Tue. 4/12 - Biloxi Home Opener, Others Hit The Road

[Mass Haas]

Thread will be utilized for any minor league news of the Monday/Tuesday, lineup updates (when damuelle is available, which is often), etc.

Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores

[Joseph Zarr]

We get Antoine Kelly's first start of the young season as the T-Rats travel to Beloit and we get Nick Bennett's first action of the season as Biloxi opens their season at Home. These are two prospects I've been waiting to see in live action for months. This has the makings for an exciting Tuesday round of games. I'll definitely be tuning in.

[lamiwe21]

Watched all three games vs Pensacola this weekend in person. There is a lot to like about Valerio. Lot of fielding mistakes with the new artificial turf for both teams. Wahoos have been asked to  re adjust the infield dirt which is a new clay that players have said is like sliding on concrete. 

 

[Joseph Zarr]

27 minutes ago, lamiwe21 said:

Watched all three games vs Pensacola this weekend in person. There is a lot to like about Valerio. Lot of fielding mistakes with the new artificial turf for both teams. Wahoos have been asked to  re adjust the infield dirt which is a new clay that players have said is like sliding on concrete. 

 

I wish I could say that dirt was to blame for the airmailed throws to first from Freddy Zamora. Those were mildly troubling as he really really launched those into the stands on, what was it, 3 occasions? And 2 throws in a row. Hopefully that was just a blip. The Home announcer discussed those changes of the turf. I had no clue on the infield dirt. Yikes. Thanks for sharing. Those certainly looked like gorgeous days you experienced!

[Joseph Zarr]

Carolina sees Alexander Cornielle's first start of the young season while Nashville brings Caleb Boushley to the mound for his 2nd go around.

Let's hope Alexander is more comfortable in 2022. If you recall, he debuted late last year with 8 innings pitched over 2 outings in his September call up from the AZL and was tagged for  9 runs on 15 hits. 

Caleb had a good game going through 4 innings in his first outing vs Durham but things went wayward in the 5th. Let's hope he can put together another solid outing.

[CheeseheadInQC]

I wonder if Figueroa, the only likely tandem partner who hasn’t thrown (or been scheduled to throw) will pair with Cornielle tonight or Segura tomorrow. 

[Joseph Zarr]

14 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

I wonder if Figueroa, the only likely tandem partner who hasn’t thrown (or been scheduled to throw) will pair with Cornielle tonight or Segura tomorrow. 

Ha! I was literally wondering the same thing when scanning the lineup and the roster. I would think he's a good candidate tonight, honestly, but then again this is a big jump up for Miguel. Who, funnily enough, is even younger than Alexander. Man, the Carolina roster has so much fun youth. They have 3 players who were born when I was 25 years old.?

[Joseph Zarr]

?

[Joseph Zarr]

Your Jeferson Quero moments of Zen (he's still 19 yo!):

 

[damuelle]

The undefeated (3-0) Biloxi Shuckers have their home opener tonight, the first of a 6-game series against the Mississippi Braves. LHP Nick Bennett makes his season debut on the mound, while top hitters Wiemer (1.148 OPS), Valerio (1.417 OPS) and Lutz (1.036 OPS) hit 3rd, 5th and 7th respectively:

[damuelle]

The undefeated Carolina Mudcats (3-0) travel to face the 2-1 Fredericksburg Nationals this week. 20-year old RHP Alexander Cornielle makes his 2022 debut on the mound tonight. C Jeferson Quero (1.096 OPS) and SS Eduardo Garcia (1.083 OPS) lead the offense, while 3B Luis Silva gets his first action at the Low-A level:

1 - Garcia - SS
2 - Leones - LF
3 - Quero - C
4 - Mendez - RF
5 - Chirinos - 1B
6 - Perez - DH
7 - Cipion - CF
8 - Ferrer - 2B
9 - Silva - 3B
X - Cornielle - P

[Joseph Zarr]

We have a Jimi Hendrix meets Joe Satriani national anthem finishing up in Fredericksburg. First pitch is minutes away for our Mudcats batters.

[Joseph Zarr]

Eduardo Garcia with a chopper up the middle over the second base bag and his scorching start continues. 1 runner on right off the bat. Fist pitch leaves the pitcher's hand at 6:08 EST.

 

[Joseph Zarr]

Leones rips a scorching double that clearly gets lost in a massive glare over the LF stands. 1 run in. A triple for Leones. Quero to the plate where he looks to keep a hot bat. And it continues: Jeferson rips a double down the third base line. We are a HR shy of the cycle in the first 3 ABs.

[Joseph Zarr]

2-0 Carolina to the Bottom of the 1st. Quero is stranded on 3rd after a looking called strike 3 on an inside slider to Chirinos and Hedbert Perez follows up with a chopper to 2B for the easy ground out.

[Joseph Zarr]

Let's just say this: Garcia has an absolute cannon of an arm from SS. Holy heck did he throw an absolute dart to get the groundout after a casual backhanded stop. Whew. 

[Joseph Zarr]

3 up and 3 down w/ 1 k to De la Rosa on a 3-2 inside fastball. Fangraphs lauds Cornielle's slider - it's a nice pitch for sure. I'm going to go a different route: Alexander has some serious serious heat. That fastball comes flying to the plate. I am waiting patiently for a radar gun read.

[Joseph Zarr]

Cipion with a K, Ferrer nails the ball on the screws but to dead Center Left where De la Rosa makes the play look a lot easier than it was with the deep fly out, and Silva goes down looking in his first AB of the season. Caceres settles down and looks poised and gets ahead in the count in each AB. On to the Bottom of the 2nd where Corneille looks to keep the Nats off the scoreboard.

[Joseph Zarr]

Silva with a beautiful sliding and diving stop well off the 3B bag and into SS range and the soft and easy throw to 1B for the first out - truly a web gem of a play. Facing his second batter, Alexander suffers for consistently falling behind in the count walking Arias. These issues continue with the third batter faced opening up with 4 straight balls as Cornielle is struggling to find the zone. Men on 1st and 2nd 1 out. Garcia fields a nice play on a 1-2 count with a flip to 2nd base while on his back. The 6-4 put out gets the 2nd out. Men on the corners and Cornielle faces his 4th batter in Lefty TJ White. And Cornielle reaches deep and manages to get White swinging late on 2 heaters up and just outside of the zone. He isn't locating consistently, he isn't finding anything with his touted slider, but Alexander is grinding and has 2 scoreless. On to the 3rd.

As a side note: Quero is already advanced in the framing department. His framing alone has gotten Cornielle the benefit of 2 questionable inside fastballs. You love to see it from a 19 yo.

[damuelle]

The 4-2 Nashville Sounds go on the road for a 6-game set against the 3-3 Gwinnett Stripers. RHP Caleb Boushley makes his second start and 2B Pablo Reyes makes his first appearance of the season. 3B Mark Mathias (.545 / .545 / .818) brings his 3-game hitting streak into the contest:

 

[Joseph Zarr]

2 quick strikeouts of Garcia and Leones, who both go down looking (Garcia on a questionable slider off the outside of the plate), for Caceres who has k'd 5 of his last 9 batters after Quero flies out softly to RF. On to the Bottom of the 3rd. 

[Joseph Zarr]

The 9-hitter Peña ropes a high heater over the leaping Ferrer into RF as the lead-off hitter gets aboard. Gents, it is time to get Garcia on the top 35 boards. This kid has the 'It'. What a dazzling snag of a rope to LF. He is poised at the plate, he has size and fluidity. I'm already a big fan - LOL. Put on the brakes you dare say? Not a chance!

[Joseph Zarr]

Cornielle continues to grind tho his control his clearly not dialed tonight. He issues another walk after House launches a hard double into Right Center while sitting on a slightly hanging slider over the heart of the plate. Garcia's epic snag saves a run and we go Top of 4 with the score 2-1 Mudcats. Cornielle's pitch count is up to 57.

[damuelle]

The 2-1 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers travel to 0-3 Beloit for six games this week. #14 prospect LHP Antoine Kelly makes his 2nd-ever start for High-A Wisconsin after being limited by injuries last year. CF Sal Frelick brings his 3-game hitting streak into the game, while early season surprise Tristan Peters mans the DH spot:

[Joseph Zarr]

Carlos Morales is first up in the Pen as Chirinos botches a sky high pop up and we have 2 runners on, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Mendez goes over the cut-off man and the runner goes to 2nd. No outs. I'm off to watch the start of the Sounds.