Andrew Church Puts Up A Maddux In His Return To Columbia

Rome Braves @ Columbia Fireflies

July 16, 2016

Touki Toussaint @ Andrew Church

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Rome	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	1	0
Columbia	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	X		4	7	0

W: Church (3-0, 0.42 ERA); L: Toussaint (2-6, 4.40 ERA)

Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Andrew Church (W, 3-0, 0.42 ERA) – 9 IP, 1 H, 1 TB, 1 BB, 10 K (5 K/Sw), 1 GIDP, 8 GB: 4 FB: 3 LD: 2 PU, 99 Pitches (73 Strikes), 10 Swinging, 22 Called, 10.1% SwStr, 19.6% Whiff/Swing, 11 Pitches/IP, 30 BF

Batters

CF - Tucker Tharp - 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 CS, 3.5 Pitches/PA

LF - Vicente Lupo - 3-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB, 20% SwStr, 50% Whiff/Swing, 3.75 Pitches/PA

DH - Eudor Garcia - 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 10% SwStr, 14.3% Whiff/Swing, 2.5 Pitches/PA

RF - Joe Tuschak - 1-4, 1 K, 5.6% SwStr, 20% Whiff/Swing, 4.5 Pitches/PA

C - Tyler Moore - 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 K, 8.3% SwStr, 12.5% Whiff/Swing, 8 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            Andrew Church returned to the Fireflies with a bang Saturday night, tossing a complete game one hit shutout on just 99 pitches, which is also known as a “Maddux” for all-time great Greg Maddux. Vicente Lupo did much of the damage for Columbia on offense, finishing a triple shy of the cycle and with two runs batted in.

Church made a pair of starts for Columbia earlier in the season before being promoted to the St. Lucie Mets, where he posted a 3.60 ERA over 6 starts (35 IP). He owned Rome for 7.2 IP on May 30^th, but then took his effort to another level Saturday night. Per this cached cbssports post, there have only been three 9-inning starts with a better game score than Church’s 100 in MLB history, and the maximum score would be 114. Who knows how that ranks on the all-time SAL leaderboard, and it’s not a great stat, but that’s still pretty impressive.

Late Charge Supports Beeler The Dealer

Charleston River Dogs @ Columbia Fireflies

July 6, 2016

Nestor Cortes @ Bryce Beeler

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Charleston	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	7	0
Columbia	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	X		4	7	0

W: Haggard (2-4, 3.29 ERA); L: Mundell (0-2, 5.63 ERA); Save: Palsha (14)

Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Bryce Beeler (0.68 ERA) – 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 HR, 9 TB, 5 K (4 K/Sw), 10 GB: 8 FB: 3 LD, 81 Pitches (56 Strikes), 9 Swinging, 13 Called, 11.1% SwStr, 20.9% Whiff/Swing, 11.6 Pitches/IP, 26 BF

Witt Haggard (W, 2-4, 3.29 ERA) – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 TB, 1 K (1 K/Sw), 1 GB: 1 LD, 15 Pitches (10 Strikes), 3 Swinging, 3 Called, 20% SwStr, 42.9% Whiff/Swing, 15 Pitches/IP, 3 BF

Alex Palsha (S, 14, 2.60 ERA) – 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K (0 K/Sw), 1 GIDP, 1 GB, 12 Pitches (6 Strikes), 4 Called, 12 Pitches/IP, 3 BF

Batters

SS – Jean Rodriguez - 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 K, 10% SwStr, 22.2% Whiff/Swing, 5 Pitches/PA

2B - Luis Ortega - 1-4, 1 CS, 11.1% SwStr, 14.3% Whiff/Swing, 2.25 Pitches/PA

DH – Jeffrey Diehl - 2-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 3.67 Pitches/PA

3B - Eudor Garcia - 1-3, 1 R, 1 K, 3.33 Pitches/PA

LF - Vicente Lupo - 1-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 3 Pitches/PA

CF - Enmanuel Zabala - 1-3, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 12.5% SwStr, 22.2% Whiff/Swing, 5.33 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            The Fireflies took the rubber game of their series with the rival Charleston River Dogs Wednesday night, winning 4-1 thanks to another late inning charge. Columbia won after jumping ahead in the 8^th inning Tuesday night, which is when they struck the final blow in the finale Wednesday.

            Bryce Beeler made his second start of the season for Columbia and was excellent. Per the Fireflies announcers, Mets people think Beeler’s changeup will allow him to have success as a starter. He also appears to throw a low-90’s heater and sharp breaking curve.

After finishing Gosuke Katoh on 3 pitches for a strikeout to start his night, Beeler needed only 3 more pitches to round out a perfect 1^st inning. He made a mistake in the 2^nd and Jhalan Jackson punished it for the River Dogs only run of the game. Jackson hit it off the batters eye above the big CF wall, just to the left of dead center.

2015 Splits Review: Eudor Garcia

After a promising SAL campaign in 2015, the lefty swinging third baseman will miss the first half of 2016 due to a suspension for banned substances

2015 with Savannah (including playoffs): 108 G, 442 PA, .298/.342/.444, 59 R, 25 2B, 4 3B, 9 HR, 60 RBI, 100 K: 23 BB (22.6 K%: 5.2 BB%), .372 BABIP, .146 ISO, 122 wRC+, 10.8 AB/XBH, 11.1% HR/FB, 42.7 GB%: 27 FB%: 27 LD%: 3.3 PU%

            With their 4^th round pick in the 2014 draft, the Mets selected a lefty-swinging third baseman named Eudor Garcia, who was, “billed as the top hitter in the state of Texas,” per Baseball America’s 2016 Prospect Guidebook. Garcia didn’t excel at the plate in his first taste of pro ball – he had a 98 wRC+ in the rookie APPY League – but after staying back for some extended spring training to start the 2015 season, he was a consistent force in the Savannah lineup from May 6^th on. He has a small timing device in his set-up, but is otherwise very quiet at the plate, with a smooth swing, and power to all fields. Here's some video I caught of him in the cage from May. Since it has to be addressed, his suspension is a setback, but it won’t be an issue so long as he doesn’t take banned substances again. He was caught with bumetanide and furosemide in his system, which are used to clear out ones system, so we don’t know what he was actually taking, and can only hope he’s more careful with what he takes in the future.

His defense at 3B has been a question mark since he was drafted, but BA sounded optimistic about his chances of staying, “most scouts grade him as an adequate defensive third baseman with fair hands and average range but choppy motions.” He was doing a lot of pre-game drills at 3B when I saw the Sand Gnats in Rome, so it seems like something he’s working on, and sticking at 3B would be huge for his future. He doesn’t have a rocket arm, but it’s accurate and I didn’t see him bouncing many throws on MiLB.tv. His actions are a little stiff, and he didn’t always have the best footwork approaching groundballs, but he showed more than enough to stick at the position for now. Below I take a look at some trends from his 2015 with Savannah, and then share links to GIF and video coverage of Eudor.

Late Drive Comeback Prevents Sand Gnats From Double-Header Sweep

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Greenville Drive

September 5, 2015

Game Two

Gaby Almonte @ Ben Taylor

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Savannah	1	0	2	0	1	0	0		4	7	2
Greenville	1	0	0	2	0	0	2		5	7	3

W: Harris (4-4, 2.72 ERA); L: Palsha (0-1, 5.40 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Gaby Almonte (5.40 ERA) – 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 5 SO, HBP, 83 Pitches (50 Strikes), 4 GO: 4 FO

Luis Mateo (H, 4, 2.31 ERA) – 1 IP, H, 2 SO, 1 GO

Alex Palsha (BS, 1)(L, 0-1, 5.40 ERA) – 0.2 IP, H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 2 GO: 1 FO

Ben Taylor (3.40 ERA) – 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R (1 ER), 3 BB, 4 SO, 69 Pitches (42 Strikes), 2 GO: 2 FO

Mario Alcantara (3.51 ERA) – 3.1 IP, 3 H, R (0 ER), BB, 4 SO, 5 GO, 2 IR – 0 S

Ryan Harris (W, 4-4, 2.72 ERA) – 1 IP, SO, 1 GO

Batters

Luis Guillorme – 2-2, 2 R, 2 BB, SB (18)

Eudor Garcia – 2-3, 2 R, BB

Joe Tuschak – 1-4, RBI (10)

Patrick Biondi – 1-4, RBI (29)

Vicente Lupo – 1-3, 2 SO

Yoan Moncada – 1-3, 2 R, BB, 2 SB (48), SO

Rafael Devers – 1-3, 2 RBI (70)

Andrew Benintendi – 2-3, R, BB, SB (3)

Javier Guerra – 2-4, R, 2 RBI (67), SO

Alex McKeon – 1-3, RBI (1), 2 SO

Recap

            The Greenville Drive kept their playoff hopes alive with a win in game two of their double-header with Savannah Saturday night. Since Savannah clinched the division title in both the first and second half, the division wild card spot is chosen by overall record, and Greenville is in a tight race with Asheville for that spot. If I had to choose, I would prefer Greenville make it for any playoff games that might make MiLB.tv, but then I’d have to root for Savannah to lose the next two games, and that’s no fun! Luis Guillorme continued his great day at the plate for Savannah, increasing his hit count to 5 and on base count to 7 for the day during game two. Gaby Almonte was promoted from Brooklyn to make the start in game two, and it was a mixed outing. He showed some nice stuff throughout the start, but control issues limited his outing, and led to him allowing a run in the 1^st without allowing a hit. The Sand Gnats jumped ahead 4-3 in the 5^th inning, and turned to their pen with a one run lead for the final two frames. Luis Mateo looked sharp working the 6^th for Savannah but Alex Palsha couldn’t survive a weird 7^th inning: there were two errors, two walks (one intentional), a sac fly to the RF corner’s warning track, and a misplayed grounder that led to a walkoff win for Greenville – the weirdest part about that last play was that Palsha still chose to throw to 1B for the second out before the winning run came home.

            Check out the full scoring details and highlights below. This series continues Sunday night at 7:05 PM, with Casey Delgado (8-3, 2.91 ERA) scheduled to pitch opposite Dedgar Jimenez (9-9, 4.30 ERA) with Greenville’s playoff hopes on the line.

Scoring Highlights

Knapp Drives Savannah Against Greenville

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Greenville Drive

September 5, 2015

Game One

Ricky Knapp @ Anderson Espinoza

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Savannah	0	1	1	1	1	0	0		4	9	1
Greenville	0	0	0	2	0	1	0		3	7	2

W: Knapp (8-3, 2.60 ERA); L: Espinoza (0-1, 8.10 ERA); Save: Baldonado (1.91 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Ricky Knapp – 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 5 SO, 94 Pitches (66 Strikes), 7 GO: 2 FO

Alberto Baldonado – 1.1 IP, H, 2 SO, 2 GO, 1 IR – 0 S

Anderson Espinoza – 3.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 SO, 68 Pitches (43 Strikes), 5 GO: 2 FO

Jake Drehoff (2.89 ERA) – 3.2 IP, 5 H, R, 3 SO, 59 Pitches (43 Strikes), 4 GO: 2 FO, 2 IR – 0 S

Batters

Luis Guillorme – 3-4, R, 2 2B (16)

Wuilmer Becerra – 1-4, RBI (63), SO, CS

Eudor Garcia – 1-4, R, SB (5), 3 SO

Jean Rodriguez – 1-3, R

Tomas Nido – 2-3, RBI (40), SO

Patrick Biondi – 1-2, R, BB, 2 SB (38), SO

Michael Chavis – 1-3, R, 2B (29), SO

Rafael Devers – 2-3, 2 R, 2B (36), RBI (68)

Andrew Benintendi – 1-3, RBI (15), 2 SO, CS

Nick Longhi – 1-3, 2B (27), RBI (62)

Javier Guerra – 1-3

Danny Mars – 1-3, SO

Recap

            Savannah welcomed their league MVP back to his customary spot in the lineup during game one Saturday afternoon against Greenville, and his bat picked up right where he left off before busting a finger on 8/26. Guillorme had 3 hits in this game, including a pair of doubles, as part of a 5-hit combined effort in this double-header (plus he drew two walks in game two). Sand Gnats starter Ricky Knapp was strong early, and battled through some Greenville threats late to keep Savannah on top. Alberto Baldonado took over for Knapp after he allowed the tying run to reach 2B, and Baldonado closed out the game by retiring 4 of the 5 batters he’d face.

The Drive started 17-year old Anderson Espinoza for the first time, and he was very impressive. He was on a pitch limit, and he ended up charged with all 3 Savannah runs, but considering his age relative to the league, he was brilliant. Espinoza mostly threw his fastball, which ranged from 93-97 MPH per the Greenville announcer, but he also mixed in a few really nice looking curveballs, and a few really nice looking changeups (see below for some examples). He seems like a future top prospect candidate, and you can read more about him from Baseball America here.

These two would play one more Saturday night, with Savannah looking to sweep a double-header, and the Drive looking to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Scoring Highlights