It’s June 21, 2021. Here’s what’s been going on this week with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
Series Recap
Tuesday, June 15: Postponed to June 16
Wednesday, June 16 (June 15th Game): Hartford 6, New Hampshire 4
Wednesday, June 16: Hartford 8, New Hampshire 7
Thursday, June 17: Hartford 10, New Hampshire 6
Friday, June 18: New Hampshire 3, Hartford 1
Saturday, June 19: New Hampshire 15, Hartford 2
Sunday, June 20: New Hampshire 8, Hartford 5
This week was certainly a tale of two Fisher Cat teams, a recurring schism throughout this season.
Early in the series, the Fisher Cats’ pitching inconsistency took center stage.
During Wednesday’s double header, the Cats’ bullpen woes returned after what New Hampshire’s relievers appeared to turn the corner last week in Portland.
Troy Miller, who was traded to the New York Mets organization for RHP Jacob Barnes later in the week, gave up 10 of Hartford’s 11 hits in the first game of the doubleheader. In the second game, Brody Rodning blew his fourth save of the year and Andrew McInvale took the loss after giving up the game-winning run in the ninth.
On Thursday, starting pitcher Johnny Barbato couldn’t continue his hot streak, seeing his Double-A ERA spike by almost four runs after giving up eight earned runs to the Yard Goats.
The pitching bounced back over the second half of the series. Four Fisher Cats combined to give up just four Hartford hits on Friday, Maximo Castillo put in six solid innings of relief on Saturday and Simeon Woods Richardson put in a season high nine strikeouts.
Ultimately, the rain suspension on Tuesday played a large role on the pitching staff this week. Woods Richardson pitched one inning before the game was moved to Wednesday, but was unavailable to return due to rest requirements. Additionally, the return of Elvis Luciano from injury and his 30 pitch limit on Saturday also taxed the bullpen.
While the pitching remains inconsistent, New Hampshire’s hitting has been solid. Coming into Sunday’s contest, they’ve averaged 5.75 runs per game this season, second only to the Bowie Bay Sox (6.03) and led the league in hits (365), doubles (84), stolen bases (47) and batting average (.265).
This week they had ten or more hits in [three or four] of their six games and came up just short on Thursday with nine. Indeed, their 22 hits on Saturday was just four hits shy of the franchise record.
“(Saturday) was a great night no doubt, one of the best of the season so far,” said Fisher Cats Manager Cesar Martin. “(The batters) are just looking to get good at-bats, and it’s something we continue to work on. We did well at the end of last week against Portland and we’ll aim to continue to get better.”
Fisher Cats of the Week
#1. Gabriel Moreno: Moreno’s probably been the MVP of the Fisher Cats so far this season and on Monday he was announced as the Double-A Northeast Player of the Week.
Moreno, ranked No. 7 among Blue Jays prospects by MLB.com, hit .421 with 3 home runs and 10 runs batted in last week, including a grand slam on Thursday night.
The 21-year-old from Barquisimeto, Venezuela currently leads the league in batting average (.388), on-base percentage (.438), runs batted in (40), and OPS (1.128).
Moreno ranks eighth in the league with eight home runs, highlighted by a blast off the Hilton Garden Inn on June 5. He became the first Fisher Cat to hit a homer off the hotel since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in 2018.
This is New Hampshire’s first Player of the Week honor in 2021.
#2. Austin Martin: During Saturday’s offensive explosion, Martin became the tenth Fisher Cat ever and first since 2019 to get five hits in a game. Thanks to that game, he hit .333 for the series (8-for-24) with nine RBI, two doubles, four runs and a stolen base.
#3. Samad Taylor: While Moreno and Martin had record-breaking weeks, it’s tough to decide upon who the Fisher Cats’ third best player was this week so instead of wimping out and calling it a tie (which we reserve the right to do later in the season if needed), we’ll apologize to Woods Richardson (see above) and Otto Lopez (11-for-26, with five runs, three doubles, three RBI and a home run against Hartford).
Taylor’s two home runs against the Yard Goats gives him the team lead and puts him in a tie for the league lead. He came just short of duplicating Martin’s night on Saturday, going 4-for-5 there and contributing nine hits over the series. If not for Thursday, he also would have had a hit in every game of the series and has recorded at least one hit in all but two games so far in June.
On Deck
On Tuesday, the Fisher Cats will begin a six-game road series in Maryland against the Bowie Bay Sox, the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They’re currently riding a three-game losing streak, dropping four of six to Akron last week.
