Stars of spring training

On the eve of the 2018 regular season, let's take a look at what transpired over the 29 games of spring training this year and whether it gives us any inkling into what to expect in the coming months.

There's not too much to read into spring training, after all, 29 games constitutes less than 20 percent of a full 162-game schedule. But it's fun to do anyway, so let's have at it:

Hopatcong's Marwin Gonzalez was your spring training batting champion (.345), edging Tucson's Eric Thames (.343). Gonzalez is eligible at every position except catcher but manned 2B for the Floating Fish in spring training and also led the league in doubles with 13.

Leading the league in long balls was first-round pick rookie Joey Gallo (selected 15th overall this year) with 12 home runs, to go with a unique line of .190/.308/.590 while playing a full-time 1B for Hillsborough. A full season at that pace would project to about 67 home runs.

Four players tied for second with 11 homers -- that would be a total in the neighborhood of 61 dongs if they kept that pace over a full season. Among those with 11 dingers in the spring was Marietta's Mitch Haniger, who put together quite an all-around spring. He made a case not just as a spring training Listach contender but maybe even for the Mitchell.

The rookie right-hander put up big numbers in 24 games as a platoon right-fielder, finishing third in batting (.340), leading the league in slugging (.760), total bases (76) and RBI (28, tied with Allentown SS Didi Gregorious), and tied for R/27 (12.2) with Eric Thames of Tucson. Haniger was drafted in 2017 and protected in the offseason. Marietta selected him in the 3rd round of the supplemental draft -- essentially a 19th rounder, 296th overall.

Among the four players who tied for 2nd in homers with 11, it's more likely that Allentown's Mike Trout and Marietta teammate Giancarlo Stanton will play full seasons, as opposed to platoons. Trout found himself all over the batting leader categories, finishing second behind Haniger in most of them, though he was tops in extra base hits (21). The fourth player to notch 11 homers was a more heralded rookie, Empire City outfielder Aaron Judge.

Tucson MVP candidate Jose Altuve started the spring on a 24-game hit streak. It was the longest by far, 10 games longer than the 14-game streak put together by Allentown's Eduardo Nunez. Altuve led the league with 43 hits -- that would be 240 hits over a 162-game season.

Hillsborough's top pick, rookie Ian Happ (8th overall) led the league with 50 strikeouts. That total projects to about 279 over a full season, so Happ could challenge the modern single-season record of 269 (Jack Cust, 2009, Newark). Teammate Miguel Sano, who challenged the record in his Listach-winning campaign of 2016, was second in strikeouts in spring training with 49 -- that projects to 273 over a full season.

On the pitching side, Justin Verlander of Livingston and San Francisco ace Chris Sale looked like they'd be leading contenders for spring training's McDonald Award. Verlander opened with a 15-strikeout, no-decision performance and followed that up with a 1-hitter over Allentown. Verlander went 3-1, was second in the league in innings (45.1) and third in WHIP (0.93).

Sale hit double-digit strikeouts in his first three starts, and four of his six starts; in another he had nine K's. The lefty led spring training with 62 strikeouts in 6 starts (a league-best 15.5 per 9 innings), which projects to more than 340 strikeouts if he gets to a full season's 33 starts. Verlander was second with 59 K's, which put him on a pace for well over 320 strikeouts. Last year's strikeout king, Max Scherzer, took the spring off after being dealt from Hoboken to Tucson in the offseason.

Sardine City ace Corey Kluber and Marietta's Chad Green led the league in WHIP at 0.83. Sale tied for fourth with Empire Paso's first-round rookie, Luis Castillo (selected 10th overall), at 0.97. The ERA champ in the spring was Chad Green (1.72), who had a monster spring out of the bullpen for Marietta and could be looking at a Chris Devenski-like season. He also finished third in strikeouts with 50 and was one of four pitchers to go 4-0, and the only reliever, in 17 appearances.

San Francisco's Chad Kuhl went 4-0 in 5 starts and his 2.51 ERA was 7th in the league. Also going 4-0 in the spring were Sardine City's Alex Wood and Michael Pineda of Marietta. Among those who won four games against just one loss in the spring were El Paso's Jonathan Gray, Kyle Hendricks of Hopatcong, Kenta Maeda of Empire City and Hoboken's Erasmo Ramirez.

El Paso's Michael Fulmer logged the most innings in spring, with an even 47, which would project to almost 260 innings if he can stay healthy and keep that pace over a full season. He also had five quality starts.

Division winners were Tucson, San Francisco and Marietta (all 19-10), with a tie between Poovey Farms and El Paso (16-13) in the other. San Francisco edged Hoboken (18-11) and Hopatcong (16-13), while Marietta held off Sardine City (17-12) and Livingston (16-13). The 19 wins projects to more than 106 wins over a full season and 18 wins would pace to around 100 victories. Bringing up the rear were Empire City (6-21), Vancouver (10-19) and three teams tied at 11-18 (Arkansas, Philly and Allentown).

Hoboken and Marietta tied for the biggest run differential (+48), with the Cutters leading the league in runs scored (170) by a one over Tucson (169). San Francisco led the league in runs allowed (92) by a wide margin; Marietta and Sardine City were second (110). Hoboken was 13-1 at home, losing their final game, and Sardine City was 12-3.