Baby Jays Recap - Alejandro Kirk & Kevin Smith have a big night

Buffalo (39-25) - Win 14-1 over Syracuse

Buffalo’s bats were alive against Syracuse Tuesday night as they pounded out 14 hits and 8 walks, putting up 4 different innings with crooked numbers. Among the 14 hits were 5 homeruns as the Herd hammered the Mets. Alejandro Kirk had a big game, after the discussion yesterday around his bat not being quite where we expected. Kirk picked up 4 hits, including his 2nd HR in AAA in the 8th, a 3-run shot. Cullen Large had a 3 hit game, with a single, a double and his 4th HR of the year, another 3-run shot, though in the 2nd inning. Kevin Smith got the day started as he had his 16th HR of the year in the 1st, and added a single and a walk. Riley Adams didn’t homer, but had a single, a double and a walk. Richard Urena had a walk and a solo HR (7), as he went back-to-back with Large in the 2nd. Tyler White had a third 3-run HR (5) and also walked. Dilson Herrera had a double and a walk. Christian Colon had 2 walks and Logan Warmoth walked, as every Buffalo batter reached base.

While the offense was destroying the pitching, the real story in this one was Bowden Francis. In his 2nd start with Buffalo, Francis cruised through 6 innings without allowing a hit. Word on the street is that Minor Leaguer did not cause the no-no to be broken up, as Francis gave up a solo HR to lead off the 7th inning. Final line for Francis was the 1 run on the solo HR, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. Tyler Chatwood had a scoreless inning, allowing a walk and a hit, needing 21 pitches (only 10 strikes). Travis Bergen also gave up a single in his scoreless inning, but needing only 11 pitches to do so.

New Hampshire (28-35) - Loss 9-8 to Reading

This loss will sting for the Fisher Cats, as they took a 6-0 lead into the 5th inning, as Maximo Castillo was cruising through 4. Castillo gave up a 3-run HR with 2 outs in the 5th, which ended his night. Final line was 3 earned on 5 hits and 3 walks in 4.2 innings. Castillo struck out 4. Will McAffer came in and got the final out of the 5th, but gave up 3 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks without recording an out in the 6th. Brody Rodning allowed an earned run on 2 hits in 1.2 innings. Emerson Jimenez continues to struggle as he works his way back from injuring. Jimenez allowed 2 earned on 3 hits and a walk in an inning. Jon Harris pitched the final 1.1 innings, allowing a single and striking out a batter.

At the plate, New Hampshire had 8 hits and 11 walks led by Jordan Groshans. Groshans had 3 singles and a walk, scoring a run and driving in 2. Reggie Pruitt had 2 singles and stole 2 bases. Otto Lopez picked up his 21st double of the year and added 3 walks. Austin Martin had 3 walks and 2 runs scored. Chavez Young had his 2nd HR of the year, a solo shot in the 8th. Young added a walk and a sac fly to drive in 3 runs. Vinny Capra had a hit and a walk. Samad Taylor had a walk and a sac fly. LJ Talley had a walk and 3 K’s in this one.

Vancouver (32-35) - Loss 6-5 to Everett in 11 innings

Vancouver was able to tie this one up late, come back from giving up 2 in the 10th inning, but ultimately were unable to score in the 11th to lose this one. In the 11th, Sebastian Espino lined into a double play to lead off the inning, getting Zac Cook doubled off second. A flyout later and the game was done. Luis De Los Santos led off the bottom of the first with his 9th HR of the year. Tanner Morris had a single and a double, driving in 3 runs. Spencer Horwitz had 2 singles in this one. DJ Neal walked twice and scored 2 runs. Phil Clarke had 2 walks. Eric Rivera had a walk and 2 sac bunts. Espino & Ryan Gold each had a walk. This club could use a kick start on offense, hopefully in the form of Will Robertson coming back in the not too distant future.

Paxton Schultz started and allowed 3 earned runs on 10 hits and 2 walks over 5 innings. Schultz gave up a 2-run HR in the 4th and a double. Sean Mellen had 2 scoreless innings of relief, allowing 2 walks and striking out 1. Justin Maese went 2 innings, allowing a single and striking out 3 while not allowing any runs. Cobi Johnson got both extra innings, allowing both Manfred Men to score, and also giving up a solo HR in the 10th. Johnson allowed 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3.

Dunedin (28-38) - Loss 7-3 to Lakeland

The D-Jays were able to put up 3 runs with 2 outs in the 1st inning, but didn’t score again. Harrison Ray singled. After an Addison Barger pop out, Ray stole second. Orelvis Martinez walked, followed by a PK Morris double to score Ray. Zach Britton doubled in Martinez & Morris, and that was all the scoring Dunedin did. Ray added another single in this one. Barger had a double. Steward Berroa had 2 singles and stole 2 bases, to give him 26 on the season. Those 26 steals puts Berroa 2nd in the league, though he has played 12 fewer games. MacKenzie Mueller and Hugo Cardona each singled in this one, with Cardona adding a stolen base and making an error in the field. Berroa & Mueller each had an OF assist in this one as well.

Nathanael Perez started and allowed 3 runs (2 earned) on 3 hits and a walk in 3 innings. Perez gave up a 2-run HR after the Cardona error. Perez did strike out 5 batters. Wilgenis Alvarado allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits and 5 walks in 4 innings. Elixon Caballero pitched 2 scoreless, allowing a walk and striking out 1.

FCL (10-6) - Win 6-3 over FCL Tigers East

The Complex club put up 2 runs in the 3rd and 4 runs in the 5th to take this game. In the 3rd, a Rikelbin De Castro 2-out double started the inning. Will Robertson singled in De Castro. Gabriel Martinez singled and Rainer Nunez followed with a double that scored Robertson. In the 5th, Robertson reached on an throwing error by the pitcher. Martinez singled and then Nunez singled to load the bases. Jhon Solarte had a sac fly to score Robertson, and JJ D’Orazio followed with a 3-run HR, his 1st of the year. Nunez would go on to add another double, while Martinez added a 3rd single. Robertson finished 1-3 with a walk, a stolen base and 2 runs scored. Luis Rivas added a double and was hit by a pitch.

Colton Laws started this one on his rehab assignment, and pitched a scoreless first inning, striking out 1. Bejardi Meza followed and was magic in going 2 scoreless innings. Meza started off by hitting the first batter he faced, who was then caught stealing. Meza walked the next batter but then promptly picked him off. Another walk and a double put runners at 2nd & 3rd, but Meza got a pop out. The final line was 2 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 2 walks, 1 hit batter. Kendry Rojas allowed 3 earned runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in 1.2 innings. One of the hits was a 2-run HR. Guillermo Villasmil pitched the final 2.1 innings, allowing 2 hits and a walk, but no runs to get the win.

DSL (2-3) - Cancelled due to Rain against DSL Orioles 1

Today’s Probables

Buffalo takes on Syracuse - No starter has been announced

New Hampshire sends Reilly Hovis (0-1, 5.93 ERA, 6.71 FIP, 6.05 xFIP) to the mound to take on Reading

Nick Fraze (3-1, 1.91 ERA, 4.49 FIP, 3.97 xFIP) takes the ball for Vancouver against Everett

Dunedin starts Naswell Paulino (2-2, 4.74 ERA, 5.01 FIP, 5.38 xFIP) against Lakeland

The FCL Jays take on the FCL Phillies in Dunedin. No starter has been listed

The DSL Jays have a day off.

Random Stats

Kevin Smith is tied for 2nd in the AAA East, with 16 HR’s. The league leader is old friend Ryan McBroom at 18. I believe Smith leads the league in XBH with 33, RBI with 50, tied for 3rd with 33 walks and tied for 5th with 11 stolen bases. On the other end, Smith is tied for the 4th most strikeouts with McBroom. A couple of other old friends having solid seasons in the league are Anthony Alford with an OPS of 1.018 (9th) and Edward Olivares sitting with 10 HR’s & 12 stolen bases.

Bowden Francis is tied for 3rd in wins in the AAA East at 6 (4 before coming over to Toronto) which is impressive since he started the year in AA where he won 3 more games, giving him 9 on the year. One of those also tied at 6 wins is Drew Hutchison. It’s a silly stat, but sitting 1 & 2 in saves are Bryan Baker (7) and Hobie Harris (6).

In the AA Northeast League, among those with at least 100 PA, Gabriel Moreno & Vinny Capra are 1 & 2 in BA. Moreno at .373 & Capra at .368. The same order holds up for OPS as Moreno sits at 1.092 and Capra is at 1.080. The two are tied for first in OBP at .441, Otto Lopez sits 4th at the 100 PA cut off at .333. Even having missed a while with that injury, Moreno still sits 4th in the league in RBI at 45. Samad Taylor leads the league in stolen bases at 18 (with an 82% success rate). Austin Martin is tied for 5th with 31 walks, and has the second lowest number of K’s among those he’s tied with or behind (Adley Rutschman had 5 fewer). Martin has a lead of 3 in the number of times being hit by pitch at 12.

On the mound, Maximo Castillo’s 6 wins is tied for 2nd in the league, but his ERA of 5.28 is the worst of the group. Castillo sits tied for 8th in innings at 58.0 so far. Former Baby Jay Josh Winckowski is 6th at 62.1.

In Vancouver Luis De Los Santos is 3rd in the league with 47 RBI’s and shows up as tied for 4th with 66 hits. Tanner Morris sits 10th with 58. Ryan Gold sits 4th with 21 doubles, De Los Santos is tied for 5th at 18. De Los Santos is tied for 7th with 9 HR’s as well. Vancouver sits #1 & #2 in stolen bases as Cameron Eden has 30 and Tanner Kirwer has 25, while each was only caught stealing twice. Kirwer is actually at 33 for the year, as he has 8 since moving to New Hampshire.

Adrian Hernandez is second in Runs Allowed per 9 innings, at 0.83 in 21.2 innings. The only number better was in 10.2 fewer innings. Parker Caracci leads the league with 7 saves. Among pitchers with 30 innings, Luis Quinones has the 2nd best K/9 rate at 14.8, which has him moving to New Hampshire. The trouble is that his BB/9 is 9 and he only gets 1.64 K’s per walk. Although the K-rate is over 35% he sits behind Hernandez’ 42% K-rate (split between Dunedin & Vancouver - 45% in Dunedin, 39% in Vancouver)

Orelvis Martinez used a huge week last week to vault up some lists in the Low-A Southeast. Martinez sits first with 69 hits, 19 2B’s, 15 HR’s 36 XBH & 56 RBI’s. Addison Barger sits 4th with 9 HR’s. To get some of those power numbers Barger sits 2nd from the bottom with 78 strikeouts, while Martinez is just behind with 73. As noted above, Steward Berroa is 2nd with 26 steals (89.6% success rate). Dunedin holds 1st & 2nd in getting hit by pitches, as Zac Cook (14) & Leo Jimenez (13) lead. This seems to be something the Jays are finding guys who are good at.

Dunedin’s pitching has struggled this year, so it’s difficult to find a lot there. Naswell Paulino sits tied for 9th in innings pitched at 49.1. Roither Hernandez sits tied for 5th with 5.17 K’s for every walk. He has 6 walks and 31 K’s in 20.2 innings.

Baby Jays Leaders

Hits - Otto Lopez - 81
BA (minimum 100 PA) - Gabriel Moreno - .373
SLG (minimum 100 PA) - Moreno - .651
Doubles - Lopez & Ryan Gold - 21
Triples - Sebastian Espino &Vinny Capra - 4
XBH - Orelvis Martinez - 36
HR’s - Kevin Smith - 16
RBI - Martinez - 56
SB - Tanner Kirwer - 33
BB - PK Morris - 46
Fewest K’s (minimum 100 PA) - Juan Graterol - 15
K’s - MacKenzie Mueller - 82

Games pitched - Kirby Snead - 25
Starts - Adam Kloffenstein - 13
Innings - Zach Logue 60.1
WHIP (Minimum 25 IP)_- Jon Harris - 0.841
Saves - Bryan Baker & Parker Caracci - 7
Fewest HR’s allowed (Minimum 25 IP) - Caracci - 0
K/9 (Minimum 25 IP) - Adrian Hernandez 15.9
BB/9 (Minimum 25 IP) - Connor Overton - 1.6
SO/W (Minimum 25 IP) - Nick Fraze - 5.00
Games Finished - Caracci - 19