[Tarpons Notebook]: Punchouts and then some

The first full home series of the season versus Clearwater (Single-A Philadelphia) went somewhat swimmingly for the Tarpons until it all culminated in the series finale on Sunday.

But before we get too ahead of things, let’s start at the beginning.

Series Summary:

Hayden Merda throws a pitch in a Tampa Tarpons game (John Brophy/Pinstriped Prospects)

Hayden Merda, the Yankees’ 17^th round selection in the 2022 MLB Draft, was Tuesday’s starter. It was only Merda’s second professional appearance, but he looked sharp. Merda pitched 5 innings and allowed 4 runs, 3 earned, on 7 hits. He only walked one and hit one batter but had 5 strikeouts.

Former Yankee Nick Nelson, now with the Phillies, throws a pitch in a Tampa Tarpons game while on rehab (John Brophy/Pinstriped Prospects)

Former Yankees farmhand Nick Nelson was rehabbing with Clearwater and threw two perfect innings versus his former team, striking out two batters in that span.

Tampa took advantage of a top Phillies prospect arm (Jaydenn Estanista) that was having a rough outing and scored 3 runs after Nelson hit a 20-pitch limit, but that was the extent of the offense on Tuesday.

Tarpons OF Tayler Aguilar had an extra-base hit in the 5^th inning in Tuesday’s game that was ruled a double, but in video that I captured, it looks like it bounced out then came back on the field (it’s debatable). He argued that it went out with the ump on the bases, and shortly after was ejected from the game.

Wednesday was the biggest offensive showing of the series, with the Tarpons scoring 10 runs in 2 5-run bursts, taking advantage of a Clearwater pitcher that they’ve had success with previously. Speaking of pitchers, Yankees 2022 10^th round selection, Will Brian, who was the Wednesday starter, has an apparent arm injury and left the game having only thrown 3.2 innings and 56 pitches with arm discomfort. Brian was subsequently placed on the 7-day IL and is awaiting test results.

Yorlin Calderon, Cole Ayers and Ocean Gabonia pitched the remainder of the game in relief and allowed 3 combined hits with 1 walk. They combined to strike out 7 batters in 5.1 innings. Gabonia struck out 2 of the 3 batters faced with the other being a grounder to first baseman Omar Martinez.

Clearwater had some of their best pitching going in Thursday’s game with the Tarpons limited to 3 runs, and the opposite could be said of Tampa on Friday with Selvidge on the mound to start for Tampa.

Brock Selvidge throws a pitch in a Tampa Tarpons game (John Brophy/Pinstriped Prospects)

Selvidge twirled 4 innings of 1 run ball on only 3 hits and absolutely dazzled with a slider that had hard bite. He got 5 batters to K in his appearance before Shane Gray blew the game with a homer, walk, double and sac fly in the 7th. The Tarpons were unable to recover as was the case for most of the series.

Saturday’s walk-off win in the bottom of the 9^th was the only other win aside from Wednesday of the series, with Anthony Hall hitting a 2-run home run into the right field bleachers/bar area. It was back and forth all game.

Clearwater jumped ahead early on a 2-RBI single in the 1^st, with an additional run scored on a single in the 4^th. Tampa tied it on a solo homer by Felix Neguéis and a 2-RBI single by Jared Serna in the 5^th, with Tampa gaining a 3-4 lead in the 7^th on an RBI double by Serna. Clearwater responded with 2 home runs in the 9^th, taking a 6-4 lead. A sac fly by Agustin Ramirez and a 2 run shot by Hall were what the Tarpons needed.

Dissecting the matinee game on Sunday is a bit more complicated than it should be. In short, I think the pitchers haven’t been accustomed to throwing in the warm sun yet, their hands were sweaty and with the (pending) suspension of Scherzer with the rosin + sweat combo, they were afraid of getting nailed for the same thing. That’s just me thinking out loud though. I get more into the pitchers below, but Lange and Bustamante had serious control issues in Sunday’s game, combining for 3 hit batters in less than 3 innings.

It all fell apart for Tampa in the 2^nd with 6 consecutive batters reaching without a hit, including 2 batters getting hit by a pitch. Take a look at the “matchups” section of Savant for this game from ABs 10-20 to better visualize what happened.

The whole series was chippy after one of the top Philly prospects, Emaarion Boyd, was hit on the wrist in the 3^rd inning of the series opener on Tuesday. He wasn’t too keen to the HBP, said some stuff to Merda and shortly took his base. By the time Erick Brito was hit in Sunday’s game, it was the 7^th batter of the series to be hit. Clearwater’s manager, Marty Malloy, seemingly assumed it was intentional and noted as such to his players in the dugout with language not safe for publication and had words with Bustamante.

Tampa’s pitching coach ran out of the dugout to protect his player, Malloy landed a punch, and the fracas began as seen in the video above.

Clearwater may not have won the fight, but they won the game 12-3 after having scored 7 runs on the poor pitching between Lange and Bustamante. Tampa attempted a rally in the 9^th scoring a run, but that was short lived.

Player Notes:

Nelson Medina has been one of the bright spots in an otherwise dismal Tampa offense and seems to fall as an under-the-radar prospect. Medina batted 5-for-13 (.385) in 5 games this past series against what is arguably the best team in the Florida State League, or at least the one stacked with the best prospects. Last week, Medina hit 2 of the 5 hits as doubles, drove in 4 RBI and only struck out 3 times. In total, Medina is 11-for-38, with a team leading 7 RBI. Medina also leads the team in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, in addition to OPS (obviously). Medina does have some defensive weaknesses that may be able to be corrected.

Jared Serna hits a single in a Tampa Tarpons game (John Brophy/Pinstriped Prospects)

Jared Serna has also been really fun to watch at the plate, continuing on the offensive success he had last season with FCL and Single-A. Serna went 5-for-15 (.333) this past series, with a double and driving in 5 RBI. Serna also struck out 3 times in that span. Serna has also made some good plays and was involved in a questionable interference call on Saturday.

Anthony Hall at bat in a Tampa Tarpons game (John Brophy/Pinstriped Prospects)

2022 4^th rounder, Anthony Hall, had his first professional hit as a walk-off homer in Saturday’s game, going 12 ABs before the first hit.

But the overwhelming issue on the defensive side is the lack of pitch control by Tampa pitchers. Let’s go over the HBPs so far this season:

Lakeland home series (3 games)

• 4/8: Hermann
• 4/9: Bustamante

Dunedin away series

• 4/12: Velasquez
• 4/13: Pestana (Manuel Beltre hit in the face, on the IL), Bustamante
• 4/15: Hermann, Gray
• 4/16: Bustamante

Clearwater home series

• 4/18: Merda (Boyd), M. Ramirez (Kemp)
• 4/19: Pestana (Boyd)
• 4/22: M. Ramirez (Rosario)
• 4/23: Lange (Kemp), Bustamante (Rosario), Bustamante (Brito), Calderon (Fergus)

Tampa hit a total of 16 batters in 15 games, including 8 batters alone last series. I don’t recall control issues last year with this group in the FCL like what I saw this past week.

Justin Lange throws a pitch in a Tampa Tarpons game (John Brophy/Pinstriped Prospects)

Justin Lange, who was acquired from San Diego in the trade for Luke Voit, was especially having a lot of trouble with his control. For the most part, any pitch that wasn’t his four-seamer was out of the zone and he didn’t know where it was going. It’s not a knock on Lange as he’s shown solid stuff last year, but as an example, of 29 pitches thrown in the 2^nd inning in Sunday’s appearance, 9 were in the zone. The other 20 were considerably outside. It was just a rough outing. It happens.

Alex Bustamante throws a pitch in a Tampa Tarpons game (John Brophy/Pinstriped Prospects)

The same could be said for 2022 UDFA Alex Bustamante, but he threw some really nice sliders that perfectly nailed the sides of the zone. I think Bustamante just needs more time in the organization to perfect his control because he’s showing solid stuff with only 12 career innings in the pros. Bustamante’s WHIP is lower than last season’s as an example (1.14 vs. 1.40), despite his ERA being higher (5.14 vs. 3.60).

Luis Velasquez throws a pitch in a Tampa Tarpons game (John Brophy/Pinstriped Prospects)

An under-the-radar prospect that isn’t getting the attention that he deserves is Luis Velasquez. Velasquez, who was an IFA from the Dominican Republic acquired in 2019, has a 1.74 ERA through 10.1 IP, with a WHIP of 0.77 and an OBA of .111. His ERA is 2^nd best behind Matt Keating, but Velasquez has the best WHIP and OBA of the Tampa pitchers. I expect that if there’s more consistency with his pitches, he could be moved quickly through the system. As a reliever, his career high in innings is 34.2, his draft year of 2019 with the DSL Yankees. He throws a four-seamer that reached 98 MPH and has a really nasty curveball that has a 50% whiff rate (10 pitches). He also has a slider that has a 35% whiff rate with both pitches having a combined break greater than 50″.

Rehab Assignments:

Rehabbing C Ben Rortvedt hits a double in a Tampa Tarpons game (John Brophy/Pinstriped Prospects)

Yankees C Ben Rortvedt began a rehab assignment with Tampa on Friday (yes, he exists) and went 3-for-9 with all 3 hits coming in Sunday’s game. Rortvedt hit 2 doubles and a single, scoring 2 runs. Assuming he doesn’t travel to Jupiter with the team for the upcoming series, he will end with a .333 batting average and an OPS of 1.011.

Rortvedt was quick on the bases and seemingly had no issues swinging a bat. I would expect that he either sticks around in Tampa with the Ext. Spring Training crew given the facilities at the Himes complex or meets the team in “Woostah”.

Upcoming Schedule:

Tampa plays in Jupiter (Single-A Miami) vs. their 2022 1st rounder, Jacob Berry, this week, April 25-30, and return home to play Termarr Johnson and Bradenton (Single-A Pirates) the following week, May 2-7.