2014 Nashville Sounds Season In Review

The Nashville Sounds finished the 2014 season with a 77-67 record, finishing second in the PCL American Conference Northern Division, 2 1/2 games behind division champion Memphis. It was a 20-victory improvement over the previous season and the franchise's 23rd winning season in 37 years of competition.

The Sounds were in contention for a playoff spot until the final two days of the regular season and spent 100 of the 152 days of the 2014 PCL season in first place.

Nashville drew 323,961 fans to 66 home openings at Greer Stadium in 2014, an average of 4,909 per contest, placing 14th in the Pacific Coast League. The Sounds lost six openings to weather, 2nd-most in the league. The largest crowd to watch a game at Greer was a standing room only attendance of 11,524 on August 27th, the final home game at Greer Stadium. It was the Sounds' first sellout crowd since 2010 and the biggest single-game attendance since 2007.

Boosted by tremendous fan support during their #LastCheerAtGreer, the Sounds held the PCL's best home record at 45-26 but went just 32-41 when playing away from Greer Stadium.

Right-hander starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson was named the 2014 Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year in a vote of league managers and media representatives as well Sounds team MVP in voting by team players and coaches. In 17 outings for Nashville, the Brewers' top prospect went 10-2 with a minor league-leading 1.46 ERA while striking out 114 batters and issuing only 32 walks in his 111 innings of work. At the time of his July 11th promotion to Milwaukee, Nelson led the minor leagues in ERA, ranked 3rd in the minors in strikeouts, and co-led the PCL in victories. To cap off his stellar year, Nelson was named to Baseball America's Minor League All-Star team, which includes players from all classifications.

Third baseman Jason Rogers was voted the 2014 Sounds Fan Favorite in an online poll of Sounds fans. After joining the Sounds in late June, Jason posted a .316 average with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs in 57 games during his first year at the Triple-A level.

Reliever Dustin Molleken was tabbed as the Sounds' 2014 Community MVP. Throughout the season, Dustin has taken time out of his personal schedule to make hospital visits and serve as an instructor in on-field clinics for hard-of-hearing children, disabled children, and Little Leaguers.

Nashville compiled a .266 team batting average, which was the 11th-best mark in the PCL. Utilityman Eugenio Velez led the Sounds and ranked 7th among PCL hitters with his .309 average, which led the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

Sounds hitters produced two grand slams (Jeremy Hermida, Kevin Mattison), two pinch-hit home runs (Mattison, Pete Orr), zero five-hit games, and seven four-hit games. Sounds hitters registered five multiple-homer games, including a team-high two by Matt Pagnozzi. Nashville pinch-hitters batted .271 (23-for-85) with two home runs and 18 RBIs; Orr led the club with a .444 pinch-hit average (8-for-18) .

Rogers, in 134 games split between Double-A Huntsville and Triple-A Nashville, ranked 3rd in the Brewers organization with a .296 average and placed 2nd in the system with 82 RBIs on the year. Sean Halton ranked 4th in the Milwaukee farm system with his .293 average in 122 games for the Sounds, while Hector Gomez placed 8th among Brewers farmhands with his .282 mark in 121 contests for Nashville.

Logan Schafer posted the Sounds' longest hitting streak of the year, a 17-game run in July & August that was the 5th-longest streak by a PCL batter all season.

The Sounds stole 77 bases on the year to rank 14th in the PCL. Velez ranked 10th in the circuit with a team-best 27 thefts.

Caleb Gindl moved up the Sounds' career leaderboards throughout the year, finishing 5th in hits with 437 over four seasons while placing 2nd with 91 doubles, 4th with 445 games played, and 5th with 1,598 career at-bats.

Sounds hurlers led the Pacific Coast League with a 3.85 ERA, the club's first sub-4.00 team mark since the 2007 season. Nashville pitchers racked up a franchise-record 1,236 strikeouts on the year (2nd-most in the minor leagues), reaching the 1,000 K plateau for the 11th time in the last 13 seasons. The previous single-season strikeout record was 1,148 in 2007.

Eighteen different pitchers started a game for the Sounds in 2014 and six different pitchers recorded a save, led by Rob Wooten's 14. Eight different starting pitchers on the staff threw a quality start, totaling 57 on the year (21 more than the previous season).

Taylor Jungmann, who split the year between Huntsville and Nashville, led the Brewers organization with 147 strikeouts and tied for 2nd in the farm system with his 12 victories between the clubs. The Brewers' #6 prospect placed 8th among Milwaukee minor leagues with his 3.57 season ERA.

Ariel Pena led all PCL starting pitchers with a .211 opponents batting average and with 9.85 strikeouts per nine innings. He also ranked among PCL leaders in strikeouts (3rd-140) and walks (1st-75).

Brent Leach paced all league hurlers with 59 appearances, the 5th-highest single-season total in Sounds history.

Longtime fan favorite Tim Dillard returned to Music City late in the year to mark his 8th different season with an appearance for the Sounds. Already the team's all-time wins leader (39), Dillard surpassed Keith Brown for most innings pitched in a Sounds uniform (556 2/3).

Sounds fielders registered a .980 fielding percentage, tied for 3rd-best in the PCL. Nashville catchers threw out 30.1% of potential basestealers (50 of 166), the 7th-best percentage in the PCL. Sounds backstops committed 14 passed balls. Sounds pitchers registered 21 pickoffs.

Nashville tallied 136 transactions during the 2014 season, 31 more than the previous year. Ten players spent the entire season with the Sounds (pitchers Michael Blazek, Donovan Hand, Kyle Heckathorn, Molleken, and Pena; infielders Gomez, Orr, and Velez; and outfielders Halton and Hermida). Nashville used 21 different position players and 25 pitchers.

Fifteen members from the Sounds also appeared as a Brewer this season. Ten players from the Opening Day roster were promoted to the major leagues at some point during the season. Two Sounds players - infielders Matt Clark and Gomez - made their Major League debut during the campaign. Three different Milwaukee Brewers players made rehabilitation assignments with the Sounds.

Nelson, Fiers, and Hand were named to the PCL squad in the mid-season Triple-A All-Star Game at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, North Carolina. Nelson was elected as the PCL's starting pitcher for the game but missed the contest due to his mid-July promotion to Milwaukee. Fiers and Hand were selected as reserves by the PCL office; Fiers retired his four batters faced, three by strikeout, while Hand retired two of three during the PCL's 7-3 loss.

Nelson was selected as the RHP on the 2014 All Pacific Coast League Team.

Two Sounds garnered PCL Player of the Week honors during the 2014 season: pitcher Mike Fiers (April 28-May 5) and first baseman Matt Clark (August 18-25).

PCL Player of the Week Stats
RHP Mike Fiers (April 28-May 5) - tossed a seven-inning, two-hit shutout with 11 K's
1B Matt Clark (August 18-25) - .536 AVG, 3 HRs, 9 RBIs, hit safely in all seven games

Most Common Batting Order
Logan Schafer, CF
Eugenio Velez, 2B
Jason Rogers, 3B
Hunter Morris, 1B
Sean Halton, LF
Caleb Gindl, RF
Hector Gomez, SS
Matt Pagnozzi, C
Pitcher

Batting Leaders

Batting Average	Eugenio Velez	.309
Games Played	Sean Halton	122
At-Bats	Sean Halton	416
Hits	Eugenio Velez	125
Total Bases	Hector Gomez	197
Runs Scored	Sean Halton	63
Runs Batted In	Jeremy Hermida	67
Home Runs	Matt Clark / Jeremy Hermida	16
Triples	Hector Gomez / Pete Orr	6
Doubles	Sean Halton	29
Stolen Bases	Eugenio Velez	27
Walks	Jeremy Hermida	67
Strikeouts	Sean Halton / Jeremy Hermida	90

Pitching Leaders

Earned Run Average	Ariel Pena	4.56
Games	Brent Leach	59
Games Started	Ariel Pena	24
Wins	Jimmy Nelson	10
Losses	Donovan Hand / Ariel Pena	8
Saves	Rob Wooten	14
Complete Games	Mike Fiers	1
Strikeouts	Ariel Pena	140
Innings Pitched	Ariel Pena	128.1
Hits Allowed	Michael Blazek	106
Runs Allowed	Ariel Pena	69
Walks Allowed	Ariel Pena	75
Home Runs Allowed	Ariel Pena	12