Sugar Land – 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.

Mustaches and baseball go together like mustaches and 70’s porn. There have been some great mustaches in the history of the game especially with the Oakland A’s of the early 70’s and most notably Rollie Fingers and his beautiful handlebar mustache which to me sets the standard for a quality baseball mustache. There have been a multitude of mustaches around baseball, but I think Dennis Eckersley, Rich Gossage, Don Mattingly, and Rod Beck set the bar pretty high when it comes to everyday mustache grooming standards; and of course, who can forget the “Mad Hungarian” Al Hrabosky’s mutton chop-like horseshoe mustache which had a life of its own.

Facial hair in general seemed to start to make a powerful comeback in baseball right around 2004 with the Boston Red Sox, but as of late I really see the mustache becoming the go to, especially in May for Mustache May. In my opinion the best mustache for current players hands down goes to Daniel Mengden of the Omaha Storm Chasers of the International League and Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Mengden who pitched in the Major for the Oakland Athletics sports a classic handlebar mustache a la Rollie Fingers. Runner-up in the category would have to go to J.P. France of the Sugar Land Space Cowboys who also uses the handlebar.

Okay, okay, so why are we talking about mustaches? Well, because its May, and May is “Mustache May”! What’s Mustache May? Its basically a bunch of guys sitting around getting bored with nothing better to do besides be lazy and look for an excuse not to shave while giving the finger to “The Man”. That’s the simple version of it really, and too the best of my knowledge, that’s how it started back in 2001 when a group of river guides in Moab, Utah were annoyed that their employer required them to stay clean shaven. The loophole though was that they were allowed to have mustaches, and so, Mustache May was born.

While Movember was designed to specifically raise awareness for men’s health issues during the month of November, Mustache May was just a thing to do. Mustache May appears to have less of an impact than Movember, but it continues to follow suit for the last decade, and that is that reason that I will be participating in Mustache May this year.

I have selected “Beauty 2 The Streetz”, an organization run by Shirley Raines who provides makeup, showers, and hair color for the homeless women of Skid Row in Los Angeles, California. Shirley was named the 2021 CNN Hero of the Year for the work that she does for her “Queens” and “Kings”. Shirley has been able to expand her services beyond the hygiene needs for those who lack resources and provides food, clothing, and safety to thousands each week. For more information and to donate please go to Beauty 2 The Streetz

As a bonus, for anyone who donates between May 1-31, 2022, please take a screenshot and DM me a receipt to be entered into a drawing for a special prize which will be announced later. The winner will be announced with my post on Monday, June 6, 2022.

There are so many good causes to choose from that I was overwhelmed, but grateful for Ella Stone-Kerr who is an advocate for the marginalized, unseen, and unwanted populations in our communities who pointed me in Shirley’s direction, so a big thank you to her for this inspiration.

Wearing a mustache means something different to everyone who participates, but for those who do, celebrate that fine ‘stache by taking a stand for something and wearing it proudly.

Tag: Sugar Land

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