Walk up music.

Baseball players love their walk up music, and the guys at N.F.B.C. are no different, so let me introduce to you the starting lineup for the boys of Frenzy.

Leading off for Niagara is CF Al Burrill. Al is from north of the boarder and and keeps it real with a guy he grew up listening to. Ontario's own white Reggae artist Snow. Burrill looks to bounce back from a sub-par season in 2016, and confident in his abilities to do so.

Batting 2nd and a Frenzy favorite is SS Benny McCafferty. Benny grew up in a small Commonwealth in Massachusetts, and really enjoyed going up to Vermont in the summer to watch his favorite football team the Vermont Gentlemen. He also has fond memories going apple picking with his butler while his parents helped reaserch cures for the AIDS epidemic in Africa. He has chosen the witty rhymes of the astute Professor Elemental, as they remind him of many tiffs that often led to fisticuffs on the school yard.

Next up is a player the supporters feel could really make magic in Niagara; Bernardo Guzman. Guzman comes from a small mountain town in southern Mexic. Ecatepec is known more for its pottery than its baseball, but Guzman was discovered, and hoped to bring fame to his small town. In the offseason he enjoys going back to his family's farm and refines his animal husbandry skills. He has chosen a song, that not only highlights his Hispanic heratage, but also combines his love for the beautiful game of football.

Manuel Dominguez was called up last year and played great ball in 69 games. Manuel defected from Cuba during his teen years floating across the ocean on a homeade raft of empty soda bottles that he collected and made himself. He looks to follow up a good rookie campaign with solid play. He chose a song that reminds him of many afternoons on the beach enjoying the sunset.

In the DH spot we have Russell "The Big Flop" Phillips. Phillips tore through the league his rookie year, but has been nothing but disappointing since. He grew up in the Adirondack region of New York in the town of Brighton. He has always loved the indie culture of The Big Apple, and now resides in Brooklyn where he can keep close tabs on the hipster scene. In the offseason he can be found at many bars and coffee shops taking in the local scene, or smoking a cigar in his skinny jeans and flannel on his rooftop where he also keeps a award winning azaleas garden. 

Robbie McLaughlin grew up in Rosemont, California, and while he was located in "NorCal" he fell in love with the scene in Orange County. He once dreamed of being a pro skater, and has since opened up a skate and surf shop in Huntington Beach where he takes up residence in the off season  While he was a big fan of the band Elora while growing up, he chose to use a song, by a personal friend MC Batcommander who is the lead singer of the ska band The Aquabats. McLaughlin plans on making a guest appearance on MC Batcommander's t.v. shows The Aquabats Super Show and Yo Gabba Gabba sometime this year. 

Eddie Miller, the long time Frenzy favorite has played his entire career with the club. He grew up in Virginia Beach. He still lives there in the off season where he owns a Fiat dealership. He is one of the "Old Men" of the club at age 31, and enjoys sitting on the back patio with a good book and his dogs. Growing up he was much different, a rebellious teen, he took to punk rock as an escape, and a way to spite his parents. Luckily he stuck with baseball, and his liberty spikes were able to fit under his helmet  because he has quietly made quite a career for himself in the BSA. 

Dean Phillips who is coming off a impressive season at third base, is still a bit of a loose cannon. He is known around Niagara as a partier. He can often be seen at the many strip clubs and casinos late into the night. He was arrested by the mounties last season for possession of cocaine after he was pulled over with 2 hookers in the back of his 1987 Buick Grand National. He was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, and he also issued an apology to the club and the fans. He has since cleaned up his act, and become quite the movie buff, and even writes a weekly piece in the newspaper, about films that he grew up watching.

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Lastly we have Walt Taylor, who has been a mediocre catcher for the Frenzy, but somehow he keeps his job. Walt resides in Scottsdale, Arizona where he grew up, rumor has it he still lives in his parents basement. Taylor always tries to keep up with the trends and recently has become obsessed with kpop.

New Additions for 2014

SP Tommy Hunt

Hunt comes to Niagara from the slums of Missouri. We are hoping a change of scenery and the brilliance of GM Hoban will help the right hander party like it's 2009 when the young hurler pitched 219 innings allowing only 94 ER while fanning 149. Hunt has struggled in following years but the Frenzy have made it clear that if he does not preform he will find himself on the unemployment line filing for his government cheese.

SP Ethen "He Hate Me" Pickup

Pickup has been a ELITE pitcher in all his years in the BSA. He has shown he has what it takes to be a leader in a rotation. He spent last year in hitter friendly El Paso. This was Ethan's only year where his ERA reached 4.00. Will age be a factor? Or will Pickup continue to be a genetic freak? GM Hoban thinks that Pickup can help anchor a fairly weak rotation, and help young Richard White turn his swag on. In his short time Pickup has made it known that Niagara Falls is a much better place to live than that hell hole people call LA.

MR Roberto YTMND Costello

Costello defected from Cuba and finds himself anchoring a young bullpen in Niagara Falls. Niagara' Cuban Scouting Director Hector Alverado informed GM Hoban that Costello was a starting pitcher, thus Hoban offered up a kings ransom for the MR. This error has cost Alverado his job and his life. Costello still has a ton of upside and may just live up to the hype.

CL Pedro Clemente

Clemente has some big shoes to fill in the closer role with the loss of Doberman Brown. Niagara Falls picked up Clemente from the Rule V draft and he has a ton of upsde. He will be fighting to keep his role as closer with Jose Moya.

RF Wilbert "Slap Yo Mamma" Perkins

Perkins comes to Niagara Falls in a trade with Vista. Perkins looks to be a staple in the outfield. He has been relitivly quiet over the past 3 years but GM Hoban is hopeful that a change of scenery will showcase some of Wilbert's power.

LF Cory "Can He Still Play" Danial

Daniel looks to be the fourth man in the Niagara Outfield. He has great contact and a good ability to get on base, but his numbers have fallen over the years. GM Hoban hopes he can bring a spark to the team, but the GM never trusts a man with two first names.

Its been awhile, but the Frenzy are still alive!

Minor League Slugfest

The Nantucket Orcas have been off to a great start this season led by a starting rotation with a 3.12 ERA, but everything came together Friday, May 11^th. It was a chilly spring night on the island, and the Orcas were hosting the rival Nashua Redlegs in front of 2600 people. It was like any other game until the bottom of the second when the Orcas Right Fielder Juan Conseco told grandma to get out the rye bread and mustard because it was Grand Salami time! Conseco took the pitch from Ed Foster 383ft and capped off a 5 run inning. The Orcas kept the train running scoring in all but the 5^th and 8^th innings to finish off the game with a 30-2 victory. All but one starter had a RBI and Conseco and House both had Grand Slams.

Player of the Game:

Juan Conseco

5 for 6 5 runs 9 RBI's and 2 HR

April in Review

The first month in Niagara Falls is officially in the books. The Frenzy finished with a 15-13 record, and had only 8 games at Edmund Fitzgerald Field. The organization as a whole is a bit disappointed with the team’s results, but ultimately is still in the hunt for the division. The team saw a great deal of success against the powerful Zaphod division, sweeping the upstart Mentalists, and winning crucial series against the World Series favorite Bruins, and the ever dangerous Tropics.

The biggest disappointment came from the Frenzy’s terrible play against divisional opponents and bottom dwelling teams. They were nearly swept in a 4 game series with Boston, and avoided a sweep early on against the AAA New Orleans Looters. Injuries have plagued the team early on as the team was not able to field their starting lineup. This could be leading to the lack of clutch hitting that Frenzy fans have been used to in the past. If the team ever manages to get healthy they will be poised to make a run for the Arthur Division.

April MVP’s

P Earl Harper

The excitement of signing Harper did not seem to send shock waves through the league but GM JJ Hoban knew he had signed someone special. In the first month of play (Stats through current sim as I was too lazy to do this earlier) Harper has compiled a 6-1 record with a 2.61 ERA and he currently leads the league in Strikeouts with 83. Harper has proven to be one of the elite aces in the league, and if he stays healthy he could challenge Scott Hall for the Boardman Award.

DH Jose Caro

Caro was had high expectations to live up to after winning the Simpson Award last year. He has not disappointed so far. He is putting up huge numbers at the plate including a .319 AVG with 6 long balls and 25 RBI’s. What is even more impressive is the fact that he is close to a .400 OBP. Caro will continue to be a force all year and Pitchers all around the ML will be respecting him as he approaches the plate.

Road Trip Spotlight

The Frenzy started the season with a 10 game road stretch. Playing away from home always poses a challenge to a baseball team, but coming away with 6 wins was a great achievement for the under the radar Frenzy!

SP Tso-Lin Kuo

Kuo is a new acquisition to the Frenzy after coming over in a trade from Maui. Kuo had a bit of a down year in 2011 going 4-10 with a 4.88 ERA. Kuo had a fantastic spring training allowing only 3 runs in 5 starts. His performance earned him the number two spot in the Frenzy rotation. The start of the season has started off with a bang for Kuo as he is 1-0 in 2 starts with a 1.26 ERA while striking out 15. When asked about his performance Kuo stated “I feel like I have found my groove again, the past couple years I just couldn’t hit the corners, I had lost my chi. When I was traded it allowed me to start over.”

And start over he did! When Kuo faced his old team on the 7^th he pitched a solid 7.2 innings fanning 6.

CF Scott Powers

Powers is no stranger to the organization, and he is off to a career start. The 4 year veteran is hitting .361 in the leadoff spot. Powers knows how to get on base, and this causes headaches for opposing pitchers, as he is a constant threat on the base path. So far this season he has stolen 5 bases, and has already told the Niagara Falls Review that he plans on breaking Cortez’s single season record.

The season is still young and the Frenzy are looking to compete for their first Arthur Division title!

Niagra Falls Free Agents

It is hard to add and subtract players from a championship team, that is why Niagara Falls was determined to lock up much of its young talent this off-season. When looking at the roster, it was easy to see that the Pitching staff needed a boost, especially when contract negotiations failed with previous ace Fransisco Rivera. That is why GM JJ Hoban went out and aggressively negotiated with SP Earl Harper

SP Earl Harper brings his knuckle ball and 3.83 ERA to Niagara Falls. Harper has been stuck with little run support in Regina for the past two years. GM Hoban locked up the pitcher with the largest contract in the organizations history, four years $48.5 Mil. Over the past four years Harper has thrown 200+ innings while earning 200+ strikeouts a year. When asked to comment on the signing JJ Hoban said " We are excited to bring in a talent like Earl. He is excited for this opportunity to play for a big market team, we are looking for him to anchor this rotation. " This signing seemed to send a ripple through the league as the Frenzy turned a marginal rotation into a solid one. The LA times contacted perennial contender Los Angeles GM Brouillette and asked his opinion on the signing "The frenzy got great value in Earl Harper. He should fit their stadium, and team plan going forward. Definitely one of the best signings off the off-season."

After the departure of Jason Rich, leaving the Frenzy with two proven outfielders. Minor League slugger Stephen Bowling was called up from AAA Portland, but with no big league experience, the Frenzy needed to find a solution. The Frenzy were able to negotiate a one year one million dollar deal with Julio Mendoza.

Mendoza spent the past two years with the Vista organization, and he brings a lifetime average of .283 along with 100 stolen bases. Mendoza will be competing for the starting spot along with Stephen Bowling, either way they will be platooning in the outfield until a suitable starter is found. Mendoza's blazing speed, and solid defensive play will help the Frenzy solidify one of the better outfields in the league.