Joseph Zarr

Dinges rips a hard hit single to 3B. Pacheco couldn't get a good handle on the transfer. We have men on 1B and 2B via E5.

Burke legs out an oppo single against the shift toward 2B. Dinges takes a hack pitch one that would have killed a village. He is out for blood. LOL. Helmet nearly cut off his nose.

Payne rips a standing RBI triple down the RF line. THIS version of Payne is better than any version I've seen in two weeks. Let's turn the corner together! Huge poke. 2-0 Muddies. Smoked that about 106 mph. BB and a triple. Disciplined swings. These are lefty on lefty.

Hats off to Walther playing some very good defense as the backstop early in Zebulon. LOVE to see it. He's been very solid. Meanwhile DeBerry picks up two K in his second frame. Great work. Worked around a McGonigle walk. (I don't blame him. Just give him first base. LOL).

Walther grabs a CS at 2B. Heck yeah! Made with the very nice gather and tag. Love it. That was a guy with 46 SB! Heck yea, Walther! Big out too. Hard hit liner to LF would have been a sac fly. Instead it is the third out.

Someone tell Juan Baez to keep playing 3B like he is tonight. Absolutely killing it over there early. Making everything look easy and doing it with flare. Love it.

Oooof. Peña absolutely butchered a weak grounder to SS. Poor approach. Went to the back-hand and missed the ball by a good foot. In the Minor Leagues they'll likely score that a hit. It was very much an error. Oh, look, they charged an error. <Golf clap>

2 K's on change-ups to end DeBerry's 2nd frame. Nice recovery.

DiTuri sneaks a triple past a lunging LF'er who misses the catch. He scores Anderson who had doubled off the LF wall. 1-0 Mudcats. HEY a LEAD! LET'S GO!

DeBerry gives up a 106.4 mph BOMB over the RF wall. That ball was absolutely scorched. LOL. 2-1 West Michigan.

101 mph fly out to deep left CF from Bitonti. Not a lot of carry in Zebulon. Very muggy.

If you've never seen baseball at West Michigan that is quite easily the hardest part of the park for a righty bat to hit oppo. NOT easy. Man, I'm going to say it again. Dubanewicz works around a two out weakly hit grounder into RF. Got a K. A 1,2,3,4 inning two.

Dinges BOMB. That's right. THAT'S RIGHT. Oppo. Not easy in this park. At all. Whoooo.

Briceno snorts a bloop into left CF scoring McGonigle. Alastre with the heads up back up work grabs the ball past a sliding CF Eduardo Garcia; hits the relay man and they pick off Briceno late to get back to 1B with the wide turn. Love that. T-Rats trail 1-0.

AND, Braylon is picked off leaving 1B early. LOL. DeBerry just gave up a roaring double off the right CF wall. Man, McGonigle is so good. LOL. Crushed that ball. His bat speed is stupendous. His pitch recognition elite. Sweeper that came back over the outer black. He crushed it.

Braylon Payne with a disciplined 3-2 walk. LOVE it. Keep it going, Braylon. Fouled off a couple - lefty on lefty. That is the type of AB I am personally looking for.

The rehabbing RHP Alex Lange gets Blake Burke swinging and missing on an off-speed pitch in the dirt in a 3-2 count. Burke over-matched in that AB. Poor swing choice. Areinamo and Baez both grounded out to McGonigle at SS.

I do want to encourage anyone to check into the West Michigan telecast. I absolutely love their announcer duo and, hey, their team is fantastic.

3 up. 3 down for Dubanewicz. 2 ground outs. And a bunt attempt that Walther very easily handled down the 3B line. Nice efficient work.

Looks like a beautiful night to be had in both Zebulon and @ West Michigan. I do believe I heard 1B Eric Bitonti is back in the line-up.

I personally think evaluators have a hard time taking Adams seriously because he is such an odd and outlier unicorn. He truly is one of one. The HBP prowess at every level. The strange swing - original approach-to-modified approach, pronounced leg lift, wrist roll - oft ends in one armed pokes, swing decisions (ongoing perceived passivity). His walks. His power. His penchant for pop up 'funks'. As someone who has been clamoring for him to get more PT at 1B since he flashed how his athleticism plays there at Carolina, I've loved seeing him at 1B. He's really quite good there because he is so agile and has such good hands. I also have grown to love his sneaky way he very very quickly removes his plant foot off the bag to avoid any undue injury with every out at the base <cough...cough...Contreras>. His 3B work is a bit sketchy - I'm not going to lie - so I am glad he is getting good and consistent reps at 1B where he is a plus addition. As someone who was touting and pointing people to Adams back in his ACL days of yore, and then someone who was really pointing people to Adams once he began flashing at Carolina, I was highly skeptical of his jump to Double-A. I now essentially am in the camp of: don't doubt Luke Adams. I think beyond his production and beyond his prospect status at large, what isn't quantifiable but what absolutely comes across in his general playing 'joie de vivre', if you will, and in his interviews is his sacrifice and humility. This is truly a young man who puts his team and his faith at the forefront. He works on himself and his game to better the game itself. He puts his entire faith in the proverbial 'man upstairs'. He is genuine. He is a different type of player and a different type of person. What makes that more satisfying to me, personally, is the understanding that even if it doesn't work out in baseball (hey, we never know) I know Luke Adams the person is going to be just fine and he is going to positively impact wherever he goes. Love the player. Love the person.

I'm listening to Rattler Monday. I would imagine the Dorchies promotion, tho obviously well-deserved in and of itself, is also somewhat mandated by the T-Rats suddenly having only 11 available pitchers w Yerlin's unknown suspension. Gillis and Rund are eligible to come off the 7-Day IL but Mehring clearly didn't think either were ready to come right off the IL. The problem I have is I don't think there is a Mudcat worthy of a High-A promotion out of their pitching stables. Perhaps, with Woessner's re-assignment they actually have 12? And they'll just roll with it. Anywho, some borderline relevant thoughts.

Wilken Through 274 PA in 2025: 20.43% BB rate 26.27% K rate 11.67 % HR/2B rate

I like to think RHP Wandy Cabrera poured one out for all the DSL and ACL brethren across the years today. (Me stateside)