Road Preview: Somerset Heads To Portland
Bridgewater, New Jersey – As the dates on the 2023 schedule begin to dwindle, the Patriots continue to rack up victories despite an ever-changing roster. As they have done for much of the year, Somerset dominated Hartford last week by taking five of six games at TD Bank Ballpark to
Bridgewater, New Jersey – As the dates on the 2023 schedule begin to dwindle, the Patriots continue to rack up victories despite an ever-changing roster. As they have done for much of the year, Somerset dominated Hartford last week by taking five of six games at TD Bank Ballpark to conclude their season slate against the Yard Goats by going 14-4 in three series against them. With just three weeks remaining to gear up for the postseason, the first place Patriots (30-21) will head up to Maine for their second-to-last road trip of the season for a series with the third place Portland Sea Dogs (26-25) at Hadlock Field.
Because the Patriots won the Northeast division title in the first half to secure a playoff berth, the club that they will meet in the postseason would technically have to be the team with the next best winning percentage in the division, should Somerset finish as the division winner again in the second half. With that in mind, Portland trails second place Binghamton by just one game in the standings, so this series will surely have postseason implications.
Spencer Jones↗️Somerset📍 pic.twitter.com/QNVIIRR1Na
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 27, 2023
The Yankees promoted the organizations second ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline, Jasson Dominguez, to Triple-A last week after a scorching seven week stretch that transformed his season. While a void was left in the Patriots lineup for much of last week against Hartford, the Bombers summoned top-ranked prospect Spencer Jones to Double-A on Sunday. The 22-year-old outfielder was drafted in the first round of the draft out of Vanderbilt last summer, but after a strong professional debut with High-A Hudson Valley, the Bombers are rewarding him with a late season bump just before the playoffs, much like they did with Dominguez last September.
Manager Raul Dominguez penciled Jones into the third spot in the batting order while playing centerfield for his Patriots debut in the series finale against Hartford. Jones, who stands at 6’6”, immediately made an impact, going 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Protecting Jones in the lineup the rest of the way figures to be C/1B Ben Rice, who has been arguably the best hitter in the Eastern League since his promotion to Double-A on July 18. Since then, the Dartmouth product has blasted 12 homers, driven in 36 runs to go along with 20 extra-base hits and 87 total bases, all of which are an EL best since his arrival.
Somerset has cumulatively gone 7-5 against Portland in their two previous meetings, both of which were back in May, after edging them out by 2.5 games for the first half division crowd. Portland is in the middle of a two-week homestand after edging out Richmond in 4-of-6 ball games last week.
The last time the two clubs met, the Red Sox top-ranked prospect, Marcelo Mayer, came to Somerset to make his Double-A Debut. The 11th ranked prospect in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline, Mayer is currently on the teams 7-day IL after landing on the shelf on August 5th with left shoulder inflammation. Media reports indicate that Mayer has been ramping up baseball activities over the last several weeks and could be nearing a return to action soon.
Second Baseman Nick Yorke was the 17th overall pick by Boston in the 2020 draft, and the organization’s sixth ranked prospect has been a catalyst for Portland in his first season in the minor league’s upper levels. After going 2-for-4 on Sunday, Yorke is now riding a 17 game on-base streak and improved his season line to .279/.357/.459 in 96 games. Yorke is the Sea Dogs team leader in hits (109), runs (66) and RBI (59).
Right-handed Hurler Wikelman Gonzalez was promoted to Portland back on July 14 and the Red Sox ninth ranked prospect has been one of the more dominating arms in the Eastern League over his first seven starts at Double-A. Gonzalez, whom Boston inked as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2018, has gone 2-1 with a 2.88 ERA while fanning 47 batters in just 34.1 innings of work – EL opposition has hit a mere .161 against him.
Series Probable Pitching Matchups:
Tue: RHP Yoendrys Gomez (0-2, 3.14 ERA) vs. RHP Hunter Dobbins (4-4, 4.65 ERA)
Wed: RHP Richard Fitts (9-5, 3.16 ERA) vs. RHP CJ Liu (5-7, 5.51 ERA)
Thu: RHP Drew Thorpe (3-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. RHP Angel Bastardo (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
Fri: RHP Matt Sauer (3-3, 4.03 ERA) vs. RHP Isaac Coffey (6-3, 3.51 ERA)
Sat: RHP Blane Abeyta (8-6, 5.68 ERA) vs. RHP Wikelman Gonzalez (2-1, 2.88 ERA)
Sun: RHP Yoendrys Gomez (0-2, 3.14 ERA) vs. TBD
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.