Morning Rundown: Thomas Harrington strikes out 11, Esmerlyn Valdez goes deep, Pirates lose
Thomas strikes out 11 for Altoona, Valdez continues to hit for power, Pirates drop game to Milwaukee
Thomas Harrington had a career outing for the Altoona Curve with Jared Jones, who is no stranger to dominating pitching performances, in the stands while the Pirates were in Milwaukee.
The righty out of Campbell tied career-highs in innings pitched (seven) and strikeouts (11) as the Curve defeated the Bowie Baysox 5-1.
Of the 95 pitches Harrington threw, 63 were for strikes, picking up 13 swinging strikes along the way.
It’s been a good year for Harrington, who missed the first part of the season due to a shoulder injury. In 11 games with the Curve, Harrington has posted a 2.54 ERA, 59 strikeouts, and just eight walks over 56.2 innings pitched.
Harrington and Bubba Chandler are slowly starting to find another gear in Altoona.
After missing more than a week with an injury, Esmerlyn Valdez has returned with a vengeance for the Marauders.
He hit a home run in each of the first two innings on Wednesday and has three across seven at-bats since returning from his IL stint.
Valdez has had some strikeout issues but has shown some serious power in Bradenton. He has 12 home runs on the season and is currently tied for third in the Florida State League in home runs.
Axiel Plaz also hit a home run, his 11th since being promoted to Bradenton. He easily has the fewest games played (38) among players in the FSL with double-digit home runs.
Just a day after the offense exploded for 12 runs in a win against Milwaukee, it fell silent on Wednesday, getting shut out 9-0.
The Pirates picked up four hits on the day, with only Rowdy Tellez sending one for extra bases (double). Martin Perez didn’t make it out the fifth inning, allowing five earned runs on nine hits and three walks.
Paul Skenes will make his last start before the All-Star break on Thursday as the Pirates still look to clinch a key series against a divisional opponent.
Some site maintenance stuff, as things have continued to be brought to my attention. I’m here to write and talk about baseball, and I didn’t want to get into a position where I needed to babysit the comment section.
A few guidelines now going forward;
No personal attacks. We are all grown-ups here, and we don’t always agree with everything. Approach things civilly. If you don’t have anything nice to say to/about someone, leave it be. I’ve found it’s pretty easy to ignore some of the comments on here, so just move on to a different conversation.
We are adults, so I’m not going to say any cursing, but there are certain words/phrases that don’t need to be said. If you have to use ‘the word’ in its place, it’s probably something you don’t need to say, period. Hiding around this with ‘slang’ that alludes to something else offensive/vulgar is a no-go too. Anything racist, homophobic, etc, is obviously a no-go.
No political talk. This is a baseball site. Let’s talk baseball. In fact, I don’t even mind off-topic stuff; I encourage it to an extent. And that extent is political-related stuff. There are thousands of other places where you can talk about that kind of stuff. Not here.
I’ve had a few people either unsubscribe or threaten to do so over some of the stuff in the comments as of late.
People are going to unsubscribe, that’s the nature of this, and some may be upset by these new guidelines. I’ll say this, I’d rather those people unsubscribe than the ones coming here just looking to talk about baseball without seeing some of the stuff in the comments or dealing with personal attacks.
So, I’ll be monitoring the comments more often, which is unfortunate because the more I have to do that, the less time I spend writing and trying to bring everyone the best content I can provide.
I'll start deleting the posts if I see anyone crossing the line and send a warning. We’ll look further into what’s next if you can't get the hint. I don’t want to get to a point where I’m banning people.
I’ve told Nola and WTM to do the same, and then I'll pass along anyone who doesn't get the hint/warnings.
Anyway, we are just a few days away from celebrating one year at Bucs on Deck; I can’t express how grateful I am for everyone's support of the site and for giving me this platform to talk about the game we all love.
Remember why we are here, be decent to each other, and have a good time.
Bradenton Marauders placed LHP Magdiel Cotto on the 7-day injured list retroactive to July 8, 2024
SS Alika Williams roster status changed by Indianapolis Indians (Taxi Squad)
FCL Pirates placed SS John Zorrilla on the 7-day injured list
FCL Pirates placed OF Tony Blanco Jr. on the 7-day injured list
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Top Exit Velocity
Axiel Plaz - BRD - 108.2 mph - Single
Ke’Bryan Hayes - PIT - 106.9 mph - Lineout
Andrew McCutchen - PIT - 106.7 mph - Groundout
Jake Lamb - IND - 105.7 mph - Groundout
Bryan Reynolds - PIT - 105.4 mph - Lineout
Top Pitch Velocity
Connor Sadzeck - IND - 97.2 mph
Connor Sadzeck - IND - 97 mph
Connor Sadzeck - IND - 96.6 mph
Connor Sadzeck - IND - 96.4 mph
Brent Honeywell Jr. - PIT - 96.2 mph
Ben Heller - IND - 96.2 mph
Most Whiffs
Thomas Harrington - ALT - 13
Jake Woodford - IND - 11
Dominic Perachi - GBO - 10
Aaron Shortridge - BRD - 9
Darvin Garcia - GBO - 7
Indianapolis Indians - 1 vs Columbus Clippers - 3
Top Hitter - Seth Beer: 1-4, R, 2B
Top Pitcher - Jake Woodford: 5 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Altoona Curve - 5 vs Bowie Baysox - 1
Top Hitter - Abrahan Gutierrez: 2-4, R, RBI, 2B
Top Pitcher - Thomas Harrington: 7 IP, 5 H, ER, 2 BB, 11 K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - 5 vs Winston Salem Dash - 7
Top Hitter - Jack Brannigan: 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR
Top Pitcher - Dominic Perachi: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Bradenton Marauders - 8 vs Jupiter Hammerheads - 14
Top Hitter - Esmerlyn Valdez: 2-5, 4 R, 5 RBI, BB, 2 HR
Top Pitcher - Aaron Shortridge: 4 IP, 2 H, 7 K
Site Maintenance Stuff:
I think this site is pretty good vis-a-vis the personal attacks stuff. But I have noticed one or two comment threads where someone goes off on someone calling them an idiot or stupid or a troll or what have you...
I don't want anything to do with those things. Some people, I guess, live to insult others. Some people - in a textual format - can take entertainingly ascerbic and have it taken by the reader as hostile. Me? I like a curmudgeon. I can even enjoy entertainingly ascerbic. What you sometimes need in these formats is a 40 lb bag of salt.
Politics? Leave that stuff at the door. Our outside world is way too hostile. This is the best baseball site I know and it needs all of our help to remain insulated. My mom always said polite people don't talk about politics or religion. And also, "If you can't say anything nice..."
So yeah.
Take that, you guys!
Somewhere in a parking lot behind a Kohls in Florida, Tim Williams is sitting in his sensible Japanese sedan eating fast food and getting high off the smell of his own farts, while writing the next great derivative sci fi super hero mashup novel series, and is laughing to himself that this community commenting issue has followed you here.