Morning Rundown: Last Game Of Year For A Ball Teams, Henry Davis Rehab
Bradenton and Greensboro each play their last game of the season and Henry Davis started his rehab assignment.
Entering the last week of the season, both the Greensboro Grasshoppers and Bradenton Marauder had outside chances of making the playoffs at their respective levels.
While neither of them can entering the final day of the season, they can still end things on a high note by taking wins.
Greensboro has a chance to earn a series split against the Bowling Green Hot Rods, with Thomas Harrington potentially on the mound after starting the game on Tuesday.
They dropped the first two games of the series, before winning back-to-back but got blown out on Saturday.
Bradenton entered the week 1.5 games back of a potential playoff spot but Lakeland has won four of five this week while the Marauders dropped two so far.
Not the ideal ending to the season, but both finished the season with winning records, with Bradenton guaranteed to finish at least 20 games over .500 no matter what happens on Sunday.
Henry Davis Rehab
Davis hasn’t played for the Pirates since August 20, going on the Injured List the following day.
He began his rehab assignment with the Indianapolis Indians on Saturday, going 1-2 with a solo home run.
August was a rough month for Davis, with a slash of just .158/.246/.246 and has an OPS of just .645 on the season.
Minor League 9/8
Indianapolis Indians - 2 vs Toledo Mud Hens - 13
Top Hitter - Henry Davis: 1-2, HR (2), R, RBI
Top Pitcher - Max Kranick: 2 IP, BB, K
Altoona Curve - 9 vs Harrisburg Senators - 2
Top Hitter - Jase Bowen: 2-3, 3 RBI, 2 2B
Top Pitcher - Aaron Shortridge: 5.1 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, BB, 7 K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - 3 vs Bowling Green Hot Rods - 11
Top Hitter - Hudson Head: 2-4, R
Top Pitcher - Jack Carey: IP, H, K
Bradenton Marauders - 5 vs Fort Myers Mighty Mussels - 4
Top Hitter - Esmerlyn Valdez: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, 3B
Top Pitcher - Patrick Reilly: 1.1 IP, H, 2 K
Love to see both Jase Bowen at AA and Hudson Head in A+ listed as the best hitters in their games. Both are young and play CF which is currently a need for the Pirates. Is it just me or has Head come back from his injury making much better contact?
Going into 2023 would anybody have thought that with less than 20 games remaining the Pirates would be a half game better than the Padres and 1.5 games better than the Mets? A lot of young players finally getting to MLB, and big numbers of prospects still at the upper two levels, especially pitching!
I think Thomas Harrington has had about the best possible first year of professional baseball we could hope for, and I hope he does not start/pitch the game today. Last Start was his 25th Start this season and he did it in style with a 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2BB/7K win on the road against an excellent offensive team.
Right now he has thrown 124.1 innings this year which is a lot for his first year. Finish on the high note and start to plan his future at AA in 2024. He definitely checked all of the boxes this year!