanovich in what is shaping up to be a dominant starting rotation. The 'Crats have 60+ points from Joe Musgrove (1.90 ERA), Joe Ryan (1.69 ERA) and Max Scherzer (2.50 ERA) while Max Fried is rounding into form with a 3.50 ERA. Add in the impending return of Mike Clevinger and Shane Baz as well as the emerging Aaron Ashby and it becomes easy to view this roster as a potential Playoff club if they can fix their offense woes.
Scherzer will look to continue his dominance on the mound Monday against the Cardinals as part of a two-start week for MLB's highest paid pitcher.
deGrom MRI Results for Hammerheads
The Honolulu Hammerheads have been on a roll on the mound, posting a RDBL-best 1.88 ERA over the last 14 days. The club hopes to infuse star right-hander Jacob deGrom into that mix soon with a scheduled MRI on Monday likely to determine the plan of action for his return. The Heads enter Period 4 in 7th Place, 4.5 points behind the Lake Merced Goutfish for the final Wild Card spot.
Burnes Day for Heads
The Heads will look to push themselves into a Playoff spot with their ace on the mound Monday against the San Francisco Giants. Burnes has posted 60.0 points over his last 2 starts, allowing just two earned runs with an 18/1 strikeout to walk ratio.
Kelly Looks to Stabilize Devils
A rough pitching week has left the Mt. Diablo Devils in 13th place entering play in Period 4. They will send early bright spot Merrill Kelly to the mound against the Dodgers Monday night as they look to climb back up the standings. Kelly has a 0.59 ERA over 15 1/3 innings through three starts this season.
Berrios Looks to Go Positive
The $38 investment on Jose Berrios has been a flop so far for the Idaho Taters as a 6.35 ERA and -6.0 total points is not what GM Mike Friedrich envisioned. Berrios will face off against the Red Sox as the right-hander looks to move into positive points on the season.
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