A great catch with a great catch in Louisville and other Reds farm notes

Last night in Louisville the Bats got an outstanding catch from Dwight Smith Jr. in the 8th inning of their game against Toledo. But it wasn’t just his catch that made the highlight outstanding – it was what happened right after that when TJ Friedl then caught Dwight Smith Jr.

DWIGHT SMITH JR, YA’LL?? pic.twitter.com/OVTt9XcTDN

— Louisville Bats (@LouisvilleBats) May 28, 2021

Everyone was ok. While we don’t always get that big hit that followed a big defensive play, Dwight Smith Jr. did just that as he came through in the bottom of the inning with an RBI double that took a 2-1 deficit and turned it into a 3-2 lead.

As for TJ Friedl, he had his left fielders back once again, following with a 2-run double of his own to make it a 5-2 game for Louisville. Those two runs wound up being huge as the Mud Hens scored twice in the 9th. After a real slow start to the season that saw Friedl hit .087/.192/.087 with 10 strikeouts in the first nine games of the year, the center fielder has turned things around with a quickness in the next 10 games. Including last night’s game he’s now hitting .324/.410/.588 with two walks and just three strikeouts in 39 plate appearances in that stretch.

The Daytona Tortugas pitching is getting it done

It’s been written here more than a few times in the last few weeks that the Daytona Tortugas pitching staff has been killing it. They’ve been among the best in all of minor league baseball in terms of ERA this season, at times being at the top spot. After the team combined for a 5-man no-hitter last week it led to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith speaking with several of the pitchers, as well as pitching coach Forrest Hermann about how the team and the players have gone from a group made up largely of guys that don’t find themselves even on prospect lists to a team that’s had outstanding success in the first handful of weeks of the year.