Saturday, September 19

Happy birthday to Roger Maris and Randy Johnson, who were both born on Sept. 10. What Minor League team, which still exists today, did they both play for? The answer is at the end of this, the latest edition of the Baseball Traveler newsletter. Thanks for being here.

Crooked Numbers is a monthly column dedicated to Minor League Baseball on-field oddities and absurdities. Keeping track of the weirdness is a team effort, so get in touch if you've witnessed something out of the ordinary at a Minor League game (benjamin.hill@mlb.com).

I got you, bro

The Wilson Warbirds jumped all over the Hickory Crawdads on July 19, scoring six runs in the top of the first inning before a thunderstorm resulted in the game's postponement. When play was called, Warbirds shortstop Brady Ebel, the 11th batter of the inning, was at the plate with two outs and a 2-0 count.

The game resumed Aug. 25, with the action having moved from Hickory’s L.P. Frans Stadium to Wilson Ballpark. Ebel, MLB's No. 98 prospect, was unable to finish his at-bat, as he had been promoted to the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers a week prior.

The Warbirds had the perfect replacement, however: Brady's younger brother Trey Ebel, the Brewers' first-round selection in the 2026 Draft. Trey, who joined the Warbirds on the same day his brother was promoted to Wisconsin, took advantage of the 2-0 headstart his brother had bequeathed him and worked a walk.

"I was in the cage this morning, and when they sent out what we're gonna do for the game, I was like, 'No way! This is crazy,'" Trey said after the game. "How cool is that? I don't know if that's been done before, having the younger brother finish [an older brother's] at-bat. I'm super stoked."

Trey subsequently received credit for playing in July 19's game, a glitch in the space-time continuum considering that he did not make his professional debut until Aug. 18. He did not receive credit for playing on Aug. 25, however, as he did not appear in the seven-inning contest that followed the completion of July 19’s game.

Both brothers played shortstop and both were credited with a run scored in the contest. Brady had been hit by a pitch in his first at-bat of the first inning and later crossed the plate on an RBI single. Trey walked in the eighth (starting with a 0-0 count this time) and scored on a sac fly.

Who knows? Maybe Trey Ebel will one day pinch-hit for Brady Ebel in a Milwaukee Brewers game. Or vice-versa. The last time this happened at the Major League level was on Sept. 18, 2018, when Baltimore's Corban Joseph entered the game for Caleb Joseph.

Hey dad, want to have a catch?

It was a good month for improbable family connections in the Brewers organization. The aforementioned Brady Ebel was in the lineup for Aug. 19's Wisconsin Timber Rattlers game against the Lake County Captains, one month after starting an at-bat for the Wilson Warbirds that his brother had yet to finish. But enough about the Ebels, for this is now a story of a father and his son.

The star of Aug. 19's game was Sawyer Strosnider, the Brewers' second-round 2026 Draft pick (following their first-round selection of, yes, Trey Ebel). Strosnider hit his first professional home run in the seventh inning, breaking a 2-2 tie and giving the Timber Rattlers a lead they would not relinquish.  

Strosnider's blast to right-center field sailed into a picnic area hosting a private party, right into the hands of his father, Scott. The elder Strosnider had crashed the party in anticipation of his son's home run, his paternal intuition bringing him to exactly the right spot at exactly the right time. He even filmed Sawyer's blast on his phone, which he dropped on the ground a split second before catching the ball. 

"The people on the party deck were like, 'You know, this is a private party,'" Scott said. "I was like, 'Well, my son's about to hit a home run that I'm going to catch.'"

"My dad, he can't sit still, so he loves to run around the stadium," added the younger Strosnider. "I'll just be looking up after a foul ball or something and see him on every different side of the stadium. I think it was just the right place at the right time."

The Minor League Baseball obsessives out there -- you know who you are -- might recall that this isn't the first time that a dad caught his son's first Midwest League home run while standing beyond the fence in right-center field. In 2014, Conrad Gregor smashed a three-run dinger that propelled his Quad Cities River Bandits to a 5-2 win over the Cedar Rapids Kernels. His dad, Marty, made an over-the-shoulder catch that prevented the baseball from bouncing out of the stadium and splashing down in the Mississippi River. 

You hate to see it

The Spokane Indians and Vancouver Canadians played a wild one on Aug. 28, as Spokane stormed back from a nine-run deficit only to lose, 15-14, on that most confounding of climactic plays: The balk-off.

Here's how it went down:

Did Spokane pitcher Justin Loer pitch from the wind-up after failing to declare that he would do so? Was this an intentionally deceiving act? Let’s leave the arcane rule discussions for another day, because one thing that’s not up for debate is that Spokane has had a knack for involving themselves in balk-off ballgames.

Who could forget the conclusion of the 2018 Northwest League championship series, even if they wanted to?  Emmanuel Clase balked in the winning run in Game 3, handing the title to the Eugene Emeralds.

Spokane has also experienced the ecstasy of being on the winning side of a balk-off. Just last season they defeated the Hillsboro Hops, 9-8, after Hops pitcher Edgar Isea balked in the winning run with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth. Isea had just come into the ballgame, issuing his balk prior to throwing a single pitch. 

225 minutes of Minor League bliss

Vancouver's 15-14 win over Spokane wasn't the highest-scoring one-run Minor League game this month. On Aug. 25, the Lake County Captains eked out a 19-18 win over the Cedar Rapids Kernels, a score so rare that, for context, it has never once occurred in a Major League game.

Per Captains broadcaster Logan Potosky, this crazy contest featured 450 pitches, 111 plate appearances and 12 pitchers, which would explain its 4:03 running time. The Kernels came all the way back from a nine-run deficit and entered the ninth inning with an 18-16 lead, but the Captains took advantage of three errors in the top of the ninth to go up 19-18. Cam Schuelke came in to pitch for the Captains in the bottom of the frame, and true to this game’s unwieldy and misshapen form, it was a bumpy ride. Schuelke hit three Kernels batters to load the bases but finally decided enough was enough and escaped with the victory.

Made in the Shade

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos gave away car sunshades on Aug. 21, which apparently inspired Colby Shade to hit a single in each of his first two at-bats. Here’s Blue Wahoos broadcaster Erik Bremer with a full report:

Last week's newsletter brought you the story of the Somerset Patriots' Sopranos Night. While visiting the Double-A affiliate of the Yankees, I also interviewed Luis Durango, a slap hitter with blazing speed.

Durango's repertoire features drag bunts, the Baltimore chop and an overall preponderance of soft ground balls. Sometimes, in the style of a softball player, he gets a running start in the batter's box and is already on his way to first as he makes contact.

READ ABOUT LUIS DURANGO'S BREAKOUT CAMPAIGN HERE  

Roger Maris and Randy Johnson were both born on Sept. 10, and they both played for the Indianapolis Indians. Maris played for the team in 1956, one year before making his Major League debut with Cleveland. Johnson spent most of the 1988 season with Indianapolis, the same year he debuted with the Montreal Expos. He also made three starts for the team in 1989, his final (non-rehab) appearances in Minor League Baseball.

OK, that'll do it for me. Get in touch anytime via email at benjamin.hill@mlb.com and please follow me on Instagram (@thebensbiz), X (@bensbiz) and Bluesky (@bensbiz.bsky.social). I enjoy hearing from you.

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