Welcome to the 2026 Edition of Leading Off, the official publication of the Reno Aces Baseball Club. This season-long publication will release an updated edition before every homestand. Stay up-to-date with everything happening at Greater Nevada Field, and learn more about the opponent coming to town! Its logos and graphics are trademarks of the Reno Aces. All rights reserved—Aces photos provided by Aces Team Photographer David Calvert.
After finally completing this season’s longest road trip, the Reno Aces can return to friendly confines where they renew rivalries with their closest geographical opponent in the Sacramento River Cats, Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, for the third time this season.
Thrice the Aces allowed and lost by double-digit runs in last week’s series against Salt Lake, by they still had a chance to halve their six games with the Bees thanks to an 8-5 win in game three and a last at-bat 6-5 win in game five. Reno was leading in game six when the contest was halted, but it had not completed five innings and thus did not meet the qualifications to count as a full contest.
Thanks to a pair of three-hit games, Manuel Pena led the way at the dish by hitting .636 (7-for-11), but had only one run scored and walked a trio of times. Christian Cerda led the Aces with three RBI and matched Conticello for the team lead in homers with one.
This week marks the third meeting of 2026 between the Aces and River Cats, as they met twice earlier this year in May. Sacramento took two of the first three but Reno was able to salvage a split from May 5-10, and a wild final two games saw the Aces come within outs of another split until the River Cats secured a 4-2 series win.
That leaves the Aces on the wrong end of a 5-7 (.417) margin in the season series, and the Aces are hoping to avoid a similar fate such as when they dropped last year’s combined meetings by a 12-6 total. With 12 games remaining on the schedule against Sacramento, including the final series of the campaign, Reno is looking to return to the 15-9 season series margins they won by in both 2023 and 2024.
In their 12 games, the Aces have compiled a 5.50 ERA against the River Cats which is sixth of their nine total opponents in 2026. However, they have done it without much strikeout success as Reno’s punchout rate of 16.6 percent is their lowest against any opponent this year.
Hitting has also struggled a bit, with Reno’s .268 batting average against the River Cats slotting seventh of their nine opponents at just miniscule points ahead of their near-identical .268 mark against Sugar Land. The Aces have reached double-digit homers, but their 10 big flies rank sixth of nine opponents as does their 60 runs scored.
The River Cats went on to finish the first half in second place at just 1.5 games behind the first half champion Las Vegas Aviators. Sacramento has not quite had the same success in the second half, as they sit in fourth place at 5.0 games behind the PCL leading Sugar Land Space Cowboys despite holding a record of 29-22.
Since the second half of the season started on June 23, Sacramento is hitting .287 which is a mark that is again mere fractions of a point behind Salt Lake for the best in the PCL. Uniquely, the River Cats have done it without help of the long ball as their 50 big flies rank only ahead of the 40 hit by Sugar Land in that same time. In spite of that, the River Cats have the PCL’s second-most doubles with 111 and the fifth-most runs with 301.
From the hill, Sacramento’s 5.16 ERA in this time slots fourth in the PCL. River Cats hurlers have been carving up batters along the way as their 20.8 percent strikeout rate is third in the league, as is their .259 opposing batting average. Sacramento is one of only four teams in the second half to log double-digit saves with 11, one shy of Oklahoma City’s league-leading 12.
On an individual note, no player has more hits in the second half than Sacramento’s Scott Bandura, as he is hitting .364 by going 72-for-198 with 44 runs scored, 16 doubles, seven homers and 42 RBI. Turner Hill has been equally as, if not more, impressive than Bandura, batting .386 with 13 doubles, four triples, four homers and 25 RBI while playing around his MLB debut with San Francisco.
Of the PCL pitchers who have made at least seven starts in the second half, Matt Wilkinson had led the squad with a 5.45 ERA, but he has since been promoted to San Francisco’s MLB rotation. Seth Lonsway stands as the next man up, working to a 1-4 record and 6.69 ERA with 24 strikeouts in the second half.
San Francisco’s farm system was overhauled at the trade deadline, jumping up to a midseason No. 5 ranking per MLB Pipeline. However, with the recent promotion and graduation of some players from prospect status, Sacramento hosts only three of San Francisco’s top-30 prospects.
Tops of that group is outfielder Bo Davidson, a former undrafted free agent who now the No. 8 prospect in the San Francisco system. In 33 games so far at Triple-A, the 24-year-old Davidson is hitting .305 with 23 runs scored, 10 doubles, six homers, 27 RBI, and a .910 OPS.
Reno Aces pitcher Bryce Jarvis is already living out most little boys’ dreams by becoming a professional baseball player. Now, his career is helping him cross paths with another traditional child’s interest thanks to the help of an outside source.
Aamon Jaeger has had a lifelong obsession with fossils and has turned that passion into becoming an Archeologist and Paleontologist. Self-admittedly, he was a terrible student in college, but he enjoyed being in the field working and was lucky that “they’re just here in your backyard” when you live in Montana, even if you had to hike miles to find them.
Over 13 years ago, he was able to convince a group of ranchers that he knew to allow him the chance to search for fossils on their property, and quickly Jaeger discovered a spot with a continuous layer of bone that developed into a full quarry. Over time, that has helped Jaeger build his paleontological excavation and preparation company, NorthWest Montana Fossils.
Though Jaeger and his company pull out 400-500 different bones in one season, it’s the recent discovery of a Metopasaur skull that has led him towards baseball. This skull, from the Metoposaur Koskinonodon family, is what’s known as a Triassic fossil, or “pre-dinosaur” as Jaeger puts it. In technicality, it falls under what’s called the Archosaur family.
“It’s about 85 percent complete, which is very notable,” Jaeger said. “Normally you don’t find skulls that complete in the 80th percentile. What’s very scientifically important about this skull is that it retained placement of about 60 percent of all of its teeth, including these bone-like tusks in their maxillary jaws as well.
“This is really going to help us identify the exact genus and species,” Jaeger continued. “I don’t want to speak too soon, but because this formation and this fossil era of time is semi-understudied, it could open the door to a new branch of the Metoposaur family.”
It is also significant to the Aces for the name that Jaeger has decided to give it: Jarvis.
“I didn’t know if it was real to be honest,” Bryce said of his reaction when initially told the news. “I would hope that’s a first for most people, but it’s cool. It’s an honor and I’m excited to see it in person.”
Jarvis, or “Jarvisaur” as Jaeger affectionally called it, was discovered last March on his Arizona property as their main headquarters in Montana is snowed in during the winter months. Within the first few years of operations, the company established an alternate site down in the northeastern part of Arizona, which became operational after five to six years of study.
Once able, Jaeger and his team brought Jarvis north to their main preparation facility back in Montana where his wife, Chantel, quickly got to work. Thus far, she has logged over 200 hours of restoration.
“She put her heart and soul into this one,” Jaeger said. "These Metoposaur skulls are not easy. There’s a lot of detail involved with them, and she put a lot of work into this guy.”
Past discoveries of Jaeger’s have been named after friends and family—and once even his cat, Pelé, named after the Brazilian soccer legend—but this time he turned to his love of baseball for inspiration.
“We had an opportunity when we were at Spring training in 2025 to get an autograph from Bryce Jarvis and Jake McCarthy, which we were not going to turn down,” Jaeger said. “So, we went to the live autograph session before the game, and they were both very nice, and you could tell Mr. Jarvis genuinely wanted to be there.
“It was such a great experience,” Jaeger continued. “It was everything that we wanted it to be. We thought, he’s not only on fire for baseball, but he’s active with the fans too, and what a nice individual. We decided the next specimen we find, we were going to name “Jarvis” or ‘Jarvisaur.’”
Bryce has become a favorite of Jaeger’s to watch pitch for the past three seasons now because of his ability to remain composed on the mound, and he has the trading card collection to prove it. While he feels for those who have a tough outing, Jaeger mentioned that Bryce’s even-keeled mannerisms make it seem that he never gets flustered and is “a cool cucumber.”
“It’s just kind of always been my demeanor,” Jarvis said. “There’s a lot of thoughts going on in my head and the best way that I’ve figured out how to block those out is to just be as emotionless as I can on the mound.
“It sneaks out every once in a while,” Jarvis continued. “I try to only let it sneak out when it’s in a good way, but that’s just kind of how I’ve always thrown. [It’s] how my dad taught me growing up, to be as stoic as you can and not let anyone guess what you’re thinking.”
To the best of his online internet research ability, Jaeger believes that Bryce is the first specific baseball player or team to be the namesake of a fossil. However, there are several more that Jaeger has in the works, also inspired by past fandoms.
Those include “HoJo,” named after his friend and discoverer ‘s favorite baseball player Howard Johnson, and “Moyer,” of course named after MLB icon Jamie Moyer and found on the same property as Jarvis. The latter earned its name because Moyer was the reason he got into baseball and was the first autographed ball that Jaeger ever received at about 12-years-old.
There’s even a site that Jaeger has named the “Downs Quarry,” named after former San Francisco Giants pitcher Kelly Downs whom Jaeger has had the chance to have out on digging. Notable finds that have worked their way into museums have made sure the Downs Quarry name is forever etched in history for notations and study.
“We’re hoping to have Jarvis start off as this is what we’re doing, and this is what I want to focus the next years of my career on,” Jaeger said. "Bringing baseball and fossils together by naming specimens and sites after baseball players that have been very significant in our life.”
It has now been about 10 years in Jaeger’s estimation that he has been digging for Triassic fossils, but in that time, this is only the second Metoposaur skull that he and his team have found. The first was his wife Chantel’s top discovery of her career, and Jaeger similarly ranks this most recent find as the best Metoposaur find of his career.
“It may seem small, as the skull is only about 16 inches long or so,” Jaeger said. "But these Metoposaurs [have grown] about 10-12 feet long, so they were pretty large with very big teeth. When anything gets over 200 million years old, it’s hard to find teeth along with those skulls as they’re usually separated or eroded out.”
The scientific benefit from Jarvis will no doubt be immense, however it slots in second among his overall finds as Jaeger’s No. 1 discovery remains that of his cat-inspired specimen Pelé that is currently on display in Abu Dhabi.
“I’m honored that he thought of me and thought it would be a good name for it,” Jarvis said. “If you can’t be the biggest, you might as well be the second biggest.”
Recently, Bryce has entered Reno’s top 10 for career innings pitched, forever etching his name in Aces record books. Jaeger says that will also be the case in another industry.
“I’m really excited to have Jarvisaur concrete in the paleontological history,” Jaeger said. “This will be a specimen that scholars for generations to come will turn to in order to do different studies for species identification and things like that. The name Jarvis is going to be used quite a bit in the paleontological world for this era.”
Jaeger's goal in naming Jarvis was to bring together two different worlds that are already connected by a single thread: history. He seeks to connect baseball, America’s pastime with a legacy that stands as one of America’s oldest sports, and fossils, items that transport paleontologists back to a time before humans walked the earth.
“I think that we’re all in our own way kind of treasure hunters, we’re all kind of going after that next home run if you will,” Jaeger said. “I think it’s fantastic like with the Hall of Fame when things get embalmed in history, they are there forever. It’s the same with these specimens when they can be unearthed, brought back to light, and put on display for millions of people to see. They are now completely, 100 percent, document in history, and I would love to have the two worlds collide.”
These discoveries have helped Jaeger become a Triassic power hitter of sorts, and he notes that his company NorthWest Montana Fossils has shifted its main focus of operations to Triassic fossils.
"We have found some very world-class specimens that are on display in very large natural history museums, and Jarvis is going to be along with it,” Jaeger said.
Thinking back to his childhood and his interest in dinosaurs, Bryce remembers going through a brief dinosaur phase as most children do. When he used to visit his grandparents in Lexington, Ken., he would see a dinosaur park along the way. While he did not have a favorite when he was younger, there is one that Bryce has taken to as he’s gotten older.
“[There’s] not a specific favorite, but I feel like as I’ve gotten older and through watching Jurassic Park, the Raptors are pretty cool,” Jarvis said.
Though they are not Raptors, Jaeger noted that those in Reno are just over an hour east of the Lovelock, Nev. area where the “Fossil Hill Formation” is located; a large area of Triassic deep ocean and deep marine layers that have turned into limestone. It holds special significance to Nevada as Jaeger says it was home to Nevada’s state fossil, Ichthyosaur, which often grew to be between 15-20 feet long with serrated teeth.
“I’m beyond excited to have a part of Reno Aces and paleontological history,” Jaeger said. “We really appreciate Bryce for being receptive to this. This is going to be the opportunity of a lifetime.
“When I was a kid, it was a Montana kid’s dream to go to a professional sporting event because we don’t have anything like that,” Jaeger continued. “It’s really cool as an adult to be able to do this and find these ways to participate.”
The Reno Aces were trending on their way to a series split with the Salt Lake Bees when rain force an early end to the series finale resulting in a cancellation that handed the Bees a 3-2 series victory.
Thrice the Aces allowed and lost by double-digit runs in the series, by they still had a chance to halve their six games with the Bees thanks to an 8-5 win in game three and a last at-bat 6-5 win in game five.
Though Reno was leading game six when the game was halted, the contest had not completed five innings and thus did not meet the qualifications to count as a full contest. Thus, all stats from the game are discarded and the game was cancelled with no chance for rescheduling.
Despite this final series loss, the Aces still finished the year with an 11-9 season series victory over the Bees, and the 11 wins currently tied for their second most against any opponent in 2026 with two others.
Reno found a way to stay close in the early goings of their series opener with Salt Lake, but Salt Lake pulled away down the stretch leading to a 17-4 decision on Aug. 18.
A three-run third inning for the Aces helped them equalize the three runs scored by the Bees in the home half of the second, but Reno still trailed by one after Salt Lake’s game-opening tally in the first.
Two walks and an Anderdson Rojas single loaded the bases with no outs for Reno, with the first run scoring on a wild pitch from Bees starter Sam Aldegheri. Another free pass kept the bases full with one out where Tyler Locklear, who made his return to the Aces lineup, singled through the left side to drove home two.
A two-out RBI single from Adrian Del Castillo was the only run the Aces could produce during a 12-1 defeat at the hands of the Bees on Aug. 19.
Though the Aces (21-26/53-69) had an inning-opening walk to Kristian Robinson erased on a double play, the still capitalized in that third frame with three straight hits to score a run. Pavin Smith started the train and came around to score, while the rehabbing Lourdes Gurriel Jr. kept the line moving in front of Del Castillo.
The loss was the sixth in a row for Reno, their longest losing streak of the season and the longest by the Aces since they dropped a franchise record 12 consecutive games last season from Aug. 7-20, 2025.
A six-run fourth and back-to-back homers in the fifth helped the Aces put their six-game losing streak behind them, outlasting the Bees by an 8-5 final in game three of their series on Aug. 20.
Following three scoreless frames, Reno broke the game open with six runs in the top of the fourth, only to see Salt Lake snatch four right back in the bottom half.
Highlighting that six-run fourth for Reno was an RBI double from Anderdson Rojas, which directly succeeded a two-RBI single from Christian Cerda on a ball down the left field. Gavin Conticello’s groundout brought the game’s first run home after Reno had loaded the bases with no outs, while Pavin Smith was responsible for the final two tallies with a knock into right field.
Conticello and Cerda struck again in the fifth, leaving the yard in back-to-back at-bats and becoming the third pair of Aces to do so this season. The last time Reno did so was from the duo of Aramis Garcia and Angel Ortiz on June 28 against Oklahoma City.
Reno’s bullpen was sharp in locking down the game, allowing just one combined run in 5.1 innings of work. That includes the quartet of Derek Law, Kade Strowd, Bryce Jarvis and Gerardo Carrillo, who yielded only one hit (Strowd) while punching out three. Collecting the win with a run-free sixth was Law while Carrillo converted his fifth save of the night in a perfect ninth, and both struck out one.
While Reno opened the scoring on Aug. 21 with Salt Lake, the Bees buzzed back to secure an 11-1 victory over Reno in game four of their series.
The rehabbing Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was the primary source of the Aces’ first and only run of the night, as his sacrifice fly drove home Pavin Smith who had kicked off the game with a single to center field.
Only Landon Sims tossed a scoreless outing from the bullpen, retiring both batters he faced to end the eighth.
Reno managed just five hits in the contest, with the only extra-base knock going to Anderdson Rojas thanks to his double in the top half of the third. Each of the top three spots in Reno’s order had a hit in Smith, LuJames Groover, and Adrian Del Castillo, all of which were singles while Smith scored the run.
After battling back-and-forth all game on Aug. 22, Demetrio Crisantes was the hero on with an RBI single in the top of the ninth inning to give Reno a 6-5 victory at Salt Lake.
Reno scored once on a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. RBI single in the top of the third, then again the BLC-Nine had an answer to keep the score close in the fifth as three straight singles capped off by an RBI knock from Crisantes plated Reno’s second run of the night.
The Aces kept the offense going in the fifth with a pair of runs giving them a 4-3 lead, their first lead in the series since the fourth inning of Thursday’s game. LuJames Groover added an insurance run in the top of the seventh with an RBI single, his third hit of the night.
Unfortunately, the lead would not hold as Salt Lake clubbed back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie things up before the tarp was pulled and the game entered a rain delay in the night, tied 5-5.
Following a brief delay, Adrian Del Castillo and Manuel Pena recorded one-out singles to set the scene for Crisantes’ game-winner before Isaiah Campbell tossed a scoreless frame to close it out.
Rain played spoiler in Sunday’s offensive explosion of a game in Salt Lake as the series finale between the Aces and Bees was suspended due to the weather.
After starting late due to rain, Reno and Salt Lake combined for six home runs in four innings before the rain returned to ultimately suspend the game and bring an abrupt end to the series.
The suspension is the first time a game has been suspended or cancelled for the Aces since July 14, 2024.
Thanks to a pair of three-hit games, Manuel Pena led the way at the dish by hitting .636 (7-for-11), but had only one run scored and walked a trio of times. Christian Cerda led the Aces with three RBI and matched Conticello for the team lead in homers with one.
Infielder LuJames Groover has been named the Player of the Week by the Pacific Coast League after a scorching hot week at home against the Salt Lake Bees, Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels.
The 23-year-old led the Aces to a series victory with a slash line of .476/.571/.762 for a 1.333 OPS. He recorded 10 hits, four of which went for extra bases, along with six walks and four runs scored. His 13 runs batted in throughout the week led all of Triple-A with no other player even reaching double-digits.
Reaching base in all six starts last week, he recorded at least one hit in five of the six contests and two-plus hits in four. In game two, the Georgia native logged the best performance of his young Aces’ career, connecting for his first home run at the Triple-A level, a grand slam in the eighth inning, to cap off a 3-for-5, six RBI night.
During their two-week road trip, the Reno Aces have welcomed a lot of new faces to the roster whether it was by way of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ trade deadline moves or call-ups from Double-A Amarillo. Among them are some of the D-backs’ top ranked prospects and some organizational fan favorites.
#7 Tommy Troy | Position: 2B/SS | Hometown: San Jose, CA
Troy was called up from Double-A Amarillo just over a week ago, on August 2, and made an immediate impact in the Aces’ lineup recording six hits in his first 13 at-bats including four extra-base hits. A first-round selection in the 2023 MLB Draft, he spent most of his life in Northern California growing up in San Jose, Calif. and playing college baseball at Stanford University. While playing at Stanford, he was a first-team All-American and all-PAC 12 recipient, helping the Cardinal to back-to-back conference titles in 2022 and 2023. The 23-year-old ranks as the Diamondbacks’ No. 5 prospect in the organization according to MLB Pipeline and earned his promotion after hitting .286 with a .875 OPS this season in Amarillo.
#60 Ivan Melendez | Position: 1B/DH | Hometown: El Paso, TX
Melendez got the promotion to Reno at the same time as Tommy Troy and wasted no time showing off his raw power at the plate. In his Triple-A debut in Las Vegas, the Texas native launched a grand slam as part of a multi-hit performance in his first game with Reno. The right-handed slugger became Double-A Amarillo’s all-time home run leader earlier this year launching 50 homers in parts of three seasons with the Sod Poodles. A second-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Melendez had a tremendous career at the University of Texas, winning the Golden Spikes Award (best collegiate player) and breaking the BBCOR single-season collegiate home run record in 2022.
#57 Kristian Robinson | Position: OF | Hometown: Nassau, Bahamas
Robinson was moved from Amarillo to Reno on July 26 and brings a unique combination of speed and power to the Aces’ lineup. At the age of 16, he was signed as an international free agent in 2017 and skyrocketed through the D-backs’ system becoming the organization’s No. 1 prospect in 2020 and 2021. Following personal mental health issues during the COVID-pandemic, he was sidelined for three years and remained out of the game until May 2023. With his career back on track, he looks to become just the 10th player from the Bahamas to make it to the big leagues.
#49 Kohl Drake | Position: Starting Pitcher | Hometown: Orem, UT
Drake was the premier piece of the Diamondbacks’ Merrill Kelly trade with the Texas Rangers at the July 31 MLB trade deadline. The left-handed pitcher started his season in Double-A Frisco before a promotion to Triple-A Round Rock brought him to the Pacific Coast League. In four games with the Express, he pitched to a 5.19 ERA none of which came against the Aces. In his organizational debut, the 7th-ranked Arizona prospect turned a solid outing picking up a win over Las Vegas on August 2. A 11th round selection in the 2022 MLB Draft from Walters State Community College, the Drake helped lead his team to back-to-back NJCAA Division I World Series appearances in 2021 and 2022.
Two new arms will also be coming out of the bullpen at Greater Nevada Field in #61 Brandyn Garcia and #23 Juan Burgos. Burgos (25th ranked prospect) and Garcia (20th ranked prospect) were both acquired in trades with the Seattle Mariners at the end of July.