Joseph Zarr

YES SIR, Mr. Murray! Muh man! He smacks an oppo double to the RF wall. Still nobody down. Boeve to the dish (2-for-3 today). 4-3 Shuckers.

It is still 3-3 Shuckers/Pensacola and has been since the Shuckers tied it in the 6th. Sparks just took the count full and walked pushing Zavi Warren to 2nd. Nobody out. Ethan Murray to the dish. Come on men, dig deep and let's take Game 1!

Did not look good my friend. UGH. Just did not look good. Took a slider or cutter that got away directly off his lead left knee/knee cap. Upon numerous reviews it looks like that ball smashed straight onto his kneecap. He was writhing in pain and on the ground for at least 3 minutes. Two trainers had to come out to help him to his feet under both arm. No weight on the leg. Absolutely grimacing in pain. I mean COME ONE!!!! DOES EVERY talented player who is dealing have to go down in 2024? Is this the game we are playing oh Baseball Gods?!? Unbelievable. 2:25:11 is your pitch time for the absolutely unfortunate incident. In that picture, that is the ball just rebounding off the top of that knee cap. Look at the catcher's left shoulder.

Y'all RHP Yerlin Rodriguez is a MLB reliever. Full stop. It is inevitable. Man, his inning was just dominant. He did his typical thing in walking a guy on four pitches 😅 after striking out 2 in full counts (hey, he needs to clean things up - we all do!) but the Peoria announcer was effusive in his praise. BTW, Peoria's announcer is just fantastic.

As Spencer alludes to above, there are a number of arms he could choose for this list given the nature of the relief work across the system in 2024. AND, RHP Yerlin Rodriguez could/should be 1b to Yoho's 1a. Both young hurlers, to a man, bring the absolute filth. I said it last season, but Rodriguez has the closest blend of stuff to replicate an Abner Uribe path - including the ability to lose the zone in-inning. Everything he throws is violent. Innate overpowering strikeout stuff when you blend it all together. Another 3 K in 1 IP tonight. Four Saves in 6 appearances now. The K:BB ratio (9:6) on the season is indicative of the work he has ahead of him - tonight in the first 2 K (4/23 vs. Peoria) he also was working with full counts and then walked the next batter on 4 pitches. BUT, you toss in the fact he sits in the 95-97 mph zone and drops in a violent slider and change-up that just drop into and below the zone and you just see the future and it is bright. As the Peoria announcer said tonight: When you watch as many games as he does (and, I guess, I do), you just see the difference in caliber of stuff in certain guys almost immediately. For those of you who don't know, Rodriguez assumed Carolina's closing duties last season after Smith & Shears went North to the Timber Rattlers (and then South to Biloxi where Smith currently resides in his case). He scuffled some as his season progressed. BUT, as I alluded to on several occasions last year: the stuff is undeniable. MLB caliber in every way.

3-1 to the next batter after a mound visit. AND another free pass on a heater not even close low and away. It's a struggle, folks. 10-7 Bats.

After a K for the first out, Holub walks the next batter. 9-7 Sounds trail. I'm going to say this: I've now seen Holub pitch on three occasions in 2024. His control issues. His set-up. Nearly everything about his mound presence and game remind me of 2022/23 LHP Ethan Small. Uncanny resemblance he just pitches from the other side of the body.

He K's his 3rd batter! Gorgeous breaking ball on the outer stripe. Fantastic work from Whiting given the high-leverage shot. You love to see it. Mudcats win 4-2. They are now 4-0 on the season versus Salem.

Whiting K'd his 2nd batter. In a 3-1 count throws a gutsy breaking ball on the outer half for a strike 3-2. Then challenges the hitter with a heater up and in and he flails at it (gotta love it!) and gets his second K. Two down. 4-2 Mudcats. Man on 1st.

In an 8-7 game (Sounds trailing) RHP Blake Holub continues scuffling. He walks men to first and 2nd. Throws a wild pitch and all mean advance. Walks the bases loaded on the next pitch. He is very clearly in an early-season funk. Let's hope he improbably gets out of this jam!

Pitchers you should know but probably don't? RHP KC Hunt Two more scoreless innings in relief. He has been just fantastic this entire early season having yet to concede a single run. By the looks of it, I'd say he is consistently working with 4 and maybe even 5 pitches. Whiting on the hill to try and close it out. Mudcats lead 4-2. Interesting choice to take the 9th frame by manager Nick Stanley. He walks the lead-off on a breaking ball three feet above the zone. Whiting hasn't been 9th inning material all season long but you never know. Let's hope he rises to the occasion.

After failing to knock in a run with runners on 1st and 2nd base with nobody out, the Mudcats now find Salem runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody down after a fairly weak effort to corral a ball off the LF wall from OF Luis Castillo. Pretty poor positioning in both 'leaping' for the ball and the back-up CF effort who never played the bounce. Rodriguez had both batters at 0-2 counts and couldn't find the punch out pitch. Very good AB's from both young men.

Boeve's first Double-A hit is a line drive single up the middle to CF. Noice. Men on 1st and 2nd. One down. First frame.

@Smichaelis9: Entire Mudcats lineup looking hapless vs Wiehunt all night. Nicasia just ripped a laser show liner to RF for a double on an off-speed offering down and in below the belt. AB is at 1:57:37 in the viewing fyi. He ties Diaz and Baez with four doubles on the season.

Black steals 2nd (and gets minorly banged up in doing so - definitely an 'EEeeeeek!' moment. BUT he looks ok just shook up a bit). Hicklen smacks a liner into LF for the RBi and then also steals 2nd base. Hicklen is now alone atop the International League with 12 total steals. I'm just going to say it again re: Hicklen Production matters. He absolutely unequivocally produces. Game in and game out. 6-3 Bats now and Collins is to the dish as the tying run after Mejias (DH tonight) walks.

Rodriguez loses his 'No No' here in the 5th frame on a liner just up the middle infield past a diving Guilarte. Regardless of that knock, just a really fantastic outing for the talented righty.

If I'm a Red Sox fan, I am super intrigued by what I'm seeing from talented 23-year-old RHP Blake Wiehunt (2023 9th Rd pick out of Kennesaw State). This is a High-A arm. 5 K through 4 IP and 1-of-2 singles was a very weakly hit ball.

Hangs another one dead center cut. Belt high. Two-rbi single up the middle. LOTTA hard hit hanging pitches this inning. 6-2 Bats. It is very fair to say, the early going in 2024 has been a major regression for the young man. Very unfortunate start to his campaign. He just has no consistency in and around the zone in entirely too many innings. Several beautiful pitches before that smashed liner up the middle. Gorgeous off-speed. Then he just absolutely hung a heater belt high.

He hangs another one dead center cut. Ripped to Right CF. A 2-run double. 4-2 Bats. We can put lipstick on a pig (for lack of a better phrase) but Carlos' outings, almost to a T, have looked like this all too often. Way too many hangers. No zone control. 2024 very much currently a rough grind for the talented young righty. Five straight on base for him. And, he's now 2-0 to the next batter.

AND just like that he is inaccurate out of the zone when his heater flies well inside and smacks the batter in the upper body. HBP RBI for Louisville. 2-2 game. Ugly inning. Too many of these in early 2024 for Cargo for my liking.

Rodriguez has them loaded after a walk and consecutive very hard hit singles to LF. The bad luck in the first was returned in kind when the first smack to LF gave the Sounds a favorable bounce off the foul territory wall and held the runner at 2B. Let's see if he can escape unscathed. He's hanging pitches in the zone in this frame.

Really high quality Low-A pitching duel early between Carolina's Rodriguez and Salem's Wiehunt. Both men are absolutely dealing. 0-0 through 3. Wiehunt has some really nasty off-speed offerings. BT Dubbers: Rodriguez lacks a certain mark in his line through 4 IP - that kind of good outing.

I see Dorrian is currently in an ongoing 0-for-20 slump. Man, for as talented as a player as Dorrian is, he definitely goes through these dry spells. Has to be frustrating for him. He just grounded out weakly to the pitcher after working an 0-2 count full.

Mr. Everywhere Isaac Collins just crushed an off-speed offering down and in over the RF wall to get right back in front 2-1. He went down (batting from the left in this AB) and smacked that baby well over the wall. Man, I love this young mans game. 413 feet of distance. Sure looked like that was a bit over 100 mph to boot.

In the 'Transaction Thread' HERE but worthy of a little celebration in the Game Thread. It didn't take long for our early season confoundedness to find its rightful answer: