IL1 Rochester Red Wings

2012 Rochester Red Wings Season Summary

Published on September 5, 2012 under International League (IL1)
Rochester Red Wings News Release


THE BIG PICTURE: The Rochester Red Wings in 2012 played their 10th season as the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, going 72-72 and finishing in 4th place in the 6-team International League North Division. The Red Wings concluded the year 12.0 games behind the first-place Empire State Yankees and 7.0 games back of the Wild Card-winning Pawtucket Red Sox.

a By finishing at .500, the Red Wings posted their best record - and first non-losing season - since the 2008 club went 74-70. The .500 record is the first in Red Wings history and the first in Rochester professional baseball history since the 1915 Hustlers went 69-69.

a With 72 wins, the Red Wings won 19 more games than in 2011 (53-91) and 23 more than in 2010 (49-95).

HAPPILY MARRIED: The Red Wings and Twins on August 17 announced a 2-year Player Development Contract extension that runs through the 2014 season. The Twins won 5 American League Central Division titles in their first 10 seasons as the parent club of the Wings, missing a 6th division title by one game in 2008.

a The 10-year partnership is the 7th longest in the International League, trailing Atlanta-Gwinnett (47 years), Boston-Pawtucket (40 years), Detroit-Toledo (26 years), Tampa-Durham (15 years), Chicago-Charlotte (14 years), and Cincinnati-Louisville (13 years).

FRONTIER AND CENTER: The Red Wings shared Frontier Field with the Empire State Yankees, who played 38 regular-season "home" games at the downtown ballpark as PNC Field in Moosic, Pennsylvania underwent major renovations. There were 110 regular-season games played along Morrie Silver Way in all.

a The Yankees were originally scheduled to play 37 home games at Frontier Field, but added a game on May 6 when it was decided that New York Yankees left-handed pitcher Andy Pettitte would be making a rehabilitation start. The game switched locations from Dwyer Stadium in nearby Batavia to Frontier Field in downtown Rochester. The game established a Frontier Field record for a regular-season baseball game with 13,584 in attendance. The attendance figure ranked 2nd to only a Red Wings exhibition game with the their parent club, the Baltimore Orioles, on July 10, 1997, when 13,723 came through the turnstiles to see Cal Ripken Jr.

a The Red Wings went 43-37 at Frontier Field in 2012, including a 39-33 mark as the home team and a 4-4 mark as the "road" team against the Yankees.

MI CASA, SU CASA: The Red Wings welcomed 414,398 fans in 68 openings at Frontier Field, an average of 6,094 per opening. Four openings were lost due to rainouts and suspensions, which resulted in 3 doubleheaders and one completion of a suspended game.

a The largest crowd for a Red Wings' home game came Opening Day April 7, when 12,371 fans watched a 4-2 loss vs. Buffalo (Mets). The Red Wings played in front of 6 crowds larger than 10,000:

Date Opponent (Result) Attendance

Opening Day Buffalo (L, 2-4) 12,371

August 31 Buffalo (L, 5-8) 11,271

July 4 Pawtucket (L, 4-7) 10,412

June 23 Charlotte (W, 12-1) 10,354

June 8 Norfolk (W, 9-6) 10,295

August 18 Empire State (L, 3-10) 10,122

CUP RUNNETH OVER: The Red Wings finished last in the 2012 Thruway Series Cup presented by Hillside Family of Agencies, the 3-team race for the best record in western New York among Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse (Nationals). The Wings ended the year 7.0 games behind Buffalo. The standings, which reflect only games against one another:

Rank Team Record Winning %

1. Buffalo 19-13 .594

2. Syracuse 17-15 .531

3. Rochester 12-20 .375

ROSTER NEWS AND NOTES: The Red Wings sent 23 players to the Twins, including 13 pitchers, 6 infielders, 3 outfielders, and one catcher. The Wings employed the services of 17 players who were promoted from Double-A New Britain and Single-A Fort Myers. There were 4 players who began the season at New Britain, played for the Red Wings, and advanced to Minnesota: Darin Mastroianni, Pedro Florimon, Luis Perdomo, and Lester Oliveros.

a Chris Parmelee led the team with 4 stints with the Twins, getting recalled 3 times after starting the year with the big league club.

a On September 3, the final day of the regular season, only 9 players on the roster were also on the Opening Day roster: Ray Chang, Brian Dinkelman, Brian Dozier, Michael Hollimon, Jeff Manship, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Rene Rivera, Anthony Slama, and J.R. Towles. Carlos Gutierrez and Brendan Wise also started the year with the Red Wings, but they ended the season on the 7-Day Disabled List.

a A total of 56 players appeared in at least one game for the Red Wings, including 30 pitchers and 26 position players. Three of the 56 were players on rehab: Nick Blackburn, Trevor Pouffe, and P.J. Walters. Blackburn and Walters, however, also appeared while on the active roster.

a There were 19 different starting pitchers used by manager Gene Glynn, the most in one season since the 2010 club also used 19 and 2 shy of the franchise record of 21 in 1998. Cole De Vries, Kyle Gibson, and Jeff Manship were the only 3 pitchers who made at least one start for the Red Wings in 3 straight seasons beginning in 2010. In fact, Manship was the only Wing who made at least one start in 4 straight campaigns starting in 2009.

a Throughout the season, 7 countries were represented on the 25-man roster, including the United States, Australia (Liam Hendriks and Brendan Wise), Canada (Scott Diamond and Rene Tosoni), Curacao (Shairon Martis), Dominican Republic (Samuel Deduno, Pedro Florimon, Luis Perdomo, Wilkin Ramirez, and Esmerling Vasquez), Japan (Tsuyoshi Nishioka), and Venezuela (Eduardo Escobar, Deolis Guerra, Pedro Hernandez, and Lester Oliveros). As part of the U.S., Puerto Rico was also represented by Rene Rivera.

HOW THE NORTH WAS LOST: The Red Wings went just 32-48 (.400) against IL North Division rivals. The Wings, meanwhile, went a combined 40-24 (.625) against the IL South and IL West. Here's a look at the breakdown by division:

Division Record Against

IL North 32-48

IL South 16-16

IL West 24-8

a Rochester's first 37 games of the season were against division rivals, and they went 14-23 in those contests. The Wings' final 17 games were also against the North, and they went just 7-10.

a The Red Wings won 5 season series, but none against IL North clubs. The 5 season series victories, which came against Columbus (6-2), Toledo (8-0), Louisville (6-2), Charlotte (5-3), and Norfolk (6-2), are Rochester's most since registering 7 in 2009.

a Rochester's season series sweep against Toledo is believed to be its first against any opponent in franchise history. It was the first in the IL since Pawtucket went 8-0 against Richmond in 2006.

QUITE THE TURNAROUND: The Red Wings went 52-42 after sitting a season-worst 10 games below .500 at 20-30 on May 28. Going back further, Rochester went 58-49 beginning May 15, their first day outside of North Division play, and 63-56 beginning May 3.

a Rochester was a season-best 4 games above .500 at 65-61 on August 16, but they went 7-11 the rest of the way. It was the first time the Red Wings were 4 games above .500 since May 14, 2009, when they were 18-14 following a 5-4 win vs. Indianapolis (Pirates).

a Month-by-month, the Red Wings went 9-14 in April, 13-17 in May, 15-14 in June, 18-11 in July, 15-15 in August, and 2-1 in September. By going 15-14 in June, the Wings posted their first winning calendar month since August 2009, when they were 17-15.

a With an 18-11 mark in July, the Wings tied Columbus (Indians) for the best record in the league in that time.

a The Red Wings were 33-39 at the midway point of the 144-game season, their 5th straight losing record at that mark.

a The Red Wings went 43-48 before the All-Star Break and 29-24 after the All-Star Break.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Red Wings finished 33-39 as the road team, including a 4-4 mark as the "road" squad against the Yankees at Frontier Field. The Wings went 29-35 in true road contests.

a Rochester won 13 of its final 18 road games beginning July 29. The Red Wings won just 16 of their first 46 true road games.

a The Red Wings had an 8-game road winning streak from July 29-August 12, which is the club's longest since at least 1981.

PITCHING IN: The Red Wings' pitching staff posted a 4.06 ERA to rank 9th in the IL, the first time in 3 years it did not rank last in the 14-team circuit. The 4.06 ERA is Rochester's lowest in 5 years, since registering a 3.64 ERA in 2007. The Red Wings led the IL with 48 saves.

a A franchise-record 24 different pitchers recorded at least one win. A franchise-record 11 different pitchers recorded at least one save for the 3rd time, joining the efforts of the 1995 and 2009 clubs.

a Red Wings starters went 38-47 with a 4.34 ERA (345 ER/715.1 IP) while the relief corps relievers went 34-25 with a 3.69 ERA (224 ER/545.2 IP).

a Red Wings pitchers logged 10 shutouts, their most since throwing 12 in 2007. Five of the 10 were in 9-inning games. Seven of the 10 came at Frontier Field.

a Rochester pitchers notched 4 complete games, but none in a 9-inning contest. Nick Blackburn, Liam Hendriks, Esmerling Vasquez, and P.J. Walters accomplished the feat. Blackburn worked 8 innings in his complete-game effort in the first game of a July 8 doubleheader vs. Lehigh Valley (Phillies).

a A list of team pitching leaders:

Category Total

Wins Liam Hendriks/Esmerling Vasquez 9

ERA, Starter Liam Hendriks 2.20

ERA, Reliever Anthony Slama 1.24

Saves Anthony Slama 14

Games Casey Fien/Tyler Robertson 33

Starts Liam Hendriks 16

Innings pitched Liam Hendriks 106.1

Strikeouts Esmerling 0 98

a The 9 wins by Hendriks and Vasquez are the most in one season by a Red Wing since Philip Humber and Francisco Liriano both posted 10 in 2008.

a Slama recorded the 100th save of his professional career on the final day of the regular season, recording the final 2 outs of the Red Wings' 6-4 win vs. Syracuse.

ON THE OFFENSIVE: The Red Wings ranked 11th in the league in hitting with a .251 average. They also ranked 11th with 101 home runs. After ranking last in the IL for most of the year in runs scored, the Red Wings scored 56 runs in their last 8 games to overtake Lehigh Valley and Louisville (Reds) and finish 12th in the circuit with 568. Rochester concluded the season 141 runs behind league leader Columbus (709).

a The Red Wings logged their lowest run total since the 1988 club scored 561, including 61 by IL Rookie of the Year Steve Finley.

a The Red Wings were held to only one hit on 2 occasions: July 27 vs. Syracuse and August 21 at Pawtucket.

a A list of team batting leaders:

A0 Total

Average Matt .282

0 Matt 119

Doubles Matt 28

Triples Clete Thomas 5

Home 0 Chris Parmelee 17

RBI Wilkin Ramirez 54

Runs scored Matt 64

Walks Chris Parmelee 51

0 Clete Thomas 109

On-base percentage Matt .347

Slugging percentage Matt .457

Games Matt 115

a Parmelee's 17 homers came in just 64 games. Rene Rivera hit a career-high 10 home runs.

GRANDIOSE OCCASIONS: After going nearly 3 years without a grand slam, the Red Wings hit 3 in a 21-game span July 30-August 20. Rene Rivera's grand slam July 30 at Columbus was the Red Wings' first since August 10, 2009, when Justin Huber hit one in the 2nd game of a doubleheader at Buffalo, snapping a string of 427 games without one. The other grand slams cam off the bats of Evan Bigley August 4 at Toledo and Wilkin Ramirez August 20 at Pawtucket.

a The Red Wings still haven't hit a grand slam at Frontier Field since August 30, 2008, when Trevor Plouffe hit one vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. That streak enters the 2013 season at 299 games.

CALLING ALL STAR: Shortstop Pedro Florimon was the Red Wings' lone representative at the Triple-A All-Star Game, which featured the IL and Pacific Coast League at Buffalo's Coca-Cola Field on July 11. Florimon made the IL squad as a reserve, but ended up in the starting role after Pawtucket's Pedro Ciriaco was promoted to Boston. Florimon played 5 innings at shortstop and struck out in both of his plate appearances.

a The Red Wings did not have a representative on the IL's Post-Season All-Star squad.

HE'S JUST THE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The Red Wings had 4 IL Player and Pitcher of the Week winners: Liam Hendriks (June 4-10), Jeff Manship (July 16-22), Chris Parmelee (July 30-August 5), and Wilkin Ramirez (August 27-September 3).

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR: The Red Wings open the 2013 season April 4 at Buffalo and play their home opener April 6 vs. Buffalo.

Check out the Rochester Red Wings Statistics

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International League Stories from September 5, 2012


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