The Hartford Yard Goats (8-13) were foiled by rain twice last week, but the days off didn’t seem to help their fledgling bats. The team scored just six runs in the four games they did play to fall into last place in the Eastern League Eastern Division with the worst record in the league.
As a team the Yard Goats are hanging out at the bottom of the offensive leaderboards: they are last in batting average (.224) and on-base percentage (.298), second to last in runs per game (3.71) and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.653), and have struck out more than any other team in the league (195). If you’re looking for bright spots, they do lead the league in triples and stolen bases.
News and Notes, May 2 - May 15
| Date | Opponent | Result | Date | Opponent | Time (MT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Opponent | Result | Date | Opponent | Time (MT) |
| May 2 | v Portland | L 11-12 | May 9 | v New Hampshire | 5:05 PM |
| May 3 | v Portland | L 1-5 | May 10 | v New Hampshire | 8:35 AM |
| May 4 | @ Harrisburg | L 2-6 | May 11 | v Erie | 5:05 PM |
| May 5 | @ Harrisburg | L 1-2 | May 12 | v Erie | 5:05 PM |
| May 6 | @ Harrisburg | W 6-5 | May 13 | v Erie | 4:05 PM |
| May 7 | @ Harrisburg | W 6-1 | May 14 | v Erie | 11:35 PM |
| May 8 | v New Hampshire | W 5-0 | May 15 | @ Portland | 4:00 PM |
There are a few Yard Goats who are hitting and Ryan McMahon (no. 7 PuRP) is one of them. Fresh off his Player of the Week honors last week, McMahon finished April hitting .375/.422/.675 with four home runs to go along with eight doubles and two triples. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is an acceptable 14:8 and he appears well on his way to making up for his struggles in Double-A last season.
Another week, another impressive outing from Yency Almonte (no. 12 PuRP). “Showtime” allowed one run on five hits in six innings on Friday and still looks like one of the best pitchers in the Eastern League.
Dom Nuñez (no. 14 PuRP) made three starts last week, due to the rain, and went 3-for-10 with a walk and a stolen base. That nearly doubled his hit total on the season and now owns a .163/.308/.302 batting line.
Sam Howard (no. 20 PuRP) started the year with Triple-A Albuquerque but has made his previous two starts with Harford. His last one, on Sunday against Richmond, Howard went just four innings throwing 70 pitches, so it’s possible that he’s still being stretched out to being able to pitch full games. He allowed two runs on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts.
Parker French (no. 26 PuRP) was blown up a bit in his last start, lasting just four innings as he allowed five earned runs on seven hits and three walks. He now has the same number of strikeouts (9) as walks on the season.
Honorable mention PuRP Jack Wynkoop had his turn in the rotation skipped due to all the rainouts. He is scheduled to start again on May 2.
New Rockies relief prospect James Farris earned a save in the lone Yard Goats win last week, pitching a clean ninth with one strikeout. Max White may be slowing down, as he had just two hits (both doubles) in Hartford’s four games last week. He’s now hitting .300/.375/.529 in 20 games this season.
Spotlight On: Ryan Castellani’s rough day
Ryan Castellani (no. 9 PuRP) made one start this week and it did not end well. Going into the sixth inning he had scattered four hits (including a home run) with three strikeouts. It came apart with one out in the sixth, though, as the Portland Sea Dogs went single, single, walk, double, walk. He was then removed with the bases loaded for Steve Ascher—who promptly allowed a bases clearing double. His final line (51⁄3 IP, 7 H, 6 R/ER, 2 BB, 3 K), therefore, looks quite a bit uglier than it would have had Ascher been able to get the final out.
Castellani’s ERA now sits at a gruesome 5.88 due to some tough luck, even if that’s no the whole story. He’s still striking out more than a batter per inning and walking just over three per nine innings, but he needs to limit hits more to turn around the results.
Looking Ahead
The Yard Goats will finish up their homestand against the second place Portland Sea Dogs (11-8) before heading out to Pennsylvania to take on the Harrisburg Senators (10-12) for four games before hosting the New Hampshire FisherCats for four games.
For more Yard Goats news, links, coverage and Twitter, check out the links below. The Bleating Hartford blog is looking for a new hosting site, so stay tuned to that for the time being.
If you have any questions or requests of what you'd like to see in this column, drop me a line in the comments, on Twitter (@playerTBNL), or via email (adamedpeterson@gmail.com).
#EatItUp
Yard Goats Useful Links
| Hartford Yard Goats | 2017 Links | Twitter Follows |
|---|---|---|
| Hartford Yard Goats | 2017 Links | Twitter Follows |
| Official Website | Tickets | GM Tim Restall |
| Team Stats | Twitter: @GoYardGoats | AGM Mike Abramson |
| 2017 Schedule | Hartford Courant - Baseball | Jeff Dooley, Broadcaster |
| Team Roster | Bleating Hartford Blog | Dana Feigenbaum, Promotions |