The Gulf Coast League begins play today.  Here's a little basic information.

There are eighteen teams in the Gulf Coast League, divided into four divisions:  East, Northeast, Northwest, and South.  Teams take the names of their parent clubs:  GCL Twins, GCL Nationals, etc.  There are three major league clubs that have two teams in the GCL:  the Phillies, the Tigers, and the Yankees.  In each of these cases, the teams are differentiated geographically:  GCL Tigers East and GCL Tigers West, for example.  The GCL Twins are in the South Division.

The teams play a fifty-six game schedule.  The four division winners make the playoffs.  The first round is a one-game playoff, and the championship series is best-of-three.

Rosters have thirty-five players, at least ten of whom must be pitchers.  I assume that's not a problem for anyone--I would think they'd probably have quite a few more than ten.  The Twins, for example, have fifteen pitchers listed, although I don't think that's their final roster.  No player may have three or more years of minor league service.

The Twins are managed by Dan Ramsey.  Batting coaches are Luis Antonio Rodriguez and Matt Borgschulte, so if length of name makes you a good batting coach the Twins should have a tremendous offense.  The pitching coach is Virgil Vasquez.

It's a low rung, but it's the first step up the ladder.  We'll have fun following them during the 2018 season!

BATTING

AVERAGE

Alex Robles, .324
Jean Carlos Arias, .298
Benjamin Rodriguez, .290

OBP

Rodriguez, .399
Royce Lewis, .390
Robles, .369

SLUGGING

Arias, .476
Rodriguez, .457
Lewis, .414

OPS

Rodriguez, .856
Arias, .835
Lewis, .803

DOUBLES

Rodriguez, 11
Emmanuel Morel, 10
Arias, 7

TRIPLES

Arias, 4
Akil Baddoo, 3
Four tied at 2

HOME RUNS

Arias, 5
Rodriguez, 4
Four tied at 3

RBI

Rodriguez, 40
Arias, 32
Robles, 29

RUNS

Lewis, 38
Arias, 30
Robles, 30

WALKS

Rodriguez, 22
Lewis, 19
Ricky De La Torre, 16
Colton Burns, 16

STOLEN BASES

Lewis, 15
Morel, 12
Arias, 10
Robles, 10

*I did not include Akil Baddoo or Colton Burns in the rate stats because they had only 75 and 78 at-bats, respectively.  They each appear above anyway Baddoo as one of the triples leaders and Burns as one of the walk leaders.  Baddoo's line was .267/.360/.440 and Burns' line was .282/.423/.385

PITCHING

ERA (STARTERS--3 STARTS)

Carlos Suniaga, 1.69
Michael Kohn, 1.80
Pedro Garcia, 2.59

ERA (RELIEVERS--5 GAMES)

Kevin Marnon, 0.54
Derek Molina, 1.08
Blayne Enlow, 1.33

WINS

Garcia, 6
Suniaga, 4
Juan Mojica, 3
Enlow, 3

SAVES

Vadim Balan, 4
Molina, 4
Three tied at 2

INNINGS

Garcia, 48.2
Suniaga, 48
Jordan Balazovic, 40.1

STRIKEOUTS (STARTERS)

Garcia, 41
Suniaga, 38
Balazovic, 29

STRIKEOUTS (RELIEVERS)

Amilcar Cruz, 28
Molina, 21
Brusdar Graterol, 21

WHIP (STARTERS)

Kohn, 0.60
Garcia, 0.88
Suniaga, 1.00

WHIP (RELIEVERS)

Enlow, 0.69
Graterol, 0.72
Austin Bizzle, 0.83

*The distinction between starters and relievers doesn't mean a lot at this level.  It was not usual for a "start" to be one to three innings, with the first reliever going an equal or even higher number of innings.  For example, Michael Kohn made four "starts", but each was for one inning only.  Pedro Garcia, who led the team in innings, made only three "starts" but made seven relief appearances.