Morning Rundown: Alessandro Ercolani, Cam Junker makes second appearance
Four total Pirates prospects pitch in Friday's game.
Thursday’s AFL game got off to an explosive offensive start, eventually settling in to more of a pitcher’s dual.
Friday’s game was the opposite, with just two total runs being scored the first seven innings of the game. Sterlin Thompson scored the only run for the Rafters, on a Jace Jung single and error by Kevin Alcantara.
Mesa would score five more runs in the eighth and ninth inning, eventually winning 6-1.
Jung reached base four times, with two hit and two walks for the Rafters. Thompson picked up a pair of hits on his own, as the two were the only hitters with multi-hits on Salt River.
— Alessandro Ercolani made his second appearance of the AFL season, and while it still wasn’t ideal, was still better than his first time around.
He walked two, allowed a run on one hit while striking out another batter Friday. Struggling with his control out the gate, Ercolani walked the first two batters he faced, before getting a pair of outs.
Connor Pavolony doubled in a run, the first hit Ercolani has allowed in the AFL. He would strike out the final batter he would face on a fastball. In total he threw 24 pitches, only 10 for strikes. He got up to 95.3 mph with his fastball.
— Cameron Junker pitched his second game as well, eventually getting tagged with the loss after pitching 1.1 innings, allowing two hits, two walks, and three earned runs (four total).
The slider picked up six whiffs on 14 swings, but also had six balls put in play as well. The fastball averaged 92.5 while getting up to 93.4.
— Jase Bowen went 0-4 on the night, but also hit two of the five furthest balls, one of which left the bat at 106 mph.
— Carter Bins caught all nine innings of the game, also going 1-3 with an infield single, a walk and two strikeouts.
Backpage blessings - Bowen getting work in CF, going 0'fer, but hitting with authority when making contact; Ercolani staying in mid-90's against tough competition although, in age, is comparable to HS pitchers drafted in 2023. Won't turn 20 until a month into the 2024 season, and was average at best in 15 Starts/65 IP at A level Bradenton - should he be in the AFL this year?
Saw the blurb that Joey Votto wants to play at least one more season. He is 39 and just finished his last year of a 10 year Contract. In the last 6 years he has been paid $150 mil ($25 mil per year), and has averaged about 1.18 fWAR per season or an average of $9.44 mil of Value. In the last 3 years he has played in 129 games in 2021, 91 games in 2022, and 65 games in 2023. I think his contract had an Option Year which was for $20 mil in 2024 - is he expecting Cincy to offer that to him for 2024?