Two wins and three losses on the farm on Thursday. There were lot of strikeouts for the starting pitchers but there was also a lack of hitting on some teams. Its early days yet, just three games played.
Worcester 1 Buffalo 10
New Hampshire 6 Portland 9 - game one
New Hampshire 3 Portland 4 - game two
Vancouver 5 Tri-City 2
Dunedin 6 Tampa 10
This is what I noted from yesterday's games.
You probably know by now that Alek Manoah was the star of the day, six innings, 2 hits, 12 K's. Manoah threw 81 pitches, an average of just over 13 per inning. That is excellent.
The Bisons pounded out 17 hits. Six of the nine starters have batting averages over .400. Among those over .400 are Logan Warmoth, Forrest Wall and Cullen Large. All of them have been described as fringy prospects. They are all 25 years years old. If they are to have a breakout season, this would be the age to do it. Lets see if they can keep it going.
Simeon Woods Richardson cruised through his first three innings with just one hit allowed and six strikeouts. The first two hitters of the fourth reached on a pair of singles. SWR then got two outs but a walk, an error and a double ended up conceding three runs, one earned. SWR was done after four innings and 76 pitches. 19 pitches per inning is not ideal but when you have 8 K's, that often runs up your pitch count. SWR had 51 strikes and 25 balls. Overall a very good start but, like Nate Pearson on Tuesday, he needs to be more efficient with his pitch count.
Curtis Taylor, from BC, who came to the Jays in the Eric Sogard trade, took the loss although many of the runs were unearned. Samad Taylor has started playing third base this season. He made two errors in game one that led to six unearned runs.
Elvis Luciano started game two for New Hampshire. On the positive side he had 6 K's in four innings. He allowed three runs, two of which scored on wild pitches. Luciano needed 78 pitches to get through four innings, almost 20 per inning. He threw 49 strikes and 29 balls.
The Fisher Cats had just four hits in game one and four more in game two. Gabriel Moreno played in game one and had a double. Austin Martin was 1-6 over the two games and Jordan Groshans 2-5. Martin is hitting .300 and Groshans .333.
Good pitching was the key for Vancouver's win. Troy Miller started and pitched well, 4.2 innings, seven K's. Parker Caracci had four K's in 2.1 innings with just a walk allowed. Hagen Danner, making his pitching debut, hit a batter and struck out four in two innings. According to our own #2JB, Danner was up to 98mph in this game. Interestingly Phil Clarke played first base in this game.
Alberta's Tanner Kirwer had two hits, including a home run. Spencer Horwitz and LJ Talley alos had two hits. Tose three are carrying the offense in the early going.
Dunedin pitchers conceded 40 runs in three games. On Thursday Naswell Paulino gave up six runs in three innings. Half of the teams pitchers have ERA's over 10. 11 of 13 have WHIP's over 1.70. The pitching coach in Dunedin, Drew Hayes, has a big job ahead of him. They are using the automated strike zone in Dunedin's league this year. It might take the pitchers some time to get used to this "new zone".
Orelvis Martinez hit his first home run of the season. It was his only hit and he is hitting .167. Zach Britton is second on the team with a .375 average. He had two hits on Thursday including a double. Addison Barger leads in BA but didn't play on Thursday.
Three Stars
Third Star - Zach Britton
Second Star - Tanner Kirwer
First Star - Alek Manoah
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20210506225636575