TAYDEN HALL! He crashes in on the sac bunt attempt and makes a sliding catch then spins around while on the ground and throws out the runner at 1B for a double play!
Don't think it can be emphasized enough how important winning this game is for the Mudcats. Going into Thursday down 1-0 facing Sykora is a recipe for disaster.
It does suck having to face Clemmey and Sykora who are probably 2 of the 5 best pitchers still in the Carolina league. From a stuff perspective they might be 1-2.
Carolina is the youngest team in the Carolina League and they played like it in the 1st inning. Yophery with bad baserunning turning a leadoff double into an out. Corniel/Bitonti miscommunication on a pickoff. Yophery overthrowing the cutoff. Corniel trying to make a circus play instead of letting his defense behind him do their job.
Spotting Clemmey an early 2-0 lead is not ideal especially with Sykora waiting on Thursday.
Corniel is getting rocked here early. 108, 103, 108 EV off the bat for the Nats. Yophery with a poor choice to overthrow the cutoff allowing the runner to reach 2B. It's 1-0 Nats and likely headed for more.
Amazing piece of hitting by Yophery to shot 97 to the left field corner for a should be double. Shocking that he was thrown out at 2B. He's right up there with Juan Baez in the "bad baserunner" talks.
With Sykora listed as the Nationals game 2 starter, this game 1 is pretty much a must win for the Mudcats. Sykora has completely decimated the Mudcats this season.
His season line against Carolina - 16 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 20 SO
I don't think he's yet to discover it. I don't think it's even there right now. Feel like every one of his HR in A+ has been a wall scraper. He's not really flashing the type of power and EV you'd see from a guy who can drive the ball out to all fields.
This is from Aram over at Just Baseball,
"The key for Pratt will be showing that he can tap into at least average power, and at this point, he is below average in that regard with an average exit velocity of 87.5 mph and a 90th percentile exit velocity of 100 mph."
Maybe he taps into more power eventually but to this point he's really only flashing the type of EV that would lead to pull side power.