Ballou on Baseball: June 13

In baseball, especially in Triple-A baseball, planning ahead is one of those necessities that is generally a waste of time and energy.

Things change too fast and too often for no apparent reason. Take this week’s column, for instance. In the middle of last week, the plan was to write about how offense had gone crazy in Triple-A, and in Worcester. The daily check of box scores showed teams scoring in double figures and losing. They showed 14-1 games, 12-0, 16-0, 13-11, 12-10, etc.

The WooSox were part of that and manager Chad Tracy was asked about it.

“We haven’t pitched as well as we need to,” he said, “and that’s probably part of it. And, at least on our end, we also have a very good offense. You look elsewhere and see a lot of runs, too. There is high scoring around the league and you see a lot of 12-9 scores, games like that.”

The revised calling of balls and strikes may have something to do with it.

So, immediately after Tracy took the time to answer that question, his WooSox went on a four-game winning streak against Rochester in which every game featured a save opportunity, meaning they were close. There were 28 total runs scored in the four games, one less than scored in a Sunday Triple-A game in which Oklahoma City beat El Paso, 24-5.

Tracy wondered how this season’s offensive numbers compare with last season’s at a similar point. They are hugely different, it turns out.

In 2022, Worcester had the same record after 63 games as now. The WooSox were 31-32. This year, though, WooSox games have featured almost 100 more runs than in ’22, 735 this season, 639 last year. Worcester was hitting .244 as a team in 2022 compared with .259 now. Its ERA was 4.60 compared to 5.46 in 2023.

Is it the computerized strike zone? Roster makeup? The new rules? It is probably a combination of all three, and chances are teams and players will adapt as the game continues to evolve.

This year’s WooSox are on a pace to shatter the Boston Triple-A affiliates record for total runs in a season, records that go back to 1941. This year’s pace is 1,750 runs. The record to date is 1,544 set in 1996.

The reasons are varied, for sure, but the perception and reality match up in 2023. Offense has exploded, both for the WooSox and throughout Triple-A baseball.

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THE WEEK AHEAD

The WooSox are scheduled for six games in Norfolk as they try to extend their four-game winning streak. It will not be easy. The Tides, Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate, have the best record in the International League at 43-19 and are 22-8 at home.

They are led offensively by Jordan Westburg. He has 17 homers, 52 RBIs and is batting .300. Two former WooSox pitchers are on the roster. Eduard Bazardo is 3-1, 3.04. Darwinzon Hernandez is 1-1, 3.86 and still walks a lot of batters, 15 in 18 2/3 innings.

This will be Worcester’s second series versus Norfolk. The WooSox went 3-3 down there last July.

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CATCHING UP WITH….

Catcher Chris Herrmann, who hit the first home run in Worcester Red Sox history in Trenton, N.J. to open the 2021 season, is playing for the Kansas City Monarchs of the independent American Association. Herrmann is killing it at the plate with a .381 average and 9 homers in 25 games.

One of Herrmann’s teammates is a much more recent WooSox player, Edwin Diaz, who went to KC right after being released by Worcester. Diaz hit .214 in his first 14 games in the American Association.

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TRIPLE A TRIVIA

1. Two Pawtucket Red Sox pitchers, Burke Suter and Mike Burns, were the last Boston Triple-A pitchers with 10 or more complete games in a single season. What year did that happen?

2. What is the largest city, in terms of population, in Triple-A baseball?

Answers below.

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Ryan Fitzgerald has an unofficial plate appearance to add to his 2023 totals. He has gone to bat for younger brother Colan, who has spent the last two hockey seasons playing for Binghamton of the Federal League. Ryan is lobbying the Railers to give his brother, a defenseman, a tryout when training camp opens in the fall. One of Colan’s teammates in Binghamton was Jack Schultz, who had a couple of stints with the Railers last season and played very well. …Brandon Nail picked up the win in his WooSox debut on June 8. He joins a fairly long list of pitchers who have gotten wins in their first game for Worcester. It includes Chris Sale and Martin Perez, with exactly 200 major league wins between them, and current Boston reliever Chris Martin. Nail is just the third Worcester pitcher with a win in his Triple-A debut though, and he is in good company there. The other two are Brayan Bello and Chris Murphy, both of whom later graduated to Boston. … It did not take long for Christian Koss to make WooSox history. He had both a sacrifice and sacrifice fly in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. That made him the first Worcester batter ever with one of each in the same game. The sac bunt has become the manual transmission of baseball, but it still works, just like four-on-the-floor. The WooSox have had one in 13 games through the years and are 9-4 in those contests. … Worcester would hate to lose him, but it’s about time for Ryan Sherriff to return to the major leagues for a longer look. He has allowed just one earned run and three hits in his last 9 1/3 innings at Triple-A. … As hoped and expected, Ronaldo Hernandez is prospering with more time in the lineup. Since his average bottomed out at .190 on June 2, Hernandez is 7 for 19 with 6 runs scored and 9 RBIs to raise his average to .223. He also has not struck out once so far this month. … Because he has been used in different bullpen roles, this slips under the radar a bit but A.J. Politi has acareer record of 10-1 for Worcester. … This is a good trend — WooSox batters have struck out fewer than 10 times in eight straight games, best ever since they began play in 2021. Two of those games were a doubleheader but still, putting the ball in play is a good thing. …On May 31, Murphy had allowed 34 runs in 36 2/3 inning. So far this month he hasn’t been charged with one in 7 1/3 innings including an appearance with Boston. That callup made Murphy the 17th player to make his big league debut after playing for the WooSox. Joe Jacques’ Boston debut on June 12 brought that total to 18.

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TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. Suter threw 11 complete games, Burns 10 for the 1979 Pawtucket Red Sox.

2. Jacksonville has the biggest population of the 30 Triple-A cities with approximately 960,000 residents. The largest city to have a minor league baseball team at any level is New York, home to the Brooklyn Cyclones of the High-A South Atlantic League.