The New Hampshire Fisher Cats remain atop the Eastern League’s Eastern Division, seeming to be all but certain of postseason play with five weeks left in the regular season.
Over the past week, members of the Fisher Cats continued on their path that they hope will lead to the major leagues. It’s July 29 and here’s what’s been happening recently on that path 400 miles to Toronto.
Game Recaps
Monday, July 23: Reading 9, New Hampshire 3
Tuesday, July 24: Reading 5, New Hampshire 2
Wednesday, July 25: New Hampshire 5, Reading 2
Thursday, July 26: New Hampshire 7, Hartford 3
Friday, July 27: New Hampshire 3, Hartford 1
Saturday, July 28: New Hampshire 12, Hartford 2
Sunday, July 29: New Hampshire 8, Hartford 1
The main focus of this season’s narrative has been the whirlwind around Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and now that whirlwind is finally moving west.
On Friday, the Blue Jays organization announced that he will be joining their Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, after attending the Baseball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony of his father over the weekend. During his 61 games for the Fisher Cats, Guerrero recorded a .402/.449/.671 slashline, contributing 14 home runs, 60 RBI and 48 runs scored. Those stats would likely have been even better if not for an early June leg injury that kept him out of action for several weeks.
Clearly, the loss of Guerrero will impact New Hampshire’s offensive prowess, but the impact of his loss in June was largely negated by the various other offensive weapons in the Fisher Cat lineup.
Cavan Biggio has continually either held the Eastern League home run and RBI lead or stood just outside the lead, with Bo Bichette doing the same for stolen bases, runs, total bases, hits and doubles. But Biggio and Bichette have not been alone, with the Fisher Cats getting a new offensive hero almost every night. This week in particular, Harold Ramirez has been on a tear, going 8-for-24 with 4 RBI during the Reading and Hartford series.
Another offensive asset for the Fisher Cats arrived in the form of Forrest Wall, the biggest piece of Toronto’s recent trade that sent reliver Seunghwan Oh to Colorado. In addition to Wall, Toronto also received first baseman Chad Spanberger, a sixth-round pick in last year’s draft sent to Class-A Lansing.
Wall made his Fisher Cats debut on Thursday against his former comrades in Hartford and made an immediate impact, grabbing his seventh home run of the year. In a possible attempt to recapture his 20 stolen base season last year with the Class-A Advanced Lancaster Jet Hawks, Schneider has placed him near the top of the lineup, in what appears to be a platoon with Bichette for the leadoff role held earlier in the season by the promoted Jonathan Davis.
Rumors also continue to swirl around Josh Donaldson, former AL MVP and Toronto’s current third baseman. Donaldson’s health has been a factor this year and his contract expires at the end of the season. With Guerrero’s movement up the Blue Jay ladder, the brass at Rogers Centre may decide to accelerate Guerrero’s ascent to the majors and move Donaldson in exchange for more prospects.
If Guerrero does head to Toronto sooner rather than later, the likely replacement for him in Buffalo would be Jon Berti. Reacquired from the Cleveland organization earlier this year, Berti struggled in Buffalo but has rebounded in New Hampshire with a .274/.380/.404 line since arriving in the Eastern League last month.
No matter what happens, the 2018 New Hampshire Fisher Cats can celebrate the fact that they’ve already surpassed last year’s win total.
That’s not the only way this year’s squad has improved. Richard Urena led the 2017 Fisher Cats with 60 RBI, Biggio and Guerrero have already surpassed that and Bichette will likely surpass that this week. Gunnar Heidt’s 13 home runs in 2017 is likely to be eclipsed by half a dozen players and Bichette has nearly surpassed 2017’s top two base stealers combined on his own.
On the mound, Sean Reid-Foley’s 10 wins has already been duplicated by Jordan Romano, Tim Mayza’s seven saves has already been equaled Andrew Case and will likely be overshadowed soon by new closer Travis Bergen, currently at six.
Fisher Cats of the Week
Batting: Bo Bichette – Bichette had at least one hit in every game during the Reading and Hartford series outside of July 25, grabbing multiple hits three times.
On July 28 he also had five RBI as well, putting him within shouting distance of Cavan Biggio for the team lead.
Starting Pitching: Jon Harris – Regular readers of this column know that on multiple occasions this season, Harris has been the one Fisher Cat pitcher to stifle negative momentum. Tayler Saucedo had a strong start in the final game of the Reading series, but he couldn’t maintain a tenuous New Hampshire lead.
New Hampshire still won that game, but they won the next day in much more convincing fashion against Hartford thanks to the six-inning, four-hit performance from Harris.
Relief Pitching: Dusty Issacs – After the departure of Saucedo, Isaacs gave the New Hampshire bats breathing room on July 25, earning the win there as well as hold on July 27, not allowing a hit in either appearance while striking out seven of the eight batters he faced overall.
Around the Horn
To make room for Guerrero, Roemon Fields will return to New Hampshire on assignment, with Juan Kelly heading to the disabled list to make room for Wall.
On Deck
The Fisher Cats now welcome the Richmond Flying Squirrels to Manchester for the first and only time this season, followed by a visit from the Erie Sea Wolves.
