2024 Somerset Patriots Preview

Bridgewater, New Jersey – Opening Day of the baseball season always marks a blank canvas for the club’s setting out on a long and grueling journey. Nobody quite knows what the picture will look like when the paint has dried, but the possibilities are endless. The 2024 version of the Patriots, who will host the visiting Richmond Flying Squirrels (San Francisco Giants) for a quick three-game season opening slate at TD Bank Ballpark beginning Friday night, hope that it ends with champagne showers and an Eastern League Championship trophy.

🎥: Patriots Manager Raul Dominguez reflects on his first year at the helm in 2023 and discusses what excites him about this year’s break camp roster pic.twitter.com/ETe4xJ3mpe

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 3, 2024

Manager Raul Dominguez is back at the helm for his second season in Somerset after guiding the team to a franchise-affiliated best 84 wins, the most of any Double-A club in all of minor league baseball.

“Last year was a really good year,” said Dominguez at the team’s annual media day gathering earlier this week. “That was my first opportunity to be a manager here in Somerset. This is my second year here and my second year as a full-season manager and I feel like I am more prepared after I got that experience last year. I’m excited for this year.”

Dominguez added, “This is a new year and we’ve got a lot of new faces. A lot of players played in Hudson Valley last year. Some pitchers pitched in the Arizona Fall League that never pitched in High-A, so it’s going to be our first time to see those guys. I’m excited to have this team – 2024 is a new challenge with new goals.”

Somerset has had the good fortune of opening the last two seasons with Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez. Both were highly touted top-prospects who ultimately found themselves in the Bronx before a calendar year had passed. The next in line hoping to follow that same timeline is the organization’s second ranked prospect, Spencer Jones.

Now batting for the Somerset Patriots, No. 34 Spencer Jones. pic.twitter.com/zDmkuSpdP6

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 2, 2024

Jones was the organization’s first round draft selection in 2022 out of Vanderbilt and has flown through the system after just one full season. He’ll always stand out because of his stature, but that is partly what makes him such a special and exciting talent. Standing at 6’6” while athletically patrolling centerfield, Jones naturally draws comparisons to All-Star Aaron Judge. Expectations from outside pundits and fans are enormous, but beyond developing his game, Jones is learning to keep his feet where they are rather than looking too far down the road.

“I find it easy to block out the noise,” admitted Jones. “Once you set yourself with a new routine playing every single day, it’s like that is what your life is going to be, and you just have to focus on that and take it one day at a time.”

After swiping 43 bases while slashing .267/.336/.444 with 16 homers and 29 doubles last season, the hype surrounding Jones has only escalated on the heels of being honored with the James P. Dawson Award, given annually to the most outstanding Yankees rookie in spring training.

“I don’t know if there is a ceiling,” said new Patriots Hitting Coach Kevin Martir. “It’s pretty high if he puts it all together, he is pretty well put together now, but obviously through experience and the process he’ll continue to improve and probably burst that ceiling.”

Yankees 2023 Kevin Lawn Award winner Ben Rice caught up with @Steven_Cusumano at Spring Training:
🔹Experience as a non-roster invitee
🔹Catching depth in the organization
🔹Comfortability at first base
🔹Lessons learned from 2023 pic.twitter.com/8KNXdGG9Fv

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) March 19, 2024

Catcher Ben Rice returns to Somerset in 2024 after a torrid two-month Double-A debut last season that saw him lead the Eastern League in HR (16), RBI (48), SLG (.651), OPS (1.054), XBH (30), TB (127) and R (40) during that time. The Dartmouth product went from being overlooked to being named the Yankees 2023 Kevin Lawn Award winner as the “Position Player of the Year” in the Bombers farm system. Rice also figures to see significant playing time at first base, a position that he has grown to find comfort in over the last year in order to increase his defensive versatility.

“I think growth is a good way to put it,” said Rice. “It was a fun year, and I was able to get some good results, but to finally be able to get up to Double-A and get some wins up here in Somerset and have a good time doing it was awesome. It was just a really rewarding year.”

With Chase Hampton opening the season on the IL and 2023 standouts Richard Fitts and Drew Thorpe now in other organizations after offseason trades, Dominguez will feature mostly an entirely new and inexperienced group in his starting rotation.

Your Opening Day starter, @Yankees No. 23 prospect RHP Zach Messinger. pic.twitter.com/m3dta0wrQb

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 3, 2024

Right-hander Zach Messinger will get the ball on Opening Day on Friday making just his second career start at Double-A.

“It’s an honor and a blessing to have that opportunity,” said Messinger on the Opening Day nod. “It’s a really big thing for me and I take it with a lot of pride and my family is going to be able to be here to see it, which is nice.”

The 6’6” right-hander was given a full-time starters workload for the first-time last season and his results were very much a mixed bag. He has pitched to a career 4.33 ERA and 1.37 WHIP, but now with a full year of experience under his belt, the Yankees 24^th ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline feels like he has an opportunity of a lifetime ahead of him in 2024.

“Last year was my first full year as a starter in this organization and It’s something I really hadn’t done since high school,” Messinger said. “So, getting that body built up to throw 100 plus, 125, 150 innings in a year and with that comes some inconsistencies with the body breaking down and stuff like that.”

Messinger added, “Honestly, this is the healthiest I have felt coming out of spring training and the most excited I’ve been coming out of spring training. I’m really excited for this opportunity to be up here in such a great clubhouse with a lot of veteran guys and a lot of very talented guys.”

Following Messinger in the rotation on Saturday is slated to be right-hander Bailey Dees. The 25-year-old Penn State product has tossed 119.2 innings in relief over the last two seasons and has fanned 147 batters over that span. Dominguez says that Dees was stretched out during spring training and expects him to start for the time being, but he did say his role will remain fluid as the season progresses.

Somerset will round out their quick three game series with Richmond on Sunday by handing the ball to Trystan Vrieling. The 23-year-old right-hander was the Bombers third round draft selection out of Gonzaga in 2022, but he is yet to make his organizational debut after losing his 2023 campaign to an elbow injury. Vrieling tossed 10.2 innings for Mesa in the Arizona Fall League and posted a 5.06 ERA with 15 strikeouts.

Southpaw Brock Selvidge, the Yankees 11^th ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, arrived in Somerset on Thursday and is expected to make his Double-A debut when the Patriots hit the road next week in New Hampshire. Dominguez singled Selvidge out as a player he is excited to see this season after fanning 137 batters in 127.2 innings between Low and High-A last season. Selvidge started the Spring Breakout game for the Yankees and fanned eight while allowing just one hit over four innings.

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.