OKC Dodgers – Page 2 – Dugout Tales

I appreciate everyone’s understanding while I took some time off to take care of things in the real world, but its time to get back to baseball and so much has happened since I’ve been gone. Let’s start off with the fact that the first half of the season is over, and two teams have been crowned first half Division Winners. In the International League that honor goes to the Norfolk Tides, Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles who finished the first half with a record of 48-26 and leaving Durham 8.5 games behind at 40-35. The first half Division Winners in the Pacific Coast League goes to the Oklahoma City Dodgers who had the best record in Triple-A going 50-23 in the first half. The Round Rock Express came in second by 6.5 games and a record of 44-30. Each team has secured themselves home field advantage in the playoffs scheduled for September 28-30 at their respective ballparks.

The River Cats ended their first half with a record of 34-40 and tied for last in the Pacific Coast West with the Las Vegas Aviators. The good news is that they don’t have the worst record in the league as that goes to the Albuquerque Isotopes who are alone in the cellar with a lowly record of 27-48, which they can be consoled in the fact that the Oakland A’s in the Major Leagues have a record of 20-60 thus far.

Speaking of the Oakland A’s, it’s a sad state that the disaster that owner John Fisher has created has trickled down to the team’s Minor Leagues as all but one affiliate is in last place with the worst records in their leagues. The only team that isn’t in last are their Double-A Midland Rockhounds who with a record of 32-37 are only a half game ahead of cellar dwelling Frisco Rough Riders who are 31-37. Stockton is feeling it the worst with a 25-41 record which gives A’s fans not much hope as this is their future.

Kyle Harrison has for the most part figured it out at Triple-A and fans are a buzz around Twitter waiting for the call-up. The front office has not made a move, and that 7.07 walks per nine innings pitched isn’t helping him one bit. On the bright side it was announced on Monday that Harrison was named to the All-Star Futures game for the second consecutive year.

While Harrison has yet to get the call, many other River Cats have made their debuts since I last wrote. Keaton Winn, Ryan Walker, Casey Schmitt, Luis Matos, and Patrick Bailey have all made their Major League debuts and contributed for the Giants. Matos was so hot that he went from Double-A to Triple-A and on to the Majors in less than 30 days!

The second half of the season starts tonight, and every team gets a clean slate for the second playoff spots in each league but lets take a quick look at your Pacific Coast League leaders thus far and how the River Cats players stack up to those numbers. The league leader will be on the left and the River Cats player will be on the right.

HITTING

Average: Phillip Evans (Reno) .364 – Michael Gigliotti .256

OPS: Domenic Canzone (Reno) 1.071 – Michael Gigliotti .772

HR: Jo Addell & Trey Cabbage (Salt Lake) 21 – Will Wilson 11

RBI: Cody Thomas (LV) 73 – Will Wilson 40

Runs: Canzone, Evans, Kennedy (Reno) 58 – Clint Coulter 41

Stolen Bases: Matt Batten (EP) 23 – Tyler Fitzgerald 13

PITCHING:

Wins: Cody Bradford (RR) 8 – Nick Avila 8

ERA: Cody Bradford (RR) 1.82 – Jorge Guzman 3.00

WHIP: Cody Bradford (RR) 0.93 – Nick Avila 1.31

Strikeouts: Kenny Rosenberg (SL) 82 – Kyle Harrison 82

Saves: Matt Festa (Tacoma) 12 – Erik Miller 2

These numbers say a lot about where each team ended up in the standings during the first half of the season. Reno was atop the Pacific Coast League West, the Division which includes Sacramento, and Round Rock was second in the Pacific Coast League East behind only the OKC Dodgers.

The Dodgers really have such a solid team that no one is leading the league in any statistically category and none of the hitters are in the Top 10 of all but one offensive category where Devin Mann, Jahmai Jones, and Michael Busch are all Top 10 in OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging). The real magic appears to be coming from their pitching which has at least one player in the Top 10 of every category, and that’s all while pitching in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League.

Well, it will be fun to see how the second half plays out; do cellar dwellers rise to the top or does it come down to the last game of the regular season where Reno and Round Rock battle for that second playoff spot? The second half starts tonight, June 28, as the Reno Aces roll into Sacramento for a six-game series.

The River Cats stopped their six-game losing skid after taking the second game of a double header to close out their road trip against the OKC Dodgers (20-7) and come into May with a record of 11-16 and trail the Reno Aces (15-11) by 4.5 games in the PCL West, and trail the Dodgers by 9 games in the League. The River Cats are tied for last in the League with the Salt Lake Bees.

The River Cats simply took a beating by the Dodgers, no ifs, ands, or buts, about it. They were also tasked with facing top pitching prospects Bobby Miller, and Gavin Stone for OKC who easily handed losses to Sacramento. Stone was also called up to make his Major League debut days after facing the River Cats, but didn’t fair to well in his Major League debut and was swiftly sent back to Oklahoma City. That move is not a knock on Stone, he was called up for a quick start against a very dangerous Philadelphia Phillies lineup, and I’m sure we’ll see him back in the Dodger’s rotation soon enough, along with Bobby Miller.

The opt out clause that Gary Sanchez holds on his contract was set to expire on Monday May 1, which prompted the promotion of Giants 2020 #1 pick Patrick Bailey to Triple-A who made his debut on Sunday night. Sanchez is hitting only .164 with one double, no home runs, and 19 strikeouts in 55 at bats with Sacramento so it would be a miracle to have the Giants call him up. The Giants would officially grant Sanchez his release on May 2^nd.

There is no wonder that the River Cats are having such a woeful season as no River Cats player is in the Top 10 of any offensive categories, but Clint Coulter is 15^th in RB with 20, and Casey Schmitt is #20 in batting with a .301 average. The only bright spots on the mound continue to be Ryan Walker and his all-around pitching performances this season, as well as Kyle Harrison and his 15.51 strikeouts per nine innings average which places him third in the league. Harrison continues to have control issues though, but his stuff is fantastic.

Around the league Phillip Evans and Buddy Kennedy from the Reno Aces are still tearing up the league as Evans has an amazing .431 average, and Kennedy is second in the league hitting an even .400. Salt Lake’s Jo Adell leagues Minor League baseball with 10 home runs, and Mike Ford leads the league in RBI with 39.

Cody Bradford of Round Rock continues to dominate on the mound and ends the month with a 5-0 record, 0.64 ERA, 0.74 WHIP in 28.1 innings, which is only one third of an inning behind the league leader.

The weather and my other interest, concert photography, kept me away from the ballpark much of this week as the Oakland Athletics Triple-A affiliate Las Vegas Aviators came into town but the River Cats seemed to have right the ship a bit as they take four of six this week including two back-to-back walk offs on Thursday and Friday night.

The series started horribly with a loss to Las Vegas by a score of 2-1 where the River Cats left 14 on base and went 0-15 at the plate with runners in scoring position. The highlight of the night would belong to Patrick Bailey who doubled for his first Triple-A hit.

Both of Las Vegas’ runs were driven in by Turlock’s own Tyler Soderstrom who knocked in Zack Gelof on a double and single in the first and third innings respectively.

The River Cats would win the next four games in the series that included a five run fourth inning in Game 2, and Kyle Harrison’s strongest performance of the season on Saturday night, Game 5 of the series, where the lefty showed what the hype is all about. Harrison pitched four shutout innings striking out seven, while walking none. Harrison’s strikeouts per nine improved to 15.56. Harrison’s performance earned him the Pacific Coast League’s Pitcher of the Week Honors for May 1-7.

The River Cats ended the series going 4-2 against the Aviators this week, putting them at 15-18 on the season and in a three-way tie for last place with the Aviators, and this week’s opponent the Salt Lake Bees. The Bees come into town with hot hitting Jo Adell and his Minor League leading 12 home runs and I’m curious to see how many he has at the end of the series here in Sacramento.

While OKC and Round Rock are running away with the best records in the PCL, both teams are in the East Division, while Sacramento and Salt Lake are in the West, and both are only 3.5 games behind Division leading Reno. A good week by either team could put them right back in the mix for a chance at a post season berth as the first half of the season ends on June 23^rd.

The big news which was just announced today is that Casey Schmitt was just called up to the Giants to make his Major League debut. Schmitt is batting .313 with 10 doubles and 22 RBI. In corresponding moves, the Giants Designated for Assignment, Darin Ruf who had been rehabbing in Sacramento, and optioned Cal Stevenson to Sacramento.

Tag: OKC Dodgers

Back to the Grind

April Showers Bring May Flowers