Thursday, August 28

Today is 6/5, a good day for the shortstop to throw to the third baseman for a force out. For those keeping score at home, this is the 159th edition of the Baseball Traveler newsletter. Thank you for being here. Let’s talk about Minor League Baseball.

Last week I was on the road, visiting the Greenville Drive, Columbia Fireflies, Carolina Mudcats, Myrtle Beach Pelicans and Charleston RiverDogs. Two of those locations were rained out, but inclement weather could not slow down my zeal for content collection. Stay tuned for more from all those teams, as well as more from teams I visited earlier this month and more from teams I have yet to visit.

The Somerset Patriots are one such team. Sam Dykstra, Tyler Maun and myself will be at TD Bank Ballpark on Wednesday, June 11, for a very special evening. Recent development: We'll be there for a doubleheader, with the first game beginning at 4 p.m. Please attend, we’d love to see you. Tickets HERE. 

But now, a break from the road to bring you the latest edition of…

Welcome to Crooked Numbers, a monthly column dedicated to Minor League Baseball on-field oddities and absurdities. Keeping track of this type of thing is a team effort, so get in touch (benjamin.hill@mlb.com) if you’ve witnessed something weird at a Minor League game.

Aces wild
The Reno Aces (Triple-A AZ) advertised their May 21 game against the Albuquerque Isotopes (COL) as “Wild Wednesday.” It more than lived up to its name, with the Aces winning via one of the most bizarre walk-offs of all time. Down 4-3 with one out in the ninth, Connor Kaiser laced a one-out bases-loaded double that seemed destined to end the game. And it did….eventually. Cristian Pache, representing the winning run, ran into his prematurely celebrating teammate Ildemaro Vargas after rounding third and was ruled out for interference. Amid the resulting confusion, Andy Weber, who had started the play on first base, came around to score the winning run.

The grandest of slammers
The International League team currently known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A NYY) was established in 1989 as the Red Barons. Entering this season no player in franchise history had hit more than two grand slams in a season, but in 2025 that changed and in a hurry.

Jose Rojas has now hit three grand slams for the RailRiders, and he did it all within a 17-day span in the month of May! The 32-year-old slugger bashed bases-full dingers on May 1 (part of a three homer game), May 7 and May 17.

Milestones Mountin’
Rich Hill, ageless and indefatigable, signed with the Kansas City Royals -- his 16th Major League organization -- on May 14. The 45-year-old made his season debut with the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League (ACL) Royals on May 20, striking out seven over four innings. He whiffed the first batter of the game, 19-year-old Jan Luis Reyes, for the 1000th Minor League strikeout of his career. Hill’s first career strikeout came as a member of the 2002 Boise Hawks, the first of 19 seasons in which he has appeared in the Minor Leagues.

A two-run run run, a two-run run
The Columbus Clippers (Triple-A CLE) put up a 10-spot in the third inning of their May 21 game against the Iowa Cubs, and they did it methodical fashion. Ten runners reached base safely in the frame, and half of them hit two-run homers. This formidable base-clearing quintet was comprised of Milan Tolentino, C.J. Kayfus, Petey Halpin, Yordys Valdes and Lane Thomas, who capped the scoring with a roundtripper that scored Tolentino (who had singled in his second at-bat of the inning). Along the way, Brayan Rocchio recorded a rare accomplishment of his own, albeit of the ignominious variety: He made both the second and third outs of the inning.

Flyin’ Ryan
Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, home of the Oklahoma City Comets (Triple-A LAD), opened in 1998. No player has left the yard more times within its confines than Ryan Ward, who set a franchise record with his 61st Bricktown blast on May 2. It was what the slugging outfielder did the day before that was truly memorable, however.

On May 1, in the first game of a doubleheader against El Paso (SD), Ward came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases empty, two outs and the score knotted, 3-3. He then hit a walk-off homer, but of a type that is rarely seen: It stayed inside the park! (video in link)

For context, no player in the Major Leagues has hit an inside-the-park walk-off since Tyler Naquin did it for Cleveland on Aug. 9, 2016. 

Manual Transmission
Franklin Arias, the No. 3 prospect in the Red Sox organization, went hitless in his first three games after being promoted to the High-A Greenville Drive. On May 2 against Asheville (HOU) he broke through, literally. The 19-year-old ripped a ball to left field that smashed into and through the Fenway-esque manual scoreboard, traveling through the panel representing the top half of the eighth inning. Arias went on to do more damage in the bottom of the eighth, smashing a three-run homer in what turned out to be a wild 15-13 loss.

Leave ‘em wanting Moore
The Memphis Redbirds (Triple-A STL) burned through their bullpen on May 3, utilizing six pitchers through the first eight innings of play against the Louisville Bats (CIN). With no one left to turn to and the Bats clinging to a 4-3 lead, infielder Brody Moore was called on to pitch the top of the ninth. He ever-so-gently tossed a 1-2-3 inning to keep it a one-run game, and the Redbirds then scored a run in the bottom of the frame to send it to extras. Moore went back out for more and once again held the Bats scoreless; in fact, they didn’t hit the ball out of the infield. The Redbirds won it in the bottom of the 10th, making Moore the most improbable winning pitcher of the season.

White here, White now
Beloit Sky Carp (High-A MIA) pitcher Thomas White faced Lansing Lugnuts (ATH) third baseman Tommy White on May 30, resulting in a match-up of individuals with the same name and opposite goals. Tommy prevailed over Thomas, hitting a single to right field.

Fowl territory
The May 3 game between the Springfield Cardinals (Double-A STL) and visiting Northwest Arkansas Naturals (KC) was delayed by a couple of ducks. The Cardinals had two runners on base at the time -- ducks on the pond, as it were. 

Crazy nines
In the bottom of the ninth inning of a 9-9 game, Javen Coleman struck out the side on nine pitches. An immaculate inning, in other words. Coleman’s Dunedin Blue Jays (Single-A TOR) nonetheless went down in defeat to Fort Myers (MIN), losing 13-12 in 11 innings.

Going long
Four-hour, nine-inning games have become virtually extinct in the pitch-clock era, but the Round Rock Express (Triple-A TEX) and Charlotte Knights (CWS) teamed up on May 23 to show that it could still be done. All it took was 13 pitchers combining to allow 35 runs on 34 hits and 16 walks (13 of which were issued by the Knights). The Express won the ballgame, 22-13, and, yes, it took exactly four hours to complete. Not a minute too soon.

Catch and release
Double plays come in all sorts of forms, from a simple unassisted catch and putout to whatever it was that the South Bend Cubs (High-A CHC) pulled off against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (MIL) on May 24. What started as a bases-loaded flyout to left field turned into a 7-2-4-2-5-2-3-6 double play. Six players were involved, with catcher Miguel Pabon catching and then releasing the ball on three occasions. As Lenny Dykstra was fond of saying: “Whatever it takes, dude.” 

Thanks, as always, for reading this newsletter. My next road trip, aside from June 11’s jaunt to the Somerset Patriots, is later this month. See you there, maybe, and in the meantime please get in touch for any reason at all: benjamin.hill@mlb.com.

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