Heading into last night’s game against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, the Batavia Muckdogs were far from perfect. In fact, they were off to a dreadful start, sitting at 0-5 in the cellar of the NYPL Pinckney Division. That all changed Wednesday night.
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The Muckdogs made team history last night as Gabriel Castellanos, Brett Lilek and Steven Farnworth combined for the first perfect game in the team’s history. Ironically, it was the first perfect game in the NYPL since 2007. The Muckdogs were on the opposite side of that one, not reaching base in 27 chances. It was also the first no-hitter for the Muckdogs since 1993.
Castellanos, ranked No. 30 in the Miami Marlins farm system, hurled seven strong innings, fanning 12 Scrappers on the night. 60 of his 86 pitches landed for strikes. When 70 percent of your pitches land in the zone, you know your in for a special night. Lilek came on a struck out the side in the eighth, and Farnworth locked down his first save of the season, preserving the perfect game with one strikeout in the ninth.
"“It’s really gratifying for Gabriel Castellanos,” Muckdogs pitching coach Brendon Sagara told MiLB.com. “His maturity and work ethic and his dedication to all the important things to develop as a pitcher and as a human being kind of culminated with tonight. And his appearance was the microcosm of his development, so it was real fun to watch.”"
Castellanos was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2011. The 21-year old has had a rough start to his career bouncing around Rookie Leagues and A-Short Season without much success.
Last season for Batavia, he was beat around a little bit, finishing at 2-6 with a 4.65 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. His first outing of the season looked as if it were going to be more of the same in 2015. Five runs scored, although only two were earned, in his first outing that only lasted three and two-thirds innings. Last night, however, it all clicked.
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“He had a couple bumps in the road early in his season opener and just couldn’t regroup quick enough,” Sagara said to MiLB.com. “Tonight, it was a 1-0 game, obviously, real tight and anytime there was a missed call or he lost a couple pitches and fell behind, 2-0 or 3-1, or had to make some big 3-2 pitches, there was a real sense of calm in him throughout.”
MLB Pipeline describes Castellanos greatest strength in his “low-effort delivery” that will allow his raw talent to mature with such an easy approach. His fastball sits in the mid-90s and is his go to pitch. Both his slider and changeup are inconsistent. When his slider hits it is a nasty secondary pitch, but it misses too often. There is concern as well that he throws his changeup to hard, which takes away a little of the pitch’s purpose.
Lilek was drafted just a few weeks ago and is fresh off of a College World Series performance for Arizona State. Hopefully the 21-year old left-handed reliever knows that all his outings in the pros won’t end like this. But at the end of the day, less than a month into his professional career, Lilek was part of history.