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MLB

Patriots Notebook: Round Two with Reading

By Somerset Patriots
9:49 AM EDT

Bridgewater, New Jersey – The Patriots (12-15) hit the road Tuesday riding high off their first series victory of the season after taking five of seven from Portland at home last week. Somerset was propelled by an offensive barrage that scored 57 runs and blasted a franchise series-record 18 home

Bridgewater, New Jersey – The Patriots (12-15) hit the road Tuesday riding high off their first series victory of the season after taking five of seven from Portland at home last week. Somerset was propelled by an offensive barrage that scored 57 runs and blasted a franchise series-record 18 home runs during the stretch.

The bags are packed, but the trip is short as Somerset embarks on the 95-mile trek for a week in Reading for their second meeting of the season with the second place Fightin’ Phils (13-13). The Patriots clashed with their division rival back at TD Bank Ballpark in mid-May and split a tightly contested six-game slate that featured three games decided by just one run.

Here are some news, notes and tidbits surrounding the Patriots heading into this week’s action.

Riding the Rails: Yankees top-prospect George Lombard Jr. was promoted from Somerset to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on April 29. The shortstop went to work on his offensive approach over the winter and instantly found success in instituting those changes over the first 20 games of the campaign. In 20 games with the Patriots, Lombard slashed .312/.400/.571 while hitting four homers and driving home 10 runs alongside four stolen bases.

Power Source: Somerset blasted 18 homers in their seven-game series with Portland last week, which marks the most in franchise history and the most by a Double-A club this season. The offensive stretch displayed by hitting coach Mike Fransoso’s unit is historic. Somerset’s 49 long balls lead all of Double-A and are the most homers by a Double-A affiliate over the course of their first 27 games since at least 2005.

The Patriots have posted an Eastern League best .503 slugging percentage and feature five of the league’s top 10 home run hitters. Marco Luciano is tied with teammate Garrett Martin for third in the EL (eight HR) while Coby Morales, Tyler Hardman and Jace Avina (seven HR) are tied for sixth.

Marco on the Map: It wasn’t very long ago that infielder Marco Luciano was regarded as one of the elite prospects in the game – he peaked as high as Baseball America’s No.12 prospect entering 2021 and as recently as pre-2024 was ranked as high as No. 56 by the same outlet. Luciano, who is playing on a minor league deal, has 126 plate appearances in the major leagues and is certainly doing everything that he can with Somerset to ultimately get back there.

Luciano cranked four homers against Portland last week and is tied for the team lead in the clubhouse with eight in 25 games this season. His 1.034 OPS leads all Patriots.

Hitting it Hard: Tyler Hardman has now homered in three consecutive games and has four homers over that stretch. Riding a six-game hitting streak in which he has driven in 10 runs, the 27-year-old infielder has a .954 OPS and .361 OBP this season. His 23 RBI on the year are tied for the team lead with Coby Morales.

Debut in the Bigs: The list continues to grow as the Yankees player development staff consistently works to pump out big league contributors. With the MLB debuts of pitcher Elmer Rodriguez and catcher Jesus Rodriguez over the last week, 53 players have now had their path come through Somerset in their ultimate stop in the big leagues.

The Yankees summoned their No. 3 prospect Rodriguez to the show last Wednesday to make his debut in Arlington against the Rangers. The 22-year-old righty, who made 11 starts for the Patriots last season, allowed four hits and two earned runs in his 80-pitch debut over 4.0 IP.

Rodriguez was called up by San Francisco and made his MLB debut Monday night for the Giants, going 0-for-3 against San Diego. The 24-year-old Rodriguez saw 30 games of action with Somerset between 2024 and 2025 before being dealt to the Giants at last summer’s MLB trade deadline as part of the package the Yankees sent to acquire reliever Camilo Doval.

Roster Shuffle: The Yankees announced a slew of roster moves on Monday afternoon that included outfielder Kenedy Corona being promoted to Triple-A while infielder Duncan Pastore was sent down to Somerset from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Corona, who has three games of big-league action with Houston under his belt, had tallied three homers and 10 RBI while hitting .250 in 22 games for Somerset this season.

Double-A Debut: Yankees No. 25 prospect Jack Cebert, a 15th round draft selection last summer, made his debut for Somerset against Portland last Friday and certainly lived up to the billing as an ascending and exciting prospect. The 24-year-old righty, who was still pitching in college at Texas Tech this time last year, had posted a 0.98 ERA in three appearances for Hudson Valley before getting the call up.

Cebert allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits, while fanning seven on the night. In 23.2 IP this season between High-A and Double-A, he has struck out 24 batters and posted a 1.52 ERA while holding opponents to a mere .148 batting average.

Knowing the Opponent: Reading enters action this week sitting in second place in the division despite their .500 mark at 13-13 overall after splitting a six-game series with Hartford last week.

While Somerset has a slew of power hitters atop the league leaderboard, Reading first baseman Alex Binelas enters action on Tuesday tied for the Eastern League lead in homers with nine after hitting 10 in 81 games last season. In their series last month, Binelas went 5-for-14 with two HR and four RBI against Somerset.

Beyond Binelas, Reading is headlined by the Philadelphia’s No. 6 prospect Aroon Escobar and No. 7 prospect Dante Nori.

The 21-year-old Escobar is playing in his first full-season at Double-A after spending the final week of the 2025 campaign with Reading last year. The Venezuelan product slashed .270/.361/.413 in 120 games across three levels last season. The infielder is slashing .247/.345/.361 with two homers and 15 RBI to go with seven stolen bases in 25 games this season. Escobar went 5-for-22 with a homer and four RBI against Somerset in April.

Outfielder Dante Nori was the Phillies first round pick back in 2024 (27th overall) and like Escobar is seeing Double-A for the first full-season after a brief stint to wrap 2025. Nori is regarded as being extremely athletic with high on-base potential. In 23 games of action this season, Nori is slashing .317/.373/.505 with two homers and 11 RBI along with seven stolen bases. Nori hit safely in five of the six previous matchups with Somerset, going 7-for-27 with a homer and two RBI.

Probable Pitchers

Tuesday 5/5: RHP Trent Sellers (0-1, 7.56 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Brnovich (0-2, 5.87 ERA)

Wednesday 5/6: RHP Cade Smith (1-1, 5.30 ERA) vs. Gabriel Barbosa (0-0, 3.00 ERA)

Thursday 5/7: LHP Xavier Rivas (1-2, 7.07 ERA) vs. RHP Braydon Tucker (3-2, 1.73 ERA)

Friday 5/8: RHP Jack Cebert (1-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. RHP Luke Russo (4-1, 5.95 ERA)

Saturday 5/9: LHP Kyle Carr (2-3, 6.95 ERA) vs. LHP Adam Seminaris (1-3, 3.34 ERA)

Sunday 5/10: RHP Chase Chaney (1-2, 4.28 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Brnovich (0-2, 5.87 ERA)

Matt Kardos | SomersetPatriots.com Senior Writer

Matt Kardos has covered the Yankees minor league system for over a decade and will spend his 14th season on the beat covering the Patriots for SomersetPatriots.com. Throughout his career, Matt has contributed to MLB.com, YES Network and Pinstriped Prospects. When he’s not at the ballpark, Matt enjoys traveling with his wife Kimberly, watching Jets football and collecting sports cards.

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