Cam Caminiti had a matchup with Jesus Made and the Biloxi Shuckers in his first taste of Double-A action, and he rose to the challenge nicely with a solid start. Caminiti’s pitching helped the Clingstones stay in position for a walk-off win. In Single-A Davis Polo kept his magnificent run of pitching going with six innings despite being pushed back due to a rain delay, and Owen Murphy only allowed one hit over 4 2/3 innings for Gwinnett.
(57-53) Gwinnett Stripers 2, (55-54) Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 0
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 1-5, .411/.476/.658
- Carlos Santana, 1B: 2-3, BB, RBI, .286/.403/.397
- Owen Murphy, SP: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 3.56 ERA
- Ray Kerr, RP: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0.00 ERA
It was an interesting start for Owen Murphy.
He was effective on the box score, allowing one hit and no runs, but this was absolutely not his best start. To kick it off his velocity was (narrowly) his lowest in any Triple-A outing this season, bucking a trend of rising velocity in recent games, and that was particularly notable when he fell off of a cliff in the fourth inning. It was across the board for his pitches so it wasn’t a case of him taking a bit off to try to throw strikes, though he also had his worse game command-wise since his very early outings in Gwinnett. He was not himself and it turned into him not being able to get whiffs on his fastball and allowing loads of hard contact in the game, though no one ever quite squared him up and made him pay. Health-wise Murphy seems fine, and his fastball spin rates were in their normal range, he just was not throwing well and the drop in velocity just compounded a poor command outing. Murphy is, in fairness, already well past his career high in innings (101 2/3 vs 89 2/3 in 2023 and 30 1/3 last season), so him pitching at all this late in the season really is a boon to his development. Seeing some fatigue-related struggles happen on and off shouldn’t be a surprise and that’s really what it seems like for Murphy as this game is out of character based on recent weeks. Ray Kerr made his first appearance in Triple-A after successful rehab starts at the lower levels, and he looked fine. He got a bunch of whiffs on his curveball and pitched well for four batter, though unsurprisingly his velocity and spin are way down at the moment. Kerr will need to regain that velocity to be a real candidate for major league action again, though for right now the focus is health and that will be something more likely discussed next spring rather than in the final month of the Triple-A season if he stays with the organization.
This is the first time Patrick Clohisy has had a game that you can reasonably call bad, and he still had his moments, kind of. Clohisy got a solid swing on the ball in the first inning but flew out to the opposite field warning track, and landed himself on base in the seventh inning with a bloop hit into right field. He then got picked off, though that did not deter Gwinnett from stringing together a rally and scoring the only two runs of the game. Clohisy’s other three at-bats were strikeouts. Clohisy had to face off with lefty Dax Fulton and he was struggling a bit as the Jumbo Shrimp were not giving him many fastballs to work with. He attacked those as well he could but only had the first inning solid contact and couldn’t make due with any of the others. When they got him down in the count he had trouble making contact with secondaries, and also chased three sliders out of the strike zone.
Swing and Misses
Owen Murphy – 9
Ray Kerr – 5
(47-53) Columbus Clingstones 3, (55-46) Biloxi Shuckers 2
- Eric Hartman, LF: 0-3, BB, .182/.357/.182
- John Gil, SS: 0-4, .250/.286/.250
- Owen Carey, RF: 0-2, .100/.308/.100
- Cam Caminiti, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 3;38 ERA
Cam Caminiti got a welcome to Double-A moment on his very first pitch at the level, but bounced back with a solid, though unfinished outing. Caminiti tried to groove a fastball to the leadoff hitter, Brewers #5 prospect Josh Adamczewski, and the dude was sat back waiting on it, and hit a nuke out to right field for a leadoff home run. That’s not an ideal start, but Caminiti really didn’t let it get to him. Caminiti had three matchups with Jesus Made in this game, and he got the best of those at bats every time. Caminiti got Made to expand and tap a grounder back to the mound immediately after that home run, and got a ground out and routine fly out in the other two matchups. Caminiti fanned Adamczewski swinging in their next matchup and then got him on a called strike three in the fifth inning, and outside of that home run Caminiti was in control early in this game. Caminiti didn’t have his best slider and left a few too many up in the zone, a refrain common to the games Caminiti has been rough this season, but his fastball location was on point and he was able to mix his pitches well and handle a great offense. His command fell off a bit late in the game and he labored without his slider to really seal at-bats quickly after getting to two strikes, but for the first four innings of the game he was fully himself and did a great job of tackling a strong lineup and a new level without even having his best stuff. Caminiti has impressed with his resilience this season and his ability to make adjustments and improvements, and he looked prepared to take on Double-A in his first outing even if his numbers don’t completely reflect that.
It was a great thing that Caminiti was the headliner of this game, because the position player prospects gave us nothing. The trio of top players combined to get zero hits, and they didn’t look particularly threatening with their contact either. The best of them was definitely Eric Hartman, who first made an appearance with a walk and a stolen base. Later in the game Hartman hit a sharp ball to left field, and the defender gave it a few twists and turns and seemed to have trouble tracking it but it was too direct on to really escape him and turned into a fly out. Hartman hasn’t made a huge impact in his first three games but he hasn’t looked bad at the plate at all, taking some good at bats and at least stressing the other team by getting on base and stealing bags. Hartman’s progression in his approach this season has been promising to watch, and those sorts of adjustments are the things that really separate successful prospects from hitters who flame out in the upper levels, and so far Hartman looks like he is just a half step away from turning it back to 100 in Columbus. The team ended up taking a one run deficit into the ninth inning, where they potentially lost another player to hit by pitch on the wrist. Carson Taylor, who has been terrific for the Clingstones in limited action, took one off the hand and had to leave the game, but that would spark a game-winning rally. A two out error kept the inning going before a walk loaded the bases, bringing up Ambioris Tavarez in a dream situation with a chance to tie or win the game. Tavarez gapped a hard line drive for a walk off single, winning the game for Columbus.
Swing and Misses
Cam Caminiti – 9
Anderson Pilar – 8
(49-52) Rome Emperors 6, (64-41) Greensboro Grasshoppers 7
- Luis Guanipa, LF: 0-5, .071/.071/.071
- Conor Essenburg, RF: 3-4, 2B, BB, 3 RBI, .333/.429/.417
- Alex Lodise, SS: 1-5, HR, .219/.342/.406
- Luke Sinnard, SP: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 3.32 ERA
It’s return start number two for Luke Sinnard, and it was a massive improvement over a shaky first start even if he didn’t maintain his best throughout the evening. Sinnard had on-and-off issues with his location throughout the outing, and for a guy who typically has great body control despite his large statue he had some trouble repeating his delivery in this game. Sinnard was consistently missing on the glove side and had many occasions where he got in front of himself and pulled pitches well out of the strike zone, but found some rhythm the more the game went on. He seemed to figure out the mechanical troubles even with a few bad mistakes coming in later innings, and both his fastball and slider missed bats. He ended up not doing a great job in 0-2 counts and didn’t finish off plate appearances efficiently, and the second time through the order turned into trouble as a result. Sinnard issued a walk and then got burned by the BABIP gods on a soft pop up down the first base line, but got ahead of the next guy quickly with a chance to end his day with a big out. He failed to make an effective pitch in that situation, and wound up hanging a 2-2 slider right over the heart of the plate that got bashed for a three-run home run. Sinnard is absolutely not as sharp with his pitches as he was early in the season and it may take a few more for him to really work back, though this is still a massive step forward from where he was last week. The goal now is just to stay healthy through the end of the season and prove he is ready to make the jump to Columbus next year, something that seemed destined after his first five starts before going down with injury.
It has been quite refreshing to watch Alex Lodise since his promotion to High-A. Lodise has suddenly been making a lot more contact since his promotion, and over the past two games the power has started to come out as well. He hit his first High-A home run last night and followed it up in the first inning of this game by ambushing a first pitch fastball and hitting a laser into the Rome bullpen. Lodise is still getting most of his results on fastballs and will likely always be that guy, which is fine as long as he limits the amount that he chases after breaking balls out of the strike zone. He did go after a slider off of the plate in his second at bat, but it was a close pitch in a 2-2 count so it’s hard to fault him for that. Overall he has made somewhat better swing decisions since being promoted, and progress is all you’re looking for from him right now. Conor Essenburg had a terrific game with three hits, and he really hasn’t seemed to be having trouble with the increase in level of pitching. Essenburg didn’t really get any of the pitches he had hits on squarely, but the process to get to his swings was sound and he did end up making solid enough contact to get results. Among the big trio of prospects Essenburg is definitely the one you would expect to have the least trouble adjusting and that has held true so far. That is not at all the case for Luis Guanipa. He has struggled and even when he is making good swing decisions he isn’t really attacking with the mindset to do damage. Of course he is still expanding the strike zone, but even on pitches inside the strike zone he is doing a lot of just punching at the ball even in favorable counts. One example came in the fourth inning when Guanipa went after a first pitch slider that spun high and over the inside corner of the plate. In and of itself that’s not a bad swing decision, especially for a player like Guanipa who we’ve seen demolish pitches on the inner half, but instead of looking to drive the ball on his pull side he just stayed closed and did that a push swing he likes when he is trying to shoot singles into right field and he popped the ball up to second base. For Guanipa it’s not just what he swings at but what he is looking to do when he does swing and it doesn’t really feel like he has a good idea of who he wants to be as a hitter despite having flashes of brilliance this season.
Swing and Misses
Luke Sinnard – 8
Riley Frey – 7
Drew Christo – 5
(57-46) Augusta GreenJackets 3, (61-41) Hickory Crawdads 2
- Parker Brosius, LF: 1-2, BB, .667/.714/1.667
- Nick Montgomery, DH: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, .190/.335/.387
- Juan Mateo, SS: 2-3, 2B, RBI, .251/.332/.342
- Davis Polo, SP: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 3.34 ERA
- Daniel Brooks, RP: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 0.98 ERA
This game had a lengthy rain delay before it could even get underway, and when it did start it quickly became a game the GreenJackets might have wished to avoid despite them earning the win. It has been a nightmarish start for Manuel Campos in his first chance to play full season ball and in the first inning it got even worse for him. On a chopper up the middle he and Joe Olsavsky collided, and after both stayed on the ground for a length of time they had to be removed from the game likely for fear of head injuries . Olsavsky chased the ball low and ran into Campos’s outstretched arm, and though he had direct contact he ended up being the first off of the ground though he did not remain in the game. The collision itself did less damage to Campos, but it spun him around awkwardly and he fell backwards and hit the back of his head on the infield dirt. Campos remained down getting tended to for nearly five minutes, though he and Olsavsky both were able to get up and walk off under their own power.
The game itself took a bit of time to unravel, and much of that had to do with terrific pitching from the Augusta staff. Davis Polo has been one of the outstanding pitchers in the system throughout this season and kept his month and a half long streak of terrific pitching going with his cleanest outing of the season, even if things got a bit shaky for him later in the game. Polo worked with a heavy dose of sinkers in this game, somewhat eschewing usage of his slider, though at times throughout the game he was able to work all three of his pitches to force whiffs. Polo generated mostly ground balls when the Crawdads did make contact and little of that came off of the bat solidly, and Polo pounded the strike zone and worked through the lineup efficiently. Likely the only thing that kept Polo from pitching at least one inning deeper into this game was the rain delay interrupting his routine as he ended the day with only 78 pitches thrown. He did have a shade of inconsistency sneak in during the sixth inning, but given the contact he produced he should have gotten out of the inning much more quickly. A grounder into the hole was too far away for Juan Mateo to really get a good chance at leading to an infield single, then a bouncer over to third got away for an error and Mateo hit a batter to load the bases. Polo locked in and leaned into his slider once the going got tough, immediately recording a strikeout for the second out, but ended up not escaping as a hitter was able to scoop a low sinker into right field for a two-run single. Outside of the laborious sixth Polo had no real issue at all and even at his worst made solid pitches in that inning and should be commended for another great outing. Daniel Brooks has been outlandishly good for Augusta this season but somehow keeps taking his outings to new levels. He absolutely ripped through this lineup without a hint of trouble, striking out a season high seven batters while not allowing a single baserunner in three innings. Brooks produces such a severe downward tilt and his breaking ball tumbles out of the hand in a way that hitters at this level don’t really have a great answer for. He has 21 strikeouts to only two walks over his past 11 innings of work.
Offensively the GreenJackets didn’t have much success, but with pitching like they saw they didn’t need but a couple of clutch hits to take over this game. In the second inning Juan Mateo, who was pressed into the shortstop role after Campos had to leave the game, came up to bat with an opportunity with two runners on base. Mateo hit a soft liner out to right field for a base hit, giving Augusta an early lead and one which they wouldn’t relinquish. Mateo added a double in the fifth inning when he scooped an outside curveball into the corner, but that wasn’t the biggest hit of the game by any stretch. In the sixth inning Parker Brosius, who was only in the game due to being Olsavsky’s replacement, led off with a sharp base hit for his lone hit on the day. Nick Montgomery came up with two outs and got a hanging breaking ball that he did not miss, crushing a no-doubt two run home run to break the game open. Montgomery hasn’t had consistent playing time since coming off of the injured list in July, but despite the loads of strikeouts still marring his performance he has managed to be one of the lineup’s most productive hitters. He’s calmed down his tendency to chase out of the strike zone and has drawn a lot more walks as a result, and since really getting back into action with the Salem series he has three home runs in nine games.
Swing and Misses
Davis Polo – 13
Daniel Brooks – 10
