Pete Crow-Armstrong – Picture by Todd Johnson

I could not have picked a better day to go to a ball game to take pictures than today. The temperature was in the mid 70s and it was a gorgeous night in Appleton, Wisconsin. I got a lot of good pictures you’ll be seeing over the next few months and I am excited to go back tomorrow to see Porter Hodge pitch.

But for today, there was a lot of action around the system.

Pics of the Day

Debut of the Day

The recently signed Grant Kipp made his debut tonight in Mesa. He threw 2 scoreless innings and struck out two. The 6-foot-6 righty out of Yale signed as a nondrafted free agent less than a week but was pitching well in the Cape Cod League.

Bat Break of the Day

Weird Roster Lineup of the Day

In Mesa

Paciolla 3B
Preciado SS
Cristian Hernandez 2B

Think what you want, but that was strange set up considering that Pedro Ramirez was the DH.

Starting Pitcher of the Day. 

There were good performances at every level tonight. Dalton Stambaugh threw four shut out innings at Wisconsin and looked on unhittable but just ran out of gas in the fifth. Luke Little tossed 3.2 scoreless frames and struck out five and my guy Chris Clarke went six innings with five strikeouts and allowed just one run for the Smokies in their win. Clarke also struck out five. But he’s not going to be the Staring Pitcher of the day either. That is going to Matt Swarmer who threw four scoreless for Iowa and struck out six as he tries to get back to Chicago.

Reliever of the Day

José Miguel Gonzalez went four innings as a piggyback for Luke Little. He did not allow a run and he also struck out five on the night. Honorable mention goes to Michael McAvene who stopped a Wisconsin rally and Sheldon Reed who was nails in the tenth for South Bend to get the save.

Hitter of the Day

I watched Pete Crow-Armstrong work AB after AB tonight. He went 3-for-5 with two RBI, a home run, and a walk. He also worked several long ABs as he looked to be right on top of everything. I’ve seen him several times this year in person and this was the best pitch recognition skills he’d had in any of those games going back to June. Good for him!

I will be back in the morning with a profile of draft pick Will Frisch.