Power Outage in the GBC

Players, fans, and Power With A Purpose donors can all agree that the 2015 season has started slow in term of offense. 5 games into the season, the club has a single home run, and that took place in the first inning on Opening Day (2 others occured, but by non-regular season players).

For some, this slow start seems unusual. Collectively, this is the slowest start to a season offensively since the club's inception in 2013. For others, though, this is on pace with every other season. 2014 NL Champion Kyle Knisley is no stranger to slow starts. Last season, he recorded his first home run of the season on July 5, a mere 7 days before the Home Run Derby. He would finish the season with 6 (second most in the club), with an additional 4 during the Postseason, thanks largely to a surge at the end of the season.

It may be impossible to blame the lack of offensive flair on the hitters, however, because it's not only home runs that are down. A majority of the runs this season have either been scored via walk, or the runner that scored was put on base by walking. There is clear evidence that it could be the pitching, not the batting, that is struggling so far this season. Corey Knisley is widely considered the ace of the Gateway crew, and even he has seemed to have a slower start this year than in the past, losing one game by walking in the winning run. Even he has had more success than others, though. Last week, Chris Bequette and Joe Baker both found themselves in sticky situations, with Bequette allowing 4 runs in the first inning (largely due to walks), and Baker walking the bases loaded and shrinking a three-run lead to one before escaping the inning with bases loaded, barely leaving the lead intact.

The club will hope to turn things around tonight and end the "power outage", but only time will tell.