Akron Road Trip Series Preview
Bridgewater, New Jersey – After taking five-of-six from Bowie last week, the scorching hot Patriots have won nine of their last 10 ball games to take a half-game lead over Portland in the Northeast Division’s second-half standings. Somerset has mashed at the plate and kept their opponents at bay with
Bridgewater, New Jersey – After taking five-of-six from Bowie last week, the scorching hot Patriots have won nine of their last 10 ball games to take a half-game lead over Portland in the Northeast Division’s second-half standings. Somerset has mashed at the plate and kept their opponents at bay with stellar pitching during this recent surge – they’ve outscored their opponents 73-27 over that stretch and have fanned 10 or more batters in nine of those 10 contests. The Patriots will now take one of their longest road trips of the season in terms of distance to Akron where they will square off with the RubberDucks for their first and only meeting of the 2023 campaign. The Cleveland Guardians Double-A affiliate has gone 5-5 in their last ten and sit in third place (14-13) in the Southwest Division.
Here is some news and notes surrounding the team as well as a look ahead to this week’s road trip.
The Martian lifted off in July🚀 pic.twitter.com/Qg3Zrg9oIE
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) July 31, 2023
Martian Soars in July: As we flip the calendar to a new month, a look back at July as a whole shows a huge stretch for the organizations top-prospect, Jasson Dominguez. The 20-year-old outfielder has his best month of the season thus far, slashing .309/.372/.406 with two homers, 15 RBI to go with 11 stolen bases, which is two more than he had posted in the previous two months combined. He would admit his .226 batting average for the season is not indicative of who he is as a player, but it certainly speaks to the work he has put in to turn around his year. That mark is the highest it has been at any point this season, and his .353 on-base percentage is so strong because he has taken an Eastern League leading 68 walks.
Hardman Power Stretch Continues: Just a week removed from a stretch that earned Patriots infielder Tyler Hardman the Eastern League Player of the Week honors, the slugger posted another torrid stretch this past week against Bowie. Hardman went 5-for-16 in five games, including a 4-for-4, two homer and six RBI game on Friday night. The two blasts tied Hardman for the MiLB lead in homers with 26 and he has now cranked out five multi-homer games in his last 30 ball games.
The Right Fitt: We seem to highlight starter Richard Fitts quite often here in our rundowns, but the 23-year-old right-hander has been a model of consistency in the Somerset rotation for over two months running. Fitts tossed six innings of three hit, three run ball on Saturday night while fanning 10 batters, which tied his season-best mark. The Auburn University-product earned his third consecutive win and improved to 3–0 in July with a 3.75 ERA to go with 30 strikeouts in 24 innings – EL opposition hit just .218 against him in July. We will have a feature story about the Patriots pitcher here on SomersetPatriots.com later this week.
Steaming Hot Rice: When Austin Wells was promoted to Scranton a few weeks back, there was quite a bit of skepticism that the Somerset lineup would be able to make-up the offensive production that was vacated in the lineup by losing his bat. But without fail, backstop Ben Rice was inserted into the lineup and been a difference maker in the eight games of action he has seen at Double-A. The 24-year-old Dartmouth product and former hockey star has slashed .333/.405/.727 with four homers and 12 RBI with just six strikeouts in his short but impressive time with Somerset.
Knowing the Opponent: Somerset is seeing Akron for the first and only time this season as they open a six-game slate from Canal Park this week. The RubberDucks sit a game over .500 at 14-13 after finishing the first half at a similar pace with a 35-34 mark. The Guardians affiliate has pitched well all season, positing the third best team ERA in the EL with a 3.86 mark while holding the opposition to a .226 batting average, which is second only to the Patriots.
Infielder Angel Martinez comes in at seventh on the organizations MLB Pipeline rankings and the 21-year-old Dominican-native has hit .246 with a .325 on-base mark to go with 10 homers and his 55 RBI are 4th best in the Eastern League. The Guardians host another impressive 21-year-old infielder in 13th ranked prospect Juan Brito. A Dominican-product like Martinez, the young and versatile infielder is getting his first taste of Double-A action and has been extremely impressive in 49 games of action at the level. Brito has slashed .313/.394/.477 with six homers and 34 RBI in just 176 at-bats.
Right-hander Tanner Burns was teammates with Patriots hurler Richard Fitts at Auburn and was taken as the 36th overall pick by Cleveland in the 2020 draft. The 24-year-old pitcher is the Guardians 17th ranked prospect and he has fanned 70 batters in 70.1 innings and posted a strong 3.45 ERA in 17 appearances in his second full-season at Akron.
Series probable pitchers:
Tue: RHP Blane Abeyta (6-4, 5.46 ERA) vs. RHP Tanner Burns (3-3, 3.45 ERA)
Wed: RHP Chase Hampton (1-0, 4.54 ERA) vs. LHP Doug Nikhazy (3-5, 3.29 ERA)
Thu: RHP Yoendrys Gomez (0-0, 1.72 ERA) vs. RHP Tommy Mace (2-2, 5.24 ERA)
Fri: RHP Richard Fitts (7-5, 3.80 ERA) vs. RHP Hunter Stanley (3-7, 5.02 ERA)
Sat: RHP Matt Sauer (2-2, 4.79 ERA) vs. LHP Will Dion (2-3, 3.80 ERA)
Sun: RHP Blane Abeyta (6-4, 5.46 ERA) vs. RHP Ross Carver (1-3, 8.46 ERA)
Matt Kardos | SomersetPatriots.com Beat Writer
Matt Kardos has covered the Yankees minor league system for over a decade and will spend his 11th season on the beat covering the Patriots for SomersetPatriots.com. Throughout his career, Matt has contributed to MLB.com, YES Network and Pinstriped Prospects. When he’s not at the ballpark, Matt enjoys traveling with his wife Kimberly, watching Jets football and collecting sports cards.