Reno – Dugout Tales

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 8^th. 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 9^th 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.

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.

Tag: Reno

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