Tag: Bryce Eldridge

2024: The Good, The Bad, & The Future

2024: The Good, The Bad, & The Future

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That is a wrap to the 2024 season in Sacramento for the River Cats who finished the second half of the season with a record of 36-39 for sixth place. The Cats fell to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys by a score of 8-3 after leading 3-1 going into the 8th. The game ended with Will Wilson being thrown out at home by a laser from Sugar Land centerfielder Jacob Melton in the bottom of the 9th  which seemed a very River Cats thing to do in 2024.

Overall, the Cats finished the year 80-70, the third best record in the Pacific Coast League behind Sugar Land (93-56) and Tacoma (82-68). This has been the River Cats first winning season since 2019 when they won the National Championship in their 20th Anniversary seaon. While 2024 didn’t end in the same fashion, and while their second half record looks worse than the team actually was, it was two weeks in June that really set the River Cats back this year as they celebrated 25 years in Sacramento.

One of the highlights of the final homestand was the appearance of 2023 Giants first round pick Bryce Eldridge being added to the roster, who at still just 19 was one of the youngest players in Triple-A. He will turn 20 in October of this year, and while he isn’t quite ready at this point in my opinion to start 2025 at Triple-A he looked a lot more comfortable and ready than when I saw Jackson Holliday’s first go at Triple-A with Norfolk at the end of the 2023 season.

I had never been a fan of rushing prospects through the Minor Leagues but I just read an article in Baseball America today that spoke of Eldridge, Holliday, and a handful of other young players out of high school who were making appearances in Triple-A within a year of being drafted. The article by JJ Cooper explained that the new format of how the Minor League schedule has changed since 2021 allows teams to keep their most talented players playing and jumping one or two levels within a couple of weeks. Prior to 2020 Minor League ball usually ended within a day or two of each in early September, but the new format ends Single-A on September 1, Double-A a week after that, and Triple-A yet another week after that. Not only does this allow players to play a little longer it really gives them a taste of what is to come. I do not think the small sample size should be used as a way to exploit the young players weakness and give up hope on their future but it allows them to see what they need to work and hopefully the teams will invest that time into them. I think Holliday is great example of how this can pay off.

The River Cats released their end of year team awards today which highlight some of the accomplishments from the 2024 season. The winners are, Best Teammate: Donovan Walton, Most Exciting Player: Grant McCray, Most Improved: Hunter Bishop, Most Versatile: Brett Auerbach, Defensive POY: Casey Schmitt, Offensive POY: Trenton Brooks, Pitcher of the Year: Carson Seymour, and Team MVP: Donovan Walton. Seymour’s 28 starts were the most by a River Cats pitcher since 2003 when Eric Hiljus started 29 for a River Cats team that would win their first PCL Championship in Sacramento. As of this publishing, Minor League Baseball has not announced the league award winners.

Looking around at the final individual stats we can see how these numbers helped carry their teams into the post season. These numbers are only for the Pacific Coast League Leaders and how the River Cats leaders faired in each category as well.

BATTING

Three Reno Aces were the top three hitters in the PCL this season with Bryson Brigman hitting .334, Andres Chaparro .332, and Adrian Del Castillo .312. Former River Cat Jason Vosler hit .303 for Tacoma and Trenton Brooks led Sacramento with a .302 average,

Nick Allen led the league with 111 Hits for Las Vegas, while David Villar topped River Cats hitters with 106.

Ryan Ward of Oklahoma City led the league with 33, Jason Vosler had 31 for Tacoma, and David Villar hit 16 for the River Cats

The River Cats did better in the RBI category with Hunter Bishop in second place behind Oklahoma City’s Trey Sweeney and his 61 RBI.

The most surprising category to me were stolen bases where Jimmy Herron of Albuquerque, and Trey Sweeney of Oklahoma City tied for the league lead with 16, but Sacramento’s Blake Sabol and Casey Schmitt were not far behind with 11. Sabol runs a lot better than the average catcher, and Schmitt’s numbers are just shocking to me especially after watching him play every day.

PITCHING

Unlike Reno who rode their bats in the second half to a playoff berth, pitching is what carried Sugar Land this year. AJ Blubaugh led the league with 12 wins, while Clay Helvey had 7 for Sacramento. Sugar Land’s Ryan Gusto led the league with 141 strikeouts, followed by Sacramento’s Carson Whisenhunt and Carson Seymour with 135, and 132, respectively.

Three Sugar Land pitchers were atop the ERA leaders with Gusto’s 3.70, Blubaugh’s 3.83, and Colton Gordon’s 3.94. Carson Seymour led the River Cats with an ERA of 4.82. Diving deeper Sugar Land’s pitchers were in the top four of WHIP with Gordon and Gusto in the one and two spots at 1.22, and 1.27. Blubaugh ranked fourth with 1.35, and Carson Seymour was fifth with a 1.57 WHIP. The most impressive pitching stat for Sugar Land this year is Wander Suero’s 37 saves on the season. The closest saves leader was Austin Davis of El Paso with 14. The River Cats leader was Spencer Bivens with 8.

Wrapping this up, the Pacific Coast and International League Championships begin this week. In the Pacific Coast League, the Reno Aces (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston Astros) will face off in Texas, while over in the International League the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Guardians) will face the Omaha Storm Chasers (Kansas City Royals) in Nebraska. The winners of these two series will face off on Saturday, September 28 in Las Vegas for the Triple-A National Championship. I can’t speak for the International League teams but I’m pulling for Columbus because that’s where long time River Cats player Tyler Beede is now pitching and would love an opportunity to catch up with him. In the PCL, while the Space Cowboys have dominated the entire league all season, this past week in Sacramento showed that they are not unbeatable, and Reno has remained hot in the second half. My money is on Reno but mainly because I hate the Houston Astros and by default I hate the Space Cowboys too.

Expanding Horizons

Expanding Horizons

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The San Francisco Giants for the second year in a row selected a two-way player in the first round of the 2023 Major League Draft when they chose Bryce Eldridge with the 16th overall pick. While we don’t know how long he will be a two-way player as a professional it is intriguing that the Giants followed up last year’s first round pick Reggie Crawford, also a two-way player, with another two-way player. Do the Giants hope to strike lightning and find their own Shohei Ohtani? Speaking of Ohtani, is this a sign that they have no real plans in pursuing him in free agency? Or is this Farhan Zaidi being smart and frugal by basically getting two players with one draft pick? Will this be the new trend? Many baseball players who get drafted are “two-way” players at the amateur level but are usually selected as one or the other once they turn pro.  The first two-way threat that I can recall in recent history who played two-ways as a professional is Brendan McKay who the Tampa Bay Rays selected fourth overall in the 2017 Draft. Hunter Greene selected second overall by the Cincinnati Reds was also a considerable threat but was drafted as a pitcher and has been a dominant arm who quickly rose through the Minor Leagues and making the 2022 Opening Day roster for Cincinnati.

McKay has become an interesting career to follow. He won the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award all three years he played at the University of Louisville, and added the Golden Spikes and the Dick Howser Awards his junior year as well. Projected to go number one or two in the draft overall, McKay slipped to number four. McKay’s hitting has been less than stellar throughout his professional career, but his pitching has been great which led the Rays eventually to converting him to a full-time pitcher by 2022 with his 94mph fastball, a nice curve, and a sinking changeup.

McKay made his Major League debut in 2019 and split time between the big club and Triple-A Durham. He would get Covid early on in 2020 and then shut down shortly after his return due to shoulder tightness. McKay returned in 2021 starting only seven games before having surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome and then Tommy John in 2022. The Rays would release McKay after the 2022 season, only to resign him to a Minor League contract but he is out at least until some time in 2024 for his age 28 season, he still could have a lot to offer.

McKay is just one player, the first real project at the professional level from the amateur rankings here in the U.S. Ohtani and his greatness as both a hitter and pitcher is the obvious outlier, and Bryce could be the next success story. Bryce is a 6’7” 223-pound pitcher and first baseman from James Madison High School in Virginia. Bryce was considered the top two-way player of the 2023 draft class, and having been named Virginia’s Gatorade Player of the Year, after putting up some amazing numbers. On the mound he had a 1.06 ERA with 66 strikeouts in only 39.2 innings with his 96mph fastball and his above average grade slider. Bryce also had great numbers at the plate where he batted .422 with a .649 on base percentage, and eight home runs. Bryce’s size gives him considerable raw power from the left side, and with a short swing compared to most others his size he also makes solid contact at the plate. It will be interesting to see what the Giants decide to do with him and his performance on the mound and at the plate will ultimately be the deciding factor. This year’s Olerud Award winner Caden Grice of Clemson was selected 64th overall by the Diamondbacks, and while no one can project what any of these players future holds, it sure is fun to watch a player exceed at the professional level as a two-way player. UPDATE: The Arizona Diamondbacks announced that Grice will focus only on pitching.

Following up on my previous post, the River Cats did pretty good against the Aces in their series leading up to the 4th of July as they split the series 3-3. My biggest take away from that series about Reno isn’t that they aren’t an unbeatable team, it was just that they play very good fundamental baseball. No one on the team is really going to wow you, but they’re all just very good players who work hard and get the job done. Blaze Alexander, shortstop for the Aces, started the series going 2-14 before breaking out in the final game where he went 2-4 with a homerun. To say he was excited is an understatement. Kudos to Dominic Canzone as well who was called up to the Show for the Diamondbacks on July 7th.

The River Cats travel to Salt Lake for the 4th of July and would split the series 3-3 before going into the All Star break this week. They close out their first two second half series with a 6-6 record which puts them tied for fourth in the Pacific Coast League and only three games behind league leading Albuquerque who sit atop with a 9-3 record. The River Cats will take on Albuquerque for the first time this season July 25-30 in Albuquerque before they face off in Sacramento on August 29-September 3.

After the break, the Oklahoma City Dodgers will make a visit to Sutter Health Park in Sacramento for a three-game series starting on July 14th, followed up by six games against the Tacoma Rainiers before the River Cats go back on the road.

In other news, Heliot Ramos who is on a rehab assignment with the River Cats was named Pacific Coast League Player of the Week where he batted .483, with a 1.103 Slugging Percentage, 1.603 OPS, with 14 hits, nine of which were for extra bases, including four home runs, and 10 RBI.