Another week has passed and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats still have the worst record in the Eastern League. As of May 12, 2017, here’s the state of things on the path 400 miles to Toronto and beyond.
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not
Hot: Gunnar Heidt – He hasn’t locked down a particular position, but his bat has been too hot to keep out of the lineup. He got the day off for Cinco de Mayo, but played in the other seven games during last week’s series against Binghamton and Hartford.
Heidt’s “official” position is listed as shortstop, but no matter, in those seven games he got in as a third baseman, second baseman, rightfielder and designated hitter at one point or another.
In six of those seven games, he had at least one hit, including a pair of two hit games.
Not: Richard Urena – The man who has locked down the shortstop job, was hitless during the Hartford series and went 2-for-13 against Binghamton.
As of right now, he’s last on the team in batting average at .184 and holds a strikeout to walk ratio of more than 2-to-1.
Welcome Back, Anthony
If the Fisher Cats had a top player in April, it was definitely Anthony Alford. He sat out for two days after leaving the second part of last Saturday’s doubleheader with an injury. Those two days seemed to be restful; over the last two games of the Hartford series and the first game of the Altoona series, he hit .272 with a pair of walks, a stolen base and one strikeout.
Not quite the torrid pace he put up in April, but still a respectable showing.
Patrick, We Hardly Knew Ye
Patrick Cantwell went on the 7-day disabled list on Tuesday, just three days after getting the call up from Lansing.
Ryan Hissey came up from Lansing to take the place of Cantwell, who took the place of Reese McGuire after he went on the DL on May 3.
In April, Raffy Lopez and Reese McGuire were platooning behind the plate. However, Lopez got the call up to Buffalo last week thanks in large part to a strong first month at the plate, punctuated by a 3-for-5 night on May 4 against Binghamton.
When McGuire comes back, he’ll have a hard time displacing newcomer Mike Reeves.
Reeves, who was called up from Dunedin to replace Lopez, has hits in four of his first five games as a Fisher Cat, including a 2-for-4 night against Hartford on May 9.
So Long Tom
Reading’s Tom Eshelman was one of the top pitchers in the Eastern League, but the Fisher Cats won’t have to face him again when they play Reading next week.
Eshelman got the call up to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs this week after a strong first month for the Fightin’ Phils.
Outside of his first start against Portland, he went more than five innings in each of his starts. In his two performances against the Fisher Cats, he had an ERA of 2.18, striking out eight and came close a no-hitter.
