El Paso Chihuahuas (Defeated Salt Lake Bees, 5-1)
Matthew Batten hit .412 this week. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Top Performers: Matthew Batten had a massive week in the penultimate series of the year for the Chihuahuas, hitting .412, with a pair of doubles and two home runs for a 1.326 OPS and sat out on Sunday’s game after being hit in the head on his first plate appearance on Saturday night. Batten, El Paso’s all-time leader in games played with 515, has a .703 OPS in 2024, well off his Triple-A career mark of .759. The 29-year-old has, once again, played all over the field defensively. .… Randy Vásquez, 25, had his best start of the year in Triple-A, going six innings and only allowing two hits and a pair of walks. He struck out eight with what manager Pete Zamora called “borderline electric stuff.” Vásquez’s ERA of 5.18 in 92.0 big league innings has been much better than the 8.84 ERA he managed in 36.2 innings for El Paso, a tough place for a pitcher who depends on movement within the strike zone.
Tirso Ornelas has added first base to his resume this year. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Top Prospects and Others of Note: Tirso Ornelas, 24, had a team-high eight hits in six games, including two more that went over the wall on the way to an .846 OPS. After a dreadful start to the year, Ornelas has produced his best season, with career highs in home runs (21) and a slugging percentage of .497. Defensively, he has also started to see time at first base and has even logged time in center field. … Eguy Rosario tied Cody Decker’s Chihuahuas career record with his 48th home run. and added three doubles in five games for a .688 slugging percentage. The 24-year-old also stole three more bases in three attempts to push his stolen base total to 17 as he looks to repeat his 20/20 season from 2022. … Kevin Plawecki, 33, one of five catchers on the El Paso roster, led the team with six RBIs on the back of two home runs and a double in four games, good for a 1.113 OPS. With the number of catchers on the roster, Plawecki has been seeing most of his time at first base and designated hitter. … Calvin Mitchell, 25, was the fourth Chihuahua with an OPS over 1.000, gathering seven hits including a double and two home runs. The former Rancho Bernardo High School star has a .832 OPS with 17 home runs in his first season in the organization. … Gabe Mosser, 28, had another excellent week, throwing six innings and only giving up one unearned run while striking out six. The 2018 draft pick leads the team with 127.1 innings thrown and 99 strikeouts. … Matt Waldron, 27, continues to pitch well in maybe the most challenging place to throw a knuckleball in the altitude of the Pacific Coast League. This week, he went five innings, allowed one run, and walked his first batter in three appearances since being sent down to El Paso. (John Conniff)
Marcos Castañon finished strong for San Antonio. (Photo: Rey Holguin)
San Antonio Missions (Split series vs. Springfield Cardinals)
Players of the Week: Henry Baez finishing the season strong, pitching into the seventh inning for the third time on the season. The 21-year-old allowed one earned run on five hits over 6.1 innings to lower his ERA to a stellar 2.99 across 126.1 innings between Fort Wayne and San Antonio. He set career highs in nearly every category, and despite pitching 28 innings more than last year, he walked eight fewer batters. … The only Missions batter to reach base safely in all six games was Marcos Castañon. After drawing one walk in each of the first two games, Castañon finished the series with seven hits, including three doubles, over the final four contests. On the week, the former UC Santa Barbara Gaucho hit .350/.458/.500. The 25-year-old ended a disappointing campaign on a high note with an .868 OPS in September.
Top Prospects and Others of Note: After an up-and-down season, Ryan Bergert finished the year on a roll. He allowed two earned runs over six innings without walking a batter while striking out four. After having a 6.26 ERA in the first half, Bergert cut that in half with a 3.21 ERA after returning to action in July. Following a month-long layoff, Bergert dropped his walk rate, improved his strikeout rate, and shaved more than 100 points off his opponents’ batting average, from .315 in the first half to .213 in the second. … The Padres promoted Braden Nett to Double-A to give him one final start. The 2022 undrafted free agent went 4.2 innings, allowing just one earned run despite walking five and striking out three. In 65 innings this year, Nett managed a 3.88 ERA and 73 strikeouts showing electric stuff, but continuing to struggle to find the zone. The 22-year-old righty walked nearly 14% of the batters he faced. Despite the command issues, Nett will rank as one
Ryan Bergert reestablished himself in the second half. (Photo: Rey Holguin)
of the top pitching prospects in the organization. … The TinCaps saves leader, Manuel Castro, also got a promotion to extend his season. The 22-year-old took advantage of the opportunity, throwing four scoreless innings on the week, striking out seven. He finished the season allowing just one earned run over his last 11 innings, striking out 16. … Last year, Bradgley Rodriguez had yet to pitch in a game in the states. He ended 2024 by throwing 1.2 scoreless innings in Double-A. Between three leagues this season, Rodriguez posted a 2.64 ERA with 75 strikeouts in 61.1 innings. Batters hit .180 off the 20-year-old, as he seemingly reached triple digits effortlessly as a breakout star in the organization this year. … In his final start of the year Austin Krob went six strong innings allowing two runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out five. The lefty finishes the year with a team high 120 strikeouts in 124 innings (both top 10 in the Texas League). … The more he plays, the more Joshua Mears confirms he is who we think he is. Over the season’s final four games, Mears had 17 plate appearances. He struck out nine times (53%). However, in the other eight plate appearances he went 5-for-7 with two doubles, two home runs, and a walk, good for a cool, 2.607 OPS when he made contact. Mears finishes his late-season stint in Double-A hitting .174/.230/.478. (Ben Davey)
Brandon Butterworth caps off a triple emphatically for the Storm. (Photo: Robert Escalante)
Storm Advanced to Cal League Championship Series
Lake Elsinore only needed two games to sweep the Visalia Rawhide in their division series, then lost the first game of the Cal League Championship Series at home to Modesto. The offense had a pair of big games, but it was stellar pitching from Miguel Mendez, Kleiber Olmedo, and Tyson Neighbors that clinched their division pennant. In addition to hitting the decisive homer in the clincher, Braedon Karpathios went 5-for-12 with a pair of walks while only striking out once. The 21-year-old has been among the Cal League’s most productive hitters since the All-Star break. … Middle infielder Brandon Butterworth went 4-for-11 with a triple, homer, and three walks in his first exposure to professional playoffs. The North Carolina State product stepped up his game in the postseason after scraping together a .599 OPS in 24 regular season games. (Kevin Charity)
