It was a massive day for Workinger, who drove in eight runs
There are few things in baseball more fun than a player having a breakout game at the plate, and Atlanta Braves prospect Ethan Workinger had a career night for the Clingstones in a win. Workinger capped off a three home run game with a grand slam off of the scoreboard, giving Columbus their franchise’s best performance in their young lifespan. Elsewhere, Dylan Dodd continues to take well to his bullpen role in Gwinnett, and Adam Maier had his best outing of the season as he was a missed catch away from putting Rome in a position to take a no-hitter late into the game.
(11-18) Gwinnett Stripers 2, (17-12) Nashville Sounds – 6
- Jarred Kelenic, RF: 0-2, BB, .333/.467/.333
- Carlos Rodriguez, CF:: 2-3, .280/.308/.360
- Hurston Waldrep, SP: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 7.04 ERA
- Jordan Weems, RP: 2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 3.86 ERA
(12-18) Gwinnett Stripers 5, (17-13) Nashville Sounds 0
- Carlos Rodriguez, CF: 1-3, RBI, .280/.308/.360
- Jarred Kelenic, RF: 0-2, BB, .333/.467/.333
- Dylan Covey, SP: 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0.00 ERA
- Dylan Dodd, RP: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 6.57 ERA
You never want your pitcher to not make it out of the first inning on the front half of a double header, but unfortunately for the Stripers Hurston Waldrep did just that. Waldrep was completely out of sorts, with absolutely zero idea where any of his pitches were going, only eight of the 34 landing in the strike zone. We’ve seen some pretty awful days out of Waldrep but this game might have been the worst. It was a complete disaster but fortunately the bullpen did solid work once Waldrep left to keep things in control. Domingo Gonzalez covered 2 1⁄3 scoreless innings in relief of Waldrep, and ever since the shaky opening outing Gonzalez has been Gwinnett’s most consistent relief arm. Over the past 12 innings dating back to the start of April Gonzalez has allowed only two earned runs with now four consecutive scoreless outings.
In a game two combined shutout the Stripers pitching staff was able to cobble together a bullpen game, and Dylan Dodd in particular had another impressive outing. Like Gonzalez, Dodd’s numbers have been burdened by an awful opening game, but since then the bullpen experience has been favorable for Dodd. Dodd’s five strikeouts in this game give him 18 strikeouts to just one walk in 11 2⁄3 innings since the start of April, with a 1.54 ERA/3.18 FIP in that span. The biggest change for Dodd has been his ability to command his cutter, as well as how hard he has thrown the pitch. Without a significant change in movement Dodd is throwing his cutter 2 mph harder this season, locating at the top of the zone with both his four seam fastball and cutter better, and has produced a 50% whiff rate on his cutter. In this outing Dodd got five whiffs on six swings at his cutter, and allowed only one hard hit ball.
Offensively, the Stripers couldn’t have had two games with much more of a difference in production. Gwinnett may have only struck out three times in game one, but their contact was consistently weak and they were only able to come up with one extra base hit. Game two was a complete flip, with the Stripers managing six batted balls over 100 mph, including two home runs. Carlos Rodriguez had two of those batted balls over 100 mph and had three hits across the double header, a good sign for a player who has really struggled since being called up. Rodriguez is making a ton of contact — he only has two swing-and-misses since his mid-April promotion — but he has made next to no impact with his swings. Prior to that game two performance Rodriguez only had one batted ball over 100 mph, and his first inning lineout was the first of those to have a positive launch angle.
Swing and Misses
Dylan Dodd – 9
Michael Peterson – 6
Hurston Waldrep – 2
(9-14) Columbus Clingstones 9, (12-12) Biloxi Shuckers 5
- Ethan Workinger, DF: 3-5, 3 HR, 8 RBI, .265/.324/.588
- Cal Conley, SS: 2-4, BB, RBI, .241/.347/.241
- David McCabe, 3B: 2-4, .303/.447/.424
- Drue Hackenberg, SP: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 6.98 ERA
- Ian Mejia, RP: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
- Hayden Harris, RP: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
It was not the outcome that Drue Hackenberg wanted in this start, but fortunately the best offensive performance of the year so far bailed him and the Clingstones out to drive them to a win. For the second time in his past three starts Hackenberg complete blew up in the first inning, this time not making it out of the first as he ran up 34 pitches. This game, though, had a different feel than a couple of outings ago. Hackenberg was mostly landing his fastball in the zone and did a great job working ahead of hitters — getting first pitch strikes on six of his seven batters faced. Unfortunately when it came to finishing at bats it was again a story of Hackenberg struggling to find an out pitch all year, and the Shuckers were able to either make contact or work deep counts throughout that first inning. Hackenberg also had his share of bad luck. Hackenberg jammed Luis Lara on a pitch inside, but Lara was able to fight off a slow bouncer that scooted past David McCabe at third for a soft second hit of the inning. Then, given another chance on a bouncer hit right at him McCabe sailed a routine throw over to first base, and those missed opportunities ran up Hackenberg’s pitch count past the 30 pitch mark that the Braves pull all of their starters at.
Because Hackenberg wasn’t bad, so much as a bit unlucky, the Shuckers were only able to get two runs in that first inning. Ian Mejia came through with a special outing, covering six scoreless innings out of the bullpen to keep the relief arms fresh down there. Mejia has had a tremendous season in the swingman role for Columbus, with this outing lowering his ERA to 1.59. Mejia is still trying to find a third pitch to his arsenal, and this year hasn’t worked ahead as much as you would like to see. As a result his slider hasn’t been as big a factor as when he was really slicing through Double-A lineups last year and his whiff rates are down. He’s due a bit of refression, but I would also bet on his command coming back around to form more as the year goes on and his role fully defines itself. Hayden Harris of course had another spectacular outing, striking out all four of the batters he faced to extend his scoreless streak to 10 innings to start the season.
We don’t get three home run performances often, especially out of Double-A, and it was a night to remember for Ethan Workinger. Workinger has flown under the radar as an undrafted free agent throughout his professional career, but one thing he has clearly shown is the ability to adjust to a level after early struggles. Obviously a three home run game does wonders to boost a player’s numbers, especially in early May, but even prior to this explosion he had shown that Double-A wasn’t going to be as big a challenge the second time around. Workinger loves to jump on pitches on the inner half, and when a two-seam fastball stayed over the plate in the first inning he was able to turn on the pitch and crush one down the line for a solo home run. Though a different pitch, Workinger got one in the spot in the zone his next time up and this was an even bigger blast. With two runners on Workinger got a slider he was able to lift down the line in left field, and even though it wasn’t the best strike he was able to carry it for a massive go-ahead three run home run. Perhaps not learning a lesson, the Shuckers saw Workinger in the fourth inning, this time with the bases loaded, and made the mistake of leaving a pitch in right about the same spot in the strike zone. Workinger got a 2-1 changeup low and in the heart of the plate, and this one he crushed, Workinger blasted his third home run of the game, this one a grand slam, off of the scoreboard in left center field to blow the game wide open. In the broader picture, Workinger’s jump to a 29% strikeout rate this season may seem concerning on the surface, but Workinger’s contact rates have actually improved — pitchers are just throwing him a lot more strikes than last year. Workinger tends to chase and roll over secondary pitches, and we’ve seen that a lot this season, but he still makes contact at an above average rate and has enough power to do damage. He has 18 home runs in 148 games over the past two season (with pitcher-friendly home parks), and if he can get better at laying off those pitches below the zone he does have the potential to be a second-division regular in left field.
Swing and Misses
Ian Mejia – 6
Hayden Harris – 5
(13-11) Rome Emperors 0, (14-10) Hub City Spartanburgers 1
- Lisandro Espinoza, CF: 2-4, 2B, .253/.290/.451
- Ambioris Tavarez, SS: 1-3, .263/.379/.325
- Adam Maier, SP: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 4.38 ERA
- Ryan Bourassa, RP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 0.00 ERA
It’s tough scenes out there for the Rome pitching staff, who despite allowing just one run in the game still took the loss. Adam Maier had a second solid performance in a row, covering six innings with only two hits and one run allowed in this game. Maier had only issued a hit by pitch through the first five innings, finally showing some command of his fastball as he was able to keep it in the zone at the lower half. Maier still wasn’t missing many bats, but all of his pitches have so much movement that hitters are struggling to square him up as long as he doesn’t hang pitches. This outing he was able to live outside of the middle of the zone, and it wasn’t until the sixth inning that the Spartanburgers were able to get anything out of Maier. That “anything” was far from Maier’s fault, as Carlos Arroyo dropped a pop up in shallow center field that turned into a double for the leadoff hitter in the sixth inning. While it was ruled a hit, and I can understand the ruling as Arroyo had to go quite a way to get it, that is simply a ball any second baseman has to make a play on and Maier made the pitch he wanted in that spot, completely fooling the hitter. The first out of the inning was a deep fly out on one of the few poor pitches this outing, and advanced the runner to third base, then a soft grounder over to Arroyo wasn’t enough for him to cut the runner down at home and Hub City got their lone run. All in all, Maier had an amazing outing and dominated in spite of his low whiff numbers, but a lack of defense in the sixth and no offense at all doomed him to a tough loss.
Espinoza was the one player who had a terrific game at the plate, getting two hits including what could have been a game changing double in the third inning. With Arroyo on first base, Espinoza hit a rocket out to right field. Espinoza clanged the ball off of the wall, and though Arroya couldn’t score on the play the Emperors were set up with two runners in scoring position and no outs. They failed to come through. Patrick Clohisy struck out in the game’s critical at bat, and Titus Dumitru rolled out softly to shortstop to end the inning. Out of the bullpen Ryan Bourassa had an absurdly dominant performance, getting five strikeouts from the six batters he faced, with whiffs on 12 of the 14 swings against him. The only batted ball was an infield pop out, and so far Bourassa has been tormenting High-A hitters. Bourassa’s splitter has been a menace to hitters at every level so far, and this is the first year he’s thrown strikes consistently enough to really take off. Bourassa’s whiff rates have remained above 40% at every level, and it’s time for him to get a second look at Double-A this year.
Swing and Misses
Ryan Bourassa – 12
Adam Maier – 8
Cory Wall – 2
(13-11) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (14-10) Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 3
- Owen Carey, CF: 1-4, 2B, .279/.347/.419
- Eric Hartman, DH: 1-3, BB, .235/.354/.395
- Logan Samuels, SP: 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1.86 ERA
Augusta looked to make a comeback in this game after the offense struggled early, but they came away just short and lost by a run. Augusta had a huge chance in the first inning thanks to John Gil and his speed. Gil drew a walk then stole second and third base, but was stranded there. Gil’s two stolen bases did bring his total on the year to 18, putting him just shy of a 100 stolen base pace. In the fourth inning Eric Hartman reached on a bunt single, and this was the play that sparked a scoring rally. Isaiah Drake took an inside-out swing and lucked out when the ball stayed fair down the left field line, giving him an RBI double that tied the game. Drake then stole third base, but was cut down at home on a ground ball right to third base with the defender playing in. Augusta would only manage one more hit until the ninth inning, when finally things started to stir at the top of the order, with a bit of poor defense helping them out. Owen Carey fell down 0-2 in the count to lead off the inning, but on a fly ball down the line the left fielder lost the ball for a second, and overran it allowing the ball to fall for a leadoff double. Eric Hartman then drew a walk, giving the middle of the order plenty of chances to tie the game. Isaiah Drake missed a pitch to hit and flew out to center field, but Mac Gusette drew the game a run closer by flipping a single into center to score Carey. Hartman stole third base, but a strikeout and a Mason Guerra ground out stranded him 90 feet away from tying it up.
Logan Samuels had a bit of trouble in the first inning with his control and issued to walks, then perhaps left a few too many over the plate the rest of his outing and got hit around a bit. Samuels allowed five hits including a home run, and he just wasn’t as fine on the edges with his secondaries to get swing-and-misses as we’ve seen at times early this season. It was certainly not a bad game by any means as Samuels was able to keep it to two runs over four innings, but in his past couple of games he’s been a bit easier for hitters to figure out than he was in his first three. All in all though Samuels is still an early season breakout player for this team, and his ability to throw four pitches for strikes is something that isn’t seen much at this level. As he moves up he’s going to have to learn how to work more around the edges with his fastball rather than laying it in to get ahead in counts, but his success has him on track for a call up to Rome in the fairly near future.
Swing and Misses
Logan Samuels – 8
Jackson Dannelley – 7