MiLC stats guru Tom Nielsen returns with a quick look at impactful changes following the 2022 draft
With the 2022 Minor League Cricket draft in the books and rosters nearly complete, it’s time to take stock of off-season roster changes. Today we’ll take a look at a few of the top moves ahead of the 2022 Minor League Cricket season starting on June 25, meet the new teams and check out some notable factoids coming out of roster revamps.
Below are the top ten moves of the Minor League Cricket off-season based on Total Impact from the 2021 season (still subject to change based on roster finalizations). Some notes:
- Zain Sayed is the biggest move of the off-season, moving from the now-defunct Atlanta Param Veersacross town to the Atlanta Fire. Zain bashed 467 runs in 2021 at a massive strike rate of 163, good for a batting impact of +11.3 runs per innings.
- Jaskaran Malhotra is the biggest US National Team name to swap teams, but national teamer players might have limited MiLC availability due to a busy summer schedule for the US squad.
- The Philadelphians did their homework and are the only team with 2 of the Top 10 moves, snagging bowler Trinson Carmichael from Empire State and Abdullah Syed from New England – both divisional rivals.
- Empire State and New England are also the only teams to be on the losing end of 2 of the Top 10 moves of the off-season.
Two new teams join Minor League Cricket this year and took part in the draft, each with a few familiar faces:
The Atlanta Lightning replace the Atlanta Param Veers:
- The Lightning carry over 29% of the Param Veers’ batting production (as defined by balls faced) and 45% of their bowling production (as defined by overs bowled).
- The Lightning have also added some players from the Atlanta Fire’s 2021 roster – Hanchard Hamilton, Shamar Springer, and Sagar Patel, in addition to Kyle Phillip and Aditya Sharma from elsewhere in the league.
- In terms of total MiLC experience, the Lightning have the tenth most experience on the batting side, and the thirteenth most on the bowling side.
The Chicago Tigers replace the Chicago Catchers:
- The Tigers carry over 25% of the Catchers’ batting production and 39% of their bowling production.
- There is only one non-Catchers player on the Tigers squad this year, as Sunny Bhatti comes over from the Chicago Blasters.
- In terms of total MiLC experience, the Tigers currently have the second least experience on the batting side, and the fourth least on the bowling side.
Nuggets of note:
- The Golden State Grizzlies were Minor League Cricket semi-finalists in 2021 out of the Pacific Division and return most of their roster for 2022. The Grizzlies return 94% of their batting production and 78% of their bowling production: both good for the highest retention rates in the league. As of now, the only notable missing piece from 2021 is Neeraj Goel, who saved 119 runs with the ball across the full season for the Grizzlies, good for third in all Minor League Cricket.
- Fellow semi-finalists the Empire State Titans are in the opposite situation. In 2021, the Titans had the second strongest bowling attack in the league by bowling impact, at -16.7 runs per 20 overs. The Titans’ current 15-man roster does not contain any player who bowled a ball for them in 2021, so they will face 2022 with a completely revamped bowling attack that carries just 49.5 overs of bowling experience in Minor League Cricket.
- The Hollywood Master Blasters scooped up several San Diego Surf Riders in the off-season, with five players moving over whototaled 44% of San Diego’s batting production and 35% of their bowling production.
- The Philadelphians brought in several new faces for their bowling attack, adding a combined 158 overs of MiLC experience with theacquisitions of Trinson Carmichael, Abdullah Syed, Karima Gore, and Juanoy Drysdale. These are easily the most significant bowling additions in the league. And this is all without mentioning arguably the biggest newcomer to MiLC this year: 2019 World Cup winner Liam Plunkett.
We are under a month away from Minor League Cricket! Keep on the lookout for divisional previews coming up ahead of opening day on June 25.
