Brendan Beck has been the best pitcher for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders all season as well as in the International League. He currently leads in wins (10), earned-run average (2.75), strikeouts (146), innings (131.0), WHIP (1.03) and opponents’ batting average (.203).
Those numbers might be even better had Beck not been recalled and optioned by the New York Yankees four times in the past month. However, with Beck on the move, Alexander Cornielle has helped pick up the slack and been effective
over the last six weeks. Since joining the RailRiders in June, the 25-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic was 1-2 with four no-decisions and a 4.66 earned-run average in his first seven starts. In 25.1 innings, he allowed 13 runs (all earned) and 23 hits with 18 walks and 26 strikeouts.
However, in his last eight appearances (seven starts), he is 4-2 with two no-decisions and a 1.57 ERA. In 40.2 innings, he has given up just seven runs (all earned) and 29 hits with 17 walks and 40 strikeouts. His best highlight came on August 28th at Worcester when he tossed a career-high eight shutout innings on two hits with two walks and six strikeouts in a 2-0 win. That effort earned him International League Pitcher of the Week for the period of Aug. 24-30.
Days later, Cornielle was selected IL Pitcher of the Month for August. He was 2-1 in five starts during the month with a 1.50 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 24 innings.
“I really don’t look at that stuff. It just really shows off how the team overall is doing,” Cornielle said. “We’re in a good row. It shows overall how my stuff is playing with facing the hitters and how deceptive I am. The team’s on a good roll. It feels good.”
Even in defeat, Cornielle has pitched well. In the opener Monday of the first-place showdown series with the Rochester Red Wings, he had a quality start: two runs on four hits in six innings with four walks and seven strikeouts in a 3-1 loss.
Cornielle was signed by Yankees as a free agent in December after spending six minor-league seasons in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. He began this season on the 60-day injured list, and he thinks that may have attributed to his struggles in his first seven starts. Those games were like his spring training.
“I don’t think, honestly, I was doing anything wrong,” Cornielle said. “In the beginning, yeah, I was walking a lot of people, throwing a lot of pitches in innings. But for me, showing up late, these guys (opposing batters) have three or four months competing on me. So they’re better prepared in that sense. It’s something I feel like I didn’t have in the beginning. So going through those rough patches and hearing what my pitching coaches say about how all the stuff is playing and how everything was. My pitches weren’t bad. The hitters had an advantage on me, I was a little behind in that sense. But after I got the hang of it, it’s been pretty easy.”
He made some minor adjustments that has helped contribute to his recent success.
“We’ve been working a little bit on mechanics,” Cornielle said. “Try to stay efficient, linear to home plate to be able to access more velo. Tweaking grips a little bit to make pitches move a little more.”
On September 2nd against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Cornielle followed Clarke Schmidt after Schmidt made a rehab start. Cornielle said it is helpful to observe when major leaguers like Schmidt, Carlos Rodon and Max Fried have been with the RailRiders on rehab assignments.
“I love what they do. I want to be in their shoes and hope I will at some point in my career,” Cornielle said. “What they do is amazing, their work ethic and everything.
“But I don’t really ask for advice. I feel weird approaching a guy like that to ask for stuff and pick your brain. I honestly look more at their work ethic, what they do with the routines and I take my notes. Having those guys here prepares you on what to expect from the guys when you get up to the big club. How they handle themselves, how they talk, how they look at people, how they do certain stuff. I feel like that kind of stuff helps me create that thought process. How to shape myself potentially for when I get there.”
On the days that he pitches, Cornielle likes to keep to himself and not socialize much. His next start is scheduled for Sunday in the series finale at Rochester.
“Something turns on in my brain and I really don’t know what it is,” he said. “I just become a different person, people can tell you.”
After the first two games of the six-game showdown series in Rochester, nothing has changed. The RailRiders and Red Wings split to remain tied for first place in the International League second-half standings. The Indianapolis Indians are one game back, while the Worcester Red Sox and St. Paul Saints are two games behind.
Next week, the final week of the regular season, the RailRiders are home to face the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Rochester finishes with a road series against the Buffalo Bisons.
Another week, another weekly award for the RailRiders.
Anthony Volpe was chosen International League Player of the Week for the period of Sept. 1-6. Volpe was named after helping the RailRiders win five games against the intrastate rival Lehigh Valley IronPigs. He batted .524 (11 for 21) in six games with three doubles and three home runs. He had six RBI, scored eight runs, drew three walks and stole five bases.
Volpe is the third RailRider to be selected Player of the Week, joining Yanquiel Fernandez (May 18-24) and Tyler Hardman (July 6-12). Besides Cornielle, Beck was named IL Pitcher of the Week three times (May 11-17, June 1-8, July 20-26) as well as Pitcher of the Month for June.
