Strong pitching powered a BlueClaws squad to a second half title and playoff berth.
Early in my time following the minors, the Lakewood BlueClaws won back-to-back South Atlantic League Championships behind some of the most promising pitchers of yore. This version of the BlueClaws started almost as star-packed, with Top 100 prospects Cornelius Randolph and Franklyn Kilome leading the team into the 2016 season. Both scuffled in the early going, with Kilome imploding and Randolph missing a few months to injury. The BlueClaws saw some of their top hitters (Josh Tobias and Zach Coppola) promoted to Clearwater along the way and much like last season they lost a good chunk of their rotation to promotion as Luke Leftwich, Shane Watson, and Drew Anderson all went south to join the Threshers.