June 23: Mudcats at PNats Game Notes

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CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS) at POTOMAC NATIONALS (WASHINGTON NATIONALS)
Sunday, June 23, 2019 | 1:05 PM | Game 73, Away Game 38 | Northwest Federal Field | Woodbridge, VA
RADIO: WDWG, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM
STREAMING AUDIO:carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio
STREAMING VIDEO: N/A
Overall Record: CAR: 41-31; POT: 31-39
Streaks: CAR: W2; POT: L2
Last 10 Games: CAR: 6-4, POT: 4-6
Home Record: CAR: 20-15; POT: 14-22
Road Record: CAR: 21-16; POT: 17-17
Division Record: CAR: 19-16; POT: 11-14
Current Series: CAR leads 2-1 (of 4)
Season Series: CAR leads 7-2 (of 14)
CAR v. OPP: 2-1 @CAR (7), 5-1 @OPP (7)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
SUN, 6/23 at POT, 1:05 PM: Carolina RHP Noah Zavolas (3-3, 3.60) at Potomac RHP Andrew Lee (2-4, 3.45)
MON, 6/24 vs. DE, 7:00 PM: Down East TBA at Carolina RHP Christian Taugner (2-4, 5.32)
TUE, 6/25 vs. DE, 7:00 PM: Down East TBA at Carolina TBA
TODAY: Winners of two straight, the Mudcats continue their first series of the second half with the finale of a four game series in Woodbridge, VA versus the Northern Division's Potomac Nationals. The Mudcats enter today's game with a 2-1 lead in the series following last night's 9-4 victory. Today's game is the tenth of 14 total meetings between the two teams this season and the fourth of eight second half meetings. Carolina is currently 7-2 overall this season against the Nationals having swept Potomac from 4/8-4/10 in Woodbridge and after taking two of three versus the P-Nats at home from 4/26-4/28 earlier this season.
ICYMI: Payton Henry had three hits, Ryan Aguilar went 2-for-5 with 2 RBI, Tristen Lutz scored twice while going 2-for-4 with a RBI triple and Nelson Hernandez worked through the fifth while earning the win as Carolina won its second straight 9-4 versus the Nationals on Saturday night in Potomac. Carolina scored once in the first and brought across four in the fourth and ninth innings while winning their second straight game to take a 2-1 lead in the second half opening series. They also totaled 13 hits, including a three hit game from Payton Henry and two hit games from Ryan Aguilar, Tristen Lutz and Julio Garcia while defeating the Nationals in Potomac.
TODAY'S CAROLINA MUDCATS STARTING PITCHER...
Noah Zavolas: 3-3, 3.60 ERA, 13 GS, 75.0 IP, 12 BB, 53 SO, 1.29 WHIP
Last outing... 6/11 at FRE: L, 5.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 76 pitches
CL Ranks: 2nd in BB/9 (1.44), 2nd in K/BB (4.42), 2nd in IP (75.0)
TRENDING:Rob Henry is batting .380/.508/.460 with a .968 OPS over 15 games in June (19 H, 10 R, 4 2B, 7 RBI, 11 BB, 17 SO)... Mario Feliciano has totaled a .901 OPS over 19 games in June (20 H, 14 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 15 RBI), but is just 2-for-29 over his last seven games... Payton Henry has hit safely in four straight and is batting .389/.389/.556 with a .944 OPS over his last four games (7-for-18, 2 R, 3 2B, 1 RBI).
POWER OUTAGE: The Mudcats have gone eight straight games without hitting a home run (since 6/11). The current power outage matches Carolina's longest such streak this season; they also went without a home run in eight straight between 4/30 and 5/9. Despite the recent homerless streak, the Mudcats are currently second in the Carolina League in home runs with 56 (2nd behind Fayetteville's 70 HR).
BEANBALLS: The Carolina offense has combined to total a professional baseball high (MLB & MiLB) 64 hit-by-pitches this season. The Mudcats have also totaled a Carolina League high 18 HBP in June.
WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is currently 1st in the CL in home runs (14), tied for 1st in RBI (50), 2nd in slugging (.480), 10th in OPS (.796), 3rd in extra-base hits (27), 2nd in total bases (123) and tied for 10th in hits (67)... Ryan Aguilar is currently 6th in the CL in OBP (.397), 2nd in walks (47) and 2nd in runs (48)... Matt Hardy is currently tied for 1st in the CL in wins (7) and is tied for 2nd in games (23) with Cody Beckman and Rodrigo Benoit. Benoit is also currently tied for 3rd in the CL in saves (10) and tied for 2nd in wins (6)... Clayton Andrews is currently tied for 3rd in the CL in saves (10)... Noah Zavolas is currently 2nd in the CL in innings pitched (75.0) and 9th in WHIP (1.29). Zavolas is also 6th in the CL in FIP (3.39), tied for 7th in xFIP (3.46), 2nd in BB/9 (1.44) and 2nd in K/BB (4.42) per Fangraphs.
CAROLINA LEAGUE LEADERS - TWO-OUT RBI
Player Team RBI HR AVG OPS
Henry, P CAR 24 5 .264 .825
Corredor, A POT 22 3 .234 .654
Feliciano, M CAR 20 6 .274 .953
Adams, J FAY 19 5 .261 .770
Henry, R CAR 18 3 .273 .930
QUALIFIED: Per Fangraphs.com, Rob Henry is currently 3rd in the CL in wRC+ (143), 3rd in wOBA (.392), 4th in OPS (.830) and 7th in SLG (.440) among qualified CL batters this season. Henry recently reached the threshold to qualify (min. 2.7 PA/team games) having now totaled 200 PA this season.
ALL THE Ks: Carolina batters have combined to total a Carolina League high 753 (4th most in MiLB) strikeouts this season. The Mudcats are on pace to set a league and franchise record for strikeouts for the third straight season as they are on pace for 1,454 strikeouts this season. Carolina batters combined to total a CL and franchise record 1,311 strikeouts last season; breaking the previous CL and franchise record of 1,245 SO set by Carolina in 2017.
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 37 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 35 games. Henry, meanwhile, has caught back-to-back games twice this season on 4/14 & 4/15 and 6/3 & 6/4; Feliciano has caught back-to-back games once 6/14 & 6/15.... The Carolina pitching staff is 24-13 and has totaled a 3.49 ERA (2.9 BB/9, 8.9 SO/9) in games caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 17-18 with a 4.56 ERA (3.3 BB/9, 8.1 SO/9) in games caught by Feliciano. 
SUPER MARIO: Mario Feliciano took over sole possession of the top spot on the Carolina League leader board for home runs this season after connecting on his 10th and 11th homers on 6/3 versus Frederick at Five County Stadium. Feliciano homered in four straight games between 6/3 and 6/7 while hitting five homers and bringing his league leading homer total to 14 on the season. He was also named the Carolina League's Player of the Week following that week of games (6/3-6/9, .429/.500/1.286, 1.786 OPS, 5 HR, 11 RBI).
DUAL THREAT: Clayton Andrews has recently begun playing as a two-way player having appeared in 19 games as a reliever and seven games as Carolina's starting center fielder this season. As a pitcher, Andrews is currently 2-2 with a 3.09 ERA, seven walks, 38 strikeouts and 10 saves (3rd most in the CL). As a position player, Andrews is batting .304/.333/.304 (7-for-23) and has hit safely in four straight games; including a 3-for-5 & 1 RBI performance in his last start in center on 6/16 vs. Winston-Salem. His first start in center this season came on 5/20 vs Lynchburg. Andrews hit .302/.382/.377 over 57 games (6 2B, 5 3B, 25 BB, 6 SO) at Long Beach St. in 2018 before going to the Brewers in the 17th round of the 2018 Draft.
THE SKIPPER: Manager Joe Ayrault became the winningest manager in Carolina Mudcats team history after collecting his 177th victory as skipper in Carolina on 6/15/19 vs. Winston-Salem. Ayrault is in his third season as Manager of the Mudcats and his eighth season overall as Manager of Milwaukee's High-A affiliate...
MANAGER W L PCT G SEASONS
Joe Ayrault 179 169 .514 348 2017-Present (3)
David Bell 176 239 .424 415 2009-11 (3)
THE MUDCATS HAVE…
... played in Zebulon, NC since 1991 (29th season).
... played in the Carolina League since 2012 (8th season).
... been an affiliate of the Brewers since 2017 (3rd season).
... operated under the ownership of the Brewers since Oct. 2017.
... not made the playoffs since the 2008 season.
... not made the playoffs during their Carolina League era.