Dominion District Results

James River's club undoubtedly has some young talent, and certainly this year's showing might portend division runs in future years.

Your contention that the division is becoming increasingly divided is interesting, nonetheless.

I don't know about "increasingly". For this particular year, there seems to be a pretty good drop from 3d to 4th. I really couldn't begin to predict which of Monacan, Midlothian, Clover Hill and L.C. Bird would finish 4th through 7th, but if any of them break into the top 3 it would certainly catch me by surprise.

And even this year, there will no doubt be upsets. A guy like Connor Kaufman gives LCB a chance to win every time out, against anybody. Over the course of the season, though, I suspect we'll see a separation.

But these things run in cycles. Only 4 years ago, Monacan won the state championship. Four years from now, who knows. So I wouldn't say "increasingly" at all.

I would predict that Clover Hill will be in the top 4 with Manchester, Cosby, & JR. Then 5 - 8 Monacan, Midlothian, & Bird is anyone's guess. Unless Bird can get the bats going and score some runs, it doesn't matter who is on the mound.
This year will be the best chance for Cosby and Manchester to go the distance. The following two years should be dominated by James River.

And this gentlemen is why they play the game...fun to try and guess though

I think i remember hearing that those teams who seem to be occupying the bottom tier have seen alot of turnover on their coaching staffs the last few years- especially Monacan

Seems to me some schools excel at particular sports and that does have a way of changing over time.

The big factor recently seems to be kids who are in a position to recieve one on one individual instruction.

I would guess at Matoaca and Manchester, the current top two RTD teams, that 80% of the kids work year round with hitting,pitching,and even running coaches

Although I am not as familiar with JR/Cosby I would guess the same is true there.

Huge investments of time and money are being made that show up on the field of play at these schools.

Certainly a stable consistent coaching staff becomes a factor as well

And I may be too guilty of getting too excited too soon for our old stomping grounds.

Saw LCB at JR today, and JR was just flat all game. Didn't look like the same team that played Tuesday. Kaufman didn't even pitch, don't know who the guy was, but he was very effective. Not overpowering, just moved the ball in & out, mixed his pitches well, good movement. JR had some very poor at bats to help him along. Kirby was not very sharp and the fielding made some costly mistakes - one error but two other plays that should've been made but weren't that opened up a 3-run inning and then a later 4-run inning. LCB wins, 7-1.

I guess that's to be expected of a young team -- up one day, down the next, maybe guilty of not getting "up" for LCB, and Bird made them pay.

Kaufmann DID pitch the JR game. Wasn't quite as sharp as he was against Cosby, but able to get outs when he needed to. Had been sick the day before and did his best under the circumstances. Good to see the bats come alive for Bird and get some run support.

quote:

RHP Jack Roberts, younger brother of Will Roberts (now at UVA)

I know this is off topic, but how many baseball playing "Roberts" are there in Richmond?

It seems like you hear about a Roberts from Richmond everywhere.....

You have:

Will Roberts at UVA

Sam Roberts at VMI

Sam's brother Michael who I think is in the minors

and now Will's brother Jack at JR

Are Will/Jack related to Sam/Michael?

If these "Roberts" are all related this is one helluva a baseball family.....

How many more "Roberts" are in the pipeline?

Midlo - I do apologize for getting off topic, please forgive me --- but I'm just really curious.....

Will and Jack are the sons of Jeff Roberts.

Sam and Michael are the sons of Mickey Roberts.

Jeff and Mickey are brothers. Mickey coaches at Prince George and founded the Braves travel program. Jeff has long been a key part of that program, managing some of its most successful teams.

So you have brothers and cousins there among those players.

quote:

Kaufmann DID pitch the JR game. Wasn't quite as sharp as he was against Cosby, but able to get outs when he needed to. Had been sick the day before and did his best under the circumstances.

That was him? I don't know why but I didn't recognize him. He didn't have his best MPH, that's for sure, but he cut and ran the fastball well, curve was good, he didn't seem to use a slider like I saw last year, change up was the killer pitch all day.

I hear Bird has a kid they use as a closer who is touching 90- did he pitch in this game?

Bird closer is junior Nick Connor. He has done a good job getting outs in the last inning against both Cosby and JR. He plays shortstop when not pitching.

How firm is that info on the MPH? If he's really that fast, would someone ask him to contact me about the Cardinals?

He has a live arm, no doubt. I could see him hitting 90 on the gun. Not much movement, but 90 is 90.

Someone said a scout told him he clocked Conner between 88-92

I was at that game and wondered how hard he was throwing. Looked pretty quick but didn't look that much harder than the Kaufman kid. Anyone know how hard he was clocked at that game?

90+ for the Conner kid is believable - and impressive.

I think Kaufmann has topped at 89, so you wouldn't be able to discern any difference by eyeballing it alone, at least, not from the stands.

I know Kaufmann has hit the 90's. Saw it last year at the Clover Hill game, Rich Graham had him on the radar at 92. Was told he hit the low 90's several times this summer.
At any rate, Bird will need the Conner kid to close games this year and pitch next year. I don't think he's had too many formal lessons, with some work, who knows what he's capable of. Maybe the Cardinals is just what this boy needs.

Feel free to tell him to contact me or Rich!