Fireflies Swept Out Of Columbia

Augusta Green Jackets @ Columbia Fireflies

June 26, 2016

Matt Solter @ Tyler Badamo

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

W: Kaden (5-2, 3.86 ERA); L: Haggard (0-3, 3.12 ERA); Save: Alvarado (1)

Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Tyler Badamo (3.92 ERA) – 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 2B, 1 HR, 9 TB, 1 BB, 3 K (3 K/Sw), 1 GIDP, 5 GB: 7 FB: 3 LD: 2 PU, 82 Pitches (54 Strikes), 11 Swinging, 10 Called, 13.4% SwStr, 25% Whiff/Swing, 15.4 Pitches/IP, 22 BF

Witt Haggard (L, 0-3, 3.12 ERA) – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 TB, 1 BB, 2 GB: 2 FB, 19 Pitches (13 Strikes), 4 Called, 19 Pitches/IP, 6 BF

Seth Davis (2.37 ERA) – 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 TB, 1 K (0 K/Sw), 3 GB: 2 PU, 24 Pitches (15 Strikes), 3 Swinging, 3 Called, 12.5% SwStr, 25% Whiff/Swing, 14.4 Pitches/IP, 8 BF

Alex Palsha (2.84 ERA) – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 TB, 2 K (2 K/Sw), 2 LD, 14 Pitches (10 Strikes), 3 Swinging, 5 Called, 21.4% SwStr, 60% Whiff/Swing, 14 Pitches/IP, 4 BF

Batters

RF - Kevin Kaczmarski - 1-4, 1 K, 3.25 Pitches/PA

1B - Dash Winningham - 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K, 5.9% SwStr, 16.7% Whiff/Swing, 4.25 Pitches/PA

SS - Milton Ramos - 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 9.1% SwStr, 28.6% Whiff/Swing, 5.5 Pitches/PA

LF - Vicente Lupo - 1-1, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 1 SB, 17.4% SwStr, 44.4% Whiff/Swing, 5.75 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            A sunny afternoon in Columbia turned dark quick for the Fireflies, as they lost their lead, their starting pitcher, and then their fourth straight game to Augusta. Heading to the 6^th up 2-1, Tyler Badamo allowed a solo blast to Miguel Gomez to give up the lead. He then tweaked his back reaching for a high chopper hit by the very next batter, which led to his early exit. The Green Jackets then jumped ahead for good against the Fireflies pen in the 7^th.

            Badamo was in trouble during the 1^st inning, but got some defensive help while limiting Augusta to just one run. With runners on the corners and one out, Dylan Davis launched one towards the right center field gap that likely would’ve knocked in both runs had Kevin Kaczmarski not made a great jumping catch at the wall. He faced a little more trouble in the 2^nd, but kept Augusta off the board and then mostly cruised until his unexpected departure.

Mets Minors GIFs of the Week 10 (Two-week edition!)

Highlighting the best GIF’s from the last week in Mets minor’s action.

June 3-16, 2016

GIFs of the Week: 4/7-14, 4/15-21, 4/22-28, 4/29-5/5, 5/6-12, 5/13-19, 5/20-26, 5/27-6/2

Minors Players of the Week: 4/7-4/17, 4/18-24, 4/25-5/1, 5/2-5/8, 5/9-15, 5/16-22, 5/23-29, 5/30-6/5, 6/6-12

            Special two-week edition since I didn’t have enough coverage/time for a full post last week.

Short season ball starting tonight got me like… #GoBrooklyn

Homeruns

            David Thompson has been having a very nice season over at the hot corner for Columbia and he stroked his fourth homer of the season against Hagerstown on 6/4.

            Jean Rodriguez also tagged his fourth homer of the season for the Fireflies since the last update, finding the bleachers in right center field on Purple Game.

            The 51s have been involved in a lot of classic #PCLBaseball games during the first half of June, which means a lot of high scoring affairs with a bunch of hits and homers. They went deep 5 times in a 17-7 beatdown of the Isotopes on 6/9,

Dilson Herrera to start the game:

Travis Taijeron in the 4^th inning:

Brandon Nimmo and T.J. Rivera on back-to-back pitches in the 6^th:

and then Nimmo went deep again in the 8^th:

            Gavin Cecchini also went deep against Albuquerque, except his came during the 51s 8-4 loss on 6/10

            Jeffrey Diehl went deep for the 5^th time this season on 6/11, launching his shot to right center field in the 2^nd inning.

            The B-Mets offense has been very streaky this season, but they were able to breathe comfortably for an 8-1 win during Josh Zeid’s debut with the org. on 6/11, and the offense was boosted by a pair of homeruns.

Stefan Sabol’s third homer of the season came the day after a 4-hit game:

Phillip Evans first Double-A homerun:

            The Fireflies got a Shack-Attack Monday night against Rome, as Joe Tuschak hit his second blast of the season.

            Tyler Moore went deep for the first time this season Tuesday night, and he also added his first triple of the season in that game.

Defense

            Kevin Kaczmarski made a pair of nice sliding catches in the Spirit Communications outfield:

One in RF on 6/4

One in LF on 6/10

            P.J. Conlon has been dominating the SAL with his stuff on the mound, but he’s a good fielder coming off the mound too!

            If you’ve been following this series all season, you know that David Thompson has been one of the stars of this section.

            Check this one out: former Mets SS Jose Reyes hits a groundout to current Mets shortstop-in-waiting Gavin Cecchini.

            With the big league club doing so well, Mets prospects haven’t been getting as much attention this season, but Milton Ramos defense at SS has been turning heads for those paying attention to the Fireflies this season.

            Nimmo had to climb up a hill in CF to catch a ball at the CF wall while the 51s were in Albuquerque. His manager Wally Backman got on him for some bad reads in April, and they’ve been a problem for him in the past, but he has good range and a pretty nice arm in the OF.

            Patrick Mazeika caught 2 Rome baserunner’s trying to steal 3B Monday night:

Pitching

Slightly new format for this section, instead of all strikeout GIF’s from a start I’ll just post a few of the best GIF’s

            Chase Ingram has a heater I’ve heard called up to 93 MPH and he’s flashed a very nice changeup and curve throughout the season. The change was working nicely for him on 6/3 and 6/9, as he later discussed with Fireflies announcer Kevin Fitzgerald here. He also mentioned that he throws a knuckle-curve during that interview, and that pitch was looking great throughout his start on 6/15.

Heater

Changeup

Curveball

(Let’s slow that one down and look at that one again!)

            Logan Taylor has been posting big strikeout numbers this year out of the B-Mets pen, and the Curve announcers had him hitting 97 MPH on 6/3. Check out this Amazin Avenue interview with Mr. Taylor here.

            P.J. Conlon’s first half in the SAL couldn’t have gone any better, as he’ll finish with a sub-2.00 ERA and is starting the All-Star game next week. He gets by with good control of an 87-90 MPH Fastball, but he dominates with a nasty changeup, and flashes potential with his slider and curveball. Starts covered: 6/5, 6/10

Fastball

Changeup

Slomo on that

Curveball

            Columbia closer Alex Palsha has posted big strikeout numbers throughout his career thanks to a fastball that he can run up to 95 MPH and a nice 12-6 curveball. He’s up to 40 K in 29 IP this season, which is good for a 35% K-rate.

            Tyler Badamo had a mixed start against the Braves Monday night, as he went 7 innings and matched a career high with 6 strikeouts, but he also allowed 4 R (3 ER) on 11 H. His breaking stuff was working extremely well in this start, and it helped him induce more swinging strikes than I can remember in any of his previous starts – there was no gameday pitch log for an official count.

Breaking stuff

Changeup

Fastball

            I know I said I was going to limit myself to just a few of the nastiest pitches, but since I already combined all 9 of Joe Shaw’s K’s into one clip, why not? His breaking ball is a nasty weapon. Not sure he’ll stick as a starter, but he has a very nice 1-2 punch to fall back on out of the pen if he needs.

We have the technology to look for ET right now - why don't we? | @newscientist https://t.co/f8XeFq4iBl pic.twitter.com/7Bw8SQh7Ea

— The SETI Institute (@SETIInstitute) June 16, 2016