Reno Aces – 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.

The second half of the Pacific Coast Leage season came down to the wire on the final day as both the Round Rock Express and Reno Aces came into the day tied for first place with a record of 44-30. A win by Reno, or a loss by Round Rock would clinch the second half and playoff berth for the Aces who were facing the Aviators in Vegas. Round Rock was in Tacoma for their match up against the Rainiers. The Aces would lose their game by a score of 6-5 to the Aviators, snapping an eight-game winning streak, and leaving them in limbo to watch the outcome of the Round Rock game which was still only in the fourth with the Express up by a score of 3-2.

Hearts must have sunk in the Reno locker room after the game when the Express piled on seven runs in the fifth to extend the lead that they would not relinquish to go on and win the game by a score of 11-6 and clinch the second half title in the Pacific Coast League, and set the stage for the Pacific Coast League Championship against the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

And then there were four.

Earlier in the week Durham clinched their third straight playoff berth as the reigning Triple-A Champions will take on the Norfolk Tide, Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Tide have a strong lineup including Minor League Player of the year Jackson Holliday.

Round Rock also stocked up their roster this week by calling up this year’s fourth overall pick Wyatt Langford, and their top pitching prospect Jack Leiter who both could play a huge role in the playoffs against OKC.

The League Championship series start tonight in Oklahoma City, and Norfolk respectively as each team won the first have of their divisions. The winners of the best of three series will face off in Las Vegas on Saturday, September 30^th. Will Durham be the first team to win FOUR Triple-A Championships, and three in a row?

Here in Sacramento, the River Cats had another losing season with a final record of 67-82 and 23.5 games out of first. The River Cats have not had a winning season since 2019, which has also been their only winning season since becoming an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants in 2015.

The most exciting player to watch this season, and team MVP was Tyler Fitzgerald who become the first River Cats player since Jarrett Parker in 2015 to have a 20/20 season in which he hit 20 home runs and stole 29 bases. He would end the season leading the River Cats in all offensive categories including the aforementioned home runs and steals, along with a .279 batting average, 72 runs scored, and 69 RBI. Tyler’s accomplishments didn’t go unnoticed by the Giants who called him up on September 21, a week after his 26th birthday. Through his first five games Tyler is hitting .250 with a double and a home run in only 16 at bats.

On the mound Nick Avila finished his amazing campaign with a 14-0 record, and an even 3.00 ERA, along with a 1.29 WHIP makes him one of the best pitchers in the Pacific Coast League this year.

Amazingly the River Cats had ten players make their Major League debut this season and that list included not only Fitzgerald, but Tristan Beck, Kyle Harrison, Marco Luciano, Luis Matos, Patrick Bailey, Ryan Walker, Keaton Winn, Casey Schmitt, and Wade Meckler.

The Giants potentially have the right pieces in place to be a solid team with this batch and some of the younger players in the lower levels of the Minor Leagues, but it sure has been rough for their fans. It will be exciting to see what 2024 brings for the both the River Cats, and the Giants, who will return for an exhibition game against Sacramento prior to the start of the season next spring at Sutter Health Park.

2024 marks the River Cats 25th Anniversary in Sacramento and for a long-time fan as myself, it makes me wonder if lightning can strike twice and the team can field a Champion as it did for their 20th Anniversary in 2019. Relive the magic of 2019 with my book, “Let’s Get it All” as I documented the unbelievable season that saw the River Cats go from their worst record in team history in 2018 to a National Championship one year late. Available at the River Cats’ On Deck Shop, and Amazon.

Tag: Reno Aces

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