TODAY’S MATCH-UP
LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (14-16) vs. FREDERICK KEYS (13-18)
Game 31 - Monday, May 8, 2018 - 7 p.m. - Nymeo Field
Hillcats
14-16 10-9
Keys
13-18
6-6
Record Home Road
- 4-7
- 7-12
L1 2-3 2-8
Streak Last 5
W3 4-1 6-4
RHP Felix Tati (0-0, -.--) vs LHP Brian Gonzalez (1-2, 3.90)
Last 10
LAST GAME: The Keys used a trio of two run innings to down the Hillcats 6-1 on Monday. Jose Medina hit his first home run of the season, and Li-Jen Chu tallied a two-hit
game. Balꢀmore Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop drove in two runs in a rehab start for Frederick. Tanner Tully took the loss, dropping to 1-3 on the season.
.225 3.96 .965 102
9
Batting Avg.
.242 4.45 .970 136 15 120 130 220 17
ERA
FIRST START FOR FELIX: Hillcats pitcher Felix Taꢀ will make his A-Adv. debut tonight. Taꢀ has appeared in four games in relief this season for Single-A Lake County and has gone 0-1 with a 1.88 ERA. He has pitched mainly in long relief, going as long as 4.1 IP, and no fewer than 3 IP this season. The 21-year-old was signed as an Internaꢀonal Free
Agent in 2013 out of the Dominican Republic. He pitched in 14 games (4 starts) for Short-Season Mahoning Valley last year and went 7-3 with a 3.77 ERA.
Fielding Pct.
Runs HR RBI BB K
87
STARTS AT THE TOP: In Lynchburg's series-opening loss to Frederick on Monday, the top three hiꢁers in the Hillcats order went a combined 0-for-12 with four strikeouts.
102 265 20
ALexis Pantoja went 0-for-4 and leſt four runners on base, Trenton Brooks went 0-for-4 and leſt three on base, and Connor Capel also went 0-for-4 on the day. PLESAC NEARLY PERFECT: Zach Plesac delivered a two hit shutout on Sunday, facing just 28 baꢁers, in a 4-0 win over Myrtle Beach. Of Plesac's 74 pitches, 55 were strikes.
He did not throw a pitch out of the strike zone in the 5th or 6th inning, and never needed more than 11 pitches in a frame, and never reached a three-ball count. It was the
first ꢀme that Plesac had pitched more than seven innings in a game in his pro career. The Crown Point, IN naꢀve did fire two complete game shutouts during his ꢀme at Ball State, once in 2016 against Miami (OH), and once in 2015 against Bowling Green. It was the Hillcats first complete-game shutout since Shao-Ching Chiang's no-hiꢁer, July 29, 2017 against Winston-Salem. Chiang faced 29 baꢁers, giving up a walk and hiꢂng a baꢁer.
SB
1st HALF STANDINGS
- Northern Division
- GB
17-14 .548 -- 17-14 .548 -- 14-16 .467 2.5 14-16 .467 2.5 13-18 .419 4.0
Potomac Salem Lynchburg Wilmington Frederick
FIFTH INNING FUNK: In four of the last five games, the Hillcats have allowed at least one run in the fiſth inning, and they have now given up 38 runs in fiſth innings this season. Their fiſth inning total accounts for 27% of their runs allowed this season, allowing 14 more runs than in any other frame.
CASH OR CHECK?: James Karinchak struck out four of the six baꢁers he faced, making his Adv.-A debut for the Hillcats on Friday. The right-hander picked up right where he leſt off in Lake County, where he recorded 20 strikeouts in 11.1 innings of work, posꢀng a 0.79 ERA. A 9th round pick out of Bryant in 2017, opponents are hiꢂng just .217
against Karinchak this season through eight appearances.
Southern Division
- Buies Creek
- 18-13 .581 --
Winston-Salem 18-13 .581 --
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME: Kieran Lovegrove has excelled for the Hillcats out of the bullpen in a variety of roles so far this season. He picked up his second win of the year Friday, to go along with a pair of saves. The righty has allowed just one earned run over his last six appearances (9 inn.) and overall this season has an ERA of 1.88 and an
opponents baꢂng average of .192, while racking up 20 strikeouts in 14.1 innings.
Carolina Down East Myrtle Beach
15-16 .484 3.0 15-16 .484 3.0 13-18 .419 5.0
SERIES MATCHUP
LONG STREAK LONGO: Hillcats OF Mitch Longo has reached base safely in all 25 games he's appeared in this season. Longo's on-base streak extends to 30 games daꢀng back to August 31 of last season, and 33 games if you count the three postseason games during Lynchburg's championship run. Longo saw his league-best 18-game hiꢂng
Hillcats vs. FRE (since ‘95) .....250-227
At City Stadium................... 133-111 streak come to an end on Sunday, when he was forced to exit the game aſter being hit by a pitch in his third plate appearance. Longo has baꢁed .350 since being inserted into
At Nymeo Field ................. 117-116
the lead off spot in the order, and (16-for-35) .457 over his last nine games.
2017 Overall 2017 at City Stadium.....................11-1 2017 at Nymeo Field.......................5-3
.......................16-4
BRILLIANT BEN: Through eight appearances this season spanning 16.1 IP, Ben Krauth has racked up 26 strikeouts. He has recorded a punch out in every game he’s pitched
and recorded a season-high six in his ouꢀng on 4/26 against Winston-Salem. The former Kansas Jayhawk ranks second in the Carolina League in strikeouts among relief pitchers (Daniel Gonzalez of Salem has 33 K). During his career, Krauth averages beꢁer than a strikeout per game, including a career-high 92 in 78.2 IP in 2017. Opponents have hit just .188 against him since he started pitching professionally in 2016, and hiꢁers are baꢂng just .078 against him this season, the second-lowest mark in the league. He also
leads the league in highest strikeout/9 IP raꢀo (16.33), and is second in fewest baserunners/9 IP raꢀo (5.65). He also leads the league in holds (4).
4/16 vs FRE W, 5-0 6/30 @ Frederick 4/17 vs FRE W, 4-1 7/1 @ Frederick 4/18 vs FRE W, 4-1 7/2 @ Frederick 5/7 @ FRE L, 6-1 5/8 @ Frederick 5/9 @ Frederick 5/15 vs Frederick 5/16 vs Frederick 5/17 vs Frederick 6/1 @ Frederick 6/2 @ Frederick 6/3 @ Frederick 6/11 @ Frederick 6/12 @ Frederick 6/13 @ Frederick
7/3 @ Frederick
8/17 vs Frederick 8/18 vs Frederick 8/19 vs Frederick
TOP-30 IN LYNCHBURG: Conner Capel (No. 12), Sam Hentges (No. 17), Logan Ice (No. 21), and Mitch Longo (No. 27) are all Hillcats players that are ranked on the Indians
Top-30 prospect list.. Capel, an outfielder, baꢁed .246 with 22 HR and 61 RBI in 119 games for the Single-A Lake County Captains last season. He was draſted by the Tribe in the 5th round of the 2016 MLB Draſt. Hentges, a leſt-hander, missed the majority of last season while he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He appeared in 11 total games (all starts) and went 0-4 with a 3.23 ERA between the AZL Indians and short-season Mahoning Valley. Hentges struck out 41 in 30.2 IP, and was draſted by the Indians in the 4th round of the 2014 MLB Draſt. Ice, a catcher, spent last season with Lake County and hit .228 with 11 HR and 42 RBI in 93 games. He was selected by Cleveland with the 72nd overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draſt. Longo, an outfielder, baꢁled injuries last season and appeared in just 60 games. While he was healthy, he hit a combined
.376 with 4 HR and 28 RBI between Lake County and Lynchburg.
HILLCATS COACHING STAFF
Bobby Ruiz
- Rouglas Odor
- Tony Arnold
Pitching Coach (2nd season) 26th overall
Jusꢀn Toole
Hiꢂng Coach (1st season)
3rd overall
Grant Fink
Bench Coach (1st season) 2nd overall
Athleꢀc Trainer (4th season)
Manager (1st Season)
2018 Overall 2018 at City Stadium.......................3-0 2018 at Nymeo Field.......................0-1
.........................3-1
5th overall
Career Record: 225-245
Arnold returns to Lynchburg aſter serv-
ing as the pitching coach for the Hillcats in 2015. The former right-handed
2018 marks Toole’s first year on Lynchburg’s coaching staff and third in the Indians organizaꢀon. The former infielder played in parts of
seven minor league seasons with Cleveland from 2009-2015, reaching Triple-A Columbus. The Council
Bluffs, Iowa naꢀve worked as the hiꢂng coach last year for Single-A
Lake County.
Fink joins the Hillcats as bench
coach for the first ꢀme in 2018,
entering his second season as a
coach in the Indians organizaꢀon. The former infielder was draſted by
Cleveland in the 23 rd round of the
2013 MLB Draſt out of Missouri Western State University. A naꢀve
of St. Joseph, Mo., Fink played in parts of three minor league seasons for the Indians from 2013-2015, reaching Single-A Lake County. Fink was the bench coach last season for Rookie-Level Mahoning Valley.
Odor is entering his 18th year
coaching in the Indians organizaꢀon.
He played in the minor leagues for the Indians & Brewers from 1988-1995. Odor brings a decade of skipper experience to Lynchburg. He led San Felipe in the Venezuelan Summer League for two seasons from 1999-2000, the Burlington Indians for four seasons from 2001-2004, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers for two years from
2005-2006 and the Gulf Coast League
Indians for two campaigns from 2007- 2008. He spent the past three seasons
as the hiꢂng coach for the Columbus Clippers, Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate.
CATS AT GLANCE
pitcher played collegiately at the Uni-
versity of Texas and was draſted by the Balꢀmore Orioles in the 10th round in the 1981 MLB Draſt. The El Paso, Texas naꢀve played in parts of two MLB with
the Orioles in 1986 and 1987. Arnold
has coached in the Indians organizaꢀon
since 1992 and most recently was the pitching coach of the Akron Rubber-
Ducks, Cleveland’s Double-A affiliate,
for the past two seasons.
North Division: T-3rd/-2.5 May: 2-5 Last Stand: 2-1 Extra Innings: 0-2 vs. RHP: 11-15 vs. LHP: 3-1
Eric Oretego
Strength Coach (1st season) 2nd overall
vs. North: 7-7 vs. South: 7-9 One-Run Games: 4-2
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
5/8 - RHP Felix Taꢀ promoted from
Single-A Lake County 5/8 - OF Jose Medina assigned to short-season Mahoning Valley
5/5 - OF Trenton Brooks acꢀvated
from DL
UPCOMING GAMES AND PROBABLE PITCHERS
Wed. May 9 Thurs. May 10 Fri. May 11
- at Frederick
- 11 a.m.
- RHP Micah Miniard (0-1, 4.82) vs RHP Ofelky Peralta (1-2, 4.30)
LHP Sam Hentges (2-1, 2.45) vs RHP Bryan Mata (1-1, 1.42)
RHP Zach Plesac (2-2, 4.33) vs LHP Darwinzon Hernandez (2-1, 4.15)
at Salem at Salem
7:05 p.m. 7:05 p.m.
5/5 - RHP Jusꢀn Garza placed on 7-day
DL (R elbow soreness)
Page 1
***** 8-TIME CAROLINA LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: 1978 • 1983 • 1984 • 1997 • 2002 • 2009 • 2012 • 2017
Tonight’s starting pitcher
#43 RHP FELIX TATI
HEIGHT: 6-2
BORN: QUISQUEYA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ACQUIRED: INTERNATIONAL FREE AGENT - 2013 (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)
- WEIGHT:190
- B/T: R/R
- EXP: 4 YRS
TULLY CAREER STATISTICS
YR
14 15 16
- CLUB
- W-L ERA G/GS
1-1 3.54 8/3 1-1 1.40 10/6 5-2 6.04 12/10 1-1 3.95 3/3
- CG SHO SV IP
- H
- R
11 10 37 36 10 30 25
ER HR BB SO
DSL Indians DSL Indians AZL Indians DSL Indians Mahoning Valley (ss) 7-3 3.77 14/4 Lake County (A-) 0-1 1.88 4/0
000000
1
000000
0
100001
2
20.1 38.2 53.2 13.2 59.2 14.1
19 32 67 13 54 14
86
212111
- 6
- 16
2018 HIGHS
11 28 17 48
IP: 4.1 IP, 4/21 v. WM K’s: 6, 4.1 IP, 4/21 v. WM BB’s: 1, 2x, last - 4.1 IP, 4/21 v. WM Hits: 6, 4.1 IP, 4/21 v. WM Runs: 1, 2x, last - 5/2 v. WIS
- 6
- 3
- 13
24 59
19
17
- 18
- 3
- 3
- 3
- MiLB Totals (5 seasons) 15-9 3.77 51/26
- 200.1 199 101 84
- 8
- 64 183
GAME-BY-GAME
- DATE OPP
- DEC IP
- H
- R
- ER BB SO LEFT GM
- RESULT
with Single-A Lake County
- 4/9
- at Dayton
- L (1)
ND
- 3.0
- 3
2 6 3
1 0 2 1
1 0 2 1
1 0 0 1
5 3 5 5
Pitched final 3 inn. of game Pitched final 3 inn of game Aſter 7th, losing, 6-3
L, 3-2 L, 4-3 L, 8-3 W, 5-2
CAREER HIGHS
4/21 4/26 5/2
Bowling Green West Michigan Wisconsin
3.0 4.1 4.0
ND
IP: 7.0, 7/22/16 @ AZL ARZ K’s: 7, 2x, last - 7/19/17 v. BAT BB’s: 5, 8/16/17 @ BAT Hits: 10, 8/25/16 @ AZL SEA Runs: 7, 8/25/16 @ AZL SEA
- S (1)
- Pitched final 4 inn. of game
with-A-Adv. Lynchburg
- 5/8
- at Frederick
TATI VS. FREDERICK
0-0, -.-- ERA
- Date H/R
- Dec
- IP
- H
- R/ER
- K/BB
- 5/8
- R
FREDERICK VS. TATI
.---
RUNS ALLOWED BY INNING
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
--
8--
9--
10
- --
- --
- --
- --
- --
- --
- --
Bold - Career High
Italics- Relief ouꢀng
CURRENT NOTES:
Began the season in a relief role at Single-A Lake County...Went 0-1 with a 1.88 ERA through four appearances...Struck out 19 in 14.1 IP...Every relief
ouꢀng went at least 3.0 IP and pitched as many as 4.1 IP in a relief ouꢀng Was primarily piggy-backing off of starters in Lake County...Finished three of the four games that he pitched for the Captains Earned four-inning save on 5/2 v. Wisconsin in the Midwest League, struck out five and allowed one ER
Struck out a season-high six in a season-high 4.1 IP on 4/19 v. West Michigan
CAREER NOTES:
Signed by the Indians as an Internaꢀonal Free Agent prior to the 2013 season out of the Dominican Republic Pitched his first two and a half years of professional ball in the DSL Summer League...Came stateside to the AZL midway through the 2016 season Was a dual threat for Short-Season Mahoning Valley in 2017...Began the season as a starter before switching to long relief...Led the team with 7 wins, five of which came in relief ouꢀngs of 4 IP or more...Led Mahoning Valley with 59 strikeouts and worked at least 2.1 IP in all 10 of his relief appearances on the
season
Page 2
hillcats pitching by the numbers
CATCHER’S BOX
9/36 (23%)
- CATCHER’S BOX
- 19/94 (20.2%)
STARTING PITCHER RUN SUPPORT
- Player
- Caught
- Aꢁ.
21 3
PCT.
28% 0%
ER
55
8
- IC
- ERA
- PB
72
- Pitcher
- GS Team Runs R/Start Quality Starts
Li-Jen Chu Gavin Collins Logan Ice
603
112.0 4.42 16.0 4.50 121.0 3.27
Jusꢀn Garza
Sam Hentges
5
6
18
22 10 21 15 15
3.6
3.8 3.3 5.3 2.5 2.5
0
20232
- 12
- 25%
- 44
- 3
Micah Miniard 3 Jake Paulson Zach Plesac Tanner Tully
466
HILLCATS BULLPEN BREAKDOWN
- PLAYER
- LAST OUTING
5/7 @ FRE
5/5 v. MB
DEC
--
- IP
- H
- R
2
0000
0
00
0
00
ER
2
0000
0
00
0
00
HR
0
BB
1
SO
2
- GMS
- SV/SVO
- INH/STR.
7/2
1ST BATTER RET.
Jason Garcia
Luis Jimenez James Karinchak Ben Krauth
2.1
1.0 1.1 2.0
2
1201
0
12
1
11
5
9189
6
12
9
88
1/1
-/-
3/5
5/9 0/1 6/8 6/9
4/6
0/1 1/2
2/9
7/8 4/8
- --
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 8/2
- 5/4 v. MB
- --
--
- 0
- 0
- 4
- -/-
- 1/1
5/3 @ WS 5/4 v. MB
- 0
- 0
- 3
- 1/1
2/3
4/5
-/-
6/5
Kieran Lovegrove
Henry Marꢀnez
Anthony Miller Micah Miniard
- W (2) 2.1
- 0
- 1
- 2
- 9/4
4/22 @ POT
4/9 v. BC
- SV (4) 2.0
- 0
- 2
- 2
- 4/3
-- --
--
-- --
1.0 2.0
2.0
1.0 2.0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- -/-
- 4/21 @ POT
- 0
- 1
- 2
- 1/1
-/-
-/-
- Anderson Polanco 5/5 v. MB
- 0
- 1
- 3
- 7/1