Columbia Fireflies Roster Moves and Game Notes 5.20 at Kannapolis
May 20, 2025 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Kansas City Royals have made the following roster moves affecting the Columbia Fireflies active roster:
RHP Josh Hansell has been promoted to the Quad Cities River Bandits active roster
LHP Mason Miller has been placed on the development list
OF Roni Cabrera has been transferred to the Arizona Complex Royals
OF Henry Ramos has been placed on the Fireflies active roster
RHP Yimi Presinal has been placed on the Fireflies active roster
Ramos will wear jersey #1. Presinal will wear jersey #26.
The Fireflies active roster now sits at 28.
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The Fireflies kick-off a series with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers tonight at Atrium Health Ballpark at 6:30 pm. LHP David Shields (0-0, 0.00 ERA) gets the nod for Columbia and Kannapolis counters with RHP Ricardo Brizuela (0-2, 3.58 ERA).
Columbia comes back to Segra Park to face the Fayetteville Woodpeckers Memorial Day week! The team will celebrate with $1 Busch Light for Thirsty Thursday May 29 on Country Night. The next day, we'll find our beach for Margaritaville Night. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will get a Hawaiian T-shirt courtesy of AMAROK. Then Saturday is the best Dad-Daughter Date Night in Columbia. Join us for Princess Knight with a pre-game tea party and a post-game fireworks show May 31. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.
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FIREFLIES DROP FINALE 8-1 TO AUGUSTA: The Fireflies bullpen worked seven innings and allowed only a pair of runs, but the Fireflies fell 8-1 to the Augusta GreenJackets Sunday evening at Segra Park. The GreenJackets struck first Sunday night. Augusta scored two in both the first and second innings. Then got their first three aboard against Blake Wolters in the third before Columbia went to the bullpen. Elvis Novas stranded two inherited runners to keep the score 5-1 in favor of the visitors. The Fireflies defense looked fantastic to start the game. The team turned three double plays in the first four innings. First, Luis Sanchez grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the second. Then Roni Cabrera caught a flyout in right and gunned down Nick Montgomery at the plate. Finally, Eric Hartman bounced into a 4-6-3 double play in the fourth to keep it a four-run game.
SPEED, I AM SPEED: Asbel Gonzalez is now second in the Carolina League in stolen bases with 35 on the season. He trails Tommy Hawke, who has 41. Gonzalez is also second to Hawke for the most runs scored in the League (34). Gonzalez also has the league's sixth-best batting average with a mark of .326.
MASTER OF THE MISS: Friday, Yunior Marte earned his second quality start of the season to get his team-leading third win of 2025. The righty hasn't allowed a run since April 27. He has worked 15.2-consecutive innings without surrendering a run, spanning three starts. During the stretch, Marte's ERA has dropped from 4.84 to 2.87. Marte ranks among the league leaders in Innings Pitched (37.2, 1st), ERA (2.87, 7th), Wins (3, 4th), Strikeouts (36, 5th), Opposing Average (.207, 6th) and WHIP (1.09, 5th).
HOME SWEET HOME: The Fireflies finished their 12-game homestand 9-3 against the Carolina Mudcats and Hickory Crawdads. The team has been red-hot at Segra Park this season, going 16-8 at home compared to a 6-9 record over their first nine road contests of the 2025 season.
RAKING RAMIREZ: Saturday, Ramon Ramirez rewrote the Fireflies record book. He hit Columbia's first walk-off homer since Erick Pena homered May 3, 2023. He had the Fireflies first two homer game since he accomplished the feat April 13. He had Columbia's first five RBI game since he had a six RBI game April 13. He has also homered in back-to-back games for the first time since Brennon McNair did so April 19 and 22. Ramirez leads the Carolina League with eight homers and 33 RBI.
ON A ROLL: Fireflies reliever Nick Conte got off to a slow start in 2025, but he has hit his stride over his last four games. Tuesday, Conte pitched more than one inning for the first time this year, striking out four batters in 1.2 scoreless innings vs Augusta. After recording a 15.63 ERA over 6.1 innings in April, Conte has a 0.00 ERA in his first 3.2 innings in May. The righty has allowed only one hit over his last three appearances and he has wrung up seven.
FIGUEROA FLOWING: Derlin Figueroa had a fantastic week at the plate against Augusta. The lefty is riding his longest-hititng streak of 2025, a six-game stretch that started April 13. On the run, he is 11-23 (.478) at the dish with two RBI. The streak is tied for the third-longest active hitting streak in the Carolina League this year. It trails Luiyin Alastre, who's riding a 10-game hitting streak and Antonio Anderson who has hit safely in eight-straight games.
Carolina League Stories from May 20, 2025
- Former Hillcats Manager Tony Mansolino to Helm the Baltimore Orioles - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame Releases 2025 Inductees - Charleston RiverDogs
- Columbia Fireflies Roster Moves and Game Notes 5.20 at Kannapolis - Columbia Fireflies
- Dinges & DeBerry to Wisconsin; Anderson from ACL Brewers - Carolina Mudcats
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