Tacoma Rainiers Opening Night, 2021: Welcome Back to R Town
Paul Sewald vs. TBD, 7:05pm
One of my favorite days of the year is back, after skipping 2020 (wish I could’ve done that) – it’s Opening Night for the Tacoma Rainiers. After an odd two-day delay due to AAA West’s scheduled off day, the R’s are ready to kick off 2021 tonight from Cheney Stadium. JY’s given you a run-down on the club, so I’ll get to the line-up and talk about potential series to come catch a game and which prospects might be playing.
Typically, we talk about prospects who might move UP from lower levels, but this year especially, we might need to spend some time talking about prospects moving back down. I know John Means was on fire yesterday, and would’ve no-hit (or close to it) some of the better line-ups in MLB. But an image I’ll remember was Evan White’s obvious frustration after his third strikeout. Means utterly befuddled White, striking him out all three times, and while he’s been remarkably even-keeled throughout his struggles, White looked pretty frustrated on the last one. He’s now 0 for his last 23 with 8 Ks and no walks, and his stats have tumbled below the low bar he set in 2020. The AAA season couldn’t get here fast enough: the M’s *need* a local, high-level, development focused place to send someone like White, and potentially Taylor Trammell, who’s striking out a ton and, even worse, not playing much right now.
The pandemic has put everyone in a tough spot, but not having a minor league season last year has had some important knock-on effects. I suspect even White would’ve appreciated the opportunity to work on things in the high-minors, and you have to think the M’s would’ve wanted that too. I don’t really think “rushing” a prospect really does lasting damage; I’d still argue that Mike Zunino’s problems both here and in Tampa weren’t the result of calling him up initially, but just how the league adjusted to him. I don’t think the M’s were wrong to start White in the league last year, and it’s hard to blame them when there was really nowhere to send him for meaningful ABs. But now that they DO have the opportunity, they absolutely need to use it. I’ve said before that the Jon Singleton comps are almost too on-the-nose, and well, Singleton followed up his poor rookie year with a disastrous second campaign, and never pulled out of that tailspin. The M’s know White’s better than he’s shown, but absolutely have to help him now.
The focus in Tacoma is rightly on the two uber-prospects who will soon be joining the big club: Jarred Kelenic and Logan Gilbert. I wondered if the M’s would bring up Kelenic before AAA started, as the club isn’t hitting at all, and because they’ve safely moved past the date that would give the team another year of club control. At this point, though, the team may see how he looks and might avoid Kelenic qualifying for Super 2 status. To be clear: all of this is gross, and the sort of thing they swore they wouldn’t do after Kevin Mather’s “you’re not recording this, right?” zoom breakfast. Gilbert’s timeline may have accelerated too following injuries to James Paxton and Nick Margevicius.
So if you’d like to catch those two, get to Tacoma quickly. Gilbert will start tomorrow, in a game that could feature two of the better SP prospects in the game, if MacKenzie Gore starts for the Chihuahuas. Gore’s a lefty, and would give Kelenic one of the tougher match-ups he’ll see at this level. Both Gilbert and Kelenic can get some coaching from brand new manager, and member of the 2019 Rainiers, Kris Negron. Another former Rainier, Eric Young Jr., is also on the staff, helping out hitting coach Roy Howell (who managed the R’s back in 2014). The pitching coach is Rob Marcello, who’s been in the org for only a few years, and did great work with Modesto (where he coached Logan Gilbert) in 2019. It’s nice to see the M’s easing Gilbert’s transition by bringing his High-A pitching coach *and* catcher in Cal Raleigh. The mix of the still-young Marcello and the baseball lifer Howell seems like a good one. Now that Tacoma’s up and running, they could be called upon to help White and Trammell and help some of the older guys like Braden Bishop get over the AAA-MLB hump.
The R’s open up tonight against the San Diego Padres affiliate, El Paso. Gore is obviously the biggest prospect name of what’s a very deep system even after the flurry of trades that dominated the last hot stove league. The Chihuahuas also boast catcher Luis Campusano, the #3 prospect, and OF Tucupita Marcano, #6 in SD’s system. They’ve got ex-Rainiers in OF John Andreoli and RP Parker Markel, and though he’s hurt to start the year, one of the two Brady Feigl‘s.
The Round Rock Express, the Rangers’ AAA affiliate, hit Tacoma on May 20th for a six-game set. This is probably a good time to mention that the AAA West schedule features six-game series with off days on Wednesday, so series start on Thursdays and end on Tuesdays. Texas has recently called up some of their big prospects, including C Jonah Heim, after losing #2 prospect Sam Huff to injury. That said, former #1 prospect, CF Leody Taveras, is back with Round Rock after a brutal start to the season in Arlington. The big pitching prospects aren’t quite at AAA yet, but they have familiar faces in Nick Vincent and Sam Gaviglio.
In early June, the R’s welcome the Salt Lake Bees, the long-time affiliate of the LA Angels. The club has one of the better prospects around in Jo Adell, but the shine is off of him a bit after perhaps a worse MLB debut than White’s last year. He’s still a hyper-talented guy I saw homer twice in a rained-out game at Cheney in 2019, but he’s got to work on making more contact. The Angels top pitching prospect, Reid Detmers, could be with the club by June, but they begin the year with a collection of veterans M’s fans will remember like Jaime Barria, Noe Ramirez, and reliever James Hoyt. They also have Torii Hunter, Jr. if you like feeling old, and Jon Jay, who is presumably also feeling old, whose career overlapped for many years with Hunter’s dad.
The Sacramento RiverCats, the Giants’ affiliate, come through next, beginning on June 10th. They’re headlined by the Giants’ #2 prospect, and former Georgia Tech catcher, Joey Bart. One of the best stories in MiLB, RF Drew Robinson, starts the year with the club, too. The former Rangers OF survived a suicide attempt in 2020 that resulted in Robinson losing an eye, but he’s trained hard and is excited to get back on the field. If you haven’t yet, please read about Robinson in this jaw-dropping story from Jeff Passan. The familiar face to R’s/M’s fans is RP Dominic Leone, and wonderfully-named C Chadwick Tromp backs up Bart.
July begins with a visit from the Reno Aces, the Diamondbacks’ affiliate. The Aces have #7 D-backs prospect in SP Corbin Martin, and slugging 1B Seth Beer (rated #13, but I’d bump him up; the ex-Clemson Tiger can really, really hit). M’s history buffs will remember Zach Lee, the one-time Rainier exchanged for Chris Taylor, and plain old history buffs will nod in appreciation at the name of C Ramses Malave. Longtime A’s and Astros OF Josh Reddick is also with the club.
July closes out with return visits from Salt Lake and then Sacramento, but August brings the first visit of the Las Vegas Aviators, the Oakland A’s affiliate. Predicting their roster months out is a fool’s errand, but they start the year with James Kaprelian, their #10 prospect and a guy with big-time talent who’s struggled to stay healthy. They’ve got OF Luis Barrera (#7) and could have SS Logan Davidson (#5) and P Daulton Jefferies (#4, who’s on the injured list at the moment). OF Buddy Reed is a great defender, and had a highlight reel Spring Training; he could rise up the rankings with a good start in 2021. Long-haired SP Grant Holmes (#15) is also on the Aviators; he’s got very good stuff, and put up good numbers back in 2019.
The R’s finish off the home season beginning Sept. 9th with the Sacramento RiverCats. The entire schedule is here. We won’t get to see the newest member of AAA, the Sugarland Skeeters. Long a big club in the independent leagues, MLB pulled the Skeeters and several other of the biggest IL teams into affiliated ball this year – the St. Paul Saints are also in AAA, and the Somerset Patriots are now in AA. We’ll probably see them in Cheney next year, but for now, the M’s will visit Sugarland to face the Astros’ new affiliate.
Here’s tonight’s line-up:
1: Jarred Kelenic, LF
2: Braden Bishop, CF
3: Donovan Walton, SS
4: Cal Raleigh, C
5: Eric Filia, RF
6: Sam Travis, 1B
7: Jose Godoy, DH
8: Travis Witte, 3B
9: Jack Reinheimer, 2B
SP: Paul Sewald
The R’s face El Paso starter Daniel Camarena, a 28-year old Californian who went to HS in San Diego and now hopes to get back to San Diego as a Padre.
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I welcomed the sound of Kelenic’s bat from 50miles North of Cheney Stadium.
I guess the M’s don’t think this guy is ready yet?
Kelenic put on a show. Raleigh’s blast was impressive, too.
If it’s indeed Gore tonight, the Rainiers game will be more interesting than the Mariners.