Fort Wayne Tincaps 2019 Game Notes
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FORT WAYNE TINCAPS 2019 GAME NOTES Fort Wayne TinCaps (26-28, 5th East) vs. Great Lakes Loons (34-19, 1st East) RHP Efraín Contreras vs. RHP Stephen Kolek Sunday, June 2 • Parkview Field (Fort Wayne, Ind.) • First Pitch 1:05 PM (Game 55 / 138) WATCH: Evan Stockton & Brett Rump (Comcast Network 81 & MiLB.TV) LISTEN: Mike Maahs (ESPN Radio 1380 & 100.9 FM | TinCapsRadio.com | TuneIn) APPLE SLICES NEWS & NOTES vs. GL in 2019 (2-4, 0-2 Home) Home Record: 14-12 ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The TinCaps lost 11-0 to Great Lakes on Saturday night. The 6 Home, 15 Away (21 Total) Road Record: 12-16 Loons pounded out 11 runs on 10 hits, including three home runs. Carlos Belen Day Record: 7-7 Night Record: 19-21 tossed a solid relief outing for the 'Caps, surrendering just one hit in two scoreless Friday, May 24 Road L, 7-0 Streak: L2, W5 of 8, 11 of 17 innings while fanning three batters. Saturday, May 25 Road L, 7-6 Sunday: 1-5 BURNIN’ UP: The ‘Caps have won 11 of their last 17 games dating back to May 16. Monday: 3-3 Pitching has propelled Fort Wayne during this stretch. Entering Saturday night’s Sunday, May 26 Road W, 12-2 Tuesday: 5-3 game, the TinCaps led the Midwest League in WHIP (1.17), had the second best ERA Wednesday: 4-4 Monday, May 27 Road W, 8-3 Thursday: 7-1 (3.09) and had allowed the second fewest earned runs allowed (46). Fort Wayne had Friday: 3-7 also surrendered the fewest walks (36) since May 16. Friday, May 31 Home L, 9-6 Saturday: 2-5 BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: Improved hitting has also helped during this successful Saturday, June 1 Home L, 11-0 (8) April: 11-13 stretch: entering Saturday’s game, Fort Wayne led the Midwest League in doubles May: 15-14 (36), was 5th in BA (.263), and was 6th in OBP (.337) and SLG% (.392) since May 16. Sunday, June 2 Home 1:05 p.m. June: 0-1 The TinCaps had also struck out the fewest times in the league (110) during that July: 0-0 Thursday, June 20 Road 7:05 p.m. August: 0-0 span. September: 0-0 Friday, June 21 Road 7:05 p.m. X IS A FACTOR: Infielder Xavier Edwards not only leads the MWL in batting Leading after Six: 20-1 average (.366— no one else is batting better than .326), he ranks in the top ten of all Saturday, June 22 Road 7:05 p.m. Tied after Six: 3-4 of Minor League Baseball. The only big leaguer with a better average than Edwards is Trailing after Six: 2-22 the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger (.379). Edwards also leads the MWL in OBP (.424) and Sunday, June 23 Road 2:05 p.m. Leading after Seven: 19-1 Tied after Seven: 2-3 hits (68). Saturday, June 29 Home 7:05 p.m. Trailing after Seven: 2-23 Leading after Eight: 20-1 MORE ON X: Edwards has the lowest swinging strike % in the league, as he’s swung Tied after Eight: 2-2 and missed at only 3.4% of the pitches he’s seen. His K% of 10.1% is the 4th lowest Sunday, June 30 Home 3:05 p.m. Trailing after Eight: 0-21 in the league. With 20 walks to 22 strikeouts, Edwards’ 0.95 BB/K ratio is the 4th best Monday, July 1 Home 7:05 p.m. in the MWL. Xavier has made a living on swinging early in the count: he’s posted a BA Scoring first: 18-9 Opponent scores first: 7-20 of .548 this season on the first pitch of an at bat (best on the TinCaps), and 23 of his Saturday, July 6 Road 7:05 p.m. Come-from-behind wins: 10 league-leading 68 hits have come while swinging at the first pitch of the at bat. Shutouts: 6-4 Sunday, July 7 Road 2:05 p.m. LOPEZ LOCKED IN: Infielder Justin Lopez, who turned 19 on May 9, has had a vs. LH starter: 5-9 solid few weeks. In 21 games since May 11, Lopez has slashed Monday, July 8 Road 7:05 p.m. vs. RH starter: 21-19 .247/.307/.506. His power numbers have been great, with nine extra-base hits (2 Tuesday, July 30 Road 7:05 p.m. Scoring fewer than Three: 4-13 doubles, 2 triples, 5 homers) and 15 RBIs. Scoring Three or Four: 6-12 Wednesday, July 31 Road 7:05 p.m. Scoring Five or more: 16-3 HUNTING HITS: After a sluggish start to the season, Blake Hunt is starting to turn it around at the plate. Hunt went 0-3 on Saturday night, but was robbed twice of base 1-run games: 10-9 hits on hard-hit balls. The 20-year-old catcher had hits in five straight games since Thursday, Aug. 1 Road 7:05 p.m. 2-run games: 1-2 May 26 (9-20) with four doubles and three RBIs. Hunt went 2-for-5 on Friday night 3+-run games: 15-17 Friday, Aug. 2 Road 7:05 p.m. Extra Innings: 0-2 with another double and a run scored. IN CONTROL: TinCaps pitchers have the best ratio of strikeouts to walks in the MWL Out-hitting opponent: 17-6 PADRES PROPECTS Being out-hit: 4-18 this season. Fort Wayne pitchers are averaging 3.01 strikeouts for every walk (156 Same number of hits: 5-4 walks, 471 strikeouts). ‘Caps pitchers have also walked the fewest batters in the MWL. MLB.com and Baseball America Series W-L-T (Home): 3-4-1 have both rated the Padres’ farm Series W-L-T (Road): 2-4-2 Series W-L-T (Total): 5-8-2 ROSTER MOVES: Infielder Luis Almanzar was placed on the 7-Day IL Saturday, system as the best in baseball in Series Sweeps (Home): 2-1 while catcher Luis Roman was transferred to Fort Wayne from Extended Spring 2019. The following TinCaps are Series Sweeps (Road): 0-1 Training. ranked by MLB Pipeline as Top Series Sweeps (Total): 2-2 30 Padres Prospects: AUSTIN POWERS: Right-handed reliever Austin Smith tossed a gem in relief on Home crowds of 6,000+: 2-4 Friday night, going 3.2 hitless and scoreless innings with five strikeouts and just one Home crowds of 7,000+: 2-3 8. Ryan Weathers (LHP) walk. The former second round pick now has a 2.00 ERA in nine relief outings this Home crowds of 8,000+: - 11. Xavier Edwards (INF) Sellouts: 4 season (18.0 IP) with 18 strikeouts and four walks. Smith also owns a 0.83 WHIP. 18. Tucupita Marcano (INF) Delayed Starts: 1 DWS EQUALS RBIs: Outfielder Dwanya Williams-Sutton smacked a three-run 28. Blake Hunt (C) Suspensions: 1 home run and also drove in another run via an RBI double on Friday night, marking Postponements: 3 his first four RBI game of the season. “DWS” had gone 1 for his last 18 at the plate Cancelled: 2 (with 10 strikeouts) prior to his big night on Friday. Ended Early: 2 Upcoming Games (All Times Eastern) Monday, June 3 OFF Tuesday, June 4 vs. Lake County 7:05 PM RHP Gabe Mosser Wednesday, June 5 vs. Lake County 7:05 PM LHP Joey Cantillo Thursday, June 6 vs. Lake County 7:05 PM RHP Sam Keating Friday, June 7 @ Dayton 7:00 PM LHP Ramon Perez Media Contact: John Nolan — [email protected] MORE NOTES CHASING HISTORY: Anthony Contreras, who’s in his 4th season as the team’s skipper, won his 200th game as TinCaps manager on April 11. His win total now stands at 220. The franchise leader in that category is Doug Dascenzo (227, 2007-09). Randy Ready (2004-06) now ranks 3rd with 209 victories. FOREVER YOUNG: The average age for a TinCaps position player thus far has been 20.1, the youngest in the Midwest League (MWL average: 21.2). The average age for a ’Caps pitcher is 20.9, also the youngest (MWL average: 21.9). This marks the 6th consecutive year Fort Wayne has had the league’s most youthful lineup, going back to 2014. The TinCaps had the youngest pitching staff in the league in 2016 and ranked tied for 2nd youngest in ’18, 2nd youngest in ’12, ’13, and ’17. 260 TO THE SHOW: 181 former Fort Wayne players have reached the big leagues since the franchise was founded in 1993. 8 ‘Caps alums have broken through this year with SS Fernando Tatis Jr., RHP Chris Paddack, LHP Nick Margevicius, RHP Pedro Avila, RHP Gerardo Reyes, INF Ty France and C Austin Allen appearing for the Padres, plus INF Josh VanMeter with the Reds. WELCOME BACK: 12 of the team’s 25 players appeared in at least 1 game with the TinCaps last year: INF Luis Almanzar, LHP Joey Cantillo, C Juan Fernandez, RHP Henry Henry, INF Justin Lopez, RHP Adrian Martinez, INF Kelvin Melean, RHP Gabe Mosser, RHP Jose Quezada, OF Agustin Ruiz, LHP Ryan Weathers, and RHP Carlos Belen, who was a corner infield with the ‘Caps in 2016 and ’18. IN THE DUGOUT: Anthony Contreras is back for his 4th season as TinCaps manager, becoming the first skipper in the franchise’s 27-year history to lead the team for more than 3 years… Hitting coach Jonathan Mathews (2nd season), fielding coach Jhonny Carvajal (3rd), athletic trainer Allyse Kramer (3rd), and strength coach Sam Hoffman (2nd) are also back.