The Winston-Salem Dash had kind of a weird week with mixed results, as the pitching that had been solid in May and the hitting that had been frequently absent seem to have started to switch places, at least to some extent. From June 3 to June 9, the Dash went an even 3-3; one of the losses a 3-17 blowout to the Greensboro Grasshoppers, a team they had themselves clobbered 13-7 just two days before. Also, when I say “week” in these posts, that’s Thursday-Wednesday, as the Lord intended.
There have been a few minor lineup changes: Ian Dawkins is now officially getting the bulk of time in center field (demoted from Birmingham, where he started 2021; he spent all of 2019 in Kannapolis), catcher Xavier Fernández is getting significant time behind the plate as he rehabs from an injury, and 1B/C Tyler Osik is back from the Cannon Ballers and even more recently back from injury; with season-starting first baseman Harvin Mendoza back down to Kannapolis, the spot is likely largely Osik’s for the foreseeable future. Eighty-foot-tall relief pitcher Lane Ramsey is gone, sent up to the Barons with the sky the limit afterwards, and another reliever, Sal Biasi, is on the 10-day inactive list after being one of the unlucky four minor leaguers nabbed for pitch doctoring.
Alex Destino has been looking for some hits to string together, but he’s still been contributing, two 0-for-4s notwithstanding. His big moment this week came on Thursday, June 7, when he first hit a tie-breaking triple, then a solo homer (back-to-back with Luis Curbelo) to put the game out of reach.
Speaking of Curbelo, he’s in pretty much an identical boat. Other than that home run, he only picked up three singles all week, striking out 10 times and walking four. Adding in the week before, where his struggles began, and you get a .182/.275/.318 slash line. He still has a team-leading eight home runs and his season OPS has only dropped down to .835, so there’s plenty of time for Curbelo to right the ship.
Meanwhile, Yolbert Sánchez had a really good week, and together with his really good week last week, is now the proud wielder of a pretty funky .271/.352/.333 slash line on the season overall (.378/.452/.514 over the last two weeks). Of course, that .333 slugging percentage is real low. It’s also pretty much in line with what we see in his stats from his mostly teenage years in the Cuban National Series. While he did hit his first Sox-system home run on June 4, he only has four extra-base hits total. Nobody expects him to turn into a 25-homer guy necessarily, but it would certainly be nice to see a few more line drive doubles.
Lenyn Sosa, historically streaky, is being streaky again. He continues to strike out a lot and draw very few walks, but seems to be shedding his most recent cold streak for a new hot one. Sosa is weird because it can seem like he’s always on base, but his OBP is never that high (peaking in his true rookie year in 2017, when he hit .270/.330/.358). It hasn’t been above .300 since 2018, and currently, his three walks in 29 games this season have helped provide him with an OBP of .250.
It would be an error to omit Travis Moniot, who is not a big prospect name by any means, but who did make the absolute best of his limited playing time this week. In four games, the switch-hitting utilityman went 7-for-14 with five RBI, two doubles, and THREE home runs. He walked twice, struck out three times, and was hit by two pitches. His hilarious four-game slash line before going 0-for-1 with a walk on Wednesday was .538/.625/1.385 (OPS 2.010!!!). While it’s probably unfair to expect him to keep that up, it’s still very fun. Also, he turned 24 on Wednesday, so perhaps he has been tapping into some Birthday Power.
Like I mentioned earlier, though, the pitching has not been keeping the team as close in games as they had been for the first few weeks of the season. Almost everyone got dinged at least a little this week, but nobody more so than poor Trey Jeans, who gave up five of the 17 runs scored by the Grasshoppers on June 4, doing so in just 0.2 innings.
It was Jeans’ third appearance with the Dash after his promotion from the Ballers, and he has not come into a game since then. In that same game, usually-reliable starter Johan Dominguez allowed five runs, Ryan Williamson gave up two after balking twice, and Lázaro Leal, who normally splits his time between the outfield and first base, allowed two runs and walked three in 0.2 innings to end it. Isaiah Carranza allowed four runs in two innings in his start the next day.
Taylor Varnell, also usually rock-steady, had an uncharacteristic outing on June 3, allowing three runs in four innings, and so did Jerry Burke in his start, four runs, three earned in five (Varnell came back with a vengeance on June 9, throwing five shutout innings, allowing two hits and two walks).
In relief, Caleb Freeman gave up at least one run in all three of his appearances, and earned the loss after surrendering two runs to the Grasshoppers in the bottom of the ninth on June 6, spoiling a five-run comeback in the ninth that spotted them a one-run lead. Freeman also walked four in one inning on June 9, although he didn’t allow a hit, and only one of the two runs scored was earned. Cooper Bradford, who all season had given up only one run in his five preceding appearances, allowed three in one inning, also on June 6.
There was some good, though! Luke Shilling continues to pitch like a man who belongs in a more competitive league. In his three innings this week, he allowed one hit and two walks, while giving up zero runs and striking out seven. That puts his season numbers at 13.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R (both earned), 8 BB, and 20 K. His ERA is 1.35. The walks are a little much, but he’s done a great job of pitching around them and limiting the damage to basically nothing. These are his first 13.1 professional innings at age 23, but it’s hard to imagine a better start to a career.
Brian Glowicki, a very recent minor league signing after his release from the Cubs system, contributed a perfect two innings to that curs-ed June 6 game, and 1.1 more scoreless on June 9.
Tyler Johnson—remember him?!—threw one scoreless inning on a rehab assignment, and we thank him for it. Edgar Navarro, who had only played in the DSL up until this season, has apparently shaken off his 1.2 inning, 5-run start to the year and threw four innings this week, allowing one earned run and one hit (a solo shot).
Also on June 9, both teams’ catchers were ejected, one behind the plate and the other (the Dash’s Xavier Fernandez) at the plate, striking out. Then Osik was hit with a pitch and ejected from the game, and the Drive pitcher was also tossed. Who knows what all happened there! Not me. The value of getting out to the ballpark.
Looking ahead, the Dash finish up their series against the Drive and then play six more agains the Grasshoppers.
Photo credit: Anders Johanson/FutureSox
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