Shelley Duncan was a member of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in 2008 that won the International League championship.
Now, as manager of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, he will try to guide team
to another title.
Winners of the second half, the RailRiders face the first-half champion Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in the best-of-3 final series beginning Tuesday. Game 2 is Wednesday and, if necessary, Game 3 is Thursday. All three games are at VyStar Ballpark in Florida.
These teams did not play each other this season. The RailRiders lead the all-time series, 9-3, splitting six games at PNC Field in 2023 and sweeping six games in Jacksonville in 2024.
Jacksonville (89-61, .593) finished one percentage point ahead of the RailRiders (87-60, .592) for the best overall record in the International League. It is making its first postseason appearance since 2017 when it was a Double-A team in the Southern League. It was a Triple-A team from 1962-68, a Double-A team from 1970-2020, then became a Triple-A team again in 2021 when Major League Baseball restructured the minor leagues.
This is the 17th time in franchise history that Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has qualified for the playoffs and its ninth appearance in the final. It won International League crowns in 2008 and 2016.
Duncan sees one big similarity between this year’s team and the 2008 squad.
“You had a blend of veterans and young guys. That team, that was a fun group of veterans,” Duncan said. “The clubhouse chemistry was the most important thing. That 2008 team, we were extremely close. That’s how I feel this group is.”
That chemistry didn’t happen right away, however. On May 29, the RailRiders’ record was 23-28 following a loss to the Worcester Red Sox.
But from there, the team went 64-32. It won 17 of its first 20 games to open second-half play, then fought off the challenge of the Syracuse Mets down the stretch to clinch the second half and punch its ticket to the final series.
Several factors contributed to the RailRiders’ success, Duncan said. Key players returned from early-season injuries. Veterans such as Carlos Carrasco — who not longer is with the team — and Jeimer Candelario were brought in and provided leadership. After making road trips to Durham, Nashville, St. Paul and Louisville in the first half, the travel schedule in the second half was lighter.
You also had the MVP-caliber season of Jose Rojas, who led the International League with 32 home runs and 105 RBIs. T.J. Rumfield, the No. 25 prospect in the New York Yankees’ system according to MLB Pipeline, added 16 home runs and tied for fourth in the league with 87 RBIs. Spencer Jones, the Yankees’ No. 3 prospect, blasted 19 home runs in 67 games after being promoted from Double-A Somerset on June 27 and finished second in the minor leagues with 35 home runs.
“These Triple-A teams are hard to get into a groove. Some organizations like ours pull in a lot of minor league free agents who have never played together. You’ve got some who play years together coming up through the minor leagues,” Duncan said. “We’re all getting accustomed to each other. New coaching staff, new group of guys. It’s going to take a while and it did. But once they started getting comfortable with each other, starting building relationships, the locker room started growing, things really took off.
“We knew the talent was there. It was just a matter of coming together.”
The top affiliate of the Miami Marlins, Jacksonville boasts nine of the organization’s Top 30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline on its roster, including a trio of left-handed pitchers.
No. 1 prospect Thomas White (0-0, 3.86 ERA) was promoted to Triple-A on Sept. 2 and has made two starts for Jacksonville. No. 4 Robby Snelling was promoted from Double-A Pensacola on July 10 and is 6-2 with a 1.27 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 63.2 innings in 11 starts with Jacksonville. No. 13 Dax Fulton has made four starts since being brought up from Pensacola on Aug. 26 and is 0-1 with a 5.51 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 16.1 innings over four starts.
Snelling, who tied for third among all active minor league pitchers in strikeouts with 166, is listed as the Game 1 starter for the Jumbo Shrimp against RailRiders righthander Brendan Beck (8-3, 4.44 ERA, 71K, 77 IP). White is scheduled to go in Game 2 against righty Allan Winans (12-1, 1.63 ERA, 105K, 99.1IP), who led the league in victories.
Other top Marlins prospects for Jacksonville include No. 3 Joe Mack, a catcher batting .250 with 18 home runs and 53 RBIs in 99 games; No. 10 Kemp Alderman, an outfielder who was promoted from Pensacola on Aug. 31 and is batting .303 in 20 games with seven home runs and 17 RBIs; No. 21 Victor Mesa Jr., an outfielder batting .301 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs in 42 games; No. 22 Deyvison De Los Santos, a corner infielder batting .241 with 12 home runs and 54 RBIs in 106 games; No. 23 Maximo Acosta, a shortstop batting .224 with 13 home runs and 50 RBIs in 115 games; and No. 29 Matthew Etzel, an outfielder acquired at the trade deadline from the Tampa Bay Rays batting .275 with two home runs and 13 RBIs.
Led by Jacob Marsee, who finished second in the International League with 47 steals, Acosta (33 steals) and Jacob Berry (27 steals), the Jumbo Shrimp ranked second in the league with 305 stolen bases. Their pitching staff was first in ERA at 3.73 and fifth with 1344 strikeouts.
“I think the key to this series is going to be taking quality at-bats and staying focused on the zone that you want the pitcher to come to. Not chasing pitches and being overaggressive, let the pitchers come to them,” Duncan said. “Sometimes against really good arms, you have a tendency to want to go get the at-bat and be overaggressive early. These lefties, we want to be able to drive up their pitch count, get them out of the game and get to the bullpen. If I was a fortune teller, I think our success is going to be with their bullpen. We’re just going to have to grind through these starters. Defensively, we’re going to have to do our best to limit their run game as much as we can. Just play fundamentally sound baseball and not give away anything.”
Neither team has yet to announce a starting pitcher for a possible deciding Game 3. Duncan said you will likely see Sean Boyle (9-9, 4.61 ERA, 120K, 134.2 IP) and Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz in the mix.
Rodriguez-Cruz, the Yankees’ No. 5 prospect, is a combined 11-8 with a 2.58 ERA across three levels this season. His 176 strikeouts in 150 innings lead active minor league pitchers; Jonah Tong had 179 before being called up to the majors by the New York Mets. Rodriguez-Cruz made his Triple-A debut Saturday in a loss at Buffalo.
“I was impressed by his stuff,” Duncan said. “Overall in his first Triple-A start, the command wasn’t there early in the counts, so he never really had a chance to get ahead and use his stuff like he’s comfortable using. It’s hard for him to set up pitches if he’s falling behind or missing wildly with breaking balls or other stuff. But what I saw was impressive and I really look forward to seeing him throw again.”
The International League champion advances to face the winner of the Pacific Coast League final series between the Las Vegas Aviators and Tacoma Rainiers in the Triple-A National Championship Game on Saturday night in Las Vegas. The RailRiders were national champs in 2016.
