SCRIMMAGE: WED 16 OCT 24

The second week of the preseason got off to an early start with 6 innings and 6 pitchers each tossing 2 innings apiece. Overall, pitching stood better than this time last year. The slugging power from last year is still left to be found. What should be our headline leaders with the power to bear only one has shown up: Todd Hudson. He is an impressive figure at the plate with the potential to leave the park with every swing. Two HRs, and a triple to his credit with only one strikeout. Unlike Daniel Cuvet who is still looking for his first hit. Defensively, today was a disaster. Most notably, Ethan Puig playing third allowed the base runner to waltz into an unattended third base in two consecutive innings. However, the biggest concern is not pitching this year which was a nightmare last year but coming from the other end: our catchers. Hopefully, between now and the start of the regular season they will learn how to play their position. Right now there should be an open contract on stealing at will. Arm strength, hesitancy, but mostly accuracy plague all three of our prospects. Based on seniority, Tanner Smith will most probably be the starting catcher. Backup, Nolan Johnson with Evan Taveras being the PB catcher. Nothing is finalized, but right now it is a toss-up. Too late to shop for a 4th catcher who can catch. We have to work with what we have and between now and opening day, one hopefully will come front and center

Two freshmen, Tate DeRias and Lazaro Collera started week 2. Both with their first appearance of the season. Week two opened with a walk to Fabio Peralta who played heads-up running when he noted Ethan Puig not covering third on the ground out 6-3 by Edgardo Villegas. Ethan left his position to attempt the put out leaving third vacated which Fabio noting no one at third easily trotted over to fill the void. Two batters later Todd Hudson registered the first hit/run of the day with a hard grounder to short whose throw to first enabled Todd to advance one base. Two errors in one inning from the left side of the infield showed a lack of experience. The second inning was almost deja vu at third. Back-to-back walks to open the inning and once again third base was vacated on the second walk allowing Alex Kuenzie to take advantage of Puig snoozing on the job. Alex scored on a SF by Derel Williams to center. Two Runs on the board which should not have been. Not the support Tate was looking for in his first appearance.

Lazaro Collera had an easier time all around recording the only DP which came in the first after Dorian walked with one out followed by Max Galvin with the second hit of the day. Runners on 1st and 2nd, Nolan Johnson hits into a 4-6-3 DP.  The second inning went even easier with a 3up/3down outing. Sporting 99 on his jersey, will keep a close eye on his progression.

The second set of pitchers AJ Ciscar and Ryan Ashford both making their second appearance. They were the lone pitchers on the rain-shortened scrimmage last Friday. In their first appearance, AJ had an impressive start only allowing a solitary walk to Michael Torres who led off. Ryan on the other hand I crucified vanishing him to the deepest part of the BP never to be seen again. Whatever happened between then and now were two entirely different people. I can happily say he is out of the doghouse and back into the mix. Not a single walk to his credit where last Friday, he was practically walking everyone he faced.

Both Pitchers put up zero runs on the board despite the sloppiness of the defense. A two-out single by Amaury DeJesus waltzed into an unattended second. Fortunately, for AJ Cisar, the lack of attention at second didn’t cost a run having Michael Torres ground out 6-3. An easy second inning: 1-2-3. Put AJ on the plus side of the ledger.

Ryan Ashford had a complete makeover from his first appearance and has rejoined the mix. Again defense didn’t help his course holding on to the ball too long before throwing, an error in the IF, and PB by the catcher. All this working against him, Ryan still prevented any runs from being scored. His second inning was all too easy for him three up/three down. It was as if I was looking at two different players on the mound. Let’s call it opening jitters and move on.

The last set of pitchers was Brixton Lofgren, second appearance, and James Kleiven, also with his second appearance this preseason. Brixton, unlike his contemporaries, only pitched one inning on his first go around. He ran into a bit of trouble but worked his way out of it. Today was a different story. Three singles and two walks equated to two runs in his first inning. In the second inning not only did the bats didn’t help him(2RBI double: Dorian) but a pair of errors from behind the plate (Evan Taveras) set things for Dorian’s pair of RBIs. It was not a good day for the Fordham transfer.

James Kleiven concluded the day with two scoreless innings. James saw a lot of activity registering zero runs in his initial inning. An opening single, thrown out at second by Nolan Johnson (on the money). Fabio Peralta followed with a single advancing to second of a throwing error from left, advancing to third on a PB by Johnson. Man on third one out, James took the reins away from his position buddies doing any further damage striking out Edgardo and Jake. After a one-out single by Alex Kuenzie to start the 6th and final inning, it went easy/peasy with a single and a liner from Bobby Marsh back to him to conclude today’s festivities.

As mentioned above, the defensive plays today need a lot of patching. Mental errors not covering one’s base or just plain throwing errors marred both the infield and outfield. Whoever our catching coach needs to spend a lot of time with all three with their throws and get away from double clutching before throwing. Valuable seconds are lost and not for the better.

Offensively, not a strong productive day with only one double (Dorian Gonzalez) among the 12 hits pounded out. Only one player with multiple numbers (Alex Kuenzie) 2-2 pair of walks and 2 stolen bases.

Comparing last year to this, the main concern was no pitching. The pitching staff totally depleted by the end of the year, JD made sure this was not going to happen again. With 21 currently on the roster we should not run into the same problem. Brian Walters, Griffin Hugus, and Nick Robert look like the front runners with Slaide Naturman with his submarine approach as closer. Still early to lock it in but the scrimmage against FAU on Saturday will give us a hint on who’s catching the eye of JD.

Friday is the next scrimmage for 7.5 innings commencing at 10AM barring weather.