May-Day! (Aviators - May Report)

Taking Flight: Renato Nunez has been impressive the first two months.

The Charlotte Aviators are showing the growing pains of an expansion team, as we have slid to a . We have also lost 6 straight at one point, while our division rival Atlanta Braves owns us with a 6-1 record.

Our rising superstar appears to be our designated hitter Renato Nunez, while in real-life is the #22 Prospect in the Oakland Athletics' organization; The young Venezuelan native Nunez has plus raw power, but has regressed from his projected potential. For the alternative timeline, and while wearing a Charlotte Aviator uniform, he just won N.L. Rookie of the Month for May.

He currently leads the Aviators with a .303 batting average, 11 home runs & 29 ribbies; He currently has a .916 OPS & .352 on-base percentage, while generating a 140 OPS+ & 1.1 WAR. His fielding has never been one to marvel at, that's why he's at DH, and even for Out of the Park standards, his bat appears to be ahead of schedule, but we'll take it.

Our big international signing of Koson Yamauchi has been overall a slight disappointment for the price tag ($20.47 million per year / four year deal). A sprained ankle certainly slowed Yamauchi down in April, but I am starting to wonder when the 80/80 power scale is going to start playing out, especially since his contact scale is at 70/80; Yamauchi currently is only batting .234 with 5 HR & a .733 OPS for the season, while his -0.6 WAR is further proof he has been a non-factor.

I am also currently splitting time between four positions at the moment, full-time preseason starters 1B-Rowdy Tellez, 2B-Ronald Torreyes & RF-Oswaldo Arcia now find themselves splitting time with 1B/3B-Patrick Kivlehan, 2B-Abiatal Avelino & RF-Jake Smolinski; Arcia and Torreyes have been non-existent versus left-handed pitching.

Steady, strong arm: Chrinos has logged many innings.

Our bullpen which was strong in April, has cooled down a bit with Earned Run Averages rising for Tim Cooney, Yonny Chirinos, Corey Knebel & especially Brad Peacock.

Chirinos has been logging tons of innings for a reliever, and may be tiring down. I have changed my specifications to put him as a 7th inning setup man, to help take off some of the multi-innings work load; Chirinos has already logged 52 innings & would be on pace for 164 innings. By next spring, we may give him a shot at the back end of the rotation.

The rotation has been nothing special.