If there’s one thing I’m known for amongst my group of friends, is that I like to complain about sports. Not debate, not brag, but complain. Why? Because there’s just so much to whine about, and because it’s just kind of fun.
My fantasy baseball team‘s current standing (10th of 12)? Sucks.
That pitch that Brett Lawrie got called out on the other night? Freakin’ absurd.
The fact that I always have to guard 6’1″ and 215 lbs Casey Harms in pickup basketball even though I’m 5’8″ on a good day and was forced to quit playing rec league when I was a kid because I was so bad? Total crap.
But this week on MMQ, I’m moving my usually-off-the-blog rants onto the Tiger Talk public forum because I am just so damn frustrated with the SCIAC for its baseball and women’s water polo All-Conference selections.
Why are Pedro Aldape and Tessa Bailey-Findley only second-team all-conference, and where is Brent Wunner on the baseball list?
Let’s start with baseball.
Pedro Aldape deserved better than second team all conference this year. Photo by Lisa Gilliand
As had been well-documented throughout the season, this was a great year for the Diamond Tigers. 23 wins in total, a .643 winning percentage in conference, and a late playoff push– this was truly a breakout year for a team that many expected to finish towards the bottom of the conference standings. And leading the charge on the field was none other than young Pedro Aldape: an unassuming 6-foot-tall junior from Sherman Oaks with a heart of gold and ridiculously quick hands at the plate. The kid had a monster year: a .390 average, 53 hits, 10 double, 8 home runs, 45 RBIs, and even 6 stolen bases just because. He finished in the top six in the league in four categories (including second in home runs and RBIs) after having missed six games entirely with a thumb injury. He was the offensive heart and soul of this team, and certainly All-SCIAC material.
But second team? Come on. I know that Pomona-Pitzer’s James Campbell had the lock down at the first team 1B position (Campbell one-upped Aldape in nearly every category), but was CalTech’s Brian Penserini really a better option at DH? I mean, sure the kid hit .430 and it’s nice to give the hapless Beavers a little recognition every now and then, but Aldape was significantly better in nearly every other category: he collected 13 more hits, 6 more home runs, 26 more RBIs, and 39 more total bases. And, more significantly, he did it against other teams’ Friday guys, not a bunch of misfit relievers like myself who CalTech rarely teed off on (ya, I’ll wear that insult for this argument). So my conclusion here is that these two should be switched: Aldape should have been placed on the first team as DH, while Penserini should have been voted onto the second where there are no positions.
The All-SCIAC list was also missing Tiger catcher Brent Wunner.
To that point, Brent Wunner also deserved a nod to the second team. If you look at the all-conference roster, you’ll notice that there are four shortstops on that list: Claremont’s Brian Gose, La Verne’s George Hanna, Redlands’ Chase Tucker, and Oxy’s Logan Allen. Now, I understand why Tucker and Allen were selected (Chase hit .304 with 31 RBIs and 17 stolen bases, while Logy Bear finished at .325 with 3 home runs, 28 RBIs and 24 steals), but Gose and Hanna are suspect. Just look at the numbers: In 45 more at-bats, Gose only hit .15 points higher than Wunner, only had one more extra base hit, only had two more stolen bases, and finished with 4 fewer RBIs than the Tiger’s catcher. Similarly, while Hanna collected 8 more extra base hits and 10 more RBIs than Brent, he finished with a lower average (.278), lower OBP (.375 vs. .402), and the same amount of steals–and had 63 more opportunities to go to bat. Plus, none of this takes into account that Wunner was perhaps the best defensive catcher in the league. Other teams just did not want to run on him: he allowed only 22 steals on the season, the majority of which came when notoriously slow-to-the-plate lefty Tyler Eyrich was pitching (including in the March 23rd game against Cal Lu when the Kingsmen stole 7 bags in a double-steal clinic against Eyrich), and did a phenomenal job of blocking– allowing only six past balls all year. So, yes, Wunner, Gose, and Hanna finished the season with very similar stat lines, but I still think Brent should have gotten the nod here because of his defense.
Ok, and now onto water polo.
Tessa Bailey-Findley (2) had a huge year both on offense and defense. Image from Occidental Water Polo
It’s harder to argue this one because not all water polo teams keep stats, but I’m going to try it anyway. Tessa Bailey-Findley deserves a first-team bid, not a second. Why? Because the girl absolutely shut down her competition on defense, and had one of the best offensive years in all of college water polo.
Now, it’s difficult to quantify defensive ability; I mean, you can’t just look at the numbers and say, “wow, this girl shut down the girls she was guarding all year.” But by most accounts and by the fact that she finished 6th in all of college water polo in steals and set an Oxy record in that category, I think it’s safe to say that she was a defensive force in the SCIAC this season. Furthermore, Tessa also produced on offense: her 74 goals ranked second on the team, third in conference, and 7th in all of the nation (Division I and Division III reported stats) and her 102 points put her at 8th in the country. So second team material? I think she was a little better than that. Should have been first team, without a question.
Admittedly, I’m not exactly sure how the SCIAC picks its all-conference teams. I asked around in the athletics department and some said the SIDs get to influence the results, and others said it’s just all the coaches. But what I do know is that the selectors messed up. Pedro, Brent, and Tessa all got screwed, and I don’t like it.
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