Spartanburg will announce its team name on May 11th. Down East is expected to relocate to South Carolina in 2025.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 1, Salt Lake (LAA) 0
Round Rock: 5 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 1 hit, 4 walks, 13 strikeouts
Record: 11-13, 5 GB
SP Jack Leiter: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 SO, 86 P / 53 S, 2.66 ERA
RP Aidan Anderson: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO, 0.00 ERA
RF Sandro Fabian: 2-4, 2 2B, .397/.429/.616
SS Jonathan Ornelas: 2-2, BB, .308/.352/.431
In his first start since his MLB debut, Jack Leiter manhandled the Bees, notching 19 swinging strikes out of 40 swings, including nine with the fastball and eight via slider. His changeup, which took an unexpectedly strong supporting role last week, was once again relegated to cameos. While his overall strike rate was fine, he did suffer some occasional control lapses. Still, this was essentially a Vandy-era performance: “Sure, I walked a few, but how are you going to get them home?” Not to diminish his outing, but Salt Lake already had the worst strikeout rate in AAA. Leiter capitalized on the opponent’s tendencies. I couldn’t be there in person, as on Thursdays I rage against the dying of the light by playing softball, but the Express have video.
In the 9th, Sam Huff walked and scored from first on Sandro Fabian’s gapped double.
AA: Frisco 13, Amarillo (ARI) 5
Frisco: 15 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts
Record: 10-8, 2 GB
SP Nick Krauth: 5 IP, 6 H (1 HR), 4 R, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO, 82 P / 52 S, 8.04 ERA
RP Bryan Chi: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 4.50 ERA
1B Abi Ortiz: 3-5, 2B, 3B, .250/.343/.433
RF Josh Hatcher: 1-5, HR (1), .349/.391/.488
3B Cody Freeman: 5-5, 2B, 2 HR (2), SB (1), .305/.379/.475
Cody Freeman had himself a day. Freeman is no longer catching and is in fact playing exclusively at third, whereas in 2023 he mostly caught and dabbled at second in addition to 3B duties.
Abimelec Ortiz broke out of a week-long chill (2-for-27, but only 6 Ks). Overall, he’s performed pretty well, if not yet generating the heat of 2023. At 22, Ortiz is the team’s second-youngest hitter, and at this time last year he was repeating low-A.
Hi-A: Hickory 7, Asheville (HOU) 2
Hickory: 8 hits, 3 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 5 hits, 4 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 7-10, 3.5 GB
SP Luis Ramirez: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 SO, 63 P / 37 S, 4.05 ERA
RP Jacob Maton: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 3.38 ERA
1B Konnor Piotto: 2-4, 2B, 3B, .235/.364/.412
2B Devin Hurdle: 3-4, .316/.435/.368
C Ian Moller: 1-3, BB, SB (2), .156/.270/.219
On Education Day, Hickory’s schoolkids learned not to ignore undrafted bottom-third hitters, as #7 Konnor Piotto and #8 Devin Hurdle provided five of the team’s eight hits.
Lo-A: Down East 2, @ Fayetteville (HOU) 3 (10)
Down East: 5 hits, 6 walks, 12 strikeouts
Opponent: 7 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts
Record: 9-8, 4.5 GB
SP Paul Bonzagni: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 0 SO, 54 P / 35 S, 1.69 ERA
RP Kohl Drake: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 7 SO, 1.08 ERA
RP Case Matter: 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 2.45 ERA
3B Gleider Figuereo: 1-5, HR (4), .245/.412/.547
Another walk-off loss. With the gift-runner on second, 3B Gleider Figuereo threw wide to first on a grounder, and 1B Arturo Disla’s throw to the plate short-hopped and evaded catcher Julian Brock.
Paul Bonzagni’s strikeout rate drifted to below 10%, but he’s not issuing walks and surrendering almost nothing but singles.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Sampson
AA: Acker
Hi-A: Montalvo
Lo-A: TBA (Rosario / Bormie maybe)
Five Years Ago Yesterday
“The fear is that he’ll let an inning get away from him, forcing an early exit and further stressing the bullpen” is what I wrote preceding Taylor Hearn’s debut, and that fear unfortunately manifested. Worse still, Hearn suffered an injury and wouldn’t pitch in another real game for 16 months. Emmanuel Clase tossed 1.1 scoreless in his AA debut.