Wed. 4/30 - Early Starts for Carolina (10:00 AM CT), Wisconsin (12:10 PM CT)

[biedergb]

Just now, Joseph Zarr said:

Probably should have caught it regardless but Lara tried to cover a lot of ground there, ran into Spain's zone

I will have to rewatch, but it was a high fly, so I would defer to the better defender, but it's one where you HAVE to communicate, and they didn't or didn't effectively enough as Lara did run into his space, but both had a chance on it.

[Joseph Zarr]

6 minutes ago, biedergb said:

Zoinks. Spain just get out of Lara's way.

A three base error for a big big fella. That was popped high and plent of time. Not a great play in the 9th. That extra run the SHuckers got looms large.

Yeah, that was a weird one. It definitely looked like Spain's ball but Lara came in hard and fast and let up at the last moment and even bumped Spain a little bit. Spain probably still has to make a clean catch but I can understand him letting up. He just took his eye off the ball and glove at the same moment. Thankfully, Yeager dug deep and escaped. 

[Joseph Zarr]

I can legitimately say I was not prepared to see RHP Craig Kimbrel and his scarecrow set up on the bump this evening. Goodness, I'm old. 

(And so is Craig 😆)

[Joseph Zarr]

The Sounds got McKendry'd and then stranded two to end it. Tough 'L'. Credit to McGee for giving the team a chance to sneak a dub. 

[biedergb]

Alright, a 3-1 night for the affiliates tonight. 

I may be able to watch/join tomorrow, but will definitely be around for the weekend slate.

And I'm looking forward to this weekend slate:

1.  Cornielle, Letson M Hernandez and Henderson on Friday
2. DeBerry debut, Miz and Hardin on Saturday as well as first ACL game
3. Hunt, Torres on "Rodriguez day" (Carlos in AAA, Manuel in A+), which is also known as Sunday to others.

[Joseph Zarr]

2 minutes ago, biedergb said:

Alright, a 3-1 night for the affiliates tonight. 

I may be able to watch/join tomorrow, but will definitely be around for the weekend slate.

And I'm looking forward to this weekend slate:

1.  Cornielle, Letson M Hernandez and Henderson on Friday
2. DeBerry debut, Miz and Hardin on Saturday as well as first ACL game
3. Hunt, Torres on "Rodriguez day" (Carlos in AAA, Manuel in A+), which is also known as Sunday to others.

That's consecutive 3-1 showings. We were Yerlin'd last night. We were McKendry'd tonight. Nearly 8-0. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Well, I guess I could stop watching the Mudcats game again and I should just go ahead and write a report already. Sheeesh. LOL.

[Joseph Zarr]

8 hours ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Bitonti rocketed a loner up the middle, right at the shortstop behind the bag and somehow Payne managed to avoid getting doubled off. Good IQ from the 1st rounder

It's like that for Bitonti right now. Happy he barreled the ball. It's a matter of time for him. He just has to stay in the grind as cliched as that is. Timing is off. Happy he barreled a ball though. Still eagerly awaiting his first nuke of 2025.

[Joseph Zarr]

8 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Carolina just relentless.

Give up three top of the eleventh,

Have answered back with a Walling single, Walther HBP and now a Lameda single to tie it up.

And Jesus walks it off with a single.

7-6 Mudcats win.

I'm here to tell ya...that 'single' had a bit of drip. Aura in that young man's everything. Just flat aura. My goodness, we have a superstar on our hands. We know it when we see it folks. There's no need to beat around the proverbial bush. I watched Chourio's ascent - near every Minor League game. Made is an even more tantalizing bat. You can not teach his innate switch-hitting prowess to all fields. You can not find that on trees. He has unbelievable upside. All he needs to do is give us competent defense somewhere - 😅 This is, what, a game after he ripped a nuke off the scoreboard from the right side? I mean...whewwwwwww.

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, biedergb said:

 Adams looks more confident at the plate.

The walks.....always the walks. But in his last handful of games, base hits too, four of them leaving the yard. Looks like he may have figured something out.

[Joseph Zarr]

1 hour ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

The walks.....always the walks. But in his last handful of games, base hits too, four of them leaving the yard. Looks like he may have figured something out.

Here's an unsolicited 'This just in':

Brock Wilken leads the Southern League in walks. Next closest is actually 9 free passes behind him. Lara is third. Darrien Miller in a three-way tie for 7th. Adams is 10th. If there's a man we need to start finding more knocks it's Wilken. He has 27 BB and 28 K but only 12 pokes. Weird season.

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Here's an unsolicited 'This just in':

Brock Wilken leads the Southern League in walks. Next closest is actually 9 free passes behind him. Lara is third. Darrien Miller in a three-way tie for 7th. Adams is 10th. If there's a man we need to start finding more knocks it's Wilken. He has 27 BB and 28 K but only 12 pokes. Weird season.

Agree 100%, it's a very strange season line for Brock. And we all hope to find some batted-ball productivity from him. It's what he was drafted for. Just saying that Adams has never had issues with drawing his share of BB (and HBP, for that matter), and now I'm seeing all his HRs & over half his RBIs for the year coming in his last six games. That's encouraging.

[Jake McKibbin]

3 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Here's an unsolicited 'This just in':

Brock Wilken leads the Southern League in walks. Next closest is actually 9 free passes behind him. Lara is third. Darrien Miller in a three-way tie for 7th. Adams is 10th. If there's a man we need to start finding more knocks it's Wilken. He has 27 BB and 28 K but only 12 pokes. Weird season.

Very weird. Wilken chased too much last year, and evidently this season has decided to take the Luke Adams approach: If you don't swing, you won't chase.

The graph in the bottom left is a rolling chart of Wilken's in zone swing rate. It's literally off the chart. Same for pitches outside the zone, and its an approach that's giving him a high overall contact rate north of 80%, but is limiting his ability to hit his way on base and access the raw power that we hoped would be his calling card