Category: Sports News

Wins and losses were somewhat overshadowed by a couple of memorable individual performances in the Dodgers’ minor league system.

Player of the day

It was a toss-up between Zyhir Hope’s six-RBI effort in Double-A and the fabulous start by Zach Root in High-A. Between the two, we’ll go with Root, who shattered his season-high mark in length, which had been the four innings covered in his previous start, delivering seven one-hit innings in a 4-0 win for the Loons.

For the second game in a row, Root struck out nine hitters, earning his first win of the season, hardly a surprise since he hadn’t yet pitched deep enough into a game to qualify for one.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Comets were out-hit nine to three and thus unable to overcome the three runs allowed by starter Christian Romero in a 3-2 loss. Despite their bullpen wrapping up this game with 4.1 scoreless innings, they saw a somewhat familiar face wrap up the save for the Express in Alexis Díaz, his first of the year.

Responsible for scoring one of the Comets’ two runs, Tommy Edman continued his fine form in Triple-A, working his way back, currently with a .375 batting average after going one for three. Edman was defensively replaced at the top of the eighth. Now, for the visiting Express, two of their three runs came on solo shots from their sixth-hole hitter, John Taylor.

Double-A Tulsa

It’s not too often you see a game with three errors from each team, but that set the stage for a high-scoring win by the Drillers over the Sod Poodles on the road. Starter Evan Shaw couldn’t pitch past the first inning after allowing four runs, but the Drillers countered with seven in the fifth and were able to hold onto that lead.

Second baseman Taylor Young started the scoring for the Drillers and would go on to reach base safely in four of his five plate appearances with a couple of walks and a pair of hits, but the big star was Hope, responsible for six of the Drillers’ 13 RBI. Hope went deep twice in back-to-back innings, homering in the fifth and sixth frames.

High-A Great Lakes

There was no stopping Zach Root as the twenty-two-year-old delivered seven magnificent scoreless innings to lead the Loons to a 4-0 victory—Root was efficient and deadly, needing just 88 pitches to do so, and striking out more than a batter per inning in the process. Relievers Robby Porco and Dilan Figueiredo tripled the number of baserunners the Loons had allowed by letting one reach in both the eighth and ninth innings, but they kept the zeroes on the board.

Offensively, the Loons did the most out of a slow day, managing to scrape together those four runs on just three hits. Leadoff man Charles Davalan began the scoring with a sac fly, and a couple of innings later, Eduardo Quintero had the big hit with a two-run double to triple the lead.

Single-A Ontario

What looked to be a high-scoring win for the Tower Buzzers as they led 7-6 heading into the eighth turned into a blowout defeat in a matter of a couple of innings, with the Ports jumping on relievers Jecsua Liborius and Jose Cabrera to run away with this one by a score of 16-8, leaving Ontario with a .500 record at 26-26.

Although leadoff hitter Kellon Lindsey managed a couple of RBI, the Tower Buzzers concentrated their production in the bottom of the order, with the eighth and ninth-hole hitters responsible for six of the team’s 11 hits. Catcher Conner O’Neal had himself an outstanding game with a homer and three singles, not only his first four-hit affair of the year but just his second multihit performance.

Transactions

The Tulsa Drillers activated second baseman Taylor Young from the injured list. Catcher Anson Aroz was also activated from the injured list by the Ontario Tower Buzzers and sent to the Great Lakes Loons.

Wednesday’s scores

• Oklahoma City 2, Round Rock 3
• Amarillo 9, Tulsa 13
• Great Lakes 4, Lansing 0
• Ontario 8, Stockton 16

Thursday’s schedule

• 4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Aiden Foeller) vs. Lansing (Samuel Dutton)
• 5:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Jackson Ferris) vs. Round Rock (TBD)
• 5:05 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Adam Serwinowski) at Amarillo (Avery Short)
• 6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) vs. Stockton (Jackson Nove)

Another day of minor league baseball is in the books. See the results below.

AAA: Sugar Land Space Cowboys (24-34) won 7-2 (BOX SCORE)

Sugar Land got on the board in a big way in the 5th scoring 4 runs on a Nelson sac fly, Whitcomb 2 run double and Price RBI single. Alexander got the start and pitched well allowing 2 runs over 6 innings. Sugar Land continued to add on getting a run in the 7th on an Alexander solo home run, a run in the 8th on a Loperfido RBI double and a run in the 9th on a Perez solo home run. The bullpen closed it out with 3 scoreless innings as Sugar Land won 7-2.

Note: Price has a .839 OPS this season.

• Cavan Biggio, 2B: 0-for-1, 2 R, 4 BB
• Joey Loperfido, RF: 1-for-4, R, 2B, RBI, BB
• Shay Whitcomb, 3B: 1-for-4, R, 2B, RBI, BB
• CJ Alexander, 1B: 1-for-5, R, HR, RBI
• Collin Price, C: 3-for-4, RBI, BB
• Carlos Perez, DH: 1-for-5, R, HR, RBI
• Pascanel Ferreras, SS: 2-for-4, R, 2B, SB
• James Nelson, LF: 1-for-4, RBI

• Jason Alexander, RHP: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (WIN)
• Logan VanWey, RHP: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
• Miguel Ullola, RHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• Jayden Murray, RHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (24-28) lost 9-8 (BOX SCORE)

The Hooks got on the board in the first inning scoring 4 runs on a Whitaker 3 run double and a run on a wild pitch. Nezuh got the start and went 4.1 innings allowing 4 runs. The Hooks got another run in 6th on an Encarnacion steal of home. They got 2 more runs in the 7th on a Whitaker groundout and Brutcher RBI single to take the lead. Arkansas scored a run in the top of the 8th to tie the game at 7. Arkansas took the lead scoring 2 runs in the top of the 9th. The Hooks responded with a run on a wild pitch but that was it as they fell 9-8.

Note: Holy is hitting .275 in Double-A.

• Max Holy, SS: 2-for-4, R, BB, SB
• Lucas Spence, CF: 1-for-5, R
• Trevor Austin, 3B: 0-for-1, 2 R, 3 BB, SB
• Jason Schiavone, C: 0-for-2, R, 3 BB
• Joseph Sullivan, DH: 1-for-4, R, BB
• Tyler Whitaker, LF: 1-for-4, R, 2B, 4 RBI
• Drew Brutcher, 1B: 1-for-4, RBI, BB

• Jackson Nezuh, RHP: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
• Jose Guedez, RHP: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• Alejandro Torres, RHP: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
• Hudson Leach, RHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
• Amilcar Chirinos, RHP: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 0 K

A+: Asheville Tourists (12-39) won 8-4 (BOX SCORE)

Asheville got on the board in the first inning on a Frey steal of third and then he scored on a throwing error. They got 2 more runs in the 5th inning on a Walker groundout and Thomas RBI double. Rodriguez got the start and pitched well allowing one unearned run over 6 innings. The pen allowed 2 runs as the Grasshoppers tied it but Frey gave Asheville the lead again in the bottom of the inning with a sac fly. The offense scored again in the 8th putting up 4 runs on an Ochoa solo home run, Thomas bases loaded walk and Frey 2 run single. Cruz allowed 3 runs in relief but held on as Asheville won 8-4.

Note: Thomas has a .912 OPS this season.

• Kyle Walker, 2B: 1-for-3, R, RBI, BB, SB
• Justin Thomas, CF: 1-for-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB
• Ethan Frey, CF: 1-for-4, R, 3 RBI, SB
• Nehomar Ochoa, 1B: 1-for-5, R, HR, RBI
• John Garcia, C: 1-for-3, R, 2B, BB
• Zach Daudet, SS: 0-for-2, 2 R, 2 BB
• Mason Lytle, LF: 2-for-3, 2 R, 2B, BB, 2 SB

• Luis Rodriguez, RHP: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
• Anthony Cruz, RHP: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (WIN)

A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers (23-29) lost 3-1 (BOX SCORE)

Fraide made his full-season debut for the Woodpeckers and went 4.1 innings allowing 2 runs while striking out 7 batters. Wells tossed 1.2 scoreless and Beck allowed 1 run over 3 innings while striking out 5 batters. The offense got their lone run in the 9th inning on a Huezo solo home run but that was it as the Woodpeckers fell 3-1.

Note: Beck has 41 K in 30.2 innings this season.

• Anthony Huezo, RF: 1-for-3, R, HR, RBI, BB, SB
• Xavier Neyens, 3B: 0-for-3, BB
• Hector Salas, 2B: 1-for-3

• Juan Fraide, RHP: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
• Jackson Wells, RHP: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• Jagger Beck, RHP: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Today’s minor league starters:

SL: Colton Gordon – 7:35 CT

CC: Bryce Mayer – 6:35 CT

AV: TBD – 5:35 CT

FV: TBD – 10:05 CT

May was not a merry month for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

Although they won the final two games of a six-game series last week against the Worcester Red Sox at home at PNC Field, the RailRiders finished May with a 12-15 record. In two series against the WooSox during the month, they went 4-7. They opened May splitting four games against the Buffalo Bisons. They also split six-game series with the Syracuse Mets and Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

As a team, the RailRiders batted .236 with 34 home runs and 129 runs. Jonathan Ornelas led the way with a .305 average (25-for-82) with three doubles, two triples, one home run, a dozen runs, and seven RBIs. He hit safely in 15 of 24 games with seven multi-hit games, including a four-hit game on May 19th at Lehigh Valley.

Familiar face Oswaldo Cabrera batted .275 (28-for-102) with seven doubles, two home runs, 13 runs, and 17 RBIs. Top prospect George Lombard Jr. did not fare as well on the whole with a .192/.351/.298 triple slash, though his numbers from the final two weeks of the month (May 17-31) did look better better at .269/.371/.481. Call it a hot streak or a sign of adjusting to the higher level following an April 30th promotion.

Yanquiel Fernández had a team-high eight home runs during May, including multi-homer games on May 6th at Worcester and May 19th at Lehigh Valley. He also batted .286 (26-for-91) with three doubles, 22 RBIs and 15 runs. He was named the International League Player of the Week for May 18-24. Unfortunately, he also ended the month injured, as he was placed on the seven-day IL on May 29th.

The RailRiders swiped 43 bases, which ranked third in the International League during the month. Duke Ellis led the thievery going a perfect 15-for-15 in steal attempts. Ellis is tied for the league-lead with Worcester’s Braiden Ward with 24 steals.

On the mound, the pitching staff had a 4.32 ERA with six saves. It bookended the month with shutouts and Adam Kloffenstein was involved in both.

On May 1st, in the first game of a doubleheader against Buffalo, Kloffenstein and Rafael Montero combined on a two-hit, seven-inning shutout, 2-0. Then on May 31st, Kloffenstein struck out 10 in six innings before Bradley Hanner and Peter Strzelecki finished off a combined three-hit blanking of Worcester, 1-0.

Hanner recorded two of the team’s six saves. He was also 2-0 during the month with a 2.25 ERA. In 10 games and 12 innings, he allowed three runs, eight hits, walked four, and struck out 20.

Brendan Beck went 2-0 in May with a 2.17 ERA. In five starts, he allowed eight runs (seven earned) and 19 hits with 11 walks and 27 strikeouts in 29 innings. The Yankees’ No. 21 prospect also made his MLB debut in a cameo while effectively tagging in for a sick Ryan Weathers on May 7th and was chosen International League Pitcher of the Week for May 11-17.

Carlos Lagrange, the Yankees’ No. 4 prospect, had a team-high 33 strikeouts during the month in five starts and 25 innings. Lagrange ranks second in the International League with 63 strikeouts and Beck is tied fourth with 60. For June onward however, look for Lagrange to build his case to make the 2026 big-league club out of the bullpen.

Zach Messinger did not allow a run during the month in eight appearances covering 15.1 innings. He gave up three hits, walked four and struck out 11. He has not given up a run since April 23.

One thing RailRiders pitchers haven’t been doing is issuing walks. They have allowed 220 walks, which ranks second in the league behind only the Charlotte Knights with 215.

Heading into June, the RailRiders are 28-27 and six games behind the Memphis Redbirds and Nashville Sounds in the International League standings. Three weeks remain in the first half of the season.

Most of this month will be spent away from PNC Field. The RailRiders began a seven-game series in Syracuse last night, one with an extra game via a doubleheader today. This already is the third of four series meetings between the teams with the Mets having win seven of the 11 games played in the first two series.

After facing Syracuse, the RailRiders return home to host Lehigh Valley for six games June 9-14. They then head to Columbus to face the Clippers on June 16-21 and conclude first-half play. They open the second half at the Indianapolis Indians on June 23-28.

He pitched his entire major league career in the 80’s with our Houston Astros.    He’s Mike Madden, and he joins us exclusively at The Crawfish Boxes for our 21st installment of the Legends Series.   

Q:  That 1983 season, you appeared in 28 games, started 13, and won 9 of those.    What was that like?

A:  Boy, joining that staff.   We had Nolan, Niekro, Bob Knepper and Mike Scott came towards the end of that year.   I was really young, coming right out of the University of Northern Colorado, it was one level up.    

I didn’t think my heart rate those first few months would ever come down, everything was going super-fast but once I’d take the mound, it would slow down.    

More than anything, it was educational learning as you saw what hitter’s tendencies were and then you got to learn your body on the flight, the travel, all of those adjustments.   

Q:  Speaking of travel, did you have an opposing city/ballpark that you enjoyed more than others?

A:  I liked all of them (laughs) because it was the big leagues!  I had been to a few of them because my folks were in the Air Force, but playing ball in a city for three days and then jumping on a plane to the next one was different.   

I had parks that I didn’t really like.   Wrigley was so tiny and small.   The field, the clubhouse, the whole thing.    

Q:  Most memorable strikeout? 

A:  I’d have to say Tony Gywnn.   I got him at least 3 or 4 times striking out.   

One time, I went 8 and 1/3 innings in a game against the Padres.  That was a good day.  

Q:  Favorite teammate?

A:  Dave Smith, #45.   He threw that forkball.   

The thing is though; we had so many characters.    Nolan would tell us in the bullpen not even to put shoes on because he was going the distance that day.    Then the game would start, he’d mow down like 17 guys and two hours later, we’d be victorious and onto the next city.     

Terry Puhl was another one.    

God Bless, Phil Garner, that was a team that loved each other.    

Q:  Pitching in the dome, what comes to mind?

A:  I tried to throw pitches that would go to center field because it went on forever.    It was always 72 degrees in there, and the Astrodome was truly the 8th Wonder of the World.  

Tuesday was a fascinating evening for those fans of the Atlanta Braves minor league system. There were a couple of big returns — Drue Hackenberg off of the injured list and Blake Burkhalter to rehab in Rome. Then there were prospects making a huge impact at the dish, notably John Gil’s home run and the combination of Tate Southisene and Conor Essenburg in Augusta. Then you can’t forget Owen Murphy, who continues to impress in Gwinnett and had a fine outing despite not having his peak stuff.

(30-28) Gwinnett Stripers 6, (22-36) Norfolk Tides 4

Box Score

Statcast

• Jim Jarvis, SS: 3-5, 2B, RBI, .307/.408/.449
• Rowdy Tellez, 1B: 3-4, BB, RBI, .272/.371/.506
• Owen Murphy, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 4.55ERA

The full season teams swept their way through the first game of their series, and with three of them facing weaker opponents it could be a fun one for fans over the rest of this week. Gwinnett and Norfolk traded early runs with half of the game’s total coming in the first inning, but Gwinnett didn’t trail after taking the lead in the bottom of the first inning and rode a solid performance from Owen Murphy. Gwinnett didn’t really light the world on fire in the first inning, but starting with a leadoff double from Jim Jarvis everything they made contact with found it’s way into space, and the Stripers totaled up three quick runs despite zero hard-hit balls. Over the coming innings they would slowly add to that lead. Jim Jarvis slapped a sharp single the other way for an RBI in the second inning, which was the second of his three hits on the day. Jarvis’s numbers slipped quite a bit throughout May and the call up to Atlanta did seem to throw him a bit off of his rhythm, but his last few he has been on fire. This was his third three-hit game out of his past four contests, and in those games he has four extra base hits and only two strikeouts. Rowdy Tellez had a three hit game as well, and of course he is doing exactly what we expected after a surprisingly slow start to this season. On May 6th Tellez bottomed out with a .782 OPS, but the next day had three hits and hasn’t slowed down since then. He missed some games in the Nashville series that may have cost him a little momentum, but over his past 13 games he has an OPS of 1.036 and is the guy on the team who is hitting the ball hardest by far.

Owen Murphy had a bit of trouble locking into this game in the first inning, as his fastball command was off and he walked the first batter. He made some mistakes over the plate that would result in two hits and two runs against him, but he showed great resilience and turned it around to have a solid outing. It was far from his best look as his curveball was largely ineffectual due to issues with his release and his command came and went on his other pitches, but he had his fastball fairly well dialed in and was able to to produce good results even having to use his four seam or sinker 2/3 of the time. Murphy had a bit of a tick down in velocity across just a few pitches in his final inning but held his velocity well prior to that, with this being his second-highest average fastball velocity in a game. Murphy’s velo and command have been terrific for the past three outings and he has looked more like the player we expected compared to early in the season, though it’s still been a major struggle to lock down a consistent breaking ball. This was, especially after the first inning, the best he has done at avoiding the middle of the plate, which is almost as vital for him as throwing strikes. This was his first outing at Triple-A without allowing a home run, and the first such game for him since April 9th, and it boils down to him being able to elevate without those fastballs occasionally drifting into dangerous areas. It wasn’t his best game due to a largely ineffectual curveball, but it was his best fastball this season and his steady improvement in that realm is promising for a breakout summer.

Swing and Misses

Owen Murphy – 12

Anderson Pilar – 7

Ian Hamilton – 6

(24-26) Columbus Clingstones 11, (26-25) Rocket City Trash Pandas 3

Box Score

• Logan Braunschweig, RF: 3-5, RBI, .333/.385/.333
• David McCabe, 1B: 2-5, 2 2B, BB, RBI, .253/.360/.521
• Patrick Clohisy, CF: 3-5, 2 2B, BB, 3 RBI, .253/.320/.429
• Drue Hackenberg, SP: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA
• Owen Hackman, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 3.55 ERA

The Clingstones are looking to shake off a terrible May in which they were the worst run-scoring team in the league and the home runs that drove them to a good April evaporated. I’d say 11 runs with seven extra-base hits is a good way to get started on that goal. It was a poor final series for Patrick Clohisy, but overall he was one of the lineup’s top performers in May and continued in this game with a three-hit, two-double evening to set the tone for the entire offensive explosion. Clohisy had a mere .102 isolated power on May 7th. Now, that number is at .176 with this making 12 extra base hits in 20 games. He has sacrificed some swing-and-miss to make that sort of impact happen, but it’s easy to argue that it’s worth it for Clohisy to be hitting the ball hard, especially since he is a guy who is going to take good at bats and work a fair share of walks. His swing and approach this season indicate there is some level of sustainability to his power surge as well. He is hitting the ball in the air more often and pulling the ball far more often, getting him more chances to hit gaps for doubles and hit hard line drives. Clohisy doesn’t have the natural power to be a consistent home run threat, but if he continues to be a double-digit sort of guy that’s going to be easy to take from someone who can run the bases and play defense as well as he does. David McCabe being bad in May was one of the big drivers of Columbus’s downfall, so a big opening to the month is already going to turn a few heads. McCabe’s streakiness over the past two seasons has been holding him back from really making a big splash and push for Triple-A, but he has gotten his timing back locked in and stopped posting the egregious strikeout rates from the early weeks of May. It’s not encouraging to see his contact rate fall off of a cliff this season, though the increase in power in the early part of the season definitely helps mitigate that weakness, and it seems McCabe has just hit a wall that he cannot consistently get past.

Drue Hackenberg is finally back on the mound for Columbus after that early exit in April, and he was definitely a bit rusty. Hackenberg’s sinker command was fine — he threw a lot of early strikes and got a ton of ground balls — but much of the rest of his arsenal lacked the same level of feel. His cutter was his best other offering, however he did not have enough finesse with his curveball, slider, or changeup to get whiffs later in at bats. His success was largely predicated upon him moving that cutter and sinker combo east-to-west and forcing weak contact, and it served him fairly well in this game. His unearned runs came following a hit batter and a wild pitch, then a bad mistake with his slider up that got tattooed for a home run. Above all else Hackenberg has just got to be consistently healthy before we can really start to evaluate his development compared to last year and two seasons ago, though his command has looked solid in the two short glimpses we have had of him. Out of the bullpen this has been a dream start to the season for Owen Hackman. Outside of a singular blow up outing in his Double-A debut he has been lights out in a shortened role, and is quickly proving that his fastball is lively enough to miss bats at the upper levels of the minor leagues. This wasn’t his peak performance as he had some trouble locating his slider this game, but it didn’t matter much because he was throwing his four seamer through the Trash Panda’s bats.

Swing and Misses

Owen Hackman – 6

Drue Hackenberg – 4

(28-24) Rome Emperors 8, (20-30) Greenville Drive 2

Box Score

• Isaiah Drake, LF: 1-5, .265/.345/.426
• John Gil, SS: 1-4, HR, 4 RBI, .266/.378/.429
• Eric Hartman, CF: 2-5, .298/.373/.576
• Jeremy Reyes, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 K, 4.59 ERA
• Blake Burkhalter, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA

John Gil delivered a huge hit late in the game, and the Rome offense exploded in the seventh to drive a win that was far less comfortable than the final score would suggest. It was bad, bad bad out there for Jeremy Reyes. He’s had a few up-and-down starts in a row but this one was all downs. His control was non-existent from the first pitch and it stayed that way throughout the game, though in a way it kind of worked. Reyes was so wild the Drive had a hard time really sitting on anything or being able to make hard contact, so despite his five walks and a hit batter he managed to hold them to just two runs. This is not a bad offensive unit for the Drive, either — they’re above league average as a team. They just could not find success against Reyes despite his self-inflicted wounds, and that carried over as the bullpen shut them down late in the game. The most notable appearance there was Blake Burkhalter, who is with the Emperors this week to make his rehab appearances. Burkhalter made quick work of Greenville, throwing nine of his 12 pitches for strikes and whiffing the first batter he faced. With his move to the bullpen full time he is going to get some real looks at promotion if he goes to Gwinnett and excels, though his performance there to end last season wasn’t a good first step for that.

It was a great start for Greenville pitcher and recent Boston draftee Marcus Phillips, who took out the frustration of a rough May on Rome. He shut them down into the fifth inning, protecting the two runs his offense got early and holding the Emperors to just Cody Miller’s second inning single. Unfortunately for Greenville their weakness is their poor pitching staff, and it didn’t take long into the bullpen before Rome started feasting. Two errors put Gil and Hartman on base for the middle of the lineup, and Dixon Williams come through in the first scoring chance to drive home Gil with a base hit. Will Verdung soon after tied the game with a hit, resetting the system headed into the seventh. Then, the Emperors went crazy. A walk and two singles brought up John Gil, who to this point had no hits in the game, with the bases loaded and no outs. Gil got a fat one on the first pitch and he was aggressive, and blew the game wide open with one swing. He crushed a grand slam out to center field, giving Rome a 6-2 lead. Eric Hartman followed by doing Eric Hartman things, smacking a base hit then stealing second base, third base, and scoring on a single from Cody Miller. Miller followed suit by stealing his way around to third, then capped the six run inning off by coming home on a sacrifice fly. Despite his early season struggled Miller has quietly done a lot of good, especially on the bases as he is 20 of 23 on stolen base attempts this season. His contact rates are starting to normalize and while they’re still below average overall he has been much better the past could of weeks, with solid numbers in his past 13 games and quite a bit of power. Miller’s approach needs a ton of work but he’s come a long way just in the season to date, and as long as he is actually making contact he should continue to put up good numbers based on his other attributes.

Swing and Misses 

Jeremy Reyes – 13

Trent Buchanan – 3

(30-22) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (17-35) Delmarva Shorebirds 1

Box Score

• Tate Southisene, 2B: 1-4, 2B, .298/.432/.512
• Conor Essenburg, CF: 2-3, 2B, BB, RBI, .264/.400/.509
• Alex Lodise, SS: 0-4, .245/.329/.392
• Aiven Cabral, SP: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 2.36 ERA
• Logan Forsythe, RP: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 3.92 ERA

Delmarva is both the worst pitching and hitting team in the Carolina League this season, so the Augusta GreenJackets have a real chance to create a lead in the South division if they can take care of business. They did so in this game, but it was a taut affair after Augusta seemed to be on their way to great things after the first inning. Tate Southisene started the game off with a bang, slicing a line drive into the right center field corner for a leadoff double to extend his hitting streak to seven games and his extra-base hit streak to four games. Conor Essenburg followed up by poking a ball down the line and motoring in for a double of his own, and within two batters Augusta already had a lead to play with. Juan Mateo then came in and hit a ball high off of the right field wall for a double of his own, and with two runs and three doubles in the first inning things were looking up for the GreenJackets. That slow start would fade, though, and over the next eighth innings the GreenJackets failed to add any insurance runs on the board. Essenburg had a hit later in the game to keep his hot play going, and he drew a walk, but excitement was hard to find on the offensive end through most of the game and the pitching staff would have their hands full protecting that lead. Essenburg has needed zero time to re-orient himself after coming off of the disabled list, and his strikeouts are already coming back down to earth. In his past four games he only has three total strikeouts, and I have a feeling that given his bat speed and pitch recognition he is going to have no problems eventually adjusting to Single-A pitching. He just does not seem fazed at the plate and finds a way to make hard contact in every game.

A two-run lead and a Single-A pitching staff is not a safe bet at all, but there is no one on Augusta’s roster right now they would trust more than Aiven Cabral to hold it down. Cabral did his thing again with 5 1/3 impressive innings, allowing only one run and keeping Delmarva off balance throughout the game. Some of the success is attributable to Delmarva just not being very good. Cabral didn’t miss a lot of bats and was heavily reliant on his sinker to do the work in this outing, but Cabral’s consistency with commanding a full arsenal continues to be impressive. I typically expect to see Cabral relying more on his sweeper to have success — it’s his only pitch I would grade at an MLB average level — but it wasn’t the go-to for him in this outing and he still found success. The other pitchers on Cabral days have always been then the shakier ones, but Logan Forsythe had by far his most effective outing as a professional and even outshined Cabral in this one. Forsythe’s command has been abysmal this season, and when he started out with a walk and then two straight balls it looked like it could be the same old story for him. His command never quite got to good in this game, but for the first time it really felt like he found something with locating his fastball and he went on to strike out six of his next seven batters and got the game into the ninth inning before allowing a double that ended his day. When he is able to throw enough strikes it’s fairly easy to see why Forsythe was interesting enough for the Braves to pick up in the 13th round. His slider is still largely a non-factor because he can’t locate it well enough to take advantage of it even if it does have good traits, but it doesn’t always matter given how good his fastball is. His velocity isn’t the mid-90’s that was in some reports following the draft, but it plays well above that velocity given Forsythe’s low release and the carry on the pitch. The ball just continues to ride above the hands of hitters and produce whiffs at the top of the strike zone, so it’s really just a matter of him actually being able to land that pitch there. If I were working on Forsythe’s arsenal I would love to see a change in his slider. It has a ton of movement but it’s fairly slow sitting in the low 80’s, and a harder, shorter shape might serve him better when paired with that fastball movement. In addition the extra velocity could give him a bit more leeway given how often he misses over the plate, taking some of these hits where guys can just adjust, wait back on 80 and turn on it, and turn those into foul balls or whiffs.

Swing and Misses

Logan Forsythe – 8

Aiven Cabral – 5

Styven Paez – 4

(7-16) FCL Braves 1, (11-11) FCL Orioles 4

Box Score

• Diego Tornes, CF: 0-3, BB, RBI .185/.279/.204
• Owen Carey, DH: 1-3, .167/.231/.167
• Carter Holton, SP: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1.13 ERA

It was another disappointing day for Diego Tornes and the FCL Braves lineup, which collectively combined to generate just two hits on the day. The silver lining to that would be Owen Carey, who picked up the second hit of his rehab stint down in Florida and has hope to return to the Emperors soon. It’s been a pretty massive breakout season for a number of Emperors hitters and giving Carey the opportunity to put his name back in the hat brings even more excitement for the looming summer. Carter Holton’s third rehab appearance was his best as he dominated and faced the most batters he has in a game. Holton is going to be in a very interesting spot once he does return to the rotation this season, given his age and how many red flags he had in his profile even before his injury. I had quite a critical view of his starting potential and mechanics after his sole game in Augusta two seasons ago and I’m going to watch closely when he does get back onto video feeds to see what changes they have made during his rehab.

Many announcers and writers have called Salvador Perez a future Hall of Famer, but I do not think that he is going to make it to Cooperstown. Two things have kept him in that tier just below elite. First, he is a free-swinger in an era where on-base percentage is valued higher than batting average, hindering his perceived offensive value. Second, the rise of catcher framing statistics have diminished his perceived defensive value despite his Gold Gloves. Both on-base percentage and framing metrics have really limited his value by Wins Above Replacement (WAR). His Baseball Reference (BR) career WAR is sitting at 35.5 compared to an average Hall of Fame catcher WAR of 53.6. His Fangraphs WAR is a paltry 18.4 because they include the framing values while BR defensive WAR does not.

Salvy’s framing values have vacillated, as all statistics do, but they have been consistently negative. The only season where his framing metric (FRM) value was positive was 2020 when it was 0.3 in the COVID shortened season. The new ABS challenge system is exactly the sort of thing that would be beneficial to a catcher like Perez. He throws well and has been around average at blocking per Statcast, though we will never know how that would have rated in his younger seasons before blocking metrics were tracked. He has even had some very nice defensive value seasons despite the framing issues, but over the years, Salvador has accumulated -125.5 FRM, which is largely responsible for the 17 WAR disparity between Baseball Reference and Fangraphs.

When it comes to catchers taking advantage of the new ABS system, Salvador Perez is near the top of the leaderboard. He has won 74% of his catching challenges for a 74% success rate. Only William Contreras and Tyler Stephenson have won more challenges. Each one of those wins represents a strike that would have counted against his framing in past years that he can now salvage for his pitcher. It hasn’t been enough to make Salvy’s 2026 framing value positive—he currently sits at -1.0 FRM—but he’s on pace for roughly -3 FRM, which would rank as the third-best framing season of his career over a full year. Each framing call – either turning a ball into a strike or a strike into a ball – is worth roughly 0.12 to 0.13 runs. Perez being successful on 31 challenges implies that it would be worth around 3.7 runs in framing negatives that he avoided. That would have put him on pace for closer to a -12 FRM and he generally hangs out in the -8 to -13 range, so that makes it feel like it is a “real” difference from ABS.

More broadly, ABS seems to be taking some value away from the top framing performers, as you might have expected it would. Both Fangraphs and Baseball Savant had Patrick Bailey worth more than 20 runs from framing in each of 2024 and 2025 and many other players are often in the upper teens. Right now, Dillon Dingler is leading FRM with a pace for around +11. Statcast does have Adley Rutschman and Brandon Valenzuela pacing closer to +14, but the top end does seem to be a little compressed as some of your framed strikes could get overturned along with the generally tighter strike zone that we have seen presumably as umps try not to expand the zone now that they can get embarrassed on overturns. Bailey is only on pace for +5 to +6 FRM, which would be quite the drop for him despite having won 28 ABS challenges but having 21 overturned the other direction by the batters. Salvador has only had batters overturn 10 calls against him. Being good at framing just creates more opportunities for batters to challenge and presumably fewer for the catcher.

Highly negative framing values are a little harder to deal with, though maybe some of those catchers will get more chances in an ABS era. When there are issues in an area like this it can cost people playing time and thus not show us what the overall seasons might typically look like. Tyler Stephenson is the worst framer so far this season, but is having an overall positive defensive contribution, so he is likely to get to continue behind the dish despite the framing deficiencies. It is hard to say how ABS is going to affect the bottom end of the spectrum here, and it might take several years before we know.

What we’ve seen so far suggests that Salvador knows what a strike is and is using that to have a high success rate in his challenges. That may also be helping to buoy his FRM value above its typical level. Early returns suggest ABS may substantially mitigate Salvy’s framing deficiencies, reducing their impact to perhaps a quarter or a third of what they would have been under the previous system. Unfortunately, he is nearing the end of his career so ABS is not going to take away all the negative framing value he has already accrued in his long and successful big-league career.

Happy Wednesday A’s Fans!

Entering the third full month of the 2026 MLB season, the Athletics will hope to play better after languishing through their fifth straight losing May.

The team’s pitching depth will be tested this month as four of the five members of the Opening-Day starting rotation are no-longer on the active roster. Right-handers Luis Severino and Aaron Civale are on the injured list with shoulder injuries while right-hander Luis Morales and left-hander Jacob Lopez struggled to get big-league hitters out and are now trying to re-gain form in Triple-A. Lopez was demoted after giving up the first half of the Yankees 13-run inning this past Sunday. That leaves left-hander Jeffrey Springs as the lone veteran holdover.

Springs will be joined by breakout right-hander J.T. Ginn, who moved from the bullpen to the rotation earlier this season and has not looked back. Ginn has become one of the A’s most consistent pitchers, finding success against both right and left-handed hitters.

The other three spots will likely be awarded to more unproven options. The A’s top pitching prospect, left-hander Gage Jump, has a firm grip on one, especially after his extremely impressive seven innings of one-run ball in his second career MLB start against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Right-handed pitchers Kade Morris and Mason Barnett have joined Jump in the big-leagues because the A’s need healthy arms. The A’s have not listed a starting pitcher for Thursday’s series-finale against the Cubs. All signs are pointing towards Morris making his first MLB start that day, unless he is summoned out of the bullpen tomorrow.

The A’s starting pitching uncertainty is worrisome as it has a strong chance to force the team’s shaky bullpen to cover more innings, resulting in more opportunities for the likes of Mark Leiter Jr.., Scott Barlow and other relievers to blow late leads in winnable games.

This month is the most consequential of the Athletics’ season. The way the team performs over the next couple of weeks will determine the direction the A’s take at the trade deadline and how the rest of the campaign unfolds. Entering action tonight with a 29-31 record that has the team in third place in the American League West, the A’s need its pitching staff to support its offense if the team wants to remain in contention in a wide-open division.

A’s Coverage:

• Jump Dominant As Athletics Beat Cubs 2-1
• Three Things To Watch For The Athletics In June
• The A’s Inability To Play Well At Home Is Embarrassing
• A’s Unravel in Series and Homestand Finale
• A’s call up pitching prospect Kade Morris
• Road, sweet road? A’s ready for reset after rough homestand
• Ginn’s glow-up: A’s hurler coming into his own at right time
• Three Dark Horse Trade Candidates for Athletics This Summer
• June update: 2026 top 10 prospect rankings for all 30 MLB teams
• Athletics Early MLB Draft Preview
• The A’s may have finally found their new leadoff hitter
• A’s drop the game and Series to the Mariners, fall into second place
• Wilson takes swings in next step toward return from IL

MLB News and Interest:

• 10 big questions as Trade Deadline season approaches
• MLB 2026: May winners and losers — and what we’re watching in June
• Diamondbacks To Reinstate Pavin Smith From 60-Day IL
• More to celebrate! deGrom earns 100th career win on son’s 3rd birthday
• Astros activate Hader from IL for season debut
• Rangers Place Chris Martin On IL With Shoulder Impingement
• Draft industry poll: Top 10 prospects? Who will go No. 1?
• Carlos Carrasco Elects Free Agency
• Angels on unfortunate end of odd defensive play reminiscent of Canseco
• Giants hire Gary Pettis, who coached Astros’ WS teams, as new 3B coach
• Red Sox great Ortiz says owner John Henry ‘worried’ about team
• MLBPA negotiator sees clear distance between 2 sides of CBA
• Pirates Trade Justin Lawrence To Twins
• Mariners’ Josh Naylor exits with back spasms after hitting HR
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

A’s injuries update:

A’s Las Vegas ballpark construction progress report:

Kade Morris pitched well in this year’s Spring Breakout showcase. Can the A’s 12th ranked prospect translate his minor-league success to MLB like Jump has done or will he experience some initial struggles against big-league hitters?

If Jump keeps pitching as well as he did last night, the A’s may have the homegrown stud pitcher they have been seeking.

Good day everyone!

The Mariners made it eight straight with an easy 8-3 victory over the Mets to secure their third consecutive series win. They’ve now raised their Fangraphs playoff odds to 87.8%.

Which player has impressed you the most over this recent stretch of play? I have to give some flowers to Jhonny Pereda for admirably filling in the large shoes of Cal Raleigh and helping to keep the team afloat.

In Mariners news…

• Daniel Kramer reported on how the Mariners commemorated Lou Gehrig Day yesterday.
• Kramer spoke to Julio Rodríguez about his personal-best month of May and what helped him unlock this current hot streak.
• Levi Weaver at The Athletic wrote about the Mariners’ stretch of success to close out the month.
• Kate Preusser spoke to Emerson Hancock about how he transformed himself into a completely new pitcher this offseason.
• J.J. Cooper at Baseball America lauded the Mariners’ continued dominance in minor league pitching performance among his four key insights from May. ($)

Around the league…

• The Astros activated left-handed closer Josh Hader from the injured list. Hader hasn’t pitched since mid-August due to a capsule strain in his pitching shoulder.
• The Tigers activated second baseman Gleyber Torres from the injured list, who has been nursing an oblique strain since early May.
• Red Sox lefty Garrett Crochet is still shut down from his rehab program, but he is optimistic he can get back to it soon.
• Aaron Judge is listed as day-to-day due to a bone bruise near his shoulder.
• Former Angels first-rounder Jordyn Adams is hanging up his cleats to pursue a collegiate football career at SMU.
• The ESPN staff named the sport’s biggest winners and losers in May.
• Keagan Stiefel at Over the Monster put a positive spin on the Red Sox’s lackluster 2026 season so far.
• Ryan Blake at Fangraphs wrote about Corbin Carroll’s complete dominance of left-handed pitching this year.
• Somehow I missed this news from a few weeks ago so maybe you did too: The Florida State League is experimenting with a check-swing challenge system.