There was a lot of interesting things that happened on the farm on Tuesday night. I’m going to start with the most impressive of them, though, and that is the home run that Mariel Bautista hit that turned out to be the game winner even though it came in the 4th inning of the Dayton Dragons win.
The baseball landed sometime after midnight. Ok, that isn’t really true. But the ball did take a while to land as it sailed over the fence, over the walk way, over the concession stand, then out onto Monument Avenue in Dayton. In total, it was went 458 feet according to Trackman, via Jeff Gilbert of the Dayton Daily News.
If you’ve been around the site for a while then you know that I keep track of the home run distances for players on the farm system. I’m a little behind right now and don’t have all of the data on the last two weeks of home runs – but 458 feet would be the longest of the year for all home runs hit in the system through June 25th. That is also the longest home run hit by a Dayton Dragon at home since I started keeping track of this in 2017. Hendrik Clementina does have two home runs that have gone further while playing for the Dragons, but both of those came in road ballparks.
Nick Lodolo is back
Last night saw Nick Lodolo take the mound after missing several weeks as he healed up a blister on his pitching hand. It was only his second start since the beginning of June – he skipped a start with a blister in the first week of June before returning the second week, but left that start with a blister and didn’t return until last night.
He was scheduled to throw two innings in his return, and then he would head off to Colorado to pitch in the Futures Game on Sunday. Things went about as well as you could expect in his return given the parameters. Lodolo threw just 17 pitches as he breezed through his two innings of work, picking up a strikeout along the way. He was throwing 93-95 MPH in the limited time he was out there.
Christian Roa is coming back
The Cincinnati Reds 2nd round draft pick in 2020 got the nod for the opening day start in Low-A Daytona. He then threw one inning before being removed from the game. Roa didn’t pitch again until last week when he began a rehab stint with the Arizona Complex League Reds and threw 3.0 hitless innings with a walk and two strikeouts. Last night he took the mound again and was a bit better as he struck out seven batters with a hit and a walk in 3.1 scoreless innings against the White Sox complex team.
TJ Hopkins keeps on rolling
There are more than a few players that have been hitting well of late in the Cincinnati Reds farm system. TJ Hopkins is among that group and last night he just kept on going, picking up a single, triple, and a home run in the Chattanooga Lookouts win. Since June 3rd the outfielder has hit .360/.449/.560 with 12 walks and 17 strikeouts in 24 games played.