The Brooklyn Knights started red hot in June. Unfortunately, a 16-6 start ended with a disappointing 2-4 finish for the month. Home runs continue to plague the Knights' pitching staff with 95 HRs surrendered in the season thus far. The good news for Brooklyn is that they now sit atop their division with a 44-35 record. The Luisville Beasts were an impressive 19-8 in June and looked worthy of preseason predictions that had them as NALB's best team. The Maples overtook the Corals to build a four game division lead while the Rattlers remained in first place.

June 2020 awards:

League 1
Batter of the Month: Hsiao-lou Yeh (Luisville Beasts)
Pitcher of the Month: Whitney Sanders (Luisville Beasts)
Rookie of the Month: Paco Rivera (Luisville Beasts)

League 2
Batter of the Month: Mabon Beniniger (Washington Allies)
Pitcher of the Month: Berto Sarzosa (Stade Maples)
Rookie of the Month: Dan Courtlandt (Stade Maples)

Brooklyn struggled in April and didn't look any better in early May. After losing its first five games in May, the Knights were in last place with a record of 9-18. However, a 13-4 surge to end the month put them in second place, only a half-game behind the Grizzlies. Don't overlook the scrappy Dunedin Otters. They were a hot team in May and leapfrogged the Firecats and Beasts to land in first place. In League 2, the Corals and Rattlers held onto their division leads.

May 2020 awards:

League 1
Batter of the Month: Bubba Webb (Dayton Grizzlies)
Pitcher of the Month: Juan Rodíiguez (Dunedin Otters)
Rookie of the Month: Darryl Doyle (St. Rock Mudcats)

League 2
Batter of the Month: Sancho Alguirre (Phoenix Rattlers)
Pitcher of the Month: Braulio Crame (Stade Maples)
Rookie of the Month: Whitney Todd (Richmond Slam)

The Knights began the 2020 season with their best hitter on the injured list. Blas Ramos missed all but three games in April, which certainly weakened Brooklyn's lineup. The supposed strength of the team, however, was pitching. Therefore, it was shocking to see how poorly the Knights pitched. After the first month of the season, the Knights had League 1's worst pitching staff with an ERA of 4.57. Brooklyn's 9-13 start puts them in third place, two games behind the Dayton Grizzlies. The Firecats, Corals, and Rattlers currently lead their respective divisions.

April 2020 awards:

League 1
Batter of the Month: Hsiao-lou Yeh (Louisville Beasts)
Pitcher of the Month: Jake Pradia (Dayton Grizzlies)
Rookie of the Month: Brad Slocum (Nashville Firecats)

League 2
Batter of the Month: Matthew Loy (Key West Corals)
Pitcher of the Month: Braulio Crame (Stade Maples)
Rookie of the Month: Dan Courtlandt (Stade Maples)

The Brooklyn Knights finished spring training in second place with a 15-15 record, behind the Dayton Grizzlies at 19-11. The Luisville Beasts looked very impressive and also posted a 19-11 record. The Stade Maples (21-9) and Vancouver Wild (20-10) had the best spring training records in League 2.

After adding no new players in the offseason/preseason, the Brooklyn Knights completed two trades involving minor league players during spring training:

• Brooklyn acquired 2B Tommy Lesher, SP Kamal Ferris, LF Ricardo Martínez, and SP Bobby Harding from Vancouver in exchange for 2B Ryan Dade and RF Rod Steadman.
• The Knights shipped CF Wolfe Lucas to the Luck for CF Loch Westlake, 3B Ulf Durán, 1B Jamie Gentle, and CL Steve Beard.

The Knights were dealt a serious but hopefully not crippling blow when LF Blas Ramos tore a hamstring on March 16. He hopes to return by the end of April. Minor league center fielders Tim Huddlestone and Luís Tirado also ended up on the 15 day injured list.

Other key injuries in spring training:

• Cornfield Axemen: SP Adam Davis re-injured the same shoulder that sent him to the injured list last March. He will miss 2 to 3 months due to a partially torn labrum.
• Dunedin Otters: RP Lorenzo Gomez has a partially torn UCL, which is a season ending injury.
• Key West Corals: SP Porfiro Quiñones will miss two weeks with an elbow bone spur.
• Key West Corals: RP Fred Dyball is expected to miss 1 to 2 weeks due to elbow strain.
• Nashville Firecats: 1B Alexis Schmidt is out with a bone bruise on his wrist. He will need 2 to 3 weeks to recover.
• Nashville Firecats: RP Wilson Controras tore his UCL, which requires surgery. His season ending injury will require 12 months to rehabilitate.
• Phoenix Rattlers: 2B Roberto Vazquez is out for 2 months with a hamstring strain.
• Phoenix Rattlers: A fractured hand will keep 2B Roberto Vásquez out of the lineup for 2 to 3 months.
• Richmond Slam: SP José Urista has a bone spur on his elbow. He is expected to return in 2 weeks.
• St. Rock Mudcats: 2B Johnny Smith ruptured his medial collateral ligament. He will need 9-10 months to recover so he will not play this season.
• St. Rock Mudcats: SP Mobumasu Nomura tore his rotator cuff. He is out for the entire 2020 season.
• Stade Maples: Elbow strain has RP Mike Wolfe on the IL. The requires 5 weeks of recovery time.
• Stade Maples: RP Thornton Peters suffered a partially torn labrum. He is out for 7-8 weeks.
• Vancouver Wild: Elbow inflammation will keep SP Lewis McGrew out of the rotation for 2-3 months. This is a big blow to the Wild's pitching staff.
• Vancouver Wild: RP George Manzo tore the flexor tendon in his elbow. He needs 8 months of recovery time, which certainly ends his 2020 season.

Years ago, I fell behind in playing my North American League Baseball (NALB) seasons and never caught up. For example, I finished playing the NALB 2019 season two months ago. I've decided to start the 2020 season now to finally achieve parity with the calendar. The last time I played two NALB seasons in a single year was 2000.

Here were some of the notable roster moves prior to the 2020 NALB season.

The Brooklyn Knights were the only team that failed to sign a new player. However, they had a handful of roster moves:

• Without a doubt, the league's top free agent available was first-baseman Mabon Beniniger. The Knights intended to pursue him aggressively. Unfortunately, the Washington Allies came to terms with him extremely quickly and signed him on November 21, 2019.
• The Knights extended the contracts of 14 players through salary arbitration: Sardar Dzhafarov, Roberto Hernández, Júlio Guillén, Darius Luxton, Aaron Patterson, Cleveland Garfield, Alex Mobley, John Ruben, Joe Barnstaple, Syman Lowery, Xerxes Scaife, Cristófor De Jesús, Juan Fuentes, and Andrew Strain.
• 3B Alberto Pescador filed for free agency and signed with the Cornfield Axemen.
• Some players were waived and claimed by other teams: SP Yuniesky Porraz (Las Vegas Luck), RP Rico Jiménez (Dunedin Otters), RP Mathieu Lemay (Washington Allies), and RP Dave Williams (Luisville Beasts).
• Several players were lost in the Rule 5 Draft: LF Darin Gardiner (St. James Crusaders) , RP David Sprinkle (Cornfield Axemen), C Al Collins (Dunedin Otters), 1B Charley Elam (Washington Allies), 2B José Burgoa (Richmond Slam), and RP Iemitsu Kanemitsu (Dunedin Otters).
• Brooklyn signed several contract extensions: RP Jesús Montufar for 4 years and $2.85 million, CL Ken Hannah for 6 years and $41.5 million, LF Blas Ramos for 7 years and $73.5 million, and SP Aaron Patterson for 7 years and $72.1 million.

Notable offseason free agent signings:

• The big signing of the 2020 offseason was 1B Mabon Beniniger, who signed with the Washington Allies. He agreed to an 8 year deal worth $133.2 million. The 27 year old had played his entire NALB career with the Dunedin Otters. He won the League 1 batting title the last two seasons.
• 3B Pete Chavez found a new home in Vancouver. The 36 year old signed a 2 year, $11.8 million contract with the Wild.
• SS Ramiro Socastro is now a Stade Maple. Formerly with Washington, he was the recipient of a 5 year $30.5 million deal.
• After several dominant seasons with seasons with the Corals, CL Almandeto Trillio decided to join the Maples. His 3 year contract is valued at $8.68 million.
• 3B Alberto Pescador was a fixture in Brooklyn's lineup for the past 7 seasons. He took his talents to free agency and landed a 6 year, $42.4 million contract with the Cornfield Axemen.
• SP Vincent Cadieux has been banged up with injuries over the past few seasons. Key West took a chance on the 28 year old Canadian when they signed him for $14 million over 2 years.
• Puerto Rican sensation Paco Rivera decided to play in the NALB. The talented 27 year old starting pitcher was a hot commodity with his strong arm and five pitches in his repertoire. The Luisville Beasts landed Rivera with a 6 year, $57.8 million offer.
• The Nashville Firecats were looking for a new first baseman. They signed a good one in Alexis Schmidt. The 35 year old slugger hit 38 home runs last season and has 368 homers for his career. The Firecats hope his bat will easily be worth the $9.68 million of his 2 year contract.
• 1B Quilvio Martinez has traded in his Luck uniform for a Grizzlies uniform. Dayton felt he was a good fit for their team and offered him $14.72 million over 3 years.

Notable offseason trades:

• The Key West Corals received SP Porfiro Quiñones in exchange for minor league SP Chad D'Arcy and minor league LF Jorell Cassels.
• The St. James Crusaders traded 27 year old SP Hai Lovatt to the Dayton Grizzlies for 24 year old minor league 1B Cletus MacPherson.
• The Richmond Slam traded 31 yer old 3B Feliciano Gómez and 24 year old minor league 2B Dennis Guijosa to the St. Rock Mudcats for 31 year old C Ben Stamp.