THE CHAMPIONSHIP ... Lakeland won the 2012 Florida State League Championship by defeating Jupiter three games to two. The Flying Tigers advanced to the championship series by sweeping Dunedin in two games to win the North Division playoff. The title is Lakeland’s fourth since the FSL went to a playoff system in 1968 and comes 20 years to the day since Lakeland last won the title in 1992. The four titles by Lakeland is tied for second most behind Daytona Beach, Miami, St. Lucie and Tampa, which have each won five crowns. The four titles is also tied for third most among the league affiliations. The Yankees hold the most FSL titles with nine, four coming when the team was in Ft. Lauderdale and the last five in Tampa. Lakeland now has a 34-31 record in the FSL postseason, including a 15-11 mark in championship series. The 34 postseason wins is third most in the history of the Florida State League.
THE RECORD ... Lakeland finished the 2012 season with a 73-58 record, the most wins for the Flying Tigers since the 2005 squad finished 85-48 and nine more than last year’s squad. The club finished in second place in the first half, 5.0 games behind Dunedin. The first half record of 36-29 matched last year’s total for wins, but was five less losses. Lakeland rallied at the end of the regular season by winning the second half with a 37-29 record. The 37 wins was nine more than last year while the 29 losses was 11 fewer than 2011. The second half title was the first won by Lakeland since the 2005 squad took both halves. Lakeland’s all-time record is now 3,881-4,113 for a .485 winning percentage.
AT THE PLATE ... Lakeland led the Florida State League with a .267 team batting average, two points better than the second place team. The .267 mark is the third highest average in Lakeland franchise history. The Flying Tigers scored 582 runs in 2012, sixth fewest runs in the league while the team’s 66 homers was tied for second fewest in the league. The Flying Tigers hit 232 doubles this season, one shy of the team record of 233 set in 1996 and 2001. Lakeland batters struck out 884 times in 2012, the second fewest times of any league team. The 135 stolen bases (led by Hernan Perez’s 27 steals) was fourth most in the FSL while the Flying Tigers were caught stealing a league-low 36 times. Tyler Collins finished tenth in the league with a .290 average and was second with 35 doubles and fourth with 137 base hits.
ON THE MOUND ... The Flying Tigers’ pitching staff finished with a 3.79 staff earned run average, seventh best in the league. Lakeland posted 10 shutouts, tied for third most in the league and struck out 897 batters, the fourth fewest in the FSL. Luis Angel Sanz was tied for the league-lead with 11 wins while his 3.46 ERA was sixth best in the league (tops for any right handed pitcher in the FSL, however). Shawn Teufel was one of eight pitchers in the league to throw one shutout in 2012. Matt Crouse allowed just 9.09 baserunners per nine innings pitcher, the fewest of any league reliever and held opponents to a .189 batting average, third best among league relievers. Tyler White’s 10.73 strikeouts per nine innings was fifth among FSL relievers.
IN THE FIELD ... Lakeland posted the best fielding percentage (.978) of any league team and committed the fewest errors (109) in team history. The Flying Tigers catchers combined to throw out 37.4 percent of would-be base stealers, best mark of any FSL catching corps. Hernan Perez topped all league second baseman with a .979 mark while Dixon Machado was tops among shortstops with a .966 fielding percentage. James Robbins played the most games and had the most putouts and total chances of any FSL first baseman while Alex Burgos lead all league pitchers with 32 assists.
NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT ... Alex Burgos led the league with 88 walks and was tied with seven others for most losses with 10. Shawn Teufel allowed 12 homers - fifth most in the league. James Robbins struck out a league-high 171 times, second most in Lakeland history.
STRETCH RUNS ... The Flying Tigers closed out the first half going 9-2 in the final 11 games to finish in second place. At the end of the second half, the Flying Tigers won 11 of the last 16 games, including the last three in a row to win the second half pennant.
THE CROWDS ... While Lakeland finished with the second lowest attendance in the league, the 59,589 fans that witnessed the 2012 season were fifth most in franchise history. The July 4th crowd of 5,038 was fourth largest crowd since 2004. Lakeland had 17 crowds of over 1,000 and posted a 10-7 record in those games. Overall, the Lakeland franchise has drawn 1,921,148 fans since 1963.
POSITION LEADERS ... 1B-James Robbins (122 games); 2B-Hernan Perez (111); 3B-Wade Gaynor (77); SS-Dixon Machado (118); OF-Tyler Collins (115); Luis Castillo (81); Avisail Garcia (65) and C-James McCann (45)
ALL-STARS ... Lakeland had four players selected to the FSL midseason All-Star squad in third baseman Nick Castellanos, outfielder Avisail Garcia, catcher James McCann and reliever Bruce Rondon. Garcia won the FSL Home Run Derby before the game and was 1x3 in the contest. Rondon worked the ninth inning and allowed one run on one hit. Castellanos and McCann were promoted to AA Erie prior to the game and did not have a chance to participate. No Lakeland player was selected to the league’s post-season All-Star team.
FSL HONORS ... Nick Castellanos was named the FSL Player of the Week for the week of April 3-May 6 going 13x38 (.464) on the week.
18-GAME HIT STREAK ... Nick Castellanos saw his 18-game hit streak, the third longest in the league, snapped on May 18, going 31x72 (.431) during the streak. The third baseman had hits in 50 of his 55 games played in Lakeland and left the Flying Tigers with a .405 batting average - the best in the minors at the time of his promotion. Castellanos went on to play in the Futures Game earning MVP honors going 3x4 with a homer and three RBI as the designated hitter.
HOME AND AWAY STREAKS ... Avisail Garcia hit in 18 straight home games from Aug. 30, 2011 to May 9, 2012 - the longest such streak this season while Nick Castellanos collected hits in 22 consecutive road games from May 1 thru his promotion on June 6 - also the longest such streak in the FSL.
WALK-OFF WINS ... Lakeland played the first 43 home games without a walk-off win. That all changed on July 30 when Marcus Lemon singled in a run in the bottom of the 10th inning. The next night, Dean Green beat out an infield single for a win in the ninth. On Aug. 5, Wade Gaynor singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th. Gaynor also hit walk-off homers on Aug. 15 and Aug. 18 while James Robbins had a walk-off single on Aug. 16.
NOT SO GRAND ... No Lakeland player hit a grand slam in 2012. The Flying Tigers and the Charlotte Rangers were the only two FSL teams not to hit a home run with the bases loaded this season.
MULTI-HIT GAMES ... Counting the postseason (which does not count toward the final FSL statistics) Tyler Collins had 39 games with two or more hits in 2012, including 14 games with three hits and a pair four-hit games. Collins began the season with three hits in each of the first four games. Hernan Perez had the second most multi-hit games with 31 including five games with three hits and one four-hit game. Nick Castellanos had 27 games (out of his 55 games played before being promoted to AA Erie) with two or more hits, including six three-hit games and a pair of four hits games.
SEASON SERIES ... Lakeland posted winning series records against Tampa (13-7), Daytona (11-7), Clearwater (9-7), Dunedin (9-7), Palm Beach (5-3), Jupiter (4-2), and Charlotte (4-3) and split the season series with Brevard County (8-8), Bradenton (4-4), Ft. Myers (4-4). The Flying Tigers lost only one season series, falling two games to six to St. Lucie.
CLOSE ONES ... Lakeland was a league-best 26-15 in 1-run games and also had the best record in extra innings (10-2).
PLAYING FOR THE WEEKEND ... For the second straight year, Lakeland had its best record in games played on Sunday (13-5) and was 11-8 on both Friday and Saturday nights, giving the Flying Tigers a 35-21 record on the weekend, compared to a 38-37 record during the week.
IN THE RECORD BOOK ... Marcus Lemon led Lakeland with a .324 batting average (min. 280 at bats). The .324 average is fifth best in Lakeland history. Tyler Collin’s 35 doubles is second only to Gabe Kapler’s record of 40 set in 1997. Luis Angel Sanz tied for the FSL lead with 11 wins – sixth most in franchise history. Bruce Rondon’s 15 saves is 10th most in Lakeland history. Daniel Fields played in 295 games in his three years in Lakeland, sixth most games in franchise history and ranks ninth with 250 hits and 120 runs batted in, and sixth with 123 walks. Fields is third with 14 career triples and also had the third most strikeouts (307) for any Lakeland player’s career. Wade Gaynor ranks sixth with 46 doubles, eighth with 121 career RBI and tenth with 23 homers in his two seasons in Lakeland. Avisail Garcia tied for sixth with 11 career triples.
THE SKIPPER ... Dave Huppert became the minor league’s winningest active manager on April 19 and recorded his 1,700th win on June 3. Huppert would close the season winning his third Florida State League Title having previously won league championships with Brevard County in 2001 and Clearwater in 2007. He finishes the 2012 season with a career record of 1,745-1,593 for a .523 winning percentage.
THE ROSTER ... Twenty-seven players took the field defensively for Lakeland while 29 others took the mound for the Flying Tigers. The 56 players is ten more than were in uniform in 2011.
UP ON THE FARM ... The Flying Tigers made an unofficial 114 transactions in 2012 (eight more than in 2011). Hernan Perez made a weekend trip to the major leagues on June 9-10 before returning to Lakeland while Avisail Garcia made his major league debut on Aug. 31 (going from AA Erie to Detroit, skipping AAA Toledo) and was still with the club as of this report ... Zach Maggard, Adolfo Reina, Bruce Rondon and Shawn Tuefel all played in AAA Toledo ... Players who spent time at AA Erie included Nick Castellanos, Daniel Fields, Avisail Garcia, Wade Gaynor, Corey Jones, James McCann, Michael Rockett, Luis Alberto Sanz, Wes Thigpen and pitchers Cesar Carrillo, Tyler Clark, Patrick Cooper, Brian Flynn, Bruce Rondon, Zach Samuels, Mark Sorenson, and Jared Wesson.
FSL HALL OF FAME ... Lou Whitaker, who played for the 1976 Lakeland Tigers, was one of five players named to the Class of 2012 of the Florida State League Hall of Fame while Lakeland manager Dave Huppert was one of three managers honored with inclusion in the 2012 Class.
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