PCL Salt Lake Bees

Bees Invade Sin City this Week

April 11, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Salt Lake Bees News Release


The Bees (5-4) are heading to Sin City for a six-game series with Las Vegas (2-7) after splitting their first road trip 3-3 with the Albuquerque Isotopes last week. The series starts at 8:05 p.m. on Tuesday with Jake Lee vs. Paul Blackburn on the mound. And finishes with a day game on Sunday, April 16 at 1:05 p.m.

Las Vegas will field a lineup for the series featuring three of the top five prospects in the Athletics' organization as ranked by MLB.com, headlined by C/1B Tyler Soderstrom. Soderstrom, a 21-year-old lefty-swinging, right-throwing catcher and infielder is ranked as the #35 overall prospect in all of baseball. Thus far in 2023, Soderstrom has been swinging a hot bat for the Aviators, ranking T-1 in doubles and T-4 in extra-base hits in the Pacific Coast League. Other A's top prospects, Mason Miller and Jordan Diaz also inhabit the roster as of Tuesday's matchup. Miller, a 24-year-old right-handed pitcher drafted in the third round of the 2021 June MLB Amateur Draft, has yet to appear for the Aviators in 2023. Diaz, a 22-year-old signed as an international free agent from Columbia at age 16, has produced well with a .281 average, five doubles and a home run. The Athletics' farm system was ranked as #22 overall among MLB clubs ahead of the 2023 season.

On the Salt Lake side, individual hot streaks from outfielder Jo Adell, infielder Michael Stefanic and Pitcher Chase Silseth have provided fireworks to start the year. Jo Adell is riding a seven-game hit streak and has blasted a home run in six consecutive games, breaking the franchise record set by Chad Rupp in 1997. He enters Tuesday's matchup with LV just two big flies shy of breaking the Pacific Coast League record for homers in consecutive games. The PCL record is currently shared by Claude Westmoreland, who hit home runs in seven consecutive games in 1977, and Dallas McPherson, who did the same in seven straight contests in 2008. Michael Stefanic is currently leading the Pacific Coast League in batting average (.500) through nine games. Also, INF Kevin Padlo has reached base in all nine games this season.

Silseth, the top-rated pitching prospect in the Angels organization has been dominant in his two starts this season. The 22-year-old has earned two wins in two starts without allowing a run so far this season, only conceding three hits in 11 total innings while striking out 13 batters to lead the PCL in K's. Silseth, wearing #29 for Salt Lake, sits in the top two of almost every major statistical pitching category in the Pacific Coast League.

In recognition of these performances, Minor League Baseball announced Monday morning that Adell and Silseth have been named Pacific Coast League Player of the Week at their respective positions in the first awards window of the 2023 campaign. This is the first time that either player has won the award and the first time since May 2000 that two Bees players have swept Player of the Week honors (Mario Valdez and Mike Lincoln).

Bees Manager Keith Johnson is now the winningest manager in Salt Lake History after breaking the record previously held by Phil Roof with his 472nd win in Salt Lake's 6-5 victory over the Isotopes in Albuquerque on April 6. Keith Johnson sits at 470 victories as manager of the Bees, trailing Phil Roof's career mark of 471. 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 again 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.

The Aviators are currently in last place in the PCL with a record of 2-7, batting .265 and posting a 6.98 ERA as a pitching staff. They historically hold a strong home-field advantage in their matchups with the Bees, leading the all-time series in Las Vegas 128-95. LV will look to rebound from a string of tough performances on the mound with MLB rehab pitching assignments from right-handed hurlers Colton Eastman and Colin Peluse, expected to pitch on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Salt Lake currently sits at a franchise total of 3,989 home runs, just 11 short of the four-century mark. Jo Adell currently leads all active players with 43 career round trippers in a Bees uniform. Brandon Wood holds the individual franchise record with 77 career homers for SL.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be the first time the Bees have played a game under the new ABS (automated ball-strike) system. Under this system, ball-strike calls will be instantaneously relayed to the home plate umpire, ensuring the accuracy of calls. Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be played with 100% human umpiring, not yet using the ABS-assisted challenge system to be in-place later this season.

The Bees and Aviators begin their series tonight at 8:05 p.m. MST in Las Vegas at Las Vegas Ballpark, a 10,000-capacity venue opened in April of 2019.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 11, 2023


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