Choppers outfielder Curtis Granderson
It has been a while since Charlie’s Thunder Choppers have been a DTBL title contender. They haven’t finished a season in the top half of the standings since 2006 and haven’t had a top three finish since 2001. That ’01 team was the last Choppers squad that remained in the title hunt until the final weeks of the season. But that could be about to change. Thanks to the league’s most powerful offense, the Choppers find themselves in second place here in late July. As long as the Jackalope remain around the 80 point mark, they will be virtually impossible to catch. But should they stumble, the Choppers lead a pack of five teams waiting to make a run.
It’s all about offense for the Choppers, particularly the power categories. They lead the league in both home runs and RBIs. Their lead in the home run category is relatively safe at the moment. This is quite impressive and surprising considering they finished in the bottom half of the league in that category a year ago, 92 home runs behind the Naturals. The reason from the resurgence? Three veteran players: Jose Bautista, Curtis Granderson and Lance Berkman.
Two of those three players were the Choppers last two first round draft picks (Granderson in ’09 and Bautista this year. The Choppers didn’t have a first round pick in ’10). Granderson was a surprising choice as the first overall pick in the 2009 draft. They chose him over Evan Longoria, a pick that didn’t look too wise the last two years. But now Granderson has started hitting home runs at a career high pace. He has 26 long balls already this year, trailing only Bautista. This hasn’t slowed him down any on the base paths though. He has stolen 19 bases and is on pace for a career high in that category as well. He is playing a huge role in helping the Choppers try to chase down the team that released him following the 2008 season: the Jackalope. Granderson kept his remarkable season going with a two run home run in the DTBL All-Star Game last week. It was the only home run hit in the game.
I think everybody knows Bautista’s story by now. He has suddenly become the premier power hitter in all of baseball, once again leading the league in home runs with 31. While last year was quite an impressive surge season, this year has been even better because he also has one of the best batting averages around. He is currently hitting .330, good for third in the league. Bautista was a fairly obvious choice for the Choppers with the fourth pick in this year’s draft, but nobody knew for sure if he would be able to reproduce the numbers he put up last year. So far, he has improved upon them. An interesting sidenote: even though he is a veteran player, he is actually eligible for the DTBL Rookie of the Year Award this year since he had never appeared on an active DTBL roster prior to this season. He seems like a pretty safe bet to win that award at this point.
Perhaps the best story among the Choppers players is Berkman. Along with Granderson, he is also trying to help the Choppers catch the team that released him. The Jackalope cut Berkman following last season after 10 great years with the team. It was understandable why they did so though. He appeared to be done. In 2010, Berkman hit just .236 with 12 home runs in an injury riddled season for the Jackalope. The Choppers decided to take a flyer on him in the 12th round of this year’s draft. It would be safe to say that pick has worked out pretty well. He has a .287 average with 22 home runs. He is fifth in the league in home runs.
The Choppers lead a pack of five teams that hold down second through sixth place. Those five teams are within 3 1/2 points of each other, so it is anybody’s guess which team(s) will make a serious run at the Jackalope. But the Choppers have to be pleased to be in the discussion after years of disappointment.