Minor League Baseball Video Room Review – Durham vs. Charlotte

Charlotte Knight Hitting: 0 runs, 3 hits, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts

First Inning
*Base information for this and future innings taken from MiLB.com’s Log of the game*

• Jose Vinicio strikes out swinging, catcher Mike Marjama to first baseman Casey Gillaspie.
• Yoan Moncada grounds out, third baseman Patrick Leonard to first baseman Casey Gillaspie.
• Danny Hayes singles on a line drive to center fielder Shane Peterson.
• With Ryan Raburn batting, wild pitch by Taylor Guerrieri, Danny Hayes to 2nd.
• Ryan Raburn pops out to first baseman Casey Gillaspie in foul territory.

Guerrieri came out firing. Vinicio asked for time out just before striking out on Guerrieri’s first pitch that was really outside of the zone, a hard breaking pitch that bit the dirt and Vinicio chased.

Moncada went after the first pitch to ground to third right at the only guy on the left side as Durham had him played to pull.

Hayes did a nice job staying with one of Guerrieri’s quality sinkers and slapping it the other way for his single. The wild pitch was bad luck as Casali chose to pull off his mask as he was moving to block the pitch, and the pitch hit his mask in a spot it wouldn’t normally have been, leading to a significant ricochet.

Gillaspie made a very nice play negotiating the Durham bullpen mounds as he chased Raburn’s pop up in foul territory. He’s received plenty of note for his excellent defense at first base as he’s improved his conditioning in the last year-plus.

Second Inning

• Tyler Ladendorf grounds out, third baseman Patrick Leonard to first baseman Casey Gillaspie.
• Adam Engel strikes out swinging.
• Carson Blair strikes out swinging.

While Guerrieri is known for his excellent fastball movement, specifically his sink on his pitch, I noted cut to his fastball waist-high to chest-high to right-handed hitters.

Ladendorf saw multiple of those cutters before grounding out on an excellent curve. Engel saw multiple curves before launching his bat as he swung very early on an excellent change.

Guerrieri blew away Blair with a fastball to finish his third strikeout of the game.

Third Inning

• Jason Bourgeois singles on a ground ball to second baseman Jake Hager.
• Everth Cabrera grounds out, third baseman Patrick Leonard to first baseman Casey Gillaspie. Jason Bourgeois to 2nd.
• Jose Vinicio reaches on a fielding error by shortstop Willy Adames. Jason Bourgeois to 3rd.
• With Yoan Moncada batting, Taylor Guerrieri picks off Jose Vinicio at 1st on throw to Casey Gillaspie.
• Yoan Moncada called out on strikes.

Bourgeois hit a high, hard chopper, and with his speed, it was an easy single, even at 35 years old. The announcers noted that Guerrieri had been exposed for his slow time to home by the Gwinnett Braves in his previous start. He worked between starts on his pick off move, and he nearly got Bourgeois on one of his moves.

If Bourgeois had not been going on the pitch, Cabrera would have hit into a double play, but it was an excellent play on a short hop by Leonard as well just to make the play.

Guerrieri missed with his fastball low multiple times to Vinicio before Vinicio slapped a grounder right at Adames that Adames took his eye off of as he was looking at first when the ball hit his glove, and it glanced away.

Vinicio telegraphed that he was going, making his pick off easy. The announcers noticed it before Guerrieri even threw over based on how he led off of the base. Guerrieri finished off Moncada on the next pitch with a wicked sinker that just sat on the outside edge of the plate and dropped straight down.

Fourth Inning

• Danny Hayes strikes out swinging.
• Ryan Raburn flies out to right fielder Dayron Varona.
• Tyler Ladendorf walks.
• Pitching Change: Justin Marks replaces Taylor Guerrieri.
• Adam Engel flies out to right fielder Dayron Varona.

Guerrieri came out and had wicked break against Hayes to get his strikeout, then worked right around the zone on Raburn and sawed him off for the fly out.

Guerrieri began to show some issues with Ladendorf as he was flexing his hand after pitches, and he began throwing primarily fastballs. The ball 4 call for the walk was a very close pitch, but after that pitch, they immediately called out the training staff, and Guerrieri left.

Marks came in from the left side with a vastly different repertoire, throwing more cutters and slow curves than heavy sinkers and moving fastballs. He was also a guy who threw 5-7 MPH with his fastball than Guerrieri was as well.

Marks and Engel had a good battle in his first batter of the game before Engel flew out on a casual fly out.

Fifth Inning

• Carson Blair flies out to right fielder Dayron Varona.
• Jason Bourgeois grounds out, second baseman Jake Hager to first baseman Casey Gillaspie.
• Everth Cabrera strikes out swinging.

Marks came out attacking in the 5th, and while his fastball velocity wasn’t better, he had much better location than against Engel. He did miss his spot with a fastball to Blair, putting it about belly button high, and Blair went opposite field all the way to the warning track with it.

Hager made a very good play on a ball that bounced goofy off the bag to get Bourgeois on the grounder.

The strikeout got Cabrera after he got into a bit of a back-and-forth with the home plate umpire because he was stepping out of the box between pitches.

Sixth Inning

• Pitching Change: Ryan Garton replaces Justin Marks.
• Jose Vinicio strikes out swinging.
• Yoan Moncada lines out to second baseman Jake Hager.
• Danny Hayes singles on a line drive to center fielder Shane Peterson.
• Ryan Raburn strikes out swinging.

Garton came in with a fastball/slider/curve combination out of the pen, and Moncada had Garton timed very well, fouling off a couple of pitches before hitting the ball right at Hager. If Hager misses that ball, it’s a double easily.

Garton worked his slider up in the zone effectively in the inning, getting multiple called strikes. Hayes truly smoked the single he had right up the middle, a sharply hit ball, but Raburn and Vinicio both looked foolish in their strikeouts.

Seventh Inning

• Tyler Ladendorf walks.
• Adam Engel flies out to left fielder Michael McKenry.
• Carson Blair walks. Tyler Ladendorf to 2nd.
• Pitching Change: Adam Kolarek replaces Ryan Garton.
• Jason Bourgeois grounds into a force out, shortstop Willy Adames to second baseman Jake Hager. Tyler Ladendorf to 3rd. Carson Blair out at 2nd. Jason Bourgeois to 1st.
• Offensive Substitution: Pinch-hitter Nicky Delmonico replaces Everth Cabrera.
• Nicky Delmonico flies out to center fielder Shane Peterson.

Garton struggled with the location of his breaking stuff to open the 7th inning, leading to two walks. He even opened Engel with a 2-0 count, before the two had an incredible at bat that seemingly never ended until Engel put a ton of ride into a ball that McKenry was lucky to come up with.

Kolarek came in, throwing from a side arm lefty slot to give a different look. Adames fumbled with the ball in the exchange, though it’s unlikely that the double play could have been turned.

I was surprised that the Knights went with Delmonico to replace Cabrera against the side-arming lefty as Delmonico is a lefty hitter himself.

Eighth Inning

• Cade Gotta remains in the game as the center fielder.
• Defensive switch from center field to left field for Shane Peterson.
• Jose Vinicio grounds out, third baseman Patrick Leonard to first baseman Casey Gillaspie.
• Yoan Moncada flies out to left fielder Shane Peterson.
• Danny Hayes called out on strikes.

After a delay when the Durham Bulls mascot ran out of gas in the go cart he was using to entertain the crowd, the 8th got underway with a quick ground out on the second pitch of the inning by Vinicio.

Off the bat, I thought Moncada’s ball was gone, and the Durham left fielder had his back against the wall as he caught the ball.

Hayes seemed to struggle to read the pitch out of Kolarek’s hand, especially on a night when he made such good contact otherwise.

Ninth Inning

• Pitching Change: Neil Wagner replaces Adam Kolarek.
• Ryan Raburn flies out to center fielder Cade Gotta.
• Tyler Ladendorf lines out to center fielder Cade Gotta.
• Adam Engel pops out to second baseman Jake Hager.

Wagner’s first pitch required the center fielder Gotta to jump up the wall to make the catch as Raburn gave it a big ride.

Gotta made another tremendous sliding catch to take away a likely double from Ladendorf as well.

Engel had another good battle at the plate before he popped out. He went 0-4, but Engel likely saw at least 20 pitches on the night, if not 25-30.

Next: Durham Hitting