Toledo Mud Hens Weekly Release No. 26: September 22, 2025

Overall Record: 84-66 (Second Half: 45-30), 2nd I.L. West Division, Current Streak: 2 Wins

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

Tuesday, September 16 at Iowa (8-4 Win)

Wednesday, September 17 at Iowa (5-1 Win, 7 innings)

Thursday, September 18 at Iowa (10-4 Win)

Friday, September 19 at Iowa (1-0 Loss)

Saturday, September 20 at Iowa (4-2 Win)

Sunday, September 21 at Iowa (7-2 Win)

Mud Hens Notes

Dominant in Des Moines: The Mud Hens took five of six games from the Iowa Cubs this past week, securing a 10-8 season series win. The Hens held on to be one of the last three teams in postseason contention in the International League, but were eliminated after Wednesday’s win by a Scranton/WB win. The Hens got off to an early start in Tuesday’s game to guide themselves to an 8-4 win to open the series, followed by a 5-1 win on Wednesday in a rain-shortened contest. The Hens offense rallied for 6 runs in the 9th inning to win Thursday’s game 10-4, their fourth win on the season after going into the 9th inning tied. They would drop Friday’s game after a battle of pitching staffs, Iowa prevailing with just one run. The Hens would finish up the series with two wins, by scores of 4-2 and 7-2 in Saturday’s and Sunday’s games respectively. The Hens finish the 2025 season tied for first place with the Indianapolis Indians for the second half division lead, however with Indianapolis holding the head-to-head tiebreaker. Toledo finished 3rd in the full season IL West standings, 3.5 games behind Indianapolis.

Strong September Showings: The Mud Hens had their longest hitting streak of the season snapped in last night's shutout loss. Gage Workman had a 14-game hitting streak dating back to August 31st halted with an 0-4 night. He went 21-58 (.362) with 12 of his 21 hits being for extra bases (5 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR) while driving in 17RBI and scoring 16 times. That hitting streak marked the longest of its' kind since Riley Unroe's 14-game hitting streak last season from 7/9-8/3/2024. Max Anderson entered Saturday’s game with a 12-game on-base streak dating back to September 5th, where he went 16-for-48, hit two home runs, drove in 10 runs, scored 12 times, doubled twice, walked three times, and stole a base. Akil Baddoo reached base in his last eight games of the season, going 6-for-29 with two runs driven in, eight walks taken, and a stolen base since September 10th. Justyn-Henry Malloy also reached in his last eight games to end the season, going 10-for-25, recording three doubles, hitting a home run, driving in four runs, walking nine times, and stealing a base.

When It Matters Most: The Mud Hens offense put on a productive show this week, scoring 34 times and slashing .265/.365/.445 as a team. Eduardo Valencia led the team with nine hits on the week (.360 batting average), recording five doubles and a home run in 25 at-bats. Andrew Navigato recorded 6 hits in his 14 at-bats (good for a .429 average), doubling twice and hitting a home run, driving in four runs in total. Justyn-Henry Malloy went 4-for-8 in his two games this week, hitting a double and ripping a home run that came off the bat at 106.6 miles per hour. Trei Cruz finished the week 6-for-18 with two doubles, two RBIs, seven walks (.520 on base percentage), and a stolen base in six games.

Shutdown Arms: As a team, the Mud Hens pitching staff threw for 50.2 innings, posting a 2.31 ERA, only allowing 14 runs, and striking out 47 Iowa Cubs hitters. Troy Watson fell one out shy of a quality start, throwing 5.2 innings and allowing two earned runs while striking out six batters in Saturday’s game. Lael Lockhart threw five innings on Wednesday, only allowing a run on three hits, striking out three batters in his second start returning from injury. Randy Dobnak threw 5.1 innings in Tuesday’s game in a no-decision, allowing four runs and striking out three batters. Woo-Suk Go pitched four innings out of the bullpen, including a two-inning save in Saturday’s game. Chase Lee threw four shutout innings, recording four strikeouts on the week. Tyler Mattison appeared three times this week, closing out two of them. He finished the week with a 1-1 record, allowing only one run over 2.2 innings of work.

He’s Backkkkkk: After missing almost two months with an injury, Dylan Smith came back and proved that he could still shove. Since returning from injury, Smith has posted a 1-0 record and a 1.59 ERA in five appearances (5.2 innings of work), allowing a run on three hits, striking out 12 batters. Overall, Smith places second on the team in strikeouts since his return (Troy Watson has 13 in 17.0 innings), leading the team in strikeouts per 9 innings (19.06). Smith finishes the season with a 1-0 record and a 3.65 ERA in Toledo, striking out 22 batters across 12.1 innings of work.

150 Games Later: The Mud Hens have put together one of their better seasons in recent years, only winning more games in 2022 (87) in the past 10 years. The Hens had their best season at Fifth Third Field since 2022, finishing with a 42-33 record at home and recording the team’s best home ERA (3.79) since 2016. The team had one of their best road seasons in recent history, also recording a 42-33 record away from Toledo. The 2025 Hens hit the best they have on the road (.272) since 2019, recording the most triples (24), total bases (1,228), runs (481), walks (394), stolen bases (93), and highest on-base percentage (.372); second most hits (720; 740 in 2019), second most home runs (105; 113 in 2024) since at least 2015.

Since 2005, no other Mud Hens team has scored more runs (796), hit more triples (47), or taken more walks (724). The 2025 team places second in stolen bases (165) to the 2024 team (182); and stands at second in OBP (.353) to the 2023 team (.356). Out of Hens pitching staffs since 2005, The 2025 staff allowed the least amount of hits in a 140+ game season (1,214) and struck out the 3rd most batters (1,376; 1,461 in 2024 and 1,470 in 2023).

Mud Hens Player of the Week:

Eduardo Valencia (.360 AVG, 9 H, 5 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB)

Mud Hens Pitcher of the Week:

Dylan Smith (W, HLD, 3 G, 3.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 6 K)