Sat. 8/31 - Sounds Try Again to Get Two In

[Jim Goulart]

Thread will be utilized for any minor league news Saturday.

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[Joseph Zarr]

With last night's 'W' the Mudcats regained sole possession of second half first place in the Carolina League North division. 

More importantly, Salem did indeed move within 2.0 G of Fredericksburg. That's a big development with 8 games remaining in the regular season. Kannapolis is giving the Fred Nats all they can handle in their current series. The Cannonballers will face Salem to close the season next week whereas Fredericksburg will close at Home vs the Hillcats.

Down to the wire!

[Joseph Zarr]

And, tonight we'll see LHP Anthony Flores take the bump for his second consecutive start as the Mudcats take a 4-0 series lead into game five. Flores has held hitters to a lowly 0.127 BA in August with a stellar 0.74 WHIP and 2.37 ERA. 19.0 IP, 19 K, 6 BB, 1 HB, 8 H, 1 HR, 5 ER for the month. Marco Dinges is back at the DH spot hitting second with CF Yophery Rodriguez back in his customary lead-off spot. Reece Walling is back at 1B and we see that Eric Bitonti is back to the hot corner filling in for the unknown injury to stalwart Juan Baez. RF Miguel Briceno and LF Yhoswar Garcia will man the corner OF. 

 

[Joseph Zarr]

The T-Rats trail the Quad City River Bandits 3-1 in their six game Homestand. It certainly hasn't been easy through four games. After RHP Ryan Birchard's abbreviated struggles last night, we'll hope to see steady RHP Will Rudy give his team a solid outing to steady the ship. 2B Jadher Areinamo is back in the lead-off spot with SS Eduardo Garcia continuing to bat second on a night-after-night basis. CF Luis Lara bats third again with 1B Jesus Chirinos once again batting clean-up and bringing his glove to first base. I am pretty keen on the C Ramon Rodriguez to LF Hedbert Perez 5 and 6 spots. Let's hope the T-Rats can turn this series around and head toward a split. 

 

[Jake McKibbin]

4 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

And, tonight we'll see LHP Anthony Flores take the bump for his second consecutive start as the Mudcats take a 4-0 series lead into game five. Flores has held hitters to a lowly 0.127 BA in August with a stellar 0.74 WHIP and 2.37 ERA. 19.0 IP, 19 K, 6 BB, 1 HB, 8 H, 1 HR, 5 ER for the month. Marco Dinges is back at the DH spot hitting second with CF Yophery Rodriguez back in his customary lead-off spot. Reece Walling is back at 1B and we see that Eric Bitonti is out for the second night in a row. RF Miguel Briceno and LF Yhoswar Garcia will man the corner OF. 

 

Looks like Bitonti is playing third base! Nice to see him getting reps there

[Joseph Zarr]

Alas, the return of the 'Beach Chickens' - the highlight of the homestand. LHP Nate Peterson takes the bump for another go at a start. It has very much been sink or swim for Peterson in 2024 so let's hope he can at least make it two times through this problematic Biscuits batting order. WIlken sits for the second conseuctive game after his mysterious disappearance in game three's ninth inning. CF Adam Hall returns after last night's ejections. 2B Dylan O'Rae plays for the second consecutive night in lead-off as he appears to have moved past his brief hip malady after swiping second base last weekend. Let's see if the Shuckers bats can give us an anomalous break out performance!

 

[Joseph Zarr]

3 minutes ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Looks like Bitonti is playing third base! Nice to see him getting reps there

Indeed although the circumstances of Baez being out are concerning. 

[Kellerowl]

Muddies in weather delay

[Joseph Zarr]

 

[Joseph Zarr]

I see LHP Tyler Jay came aboard as the fill-in for McKendry's bases loaded no out scenario and he proceeded to give up a lead-off double. Jay has been generally acceptable at Triple-A Nashville. That trade will just never never make sense to me. At all.

'The Shookster' in Double-A Binghamton?

13 1/3 IP, 17 K, 3 BB, 2 HB, 7 H, 0 HR, 2 W, 1 L, 4 SVO, 4 SV, 1 Hold, 0.152 BAA, 0.75 WHIP, 1.35 ERA

There was zero reason to let this type of upside go for a journeyman AAAA arm. Zero. You can not convince me otherwise. Shook can pitch any role for you and he is just coming into his own with a very very solid four pitch mix. Plus, he's four years younger.

[wiguy94]

10 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

I see LHP Tyler Jay came aboard as the fill-in for McKendry's bases loaded no out scenario and he proceeded to give up a lead-off double. Jay has been generally acceptable at Triple-A Nashville. That trade will just never never make sense to me. At all.

'The Shookster' in Double-A Binghamton?

13 1/3 IP, 17 K, 3 BB, 2 HB, 7 H, 0 HR, 2 W, 1 L, 4 SVO, 4 SV, 1 Hold, 0.152 BAA, 0.75 WHIP, 1.35 ERA

There was zero reason to let this type of upside go for a journeyman AAAA arm. Zero. You can not convince me otherwise. Shook can pitch any role for you and he is just coming into his own with a very very solid four pitch mix. Plus, he's four years younger.

Conversely look no further than Blake Holub to see how big of a jump it is from AA to AAA from a pitching perspective. Holub has been absolutely dominant in AA but has been bad in 2 different AAA stints this season.

[Joseph Zarr]

2 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Conversely look no further than Blake Holub to see how big of a jump it is from AA to AAA from a pitching perspective. Holub has been absolutely dominant in AA but has been bad in 2 different AAA stints this season.

The easier juxtaposition here is: I point you to one RHP Justin Jarvis and his journey from Double-A Binghamton to Triple-A Syracuse. The struggle is real.  I understand the pratfalls. You will never taint my love of 'The Shookster'. 

Undaunted.

[wiguy94]

2 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

The easier juxtaposition here is: I point you to one RHP Justin Jarvis and his journey from Double-A Binghamton to Triple-A Syracuse. The struggle is real.  I understand the pratfalls. You will never taint my love of 'The Shookster'. 

Undaunted.

To be fair I very much agree that the trade was weird at the time. Maybe they found out that Shook was leaning towards leaving in minor league FA (think he was a minor league FA) so wanted to just get something in return for him. I really have no idea why they needed another LHRP on the 40-man.

Not that this is related, but I wonder if Arnold knew that Hall and Ashby were going to find their stuff so soon after the trade deadline if he would have made the Mears trade. I'm a believer in Mears stuff especially after an offseason in our org but he has no options so I don't love the long term roster fit. 

[Joseph Zarr]

I continue to think the 'Beach Chickens' look is the best look in Biloxi. That 80's Miami Vice teal with the pink accent is just so choice. I really hope they favor this moving forward.

[Joseph Zarr]

Quad Cities laying it on the T-Rats early yet again. 4-0 River Bandits lead headed to the 2nd. A solo shot and a two run triple were the primary culprits in RHP Will Rudy's first frame of work.

[sveumrules]

Biloxi up 5 to 0 heading to bottom of the sixth with a two RBI Connor Scott double followed by a two run Ernesto Martinez Jr. bomb accounting for most of the scoring.

Nate Peterson has six scoreless frames with 5 H | 1 BB | 6 K.

[Joseph Zarr]

14 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Biloxi up 5 to 0 heading to bottom of the sixth with a two RBI Connor Scott double followed by a two run Ernesto Martinez Jr. bomb accounting for most of the scoring.

Nate Peterson has six scoreless frames with 5 H | 1 BB | 6 K.

You have to love Peterson coming through like this. He's been routinely showing signs but has been struggling with 2nd and 3rd times through and has struggled locating off-speed. Tonight's outing is a huge boon for the Shuckers pitching staff.

[Joseph Zarr]

INF Christian Arroyo has (not so) quietly gone 10-for-30 over his past 30 AB and is 2-for-3 tonight with a key 2-RBI single to LF in the Sound's 7th to give his squad a 6-4 game. Gotta love it.