Autumn Dreamin

All five levels started a lefty today, and I can't help but wonder when the last time that happened was. Unfortunately, all of them had a rough multirun inning that spoiled their lines. Sinibaldi (14th round) went 3IP, 2 ER, 5H, 2K for Kannapolis. Both runs in his last inning, on back to back RBI doubles. Fellow LHP Frankeli Arias gave a solid 3IP/2R (1ER) out of the pen and got the W in a 7-4 victory. Kanny bats are pretty hot, just in time for the playoffs next week. Antonacci went 2-5 with a 2B, Wolkow was 1-5 with a 2B (and reached 2 additional times on an error and a K), Jeral Perez went 2-3 with a HR and BB, and Arxy also hit a HR. Good to see that injury scare last week hasn't set him back. UDFA Clete Hartzog got his first save. Nice stuff. He's got 10K and an 0.75 WHIP in 8 IP at the level.

Bham completed the org sweep with a 4-1 win. Carela was solid again. 5IP, 1ER, 1BB, 5K. Nishida went 1-3 with a BB and knocked in his first RBI at the level. The Barons hit several balls hard today, but as a team they are on a streak of like 20+ hits without an XBH.

WS won 4-3 despite stranding a small village on the bases (3-14 RISP). Bockenstedt had good stuff today but got burned by 2ER. He went 4IP, 3ER, 3H, 1BB, 7K. Scoreless work from Seidl (2IP), Luke Bell (2IP) and UDFA Tyler Davis (1IP) in the pen. Saucke went 2-5 with a 2B and 2 RBI, Caden Connor was 2-5 with two 2B, and recent arrival Miguel Santos knocked in the GWRBI with his second hit of a 2-5 day. Small sample size means he has the fun slash line of .400/.400/.400 (4-10, all singles, no walks).

Kanny wins 7-3. 24yo LHP Nick Pinto (19th round) made his affiliate debut with Kannapolis. He was pretty good: 3IP, 0ER, 1H, 1BB, 3K. Manuel Veloz piggybacked with 4IP/1ER of relief. Jeral Perez has a very solid glove. He went 1-4 at the plate. AMak is maybe something. 2-4 today. Wolkow 1-5 with a RBI FC, McCants 1-5 with a 2B, Drake Logan 2-5 with a 2B, Antonacci 3-5 with a SB. His OPS is up to .926. 8th rounder Aaron Combs should have had his first save, but a 2 out error allowed the tying runs across in the 9th. Still no earned runs for him and he has 13K in 7.2IP. Bats scored 4 runs top 10 for the win.

Knights win 5-3. Burke was very good. Gave up a 2R HR but was never in much trouble otherwise: 5IP, 2ER, 5H, 1BB, 9K. 19 (!) whiffs, very effective slider. Colson 2-4 with a HR. He's having a great week, hope he finishes the year strong. Colas 1-4 with a HR. Elko 1-5, Hack and CSN both 2-4. Wilson had another scoreless rehab inning, McGough went 2 IP, 2H, 1ER, 3K, and my guy Adisyn Coffey got save #9.

WS wins 4-0 behind a great pitching/defensive effort: Batista: 5 IP, 3H, 0 ER, 1BB, 6K. His AA ERA is 1.04. 1IP scoreless for Carson Jacobs and Tommy Vail 2IP, 1H, 3K for Jarold Rosado (DeJong trade). His ERA is 1.84. Galanie went 2-3 with a BB, 2B, and HR. Miguel Santos (UDFA) was 2-5 with a RBI in his debut.

4IP, 2 ER, 6K for Eder. He only gave up 2 hits, but both were solo shots. Seemed like he was throwing the change more to decent results (14 whiffs) but 5 BB cut the outing short. Knights won 4-2. Colson 1-4, Ramos 1-3 with a 2B and walk, Elko 1-4 with a 2B and walk. Oh and Moncada (lol) 3-5 with a HR. Scoreless work from the pen, including Wilson on rehab, Peralta, and Coffey (is for closers) who recorded his 8th save.

Single up the middle for Nishida in his first AB

A few roster moves in addition to the Nishida promotion: C Weston Eberly, who got called up from WS to Charlotte with the Quero IL trip, heads down to Bham Hackenberg heads from Bham to Charlotte to take his spot Smith-Njigba also up to Charlotte 15th rounder Mason Moore joins Kanny UDFA 2B Miguel Santos takes Nishida's spot in WS

Nishida AA debut 😍

McDougal had pretty decent stuff, though the defense was shaky to start and he cost himself 90ft a few times. 4IP, 4H, 2R (1 ER), 3BB, 8K. Bats were pretty lively: AMak went 3-5 with two 2B and 3 RBI. Wolkow 0-3 but had a BB, sac fly and RBI FC. Also 2 SB. Antonacci 3-4 with an RBI triple and SB. OPS nearing .900. Jackson Appel 2-4 with a BB. Pen was solid until the 9th. Hale Sims was tasked with holding a 7-3 lead...but only managed 1 out on the way to getting walked off 8-7. It was a rough watch. But Aaron Combs (8th round) looked good, so there's that. He has 10K to 4BB in his first 5 outings (6.2IP). 0 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, and .095 avg against. Shame to waste this catch in an L too:

One key note in that Smith/Schultz piece is that they don't plan on having Smith join the Barons playoff staff. I assume Schultz will pitch, but I'm curious who replaces Iriarte who I suspect would have gotten game 1. A surprise reinforcement on the other side of the ball though...?

Duke Ellis beat out Dominguez for a September call up with the Yankees. Cristian Mena had his season cut short by a forearm strain at the end of July.

3rd consecutive QS for Schweitzer. Zach Franklin added another scoreless inning since being promoted. 5 IP, 7K, 0 BB, and just 1 H allowed (a single) at the level so far.

Eh, I underestimated how much work Caden Dana got in before his call up. It's almost certainly going to be him.

Stop me if you've heard this one before, but Noah Schultz threw 4IP scoreless. 4IP, 0ER, 1H, 2BB, 7K. He tried to play it cool after the 3rd: But was clearly fired up after the 4th: His August: 18.2IP, 1ER, 8H, 8BB, 22K. 0.86 WHIP, 0.48 ERA. Maybe could nab a Southern League pitcher of the month?

Schultz strikes out the side in the 3rd. His ceiling is crazy.

Smith gave up 1 with 2 outs in the first on a walk>HBP>single sequence. He hits his pitch count with 2.2IP, 1ER, 2H, 1BB (2HBP), 1K. In Kanny, Arxy Hernandez left in the first with an injury.

Happy Smith bump day

4K in two perfect innings for Combs tonight to close out a comeback win. Game was tied on C Jackson Appel's first pro HR (and first hit from the right side): Wolkow scored the go ahead run from second on an Arxy single. He was 1-3 with a BB. AMak lost his 16 game hitting streak with an 0-3 day, but still got on base once with a walk.

Short start for Adams off the IL. 3IP, 3H, 0ER, 1K, 44 pitches. Soroka first out of the pen. Game goes into a rain delay with the bases loaded (DeLoach double, Elko and Montgomery BB) and Ramos at the plate bottom 4.

Seth Keener WS debut And my guy Mason Adams is back from the IL

I mean...if you've watched Nishida, I literally can't imaging talking about him without mentioning his personality. The fact that he plays the game with such obvious joy makes him emphatically calling himself safe after hustling out IF singles and putting defenses on edge dancing on the basepaths so much fun to watch. It's not a "skill" but it absolutely is a unique part of his game.