PCL Salt Lake Bees

Bees Head to ABQ for First Road Trip of the Season

Published on April 4, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Salt Lake Bees News Release


Coming off their Opening Weekend series victory over Sacramento, the Salt Lake Bees (2-1) are heading to Albuquerque (2-1) for a six-game series against the Isotopes in the Duke City starting at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4 and finishing with a game at 1:35 p.m. on Sunday, April 9.

Manager Keith Johnson is now just two victories from breaking the franchise record for managerial wins by a Salt Lake Bees manager of 471 set by Phil Roof. Keith Johnson, affectionately known to his players as "KJ", has come a long way in his career to cement himself within the record books. Johnson first appeared in Triple-A baseball as a player in 1998, going on to play 1,265 games in the minor leagues. Since first becoming a minor league manager with the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2008, Johnson has managed more than 1,500 games with Cedar Rapids, Rancho Cucamonga, Salt Lake and New Orleans as well as spent time on the Major League coaching staffs of the Los Angeles Angels and Miami Marlins. He previously managed Salt Lake from 2011-2014 and then from 2016-2018. KJ earned the Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year award in 2013, as decided by league peers and Baseball America, after leading the Bees to an impressive 78-66 record and a playoff appearance in the Pacific Coast League Championship Series.

While it's still early, the Bees have been seeing the ball extremely well. In their final game against Sacramento on Sunday, April 2 during Opening Weekend, Salt Lake tied the franchise record for walks in a single game with 14. Bees' infielder, Michael Stefanic, walked four times during the game, just one shy of the franchise record, with teammates Livan Soto and Kevin Padlo also walking multiple times during the game. The Bees' 22 walks through three games are first among all Triple-A teams this season.

On the leaderboards, Stefanic is ranked second in the PCL in on-base percentage while 22-year-old Bees right-hander, Chase Silseth, leads the PCL in WHIP after his impressive outing in the season opener, shutting-out Sacramento through five innings while striking out six and only allowing two hits. Silseth, an exciting young arm, and Kenny Rosenberg, a talented lefty who earned his first MLB call-up in 2022, will look to continue their early dominance in Albuquerque after combining to strike out 12 while shutting out the River Cats in 10 innings of work across both of their Opening Weekend starts. Silseth will start on Friday against RHP Jake Criswell and Rosenberg will start on Saturday against RHP Peter Lambert.

The Bees, bolstered by impressive performances from outfielders Jo Adell and Jordyn Adams, head into their fourth game of the season with nine different players having hits. Sparks have been flying from the batter's box to start off the year as Salt Lake hitters have already combined to produce nine extra base hits in just 23 innings of play, highlighted by a triple from Mickey Moniak and home runs from Jordyn Adams and Chad Wallach. The Bees pitching staff currently leads the PCL with a league-low 3.91 ERA (ABQ is second with 4.15) and a league-low 10 walks. The Bees rank second in the Pacific Coast League in opponent batting average (.219) and home runs allowed (1).

Albuquerque is fielding a talented roster of players to start the 2023 campaign, bringing five prospects to the series rated in the top 25 of Colorado's organization by the MLB. The prospects, Jeff Criswell, Brenton Doyle, Gavin Hollowell, Nolan Jones and Michael Toglia headline a squad looking to do damage in 2023. Jones, a third baseman and outfielder ranked 17th in the Rockies' farm system, ranks third in home runs (3) and fourth in RBI (6) in the PCL thus far. Doyle, an outfield prospect, also started hot with three hits, three walks and a home run through three games. Young RHP Criswell started off his season strong, posting a 0.00 ERA with 2 hits and five strikeouts in 3.2 of work for ABQ in their 10-2 victory of Round Rock on Sunday, April 2, earning himself the win.

As a team, Salt Lake is looking to bounce back from a string of disappointing performances against Albuquerque in 2022 to end the year. After starting off 4-2 against the Isotopes, the Bees lost the next six consecutive games of the season series. Looking to turn the tide, 15 total players appear on the roster going to Albuquerque that suited up for Salt Lake in 2022. Jo Adell, Michael Stefanic, Andrew Velazquez and Chad Wallach are returning position players. Johnathan Diaz, Jake Kalish, Luis Ledo, Jake Lee, Gerardo Reyes, Kenny Rosenberg, Cesar Valdez, Austin Warren and Zack Weiss are returning pitchers.

News to look out for, the 2023 automatic ball-strike (ABS) ruleset goes into effect on April 7. Under these rules, balls and strikes will be called automatically by a "robo-umpire" ensuring the accuracy of the strike zone. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday games, the ABS system will govern play. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday games, human umpires will govern the strike zone with a challenge system in play. Under the challenge system, hitters, pitchers and catchers are able to challenge ball/strike calls within two seconds of the play up to three times per game. Teams start games with only these three challenges to be used throughout the entirety of games but will retain challenges deemed to be successful. Additionally, this will be the first time that legendary Bees broadcaster, Steve Klauke, will travel to Albuquerque during his last season in the broadcast booth. Klauke has been the broadcaster for all 414 games played between Salt Lake and Albuquerque, with the Bees narrowly holding the edge at 208 wins (50.2%)

Stats to look out for, the Bees enter the series having hit 3,980 home runs, leaving the franchise just 20 bombs away from the 4,000 mark. Brandon Wood owns the team career record with 77 home runs. Jo Adell leads active Salt Lake players with 36 career home runs. The roster for the Bees has hit 74 total home runs in Salt Lake uniforms.

The Bees and Isotopes begin their series tonight at 6:35 p.m. MST in Albuquerque at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park. Fans can catch the radio action on the KSL Sports Zone or by subscribing to MiLB.tv to stream from home.

Check out the Salt Lake Bees Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 4, 2023


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