April Stat Review: Columbia Fireflies

Thomas McIlraith (20) and Chase Ingram (6) throwing a pen session in Rome

Jose Leger’s squad finished April at 13-10

            The Fireflies had one of the wildest first months a franchise has ever had, although much of it happened in the first week of the season. They were involved in 3 walkoff losses during that first series with Charleston, and the only win they managed came on during a no-hitter! Considering there weren’t many top prospect names on the roster, this team wasn’t expected to do well, but neither were the 2015 Sand Gnats, and they were the top team in the league from May on.

            Much of the excitement starts with the offense, which has been led by a pair of college bats who could be playing in the FSL right now: Vinny Siena reached base in all but one game during the month, and David Thompson finished April leading all of baseball with 27 RBI’s. Youngsters Dash Winningham and Ivan Wilson have been providing nice production as well, but older players have driven much of the success on offense.

            The pitching staff is also a little older for the SAL, but the youngest guy on the staff, Chase Ingram, has put up some big numbers early (31.4 K%), and crafty lefty P.J. Conlon has been lights out (1.14 ERA). The teams record would be even better if not for some blown saves, but the bullpen hasn’t been that reliable yet. Tyler Bashlor is reportedly sitting mid-90’s, and his heater looks nice, so he’s someone to keep an eye on.

            Below are the April stats for all Columbia players with commentary added for select individuals.

April

MVP: Vinny Siena. David Thompson put up the big RBI numbers, but Siena finished top-3 in league wRC+ for the month.

Cy: P.J. Conlon. Chase Ingram put up the bigger K numbers, but hard to overlook a 1.14 ERA to date from Conlon.

Fireman: Tyler Bashlor put up some nice numbers and lit up the radar guns.

Offense

Vinny Siena - 93 PA, 0.362/0.495/0.536, 21 R, 8 2B, 2 3B, 0 HR, 8 RBI, 19 BB, 2 HBP, 3 SF, 20 K, 1 GIDP, 1 SB, 8.1% SwStr, 23.6% Whiff/Swing, 4.4 Pitches/PA, 0.481 BABIP

Very similar player to L.J. Mazzilli, who tore up the SAL during the first half of 2014 but hasn’t hit much since joining Double-A

David Thompson - 97 PA, 0.301/0.371/0.506, 20 R, 9 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 27 RBI, 8 BB, 3 HBP, 3 SF, 21 K, 2 GIDP, 1 SB, 0 CS, 11.9% SwStr, 27.3% Whiff/Swing, 3.4 Pitches/PA, 0.365 BABIP

Not saying they should have, but the Mets probably could have switched Thompson and Jhoan Urena coming out of Spring Training and he’d still be putting up good numbers. Need to see how he fares against guys with polish AND good stuff, but looked better in the field than I anticipated, making some nice plays during the series I caught

Ivan Wilson - 79 PA, 0.243/0.329/0.471, 13 R, 7 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 9 BB, 23 K, 3 GIDP, 2 SB, 2 CS, 17.2% SwStr, 37% Whiff/Swing, 3.5 Pitches/PA, 0.318 BABIP

His K% has dropped under 30% so far after topping out at 47% in rookie ball during the 2014 season

Tucker Tharp - 44 PA, 0.310/0.341/0.452, 8 R, 3 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 13 K, 2 GIDP, 2 SB, 0 CS, 9.9% SwStr, 21.1% Whiff/Swing, 3.7 Pitches/PA, 0.429 BABIP

Will be out for some time after taking a pitch to the face, but fortunately there are no serious problems reported for Tharp after the incident

Jeff Diehl - 71 PA, 0.237/0.352/0.390, 9 R, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 10 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SF, 22 K, 2 GIDP, 10.8% SwStr, 27.5% Whiff/Swing, 4.3 Pitches/PA, 0.314 BABIP

Hit some monster shots at the end of the month

Vicente Lupo - 31 PA, 0.192/0.323/0.385, 4 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 5 RBI, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 13 K, 2 GIDP, 1 CS, 15.7% SwStr, 44.2% Whiff/Swing, 3.9 Pitches/PA, 0.385 BABIP

Joe Tuschak - 70 PA, 0.234/0.300/0.391, 7 R, 3 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 6 BB, 14 K, 2 GIDP, 0 SB, 2 CS, 9.3% SwStr, 21.4% Whiff/Swing, 3.8 Pitches/PA, 0.286 BABIP

Jose Garcia - 23 PA, 0.300/0.391/0.300, 3 R, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 8 K, 1 GIDP, 16.3% SwStr, 38.1% Whiff/Swing, 4.3 Pitches/PA, 0.500 BABIP

Dash Winningham - 83 PA, 0.274/0.361/0.329, 10 R, 4 2B, 10 RBI, 9 BB, 1 HBP, 7 K, 1 GIDP, 4.4% SwStr, 11.9% Whiff/Swing, 3.5 Pitches/PA, 0.303 BABIP

More walks than strikeouts so far for Dash, but he didn’t hit any homeruns in April, although he came close to multiple homeruns during one game in Greenvile

Natanael Ramos - 16 PA, 0.231/0.333/0.308, 1 R, 1 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 0 HBP, 0 SF, 1 SAC, 3 K, 1 GIDP, 0 SB, 0 CS, 10.2% SwStr, 20% Whiff/Swing, 3.7 Pitches/PA, 0.300 BABIP

Jean Rodriguez - 79 PA, 0.197/0.266/0.310, 9 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 6 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SF, 14 K, 3 SB, 1 CS, 8.2% SwStr, 20.2% Whiff/Swing, 3.7 Pitches/PA, 0.214 BABIP

Kevin Kaczmarski - 58 PA, 0.180/0.281/0.280, 10 R, 1 2B, 2 3B, 3 RBI, 7 BB, 1 SAC, 12 K, 2 CS, 7.1% SwStr, 20.7% Whiff/Swing, 4.1 Pitches/PA, 0.237 BABIP

Got off to a slow start and finished the month on the DL

Milton Ramos - 63 PA, 0.207/0.270/0.259, 6 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 10 RBI, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 15 K, 10% SwStr, 21.9% Whiff/Swing, 4 Pitches/PA, 0.279 BABIP

Hasn’t shown much at the plate yet, but he’s still just 20 and playing very nice defense at SS

Tyler Moore - 52 PA, 0.191/0.250/0.234, 6 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 1 SF, 8 K, 1 GIDP, 1 CS, 11.3% SwStr, 23.6% Whiff/Swing, 3.6 Pitches/PA, 0.225 BABIP

Pitching

Starting

P.J. Conlon - 23.2 IP, 24 H, 3 R (3 ER), 3 2B, 2 3B, 31 TB, 1 BB, 18 K (11 K/Sw), 40 GB: 13 FB: 11 LD: 8 PU, 352 Pitches (243 Strikes), 41 Swinging, 64 Called, 11.6% SwStr, 22.9% Whiff/Swing, 14.9 Pitches/IP, 94 BF

Off to a great start, and has put up good K numbers since finishing with 0 in his first outing

Joe Shaw - 16 IP, 16 H, 5 R (5 ER), 2 2B, 1 HR, 21 TB, 1 BB, 21 K (16 K/Sw), 22 GB: 13 FB: 6 LD: 0 PU, 236 Pitches (160 Strikes), 29 Swinging, 39 Called, 12.3% SwStr, 24% Whiff/Swing, 14.8 Pitches/IP, 66 BF

Had a good showing in April and has room to grow as a pitcher

Chase Ingram - 22 IP, 21 H, 8 R (7 ER), 4 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 35 TB, 4 BB, 28 K (21 K/Sw), 30 GB: 8 FB: 12 LD: 4 PU, 325 Pitches (211 Strikes), 54 Swinging, 64 Called, 16.6% SwStr, 36.7% Whiff/Swing, 14.8 Pitches/IP, 89 BF

Big whiff numbers are a good indication he can maintain this success moving forward

Kevin Canelon - 21 IP, 20 H, 9 R (9 ER), 7 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 39 TB, 5 BB, 21 K (18 K/Sw), 18 GB: 21 FB: 13 LD: 8 PU, 307 Pitches (210 Strikes), 56 Swinging, 40 Called, 18.2% SwStr, 32.9% Whiff/Swing, 14.6 Pitches/IP, 89 BF

Lefty doesn’t throw hard but his breaking stuff could work in the pen

Thomas McIlraith - 20 IP, 17 H, 12 R (10 ER), 3 2B, 5 HR, 35 TB, 10 BB, 18 K (14 K/Sw), 29 GB: 12 FB: 11 LD: 1 PU, 83 BF

Started his SAL career with 6 no-hit innings, but has allowed 5 homeruns since, so a mixed bag of results

Tyler Badamo - 24.2 IP, 28 H, 15 R (13 ER), 11 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 49 TB, 5 BB, 13 K (9 K/Sw), 39 GB: 20 FB: 22 LD: 3 PU, 323 Pitches (219 Strikes), 35 Swinging, 49 Called, 10.8% SwStr, 20.6% Whiff/Swing, 13.1 Pitches/IP, 105 BF

Pitched well in both starts on MiLB.tv (4 ER allowed on 12 H in 12.2 IP), but was hit hard in his other two starts

Relieving

Nicco Blank - 6.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 HR, 5 TB, 3 BB, 5 K (3 K/Sw), 5 GB: 5 FB: 2 LD: 2 PU, 85 Pitches (52 Strikes), 8 Swinging, 13 Called, 9.4% SwStr, 20.5% Whiff/Swing, 13.4 Pitches/IP, 23 BF

Tyler Bashlor - 9 IP, 5 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 2B, 1 HR, 9 TB, 5 BB, 12 K (10 K/Sw), 8 GB: 6 FB: 3 LD: 1 PU, 126 Pitches (73 Strikes), 21 Swinging, 17 Called, 16.7% SwStr, 37.5% Whiff/Swing, 14 Pitches/IP, 36 BF

Witt Haggard - 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R (3 ER), 1 2B, 4 TB, 3 BB, 2 K (2 K/Sw), 3 GB: 2 LD, 47 Pitches (22 Strikes), 6 Swinging, 6 Called, 12.8% SwStr, 37.5% Whiff/Swing, 35.3 Pitches/IP, 10 BF

Alex Palsha - 10.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R (4 ER), 2 2B, 9 TB, 6 BB, 19 K (12 K/Sw), 12 GB: 5 FB: 2 LD, 178 Pitches (111 Strikes), 25 Swinging, 41 Called, 14% SwStr, 35.7% Whiff/Swing, 16.7 Pitches/IP, 44 BF

Johnny Magliozzi - 8 IP, 8 H, 4 R (4 ER), 2 2B, 2 HR, 16 TB, 2 BB, 6 K (4 K/Sw), 13 GB: 7 FB: 4 LD: 0 PU, 123 Pitches (77 Strikes), 11 Swinging, 25 Called, 8.9% SwStr, 21.2% Whiff/Swing, 15.4 Pitches/IP, 32 BF

Seth Davis - 14 IP, 11 H, 6 R (4 ER), 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 21 TB, 7 BB, 12 K (9 K/Sw), 17 GB: 13 FB: 3 LD: 5 PU, 216 Pitches (123 Strikes), 22 Swinging, 32 Called, 10.2% SwStr, 24.2% Whiff/Swing, 15.4 Pitches/IP, 60 BF

Craig Missigman - 12.1 IP, 12 H, 8 R (8 ER), 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 22 TB, 9 BB, 15 K (11 K/Sw), 14 GB: 8 FB: 8 LD: 2 PU, 228 Pitches (139 Strikes), 25 Swinging, 33 Called, 11% SwStr, 23.6% Whiff/Swing, 18.5 Pitches/IP, 57 BF

Christian Montgomery - 11 IP, 10 H, 11 R (6 ER), 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 18 TB, 7 BB, 14 K (12 K/Sw), 11 GB: 7 FB: 8 LD: 1 PU, 209 Pitches (135 Strikes), 41 Swinging, 31 Called, 19.6% SwStr, 39.4% Whiff/Swing, 19 Pitches/IP, 52 BF

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