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Welcome to the weekend you guys!  The good news is that the IronPigs are alone in first place in the International League East!  The bad news is that it doesn’t matter one bit, because a team we never play and have very few common opponents with, is in the actual first place.  We’re two games behind Springfield in the standings that count.

And, everyone is plenty motivated to play well because they can see that the parent club is in full panic mode, and could call up anyone at any time to play any position.  It’s time for the Phillies to go out to the infield dirt at midnight with a gas can, some ghost energy drink and a ouija board.  Burn the energy drink and summon the spirit of Harry K while singing High Hopes and apologize for the whole ‘Harry The K’ thing, in an effort to get the baseball gods to allow winning in Philadelphia again.

Durham, So Far

It’s true that the Bulls aren’t very good.  But, the IronPigs have gotten some starting pitching going despite roster shenanigans (see below), and the bats have been just solid.  All of the 40-man relievers have been called up, but we’ve got some other guys who can do it and it hasn’t burned us yet.

Tuesday Jean Cabrera got the start and gave up some runs, but the ‘pen held things mostly in check and Caleb Ricketts had a day, including a walk-off homer in the ninth.  Wednesday saw Bryse Wilson have his best start as an IronPig, Trevor Richards with a two-inning save, and just enough hitting to cruise to a 4-1 win.  Thursday night, Chuck King gets the call from Reading to make a spot start and he seized the opportunity:  It was neither pretty nor efficient but he made it through 6 innings with two runs, and the ‘Pigs got a 4-for-4 night from Bryan De La Cruz en route to a 5-3 win.  Three and oh headed to the weekend you guys.

One more note:  Last night was kind of the start of the baseball season, in our opinion.  Just nice to sit out in the seats and watch the game and not worry about being hot or cold or windy or uncomfortable in any way.  Either that, or Happy Hour was just really successful.

Roster Update

‘Transaction Tuesday’ happened again, after the series preview went to press.  You can review those transactions HERE.  Since then:

• C Garrett Stubbs got called up to the Phillies when JT Realmuto went on the Injured List
• OF Cade “Clutch” Fergus got called back to the IronPigs from Reading
• RHP Chuck King got called up from Reading to make last night’s start.  Despite the return of Rangel, with Gillispie on the shelf we think King earned the opportunity to remain at Triple-A for at least one more start.  We look for him to be with the team in Syracuse next week.
• RHP Nolan Hoffman got called up the Phillies
• RHP Alan Rangel got sent back from the Phillies via option after pitching Wednesday night in Chicago.
• RHP Taijuan Walker got released from the Phillies, opening a roster spot which will be needed for Zack Wheeler this weekend.  This isn’t an IronPigs move, but notable because it demonstrates the mindset in Philadelphia right now:  Perform or be gone.

Most Recent Printable Roster:

042326 LHV Roster

Working For The Weekend

Friday:  RHP Ryan Cusick (0-1, 5.09) vs. RHP Jon Heasley (0-1 3.00) in a 6:35PM start.  It’s Super Hero Night, and the Phillie Phanatic is in town.  Fireworks, of course!  The weather should be nice, around 69° at game time with minimal wind.

Saturday:  This could be a wash.  93% chance of rain at game time with no let up.  ‘Caturday’ and the lint roller giveaway might need to wait until Sunday.  We’ll see how it goes, but it could be an opportunity for the team to do the rare early bang, and not drag the stadium personnel in for nothing.  We’re at a point in the season where there’s plenty of time to reschedule the groups.

Sunday: Could be a double-header.  The 1:15PM start could move up a bit, perhaps 12:45.  Recently, most teams like to start the first game such that the second game starts around the original start time, but with the already-early Sunday starts, they likely won’t move too much.  They’ll have LHP Tucker Davidson, RHP Jean Cabrera and perhaps RHP Alan Rangel available to help cover the 14 innings.  It’ll be post-game Kids Run Bases and mabye Caturday and Bluey will be in town.  Expect temps in the mid-50s with some chance that showers have continued.

See you at the park,

@Kram207

Featured Image by Cheryl Pursell.  Her watermark cropped out only to fit the space.  

About Last Night

Story Time:  Years ago I was coaching a youth baseball team and one of the other coaches had a strategy idea for us for one particular game.  He pointed out, that in order to throw a player out on the base path, the opposing team had to catch the ball, throw the ball, catch it again, and apply a tag.  If we’re running, all we have to do is run and slide.  “This team (that we were playing against) can’t do all that.  I say we run.”  And so we did.  To much success.

It seemed like that was Durham’s strategy last night.  They were running early and often.  Perhaps it was because they didn’t believe in Stubbs behind the plate.  Or, perhaps it was Jean Cabrera’s poor command of the strike zone.  They had some success early, but then a couple guys got tagged out at the plate and Cabrera was out of the game and it all calmed down.  Yesterday’s column had C/1B/DH Caleb Ricketts on the ‘Hot’ list, which was prescient.  Two solo homers including the walk-off and a 4 for 4 night, he was the big piece in the 8-7 victory.  Props to the relievers as well.  As the team was constantly trying to dig out of a deficit, Harper and Torres kept the damage to a minimum and Trivino and Hernandez shut things down late making the walk-off possible.  CF Steward Berroa had the other multi-hit game.  His line is now up to .359/.405/.641/.1.046 in nine games since he joined the IronPigs.  That is indeed a nice pick up and difficult thing to do when jumping on a moving train, joining a team with the season in progress.  He keeps this up, he could be drawing a larger check about an hour south of here very soon.  In the mean time, the Alcantara, Berroa, Kemp, De La Cruz is a nice top 4 in the lineup–even in the absence of Reyes.

Yesterday’s series preview can be found HERE.

Roster Update

We’ve come to know it as “Transaction Tuesday” around these parts.  Extra moves from the weekend and the off-day Monday all culminate into a roster-move dump on Tuesdays, just prior to the games.  Sometimes you see it coming, and other times it’s sort of surprising.  And, it’s always a bit more dramatic when Reading and Lehigh Valley are overlapping at home, as they are this week.

Discussion:  Suddenly we’ve got a crisis with starting pitching here at Triple-A.  Rangel goes up to the Phillies, ostensibly to be bulk innings depth for the Taijuan Walker adventure coming Wednesday evening.  Backhus will open for the Phillies followed by Walker.  If things go sideways–and they’ve been doing nothing but that lately for the Fightins–then Rangel can come in and hold things down for a few innings so that they don’t have to burn all the arms before the matinee tomorrow.  Then, Gillispie, who has been about our best starter along with Rangel, goes down with the elbow.  It’s hard to say what this is going to look like, but we were running a six-man, six-day rotation, so if we tighten it up, we can go with Bryse Wilson tonight (Wednesday), Ryan Cusick on regular rest Thursday, Tucker Davidson on regular rest Friday, and then figure out the weekend when we get there.

It was good to see the Phillies do the right thing by Leon and re-sign him.  There was some talk that they wouldn’t, but cutting and running from an injured player is a bad look and bad karma and golly this Phillies organization doesn’t need any of that right now.

Printable Roster 4/21

042126 LHV Roster

Other Notes

• The food post will hopefully get updated later this home stand when we get a chance to check on prices and do some additional taste testing.  What we’ve had so far has been really good.
• Just thinking about aggressively desperate moves the Phillies could make:  Call up Stubbs and DFA Marchan.  If you lose Marchan that would be bad, but resting JT makes a more effective JT, and having Marchan in the lineup right now is not helping matters.  The problem is with Pinto on the IL, we don’t really have any other MLB-ready catchers for depth.  Perhaps lets get Ricketts back there some more if he’s going to hit like that!
• Sitting Crawford against lefties in Philadelphia should not be a thing.  Check his splits from last season:  He hits left-handed pitching just fine. And, his defense and speed help the lineup.  He’s one of the few doing that right now and unless he needs a day to catch his breath or rest his body, then he should be in there.
• Reyes has done fine so far, and of course we want him to do well–but if he’s not playing as much as you would like, and the defense is a liability, Berroa up for Reyes could make sense.
• Jean Cabrera needs to get to the bullpen as soon as we have enough starters.  It’s not working and his 40-man spot looms large.  See what you have in that role before you have to make a move.  See if the stuff plays up and if he’s more confident in attacking the zone with all pitches, unlike what we saw last night.
• I guess we need to keep Kieboom at third, along with Kemp some nights, because the Phillies might need a guy to play the hot corner soon.  Still, I’d like to see Carter get some time at the other corner over the collection of catchers and second-basemen we have playing at first base currently.  Also, wouldn’t be against scanning the minors rosters and the independent leagues for a bopper who’s limited to first, to fill out the triple-A lineup a bit better.
• We’ll be back on Friday with a “Weekend Update.”  Weather should clear for the game tonight and then it should be warmer for the games on Thursday and Friday. We may have to dodge rain on Saturday but Sunday looks like it should be OK for the matinee.

See you at the park,

@Kram207

Welcome Back From The Twin Cities

The IronPigs first trip to the Twin Cities of Minnesota was not a complete success.  And, wouldn’t you figure being so far from home would trigger multiple roster moves? We’ll see how it goes in the future, but it didn’t seem like having the marketing behemoth ‘Pigs in town did much to move the attendance needle in St. Paul.  Perhaps it did for the local organization?

At any rate, the series ended with the Saints taking the win, 4-2.  The Pigs won games by the scores 11-7 and 10-6 while they lost games by the scores 9-7, 5-1, 7-4 and 12-8.  So if they didn’t score double digits they weren’t winning.  At least they were hitting some, but the pitching was problematic.

Who’s Hot and Who’s Not

INF Sergio Alcantara has been more hot than not.  OF Steward Berroa has been hot–a good pickup.  Felix Reyes did so well he got called up prematurely.  INF Christian Cairo has been more good than bad lately.  INF Carter Kieboom has been returning to his AAA form after joining the squad just prior to the season.  C Caleb Ricketts might be starting to figure it out at the plate. After losing a bunch of relievers, Sweet Lou Trivino had a nice week.  Trevor Richards continues to be solid.

Noted power hitter Ronald Moore is still finding his legs at Triple-A–but somehow socking dingers here and there.  Starter Connor Gillispie saw the shine come off a bit.  Starter Bryse Wilson continues to struggle–as does fellow starter Tucker Davidson. Reliever Genesis Cabrera can be hot or cold–lately cold.

How We Doing?

We open this series at 11-10, listed as 5th in the International League East–but only a half game behind the top team, Syracuse.  But it’s the league standings that matter, as we find ourselves 3.0 games back of league-leading Memphis (AAA-STL).  Considering we’ve dropped the past two series, this is nothing out of the ordinary and a couple good series could find us back in the discussion for the first-half title, which matters the most as it provides the opportunity to host playoff games.

Freefall, Panic, and Roster Moves

The parent organization finds themselves struggling extraordinarily.  They’ve lost six in a row as of this writing and have gone 2-8 in their last 10 games and are 5-10 at home.  There have been some bullpen injuries and what feels like a panic move calling up an ill-prepared Felix Reyes to play left field once a week.

On one hand, Justin Crawford had to toil an entire season in Triple-A while hitting in the mid-300s before he could get a 40-man spot and a shot in the big leagues.  Felix hits a couple homers and plays left field three times and next thing you know, he’s called up.  The injured Pedro Leon (hamstring) was the roster casualty.  There was some speculation that they would sign him back to a minors deal as a show of good faith for cutting an injured player, but that might not come to fruition.  It’s a cruel business sometimes; hopefully there’s a financial settlement but maybe not.

On the other hand, the Otto Kemp situation wasn’t working out early this season and the continuous losing doesn’t allow him to play his way out of it in the major league so he comes back to play left field and third base and find his hitting stroke.  Bryan De La Cruz is just starting to heat up, and while he’s been seeing the ball well all season he’s only just recently hit it.  If this move is seen as a temporary measure to get Otto some playing time until another opportunity or solution is found, then no big deal.  Reyes can be optioned back at any time.  De La Cruz would have needed DFA/waivers and could have been lost as roster depth while it’s still early in the season.

So we get it.  But Reyes doesn’t have a ton of time in left field, is not going to benefit from being stapled to the bench with right hand pitchers on the mound, and doesn’t have the best plate discipline. Of course we were happy to see his homer in his first MLB at-bat, and we want him to do well, we can’t help but think this could impact his chances at a longer MLB career which could come with some continued development with regluar playing time in Triple-A.

Relievers Seth Johnson, Kyle Backhus, and Chase Shugart are all up with the Phillies due to injuries, leaving only Nolan Hoffman as a 40-man depth guy at AAA.  In their place, Daniel Harper and Colin Peluse arrive from Reading, and John McMillon gets activated from the Development List.  OF Cade “Clutch” Fergus is in Reading, while RHP Michael Mercado begins an official rehab assignment with Single-A Clearwater.

RHP and Column Favorite Griff McGarry traded to the Dodgers organization for International Slot Money.  Sure, jokes about him beating the Phillies in the playoffs, but the Phillies have bigger worries right now and we wish Griff well and hope a change of scenery helps things along.

It’s a lot, so we’ll discontinue updating the pre-season roster post now, rather than at the end of the month.  You can scroll back to find it on the main page if you like, to read some player capsules and such, but it will un-stick shortly.

Printable Roster 4/18/26

041826 LHV Roster

Welcome, Durham

The Pigs beat the Tampa Rays affiliate in North Carolina earlier in the season, 4-2, and now the Bulls arrive at Coca Cola Park to try to return the favor.  We don’t mind seeing them despite the recent series, because that one wasn’t at home, and the rosters–as much as they can be at Triple-A–remain stable making it more of a fair re-match.

Didn’t see any old friends among their players on the roster, but former ‘Pig Reid Brignac is a coach on this team.  Major Leaguer Garrett Cleavinger is listed as a rehab assignment for them right now.  Prospects to look for include RHP Brody Hopkins (#2 Prospect), OF Jacob Melton (#3), RHP Ty Johnson (#17, Injured), 1B/OF Tre Morgan (#18, Injured) and C Dom Keegan (#19).

Durham is 8-13 and in last place in the IL East.  They come in off a 3-3 home series with Norfolk.

Pitching Probables

Tuesday:  RHP Jean Cabrera (0-1, 8.03) vs RHP Marcus Johnson (0-0, 3.48)

Wednesday: RHP Bryse Wilson (0-2, 12.71) vs RHP Brody Hopkins (0-1, 2.45)

Thursday: RHP Alan Rangel (2-1, 1.66) vs RHP Chase Solesky (1-0, 6.91)

Nice Weather This Week?

It’s gonna be cold to start the week, but it will warm up.  Wednesday (62%) and Saturday (80%) look like the biggest risks for rain.  Game time Wednesday looks like OK with afternoon clearing and passing showers likely.  The nicest day looks to be Thursday, 76 degrees and mostly sunny.

What’s Going On At The Park?

Remember we have 6:35PM starts this week, until Sunday 1:15PM.  Main Gates at 5:15 and Club Gates at 5:00PM.

Promotions for this week:

Tuesday: Tail Waggin’ Tuesday, Dollar Dog Night, Irish Heritage Night

Wednesday: Tacos and Tallboys, ’80s Night, Rubix Cube Giveaway (Adults)

Thursday: Twisted Thursday Happy Hour 5-7PM, ’90s Night

Friday: Super Hero Night, Philly Phanatic Appearance, Fireworks

Saturday: Caturday, Lint Roller Giveaway (Adults)

Sunday: Bluey Appearance, Post-Game Kids Run Bases

See you at the park,

@Kram207

Programming Note:  IronPigs Today will return on Friday for a “Weekend Update”. Add your email address below to receive posts and notifications in your email.

The week-long series with the Red Wings of Rochester continues this weekend.  Here’s what you need to know if you’re following the team or going to the games:

Too Much Winning

The early success of the team through the first series and a half of the season was sure to come to an end.  The nemesis Red Wings did just that taking the first two games of the series before getting rolled last night.  And while we might lament the missing players who are trying to come back from injuries (Keaton Anthony, foot, Aidan Miller, back, Gabriel Rincones Jr, knee) we do have some guys in the lineup who are playing hard, doing the right things, and trying to impress the Phillies enough to make a move.

As The Roster Turns

The opening, pinned, ROSTER POST has been updated with the latest information.

• OF Cade Fergus has been off, and on, and back on, the Development List
• RHP Orion Kerkering completed his rehab assignment and was reinstated on the Phillies
• To make room, LHP Kyle Backhus, the side-winding reliever, was optioned to the IronPigs. He was activated two days ago and made his debut with the Pigs Thursday night.
• SS Jose Rodriguez was transferred from the 7-Day to the 60-Day Injured List.  As far as organizational roster spots, we are at the maximum.  Expect to see some 60-Day guys moved to “Full Season” if needed and they’re not expected back.
• C Renee Pinto is on the 7-Day Injured List
• RHP Mitch Neunborn has been sent to AA-Reading.
• Phillies receive OF Steward Berroa in a cash trade with Milwaukee.  He’s on the 40-man and was optioned to Lehigh Valley.  He’ll be active Friday night.  We hope this doesn’t signal poor prognosis for Rincones and Anthony.
• C Garrett Stubbs hasn’t been in the lineup for a couple days.  One wonders if he’s been jetting across the country just in case Realmuto is more hurt than we think.  As the Phillies return home and Realmuto expects to play Friday night, expect Stubbs back in the Lehigh Valley.
• MLB Rehabber Zack Wheeler looked good the other night.  His fastball is still a couple clicks off, but his secondaries were baffling Red Wing hitters.  He probably needs one more start, which could come on Tuesday in St Paul (Pigs) or Somerset (Reading).  Interestingly, Stew Berroa was given Zack’s IronPigs’ uniform numbeer.  Hmm.  (Could be Florida on Monday; haven’t seen a plan.)

Reminder: click through to the roster post for player capsules and a printable roster.

Reyes Watch

1B/LF/DH Felix Reyes has been one to watch this young season.  He’s hitting .346 in Home Games while OPSing .910.  Versus lefties he’s hitting .400 with a 1.133 OPS.  He’s been getting time at the three positions listed above.  We saw one poor play in LF during the opening series, but he had a nice play in the outfield the other night (photo below).  Given our injuries and the slow start of a couple of these other players, he’s a guy you can come to the games and take a look at.  If they think LF is realistic for him in the Big Leagues, they probably need to start having him dedicate more time out there in games, right now.

Taking it one step further:  Kieboom has been a liability at third.  Put him at First, Cairo at third and Peggy at second with Alcantara at shortstop.  BTW, Pigs are 5-0 when Alcantara plays shortstop.

Weekend at the Park

6:35PM First Pitch on Friday and Saturday, 1:15PM Sunday.

Gates: 5:15PM Friday and Saturday, 12:00 Sunday.  15 Minutes earlier for Clubs and Suites.

Promotions:

Friday:  Post-Game Fireworks, “Club PIG”

Saturday: Coquis

Sunday: Post-Game Kids Run The Bases

Pitching Matchups:

Date Time
4/10 6:35 p.m. RHP Connor Gillispie (2-0, 0.00) vs. rhp luis perales (0-1, 6.23)
4/11 6:35 p.m. RHP Ryan Cusick (0-0, 5.63) vs. rhp andry lara (0-1, 7.50)
4/12 1:15 p.m. LHP Tucker Davidson (0-0, 0.00) vs. rhp riley cornelio (1-0, 2.89)

Weather:

Friday: Pushing 70 at game time, but you’ll need a hoodie by the end.

Saturday: Back to high-50s at game time, but less windy.

Sunday: 55 and clear at game time.  Less wind.

See you at the park,

@Kram207

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Looking Back

The IronPigs opened at home in the cold of March with a three game series against Toledo.  The Mud Hens (AAA-DET) came in with top prospect Max Clark as well as our old buddy Cal Stevenson.  To everyone’s delight, the ‘Pigs got the mini-series sweep and left town for the warmer weather of Durham, North Carolina with a perfect 3-0 record.

Alas, a perfect 150-0 record was not to be, as they dropped a couple in Durham, but gatheered a 4-2 series win. They return home with a 7-2 record, near the top of the standings.

Resources

The headlining roster post with player capsules has been fully updated HERE.

The ‘New Food’ post will get updated this week–hopefully in time for the ‘Weekend Update.’

Reading has their home opener tonight.  Their roster post is HERE. We’ll update that one at some point as well.

Roster

Click on the link above to get the full roster details and latest news as of this morning.  The headlines, though, are that Garrett Stubbs has returned (yay four catchers) and that RHP Zack Wheeler will remain* with the IronPigs on rehab and start the game tomorrow (Wednesday) at Coca Cola Park.

*He’s not really with the team.  He’s doing his training and rehab in Philadelphia and will parachute in for the games, home or away.  Still, we’re glad to have him and to watch the work put in by one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Hello, Rochester

Rochester opened their season in Jacksonville (Aside: Imagine that!  A team from upstate New York opening in Florida in March rather than the frozen tundra!  Maybe this MLB-owns-MiLB thing will work out somehow.) where they won 2-1 in the mini-series.  Then they opened their home schedule last week versus Scranton and went 2-4 on the week including a 16-5 pasting by the RailRiders on Easter Sunday.

The AAA-affiliate of the Washington Nationals, the Red Wings do not appear to carry any of our old friends; however, they do have a fair few names you’ll remember, maybe from last season or from prospect lists.  C Harry Ford is the former 12th overall pick of the Seattle Mariners in the 2021 draft, out of high school in Georgia. He came over when the Nationals traded LHP Jose Ferrer.  LHP Luis Perales was on the Red Sox as an international signee out of Venezuela.  He came over to Washington in a December trade.  OF Andrew Pinckney is a name you’ll recognize from Red Wings teams of the past couple seasons.  OFs Dylan Crews and Robert Hassell III are former prospect-list darlings who find themselves in Triple-A to start the season.

Pitching

Probable starter matchups this week: [Updated 4/7, 1PM]

Tuesday: RHP Jean Cabrera vs RHP Riley Cornelio

Wednesday: RHP Zack Wheeler (MLB Rehab) vs LHP Andrew Alvarez

Thursday:  RHP Alan Rangel vs. LHP Mitchell Parker

Friday: RHP Connor Gillispie vs. RHP Luis Perales

Saturday: RHP Ryan Cusick vs. RHP Andry Lara

Sunday: LHP Tucker Davidson vs. TBA

Updates

Batting practice viewing for Bacon USA Members will be held on Tuesdays this season.  Contact your ticket rep for details and RSVPs.

Note that games in April are exclusively 6:35PM starts other than Sundays, which are 1:15PM this season.  That means weekly gates are 5:00PM for Club/Suites and 5:15PM for Main/CF–except Thursday Happy Hour will be 5:00PM everywhere.  In May it gets wonky with a 6:05PM on a Tuesday before an education day, and a couple of those 11AM day games.  And then 6:45PM.  It looks like those 6:45PMs will continue throughout the season and not convert to 7:05 at any point.

PigsFoodFinder.com appears to have been updated for 2026 at this juncture.  It’s not perfect, but a great resource, especially if you’re bringing guests who may want to explore without wasting the hole game in lines.

Promotions:  What’s Going On At The Park?

Tuesday: Tail Waggin’ Tuesday, Dollar Dogs, “Awful Night”

Wednesday: Tacos & Tallboys, Rock Night

Thursday: Happy Hour, Pro Wrestling Night

Friday: Fireworks, Club PIG, Youth Wrestling Night

Saturday: Coquis Night, STEAM Night, Tesla Pre-game Parade

Sunday: Master’s Sunday in Club Level, Post-game Kids Run Bases

Who’s Hot, and Who’s Not

HOT

Reliever Chase Shugart has been pitching in leverage situations and maintains a 0.00 ERA on the season.

OF Bryan De La Cruz is heating up.  His .178 average may seem poor, but his .878 OPS shows his real impact on the games.

INF Carter Kieboom is also heating up.  His average is up to .280 and OPS .840.

C Garrett Stubbs came out of the chute on fire.  He has a couple HRs already!

1B/OF/DH Felix Reyes is starting to hit the home runs.

NOT

MLB-Rehab Zack Wheeler doesn’t have the good stuff yet–poor fielding behind him notwithstanding.

C Caleb Ricketts hasn’t found the groove yet at Triple-A

Relievers Genesis Cabrera and Andrew Walling have been uneven in the middle innings

RHP Griff McGarry had a great first appearance for the Pigs, but then melted down in his second.

Thoughts on the Team, This Young Season

The offseason worry about this roster was largely centered on the starting pitching.  Thus far, the starters have done reasonably well.  Hopefully it continues.  The relief crew will have occasional bad outings, but they are a deep bunch and should continue to be good.  We’ve been doing enough at the plate to make things work–Kieboom, Reyes, De La Cruz all chipping in.  The lineup will improve, too, with the return of Aidan Miller and Gabe Rincones and Keaton Anthony, when they are available.

Elsewhere

Reading is ice cold, 0-3 after their opening series in Akron.  It seems top prospect Dante Nori is nicked up, only starting two of their games and not yet playing the field.  They open their home schedule tonight (my 10th opening night down there as a season ticket holder) so we should get some answers.

In Philadelphia, Alumns Andrew Painter and Justin Crawford are doing ABOUT WHAT WE THOUGHT.  We’ll continue to follow them and wish them well.

See you at the park,

@Kram207

Featured Image by Jack Mitroka, cropped to fit the space

The IronPigs go for an opening-series sweep today at Coca Cola Park under sunny skies and (checks notes) somewhat less than 75 degree weather.  But, it might be the nicest weather of the season thus far.

Wheeler was great yesterday.  He admitted he didn’t have his good stuff with the breaking pitches–how could you when you can’t feel your hands and the ball is like a pool cue ball?  But he’s a pro and a veteran and he powered through without much difficulty.  He wasn’t amused by the whole rib-related promotions, but then kind of realized that he’s so far above Minor League Baseball that it really doesn’t matter.  Good for him.  Gotta wonder if the third start, planned for Reading, is throwing them a bone or taking it away from the IronPigs.

So that’s the schedule that’s been put out there:  He’s pitch again for the IronPigs on Friday in Durham.  He’ll train in Philly in between and parachute in for the game.  Then, his third start will be in Reading the following week–their schedule overlaps with IronPigs that week–on probably Wednesday 4/8 or Thursday 4/9.  They mentioned a fourth start, but we kinda doubt he’ll need it at this point. He sat 92-93 with the fastball yesterday with minimal effort in the freezing cold.  Considering that’s like his second start of Spring Training and the control was so good?  There are no worries around here.

Orion Kerkering pitched a quick inning in relief–also on rehab.  He debuted his new splitter to little success but got through his inning unscathed.  Unlike Wheeler Kerk is with us for the whole rehab experience.  We’ve been told he’ll travel to Durham and get another inning or two.  Then, when he’s good to do a back-to-back he’ll be ready to be activated to the Phillies.

Garrett Stubbs should return today, after passing through waivers and accepting his assignment.  His contract was designed just so that this would happen.  Expect a roster move prior to the game, perhaps someone will join the nascent Reading roster or be placed on the Development List.  He’s a great veteran presence, and of course there’s the ‘vibes’ stuff.  The lineup is still kind of anemic, though.  No one is helpless and they’re all settling in, so not throwing darts at anyone.  It’s the pitching so far–even discounting the four innings we got from MLB guys yesterday–that’s been the reason for early success.  We’ve got a bunch of veteran, accomplished MLB-experienced relievers at the ready.  One will falter at some point, but if we can get good enough starts then we should still be able to win some games.

Enter RHP Ryan Cusick.  He’s a former first rounder from Atlanta who was quickly shipped off to Oakland to advance through their system.  Last season, following a DFA from Oakland/Vegas, he ended up with the Detroit organization and these very Mud Hens, appeared in one game and got DFA’d again.  He was picked up by the White Sox and sent to Charlotte.  He did not appear for Charlotte or the White Sox, still had an option, but was still sent off to DFA limbo.  Enter the Phillies.  They wanted him to work on some things so they put him in the lab in Clearwater for a bit.  Then, he was with the IronPigs where he made 19 appearances including four starts.  Overall it was 27 innings, 34 Hits, 35 Strikeouts and 13 Walks.  We are assuming they told Cusick over the offseason, as some point, that they saw him mostly as a starter or long-man, so that is how he has prepared.  But that is a bunch of assumptions, too.  It will be interesting to see how long he goes today and what he looks like.

The opposing starter is RHP Keider Montero, a Venezuelan native.  He had 10 outings and 8 starts with Toledo last season, as well as 20 appearances and 12 starts for Detroit.  Look for high-velocity and high-spin today, with low control.  Patience might be key for ‘Pigs hitters.

Game Time is 1:15 PM

Gates at 12:00 (Main) and 11:45 (Club/Suites)

Good seats still available.

Weather: 51 degrees and sunny at game time, with temperature increasing during the game.  Still kinda breezy though.

Promotions:  Tail Waggin’ Day–bring the pup, and post-game kids run bases.

What’s Next?

The ‘Pigs head to Durham, NC for a standard six-game series.  Around here, you can go to Reading on Tuesday at 5:00PM for a scrimmage between AA Reading and Hi-A Jersey Shore.  It’s a good look at those rosters and lineups and the weather looks to be tremendous.  Next weekend is a home/home with the Penguins over on the hockey side.  They are up in Scranton this afternoon, and then back there on Friday before a home rematch Saturday night for Star Wars Night.  Reading baseball will be in Akron Thursday through Saturday to open up–their Media Day is Tuesday I believe.  They’ll be off Easter Sunday and open at home Tuesday April 7 vs Hartford, overlap with the next home IronPigs series versus Rochester.

See you at the park,

@Kram207

Featured Image by Cheryl Pursell.  It has been cropped to fit the space.  

The IronPigs beat the Mud Hens last night 5-2.  It was the sixth straight opening night victory for the Lehigh Valley 9.  Here are some thoughts following the game, kinda randomly.

• 7,459 for baseball last night at the same time as 7,127 for hockey.  Pretty good night to support Lehigh Valley Professional Sports.  Kinda like it’s the “Top Level of the Minors” around here.
• It was really cold.  But at least it was windy. You gotta have both.
• At first glance the lineup was unserious.  Three catchers?  But in retrospect, with Miller and Rincones on the shelf, what else you gonna do?
• We’re expecting Oscar Mercado in the lineup tonight along with Sergio Alcantara perhaps.
• We’re getting the feeling that Felix Reyes in left field is going to be a real thing.  If he’s going to hit .800 then he can play anywhere he wants.
• I did think, from my seat, that he could have made a better play on the one ball hit to his right, down the line.  Even if he couldn’t have caught it we thought he should have done a better job keeping it from rolling all the way to the wall.  But man it was cold.  De La Cruz wasn’t moving any too fast, either.
• Pedro León is the new Leandro Castro.  Discuss.

• Reyes and De La Cruz back-to-back in the lineup is formidable.  If we can get Kieboom rolling it will look even better.
• And yeah, Rincones and Miller in there somewhere would be nice.  Word is that Miller is doing baseball activities so that bodes well.
• There’s a lot of zeros in this lineup.  I’m not being mean.  Just pointing out that having a number 0 and also a number 00 is kinda rich.
• No bar menu last night–system still links with Illuminations site.  PigsFoodFinder still hasn’t been updated.  Taps taste like they haven’t been cleaned.  Some feeling that the organization just trying to get through this weekend in one piece before they really get rolling on April 7.
• “Just Walk Out” looked like it was popular.  There were so many employees standing around watching it, though, they could have been serving the food rather than making people get it themselves!  I kid.  We think it’s cool.
• Kram III is not a fan of the Keystone Cabanas.  He thinks they’re ugly and they block the view from the main grandstand out and from the outfield concourse in.
• For my part, they don’t block any part of the big screen from my seats, and if they can help get some of the groups out of the club level and out of every nook and cranny of the stadium then I’m all for it.
• Perhaps they need to paint the grass-facing base of the cabana porches, though.  Perhaps green to match the lawn.  Or brown to match the structure?  It would make them more pleasing from a view perspective.
• There were a bunch of roster moves made before the game.  We’ll get the pinned roster post updated eventually, but for now the details of the moves, the injuries, and a printable roster are all HERE.

Today’s Game

Zack Wheeler rehab game!  All you can eat rib buffet special in the Tiki.  Ribbie is a heavy favorite to win the pork race. Orion Kerkering is here for rehab as well.  While we expect Wheeler to parachute in when he needs to pitch to competitive batters and then airlift out to Philly afterwards, Kerkering should stay with the team for full rehab until he can pitch back-to-back, at which point he may be reactivated for the Phillies.

Game Time: 4:35PM (Phillies start 4:05PM)

Gates: 3:15PM East/CF, 3:00PM West/Club/Suites

Tickets:  Good seats still available

Promotion:  Magnet Schedule Giveaway

TV Broadcast:  Of course, Service Electric.  But you can find games on the Bally Live App as well these days, free.

Radio Broadcast:  Some talk last night about listening to the game on a YouTube stream.  Not sure if they lost the radio affiliation or if they’re just getting bumped by March Madness.  We’ll follow up.

Weather: 43 degrees, sunny and windy at game time.  Sun is out but bundle up!

Pitching:  RHP Zack Wheeler (MLB Rehab) vs Toledo LHP Bryan Sammons (2024: 6-7, 4.15, 22G Toledo.  Japan in 2025)

See you at the park—AND the arena.  We’re hitting both tonight!

@Kram207

Featured Image by Kram.  I should have waited for the flag to open.  I also forgot to pick up my giveaway last night.  Still Spring Training for all of us I guess. 

More moves than expected today as we get ready to play baseball.  So we’ll update in a stand-alone post:

Stuff We Knew

We knew Mercado was on the way back.  We knew Cairo was put on the 40-man because he had an escalator clause in his contract.  We knew about injuries to Keaton Anthony, Aidan Miller, Gabriel Rincones and Daniel Robert’s balky heart.

News

Sergio Alcántara has 193 games of MLB experience with a myriad teams.  He was in camp with Washington this season and was released by Rochester earlier this week.  In 2025 he played one game with San Francisco and 113 with AAA Sacramento and AAA Reno where he slashed a combined .251/.368/.341

In addition to Daniel Robert, we wish good healing for Erick Brito and Mark Kolozsvary following their surgeries.

Jokes about betting (Rodriguez) and “are the Mercado’s related?” will be suspended until those guys can get healthy.

Printable Roster:

032726 LHV Roster Updated