2020 JLB PREVIEWS: Topton Tornadoes

For most teams, I think the shutdown either had no effect or it made some teams in the JLB worse.

 

For Topton, however, I think he is the outlier. Somehow, I think he got better and the shutdown could potentially be the key to his success in 2020.

 

The Topton offense was already there with guys like Pete Alonso, Aaron Judge, Vlad Guerrero Jr., and Fernando Tatis Jr., to name a few, but the pitching was going to need a bit of luck to make the Tornadoes a contender for a full 162-game season.

 

That is no longer the case, and now, all of a sudden, several stud pitchers who were going to be looking at innings limits due to past injuries or pitchers who just haven’t shown they can go a full 162 are set to be stars on this team.

 

James Paxton, Lance McCullers, Blake Snell, Steven Matz, Masahiro Tanaka and Tyler Glasnow are all pitchers who fit that mold. Asking them to dominate over 60 to 70 innings this year vs. 180 is huge, and this should scare the teams that finished above Topton in the ‘S’ Scale Standings.

 

“With Paxton hurt through the spring, Snell and Glasnow coming off incomplete years, and McCullers a returning TJ, I was taking a few gambles,” Tommy said. “I tried to cover that up with Alcantara, Tanaka, and Urquidy and drafted a few others as filler. With all of them looking like they can have a full year, plus the Price opt-out sliding Stripling into the starting 5, I feel I have the deepest rotation of the league with some Cy Young potential guys.”

 

He also has so many young stars coming in Nick Madrigal, Dylan Carlson and the No. 1 overall prospect, Wander Franco. They all could be up this year, and if they do come up, watch out.

 

“I can only Wander about the possibilities of my greenies, but they all have the potential to have Madrigal year if they get the call!”

 

Oh, that Tommy. Whenever I asked him to write a title for a Patriot League video, he told me he wasn’t good at it.

 

But clearly, after that quote, he’s clever enough to do it, which means he was just lying to me to get out of work. … I may need to see if I can change that A-plus I gave him.

 

And had I given him a lesser grade, maybe he wouldn’t have stuck around to work part-time; and then he wouldn’t have been around to accept the opening in the JLB; and then he wouldn’t have been able brag about Pete Alonso.

 

“I've got one of last year's Rookie of the Year and I think I've got at least one of this year's,” Tommy said. “They are going to bring the Tornadoes to the top. Even if some of the young guys (and by young I mean people my age) fall short this year, they are only gonna be scarier for 2021.”

 

Isn’t that the truth.

 

And with the No. 2 pick in the Green Draft in November, he’ll already have a leg up on most everyone.

 

Ah, the green draft, a product of the shutdown.

 

Once again, Topton appears to be the biggest fan of the shutdown.