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Patriots Notebook 8/13/24: Heading To Hartford

August 13, 2024

Bridgewater, New Jersey – As the dog days of summer heat up, so too are the postseason races across baseball. Just 30 games remain on the docket for Somerset (21-17), all of them against Northeast Division opponents as they sit in fourth place overall while trailing Portland by 4.5 games

Bridgewater, New Jersey – As the dog days of summer heat up, so too are the postseason races across baseball. Just 30 games remain on the docket for Somerset (21-17), all of them against Northeast Division opponents as they sit in fourth place overall while trailing Portland by 4.5 games for the division lead. The Patriots, who are 10-10 since coming out of the All-Star break, will embark on a season-long 12-game road trip beginning on Tuesday in Hartford with six games against the Yard Goats after dropping four-of-five to Binghamton last week, all by two runs or less.

Somerset has gone 6-6 against the Yard Goats this season – all 12 meetings thus far have been at TD Bank Ballpark. Since becoming the Yankees Double-A affiliate in 2021, the club has never lost a series to Hartford (7-0-4) and has gone 47-19 against them over that time, their best mark against any Eastern League club.

Hip Hip Jose: Somerset played host to Yankees catcher Jose Trevino on Sunday evening during the series finale against Binghamton. The 2022 MLB all-star and Gold Glove Award winner became the eighth major leaguer to rehab with the Patriots this season and the 33rd overall since becoming affiliated in 2021. Trevino went 0-for-1 with a walk and played five innings behind the plate in his first live game action since landing on the 10-day IL with a left quad strain on July 13. The backstop was slashing .244/.303/.411 with 8 homers and 27 RBI in 60 games this season before landing on the shelf.

“It feels good just to play again,” Trevino said following Sunday’s game. “To be able to come here to Somerset; it’s good to see some of the guys that I saw in spring and kind of catch up with them and talk about how their seasons are going.”

Keeping up with the Jones: Yankees second-ranked prospect Spencer Jones led off Sunday’s series finale by blasting his 14th homer of the season, which is tied for fifth in the Yankees farm system after swatting 16 in 2023. Since the start of June, the 2022 first-round draft selection leads the EL in extra-base hits (27) and total bases (110) while his 11 homers, 44 RBI, and 59 hits all rank third.

“I feel good at this point,” said Jones during media availability last week. “It’s been a lot of conversations with teammates and coaches just trying to get me back to hitting the ball hard and doing my best to recognize pitches and doing that as well as possible. Just trying to keep things simple and play baseball.”

Chase Grounded: The Patriots placed right-hander Chase Hampton on the 7-day IL on Tuesday morning after exiting his second start of the season on Saturday night after tossing just 26 pitches with an undisclosed injury. Hampton had missed the start of the season with a flex strain in his elbow that he thought may cost him his season. After a rigorous rehab program, Hampton finally made his Patriots debut on the road in Bowie two weeks ago before exiting his start against Binghamton after just two innings of work. Hampton spoke in depth about his injury this past spring and his mindset returning last week, which you can read about here.

Two to the Show: Former Patriot infielder Mickey Gasper, who was selected by Boston in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft this past winter, made his long-awaited major-league debut on Monday night after spending six years with the Yankees organization. Gasper, who played in 132 games for Somerset from 2021-2023, stepped up to the plate at Fenway Park as a pinch-hitter in a crucial extra-innings situation for his first big league at-bat after the Red Sox had just tied the game. The now 28-year-old Gasper, who grew up in the New England region, fell behind in the count 1-2 before working a seven pitch walk to load the bases and ultimately set the scene for Rob Refsnyder to single home the game winning run. Gasper is the 37th former Patriot player to make their MLB debut since the team’s affiliation began in 2021.

Meanwhile, multiple media reports have indicated that the Nationals are set to promote infielder Andres Chaparro to the big leagues ahead of their contest against Baltimore on Tuesday. The 25-year-old infielder, who spent 64 games with Somerset in 2022, inked a minor league deal with Arizona over the winter before he was traded to the Nationals just two weeks ago at the MLB trade deadline.

Patriots Provide HOPE: The Patriots hosted their annual HOPE week events while they were home last week. HOPE week is a Yankees initiative that allows every member of the organization to provide their time to help people within their communities. Throughout the week, various players and coaches dedicated their time to things like preparing meals that were dropped off and donated to the Food Bank Network of Somerset County, preparing care packages of food and toiletries to ship to United States troops currently serving on behalf of Operation Shoebox, reading to over 50 members of the team’s Kids Club at TD Bank Ballpark to encourage the fun of reading for the Somerset Patriots Foundation before concluding the week on Monday by talking and plays with kids from the Franklin Township YMCA Camp SOAR at Colonial Park for the Greater Somerset County YMCA. You can read more about these events and HOPE Week here.

Knowing the Opponent: The Patriots split 12 games thus far with the Yard Goats and will wrap up their season slate with them this week in Hartford.

The Goats play host to Rockies top-prospect in right-hander Chase Dollander. Colorado selected Dollander with the ninth overall pick in last summer’s draft and in his first season in pro-ball, the 22-year-old has been ultra impressive, posting 2.62 ERA with 130 punchouts in 89 innings of work. After being promoted to Double-A on July 24, the Tennessee-product has been even better, posting a 1.86 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 19 innings while Eastern League opposition has hit just .167 against him in four starts.

Second-ranked prospect Adael Amador is just 21 years old, but the Yard Goats infielder actually has already had a cup of coffee in the big leagues after getting 35 at-bats with Colorado earlier this season. While the Dominican-native is hitting just .219 on the season, his 27 stolen bases rank second best in the EL.

Probable Series Pitching Matchups:

Tue: RHP Trystan Vrieling (8-7, 5.22 ERA) vs. LHP Mason Albright (3-7, 5.26 ERA)
Wed: RHP Bailey Dees (4-7, 4.70 ERA) vs. TBD
Thu: RHP Zach Messinger (4-8, 3.40 ERA) vs. TBD
Fri: RHP Cam Schlittler (0-1, 4.76 ERA) vs. RHP Chase Dollander (0-0, 1.86 ERA)
Sat: LHP Ben Shields (2-1, 2.53 ERA) vs. LHP Sean Sullivan (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Sun: RHP Trystan Vrieling (8-7, 5.22 ERA) vs. RHP Connor Van Scoyoc (5-6, 4.53 ERA)

Matt Kardos | SomersetPatriots.com Senior Writer

Matt Kardos has covered the Yankees minor league system for over a decade and will spend his 12th 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.