It’s been a week of heavy rainfall in North Carolina, creating an intricate network of postponements and doubleheader makeups that resulted in the Dash playing five games this week instead of six (and 41 innings instead of 54). This means that the team had one fewer game to avoid a week sweep, but they did it, pulling out a big win in Wednesday’s game and going 1-4.
Pitching
Despite the record, the team enjoyed some of the strongest starting pitching they’ve had all year. Chase Solesky, a late-round 2019 draftee, spent most of the year with Kannapolis and struggled in his first start with Winston-Salem. His second one went much better: on August 12, he became only the second active Dash pitcher to have gone more than four innings in a start, pitching five innings of five-hit, no-walk ball. One of the two runs he allowed was unearned, and he struck out seven.
Jerry Burke was the other guy to have gone more than four innings at some point; most of the rest of that crew—Taylor Varnell, Johan Dominguez, Davis Martin, Jason Bilous—are all in Birmingham now. Burke, who was overall pick #500 in the 2019 draft, was throwing well for the Dash in six starts before going on the Injured List at the end of the June. He’s finally back, and has tossed a gentle two innings in two starts, allowing runs in both.
Kaleb Roper, another member of the 2019 draft class, also joined the >4 Innings Club this week by throwing one of the best starts of his very young career. Like Solesky, he went five innings, allowed one unearned and one earned run, and struck out seven; he walked one and scattered four hits. One of those hits was a home run, bringing Roper’s HR/9 to 3.5 over 39 innings, something the righty will need to work on.
Those are the current Big Three in the starting rotation, plus Dan Metzdorf, who was rained out this week. Beyond them, the Dash are without a true fourth or fifth starter. Kevin Folman, a midseason arrival from Kannapolis, has gotten the ball for three starts, but has functionally been acting as an opener, going no more than two innings in any of them. In Normal Times, this kind of pitching lineup may have placed too heavy a burden on a bullpen that has been struggling all year to get outs, and it’s still possible that it’s a factor in their continued ineffectiveness, but at least they do always get a rest day every Monday this season.
Let’s look at that bullpen in a little bit of a different way this week. In the four games played entering Wednesday the 18’s contest, they had a cumulative line of 20 IP, 28 H, 19 R (16 ER), 11 BB, and 22 K. Of those 19 runs, six of them (five earned) came during and just after Edgar Navarro’s unstellar appearance on August 15, in which he failed to record an out; he exited with two runners on and Jordan Mikel, pitching after him, allowed a three-run home run to the first batter he faced. It was part of an 11-run bludgeoning over six bullpen innings. Overall, the bullpen offered up 16 pitchers total in those four games (some repeats, of course), of which half were scored upon.
Then on August 18, harmony: six pitchers combined to throw eight innings of scoreless relief, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out eight. The ERAs of those appearing: 5.97 (Trey Jeans), 5.11 (Declan Cronin), 6.00 (McKinley Moore, in nine innings), 0.00 (Ty Madrigal, pitching for the second time at the level), 4.88 (Brian Glowicki), and 7.32 (Cooper Bradford). Baseball is a funny game.
Madrigal was indisputably the reliever of the week and the Madrigal of the week, appearing for the first two times as a… as a Dash? I guess? and pitching 5.1 scoreless innings, striking out five. Glowicki continues to strike out at least two guys per inning, maintaining a more-than-elite 16.9 K/9 (51 in 27.2 innings), but also continues to allow runs fairly often after his incredible run of 11 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 19 K to start the season. The last time he did not strike out at least two in one inning was July 16, nine outings ago. Of his 22 appearances, he has struck out fewer than two in four of them, one of those being a one-out appearance. Meanwhile, Cronin is on a six-inning, four-outing scoreless streak, and Moore also has four straight scoreless outings, striking out two in each of the four innings therein.
Hitting
It’s too soon to say whether the Dash have entered a mere offensive lull after some late-season life or if they are just returning to the norm after a few good weeks; they did burst out for 13 runs on 19 hits on August 18, including eight runs (and three home runs) in the ninth, but they also lost Yoelqui Céspedes to the Barons. His final line in 45 games with the team was a most solid .278/.355/.494, with seven home runs, 17 doubles, 13 walks, and 56 strikeouts. He stole 10 bases and was caught twice; he was also hit by eight pitches which seems like a lot for just 45 games. He turns 24 years old on September 24.
With him gone, the team’s biggest impact hitter is likely José Rodriguez, who batted .283/.328/.452 with nine home runs, 20 stolen bases in 25 attempts, 32 walks, and 57 strikeouts in 78 games with Kannapolis before his promotion. The 20-year-old shortstop is 8-for-25 in his first week here; just one extra-base hit so far, but that one was a grand slam, so he’s bought some leeway.
Outfielder Caberea Weaver is another brand-new addition from Kannapolis, but has only seen limited action so far, going 3-for-14 with a double in his first three games played. Samir Dueñez was officially re-assigned to the Dash after starting the season and later spending most of August there on a rehab assignment from the Barons; he will mostly be playing first base. He is 12-for-46 with six walks and two home runs since rejoining the team, both of those dingers coming on August 18.
Luis Mieses has a similar timeframe; both players started the season with the Dash and returned at the beginning of August. Mieses started out hot, just like he did at the beginning of the season, going 11-for-27 in his first seven games with five doubles and a home run; in eight games since, though, he’s just 4-for-30 with a double and two home runs (both coming on August 18—yes, he and Dueñez both had a two-homer day on the same day).
Second baseman Jagger Rusconi has been around for about a month at this point and has established himself as the Dash’s most consistent hitter. He batted .289/.357/.368 in 10 games in July and .273/.358/.477 in 12 games in August, entering Wednesday’s game. Over this week’s five, he went 8-for-19 with a triple. He recently turned 25, which is definitely old for the level, but the Dash desperately need his production and this is by far the best he’s ever performed in a season, so he’s probably in no danger of promotion before the year’s end.
Dash mainstays Alex Destino and Luis Curbelo are quickly running out of time to turn their seasons around. Both are having good power seasons, Destino leading the team with 18 dongs and Curbelo right behind with 17, but both have been streaky hitters. After a resurgent July, Destino has cooled down significantly, 8-for-47 with three home runs in the month of August and just 3-for-19 since August 12—one of those three, of course, a home run. Overall, he’s batting .240/.325/.470 in 81 games. Curbelo also played well in July, but is currently looking at an 11-for-54 August with two home runs; he’s 4-for-19 with a walk since August 12. He is batting .231/.284/.472 on the season.
Lázaro Leal has been getting some increased playing time since close to the end of July, giving some flexibility at first base and left field, and he’s responded by batting .345/.454/.581 in 19 games since then with four doubles, three home runs, nine walks, and 14 strikeouts. He sat a little more than usual this week thanks to the rain, but still went 5-for-10 in three games, including two doubles on August 18.
Evan Skoug and Gunnar Troutwine are still both fairly evenly splitting time behind the plate; neither are hitting very well lately, although Skoug’s sixth blast of the year was part of the ninth-inning onslaught on the 18th. Brandon Bossard is still around too, although he only got into one game all week, going 0-for-2 and making two errors at third base.
The Dash are 34-57 with about four and a half weeks remaining. They are in last place by five games.
Photo credit: Sean Williams/FutureSox
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