There was plenty to like on the offensive end at the lower levels, with some top prospects going off for big games in wins. Isaiah Drake broke a nearly two-week long streak of no extra base hits with an impressive home run in a Rome win, a game that was also marked by another great start from Cedric De Grandpre. The GreenJackets were led by a Tate Southisene masterclass, as he reached base in every single plate appearance on the day. Then there was Ethan Bagwell, who finished up his May without allowing
a single earned run.
(29-25) Gwinnett Stripers 0, (32-22) Nashville Sounds 2
- Jim Jarvis, SS: 0-4, .289/.401/.417
- Luke Williams, 3B: 2-4, 2B, .254/.319/.421
- Elieser Hernandez, SP: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 5.10 ERA
- Rolddy Munoz, RP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 0.79 ERA
The Stripers are likely going to look to forget this game rather quickly. There was little offense to speak of, and this game moved at pace due to good pitching out of the Gwinnett staff. Early it didn’t seem like it would be that rough of a game for Gwinnett. They were in good position following a walk and a hit with two out, getting an early opportunity to put up a run for Elieser Hernandez to work with. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. hit what would be one of the hardest batted balls of the game for either side on a line, but within range of the center fielder to keep Gwinnett off of the board. That early push was the closest Gwinnett would get to scoring in the game, as over the final eight innings Luke Williams was the only player who managed a hit. Williams found fortune with a bloop into right center in the third inning that he turned into a hustle double, but the next hitter struck out after a successful challenge from the Sounds to strand Williams at second. In the final inning Williams gave the Stripers just a dash of hope with a base hit, but the other three batters struck out and spoiled the day.
Elieser Hernandez kept the Stripers in this game by posting by far his best outing of the season, though it would end with a sour twist as he couldn’t get through the lineup a third time. It was a bit of a different approach for Hernandez as he largely went away from the changeup that typically makes up around 10-12% of his pitches, but the Sounds were pretty aggressive at swinging the bat in this game and were particularly swinging at breaking balls and cutters at a high rate. This helped both Hernandez and Rolddy Munoz, both of whom commanded the ball well by their standards and were able to work efficiently. Hernandez faced only one batter over the minimum through six innings of work, though the seventh inning proved insurmountable when the Sounds best hitters got a third look at Hernandez. Luis Lara broke the scoreless tie by attacking a slider in the strike zone and yanking it down the line for an RBI double, and the next hitter took a fat fastball and hit it off of the wall in left center field to chase Hernandez from the game. Munoz had one of his best games in relief despite only having the one strikeout over two innings, specifically from a location standpoint. Munoz hasn’t faced much trouble this season, but his tendency to lay his slider in the middle of the plate is a concern for him moving up levels. That was not the case at all in this game as he located his slider well and got whiffs on four of five swings, and he kept his sinker in on the hands of right handed hitters to force weak contact.
Swing and Misses
Elieser Hernandez – 10
Rolddy Munoz – 4
(23-23) Columbus Clingstones, (22-23) Biloxi Shuckers POSTPONED
(26-22) Rome Emperors 5, (28-20) Winston-Salem Dash 1
- Isaiah Drake, LF: 1-3, HR, 2 BB, .285/.367/.462
- John Gil, SS: 2-3, BB, .265/.375/.424
- Eric Hartman, DH: 1-3, BB, .302/.384/.610
- Cedric De Grandpre, SP: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 4.60 ERA
It is a fine relief to see a big day from Isaiah Drake at the plate. Drake has undoubtedly had a good season, one that has made a huge impact on getting him the prospect hype that he (I think) unfairly lost following 2024, but his series in Asheville has been doing much of the heavy lifting for his numbers. It had been nearly two weeks since he had an extra base hit, but that streak ended in a big way in the third inning of this game. Drake got a slider on a 1-2 count and was sitting back on that pitch, and was able to go down and hit a low pitch well out of the yard to left field for his eighth home run of the season. Drake’s turnaround in his approach and ability to hit the ball hard on the pull side has been so impressive, and even though there is a bit of an increase in swing-and-miss this season compared to last he is still well within acceptable range while hitting the ball harder and in the air more often. He isn’t the only one in the midst of a rough patch, as John Gil only has one extra base hit since that May 10th multi-home run game in Asheville. He didn’t break that streak, but he did have a multi-hit game to go along with a couple of stolen bases. Lately Gil has had a tendency to get too long with his swing path and that’s led to more swing-and-miss than we’re used to and a lot of swinging over pitches and hitting the ball weakly. There is still a little bit of that even in this game and it’s going to be something to monitor as the season wears on, though for a young player these mechanical habits aren’t something to worry about long term. Gil adding two stolen bases brings him up to 13 in a row since his last caught stealing, dating back over a month to an April 26th stolen base. Eric Hartman hit a laser for a double in the seventh inning as his lone hit of the game, and there is definitely nothing worrying about his game. It was natural he was going to fall off a bit after that insane start, but he’s still consistently hitting the ball hard and putting up much better plate appearances than last season. He’s on one of his worst stretches of the season with three hits and only that double over his past six games, but it’s not come with any sort of concerns at the plate beyond just sample fluctuation.
There is so much positive that could be said about Cedric De Grandpre from the month of May. He’s just been terrific, and the command issues that were slowing him down in April have ironed themselves out and he has been the team’s most consistent arm. The home runs haven’t been great, but this month he has seven walks and 39 strikeouts in 27 2/3 innings, and taking away a poor opening game he has 34 strikeouts and only four walks in the past 23 2/3 innings. With his command improvements on his fastball his slider has sharpened up and become a much more effective weapon over these past weeks. Though I did say his command has been much better this month this was the worst he’s been in that category in awhile as he was pulling pitches on his glove side quite a bit this game, though it’s not nearly as bad as some of his early season outings. Most of his issues came in bursts of at bats, one of which led to both walks and the run he allowed, while for the over 4 2/3 innings he was right in line with where he has been over his prior four starts. This is far and away his most successful season as a starter in his career and he’s likely trending towards a mid-summer promotion where it will be nice to see him facing off with guys who are more appropriate to his level of age and experience.
Swing and Misses
Cedric De Grandpre – 12
Drew Christo – 4
(27-21) Augusta GreenJackets 6, (25-23) Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 5
- Tate Southisene, 2B: 2-2, 2B, 3 BB, 2 RBI, .297/.436/.488
- Alex Lodise, SS: 1-5, .245/.329/.398
- Luis Guanipa, CF: 2-5, .313/.356/.527
- Ethan Bagwell, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1.96 ERA
- Luis Arestigueta, RP: 3 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 6.94 ERA
The GreenJackets had no trouble on the offensive end of the spectrum, but a late bullpen blowup threatened to derail what was trending to be an easy win for them. The Kannapolis pitching staff could not throw strikes in this game, and Augusta just let them get themselves into trouble. In total they drew 11 walks in this game, and they were able to score three of those in just the first four innings as part of them scoring a total of six runs early in the game. The MVP was of course Tate Southisene, who reached base five times and notched his 35th stolen base of the season. Southisene had one of the biggest hits of the game in the second inning, coming through with a clutch two-out double that really expanding Augusta’s lead. He shot a hard ground ball the other way, driving in two runs to make it 4-0 early, and in the next three times up the Cannon Ballers didn’t give him much to hit. Luis Guanipa had a two-run double in the fourth inning that capped off the scoring, and he’s starting to turn in a lot of power at the plate even without really having any big breakout games. He’s just consistently putting up good at bats and over the past nine games he has seven extra base hits and only four strikeouts.
No shade intended towards any Augusta pitcher, but it is nice as a recapper to have a bit of a switch up in the starting rotation order so I can talk about someone different than every other week this season. Ethan Bagwell took the ball for the start today for the GreenJackets, and he continued his incredible work for the entire month of May. Bagwell did finally allow a run for the first time this month, but it was unearned, meaning he is going to finish May with a 0.00 ERA in 24 innings with some impressive peripherals to boot. This is something that has felt like a matter of time for Bagwell as the talent has oozed out of him since he joined the system but finding the consistent footing on his secondaries has been a fit further behind. He has really honed in on his sweeper and that east-west approach that he excels at, showing an ability beyond his years to move his fastball inside and out. He has plenty of run on the pitch and has gotten weaker contact this season than last to go along with the increase in whiffs. Now on to the bad side of things, I have been singing Luis Arestigueta’s praises the past few weeks but he really did not have his mechanics in this outing. Though he battled through the sixth inning despite not locating anything well it eventually fell apart for him in the seventh inning. He let up four runs before narrowly escaping with the lead still intact, and though he finished with a strong eighth it still stung to see him struggle so much after a few good looking games in a row. He had no consistency to his arm path or release point and nothing worked well for him this game, and it’s just a start he is going to have to move on from and get back in rhythm next week.
Swing and Misses
Ethan Bagwell – 10
Luis Arestigueta – 5
