Columbia Fireflies Roster Moves and Game Notes 5.31 vs Fayetteville
May 31, 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 Tanner Jones has been placed on the injured list retroactive to May 29
There are no corresponding moves. The Fireflies active roster now sits at 29.
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The Fireflies continue their series with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers today at Segra Park with a doubleheader beginning at 4:35 pm. RHP Blake Wolters (2-2, 4.66 ERA) takes the hill for the Fireflies in game one and the club sends southpaw Jordan Woods (2-2, 4.15 ERA) to the bump in game two. Meanwhile, Fayetteville counters with RHP Raimy Rodriguez (1-2, 5.09 ERA) in game one and RHP Anthony Cruz (5-1, 5.86 ERA) in game two.
Tonight is Princess Knight at Segra Park! Join the Fireflies for a pre-game tea party featuring your favorite princesses and celebrate defending Segra Park against the Woodpeckers with a post-game fireworks show. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.
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MARTE SPINS THIRD QUALITY START IN 2-1 LOSS: The Fireflies pitching staff allowed just one earned run, but it wasn't enough to earn the win Friday night, as Columbia fell 2-1 to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers Friday night at Segra Park. Yunior Marte (L, 3-3) worked his third quality start of the season and his second in May. The righty spun six innings and allowed a pair of runs (one earned). He wrung up four Woodpeckers and only issued one walk before handing the ball to the bullpen. Yeri Perez worked 1.1 innings with three strikeouts and then Mason Miller entered in the top of the eighth. The southpaw stranded an inherited runner to keep it a one-run game for the Fireflies. Miller worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close things out for Columbia.
SPEED, I AM SPEED: Asbel Gonzalez is now second in the Carolina League in stolen bases with 40 on the season. He trails Tommy Hawke, who has 45. Gonzalez is also second to Hawke for the most runs scored in the League (41). Gonzalez also has the league's second-best batting average with a mark of .303. Last Tuesday, Gonzalez became the first Fireflies player to hit a lead-off homer since Jean Ramirez did it at Kannapolis July 14, 2022. It was the center fielder's first homer of the season and the second of his career.
MASTER OF THE MISS: Friday night, Yunior Marte continued his solid start to the 2025 campaign. The 6'5" righty spun his third quality start of the year. He ranks among the Carolina League Leaders in most significant pitching statistics including ERA (6th, 2.83), strikeouts (4th, 45), innings pitched (1st, 47.2), opposing average (4th, .200) and WHIP (4th, 1.05). In his first full-season in the Carolina League, Marte has looked the part as Columbia's ace.
WHAT A START: David Shields is on a roll to start his Carolina League Career. The southpaw has allowed only one run across his first three starts (0.69 ERA) and has struck out 17 hitters over 13 innings of work (11.78 K/9). He is one of 15 pitchers 19 or younger in the Carolina League and is one of only two 18 year olds in the Circuit. He has the lowest ERA and BB% of any teen pitcher in the Carolina League and the highest K%. Among the whole Carolina League, he has the 8th-best ERA, the third best BB/9 IP (0.69), the 7th best K% (37.8%), the third-best BB% (2.2%), the eighth-best opposing average (.136) and the best WHIP (0.54).
RAKING RAMIREZ: Ramon Ramirez is second in the Carolina League with nine homers and leads the pack with 39 RBI. He is also third in runs scored with 35. The back-stop is also on a 14-game on-base streak where he's batting .277 with four homers and 14 RBI. He has also drawn 12 walks on the stretch to buoy his on-base percentage to .426 on the run. The run is the longest on-base streak for the Fireflies since Callan Moss reached in 22-consecutive games to end the season in 2024. It is also the ninth-longest active on-base streak in the Carolina League.
I GUESS THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE BLUES: The Fireflies are 2-7 this season when they wear their navy blue uniforms. The team has played best in their neon uniforms this year. They are 7-2 when they wear the glowing uniforms.
KEEPING TABS: The Fireflies are two games back of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers with 18 games remaining in the first half. After this series, the Fireflies play six against Hickory and Kannapolis and three at Carolina to end the half.
Carolina League Stories from May 31, 2025
- RiverDogs Earn Doubleheader Sweep over First-Place Kannapolis - Charleston RiverDogs
- FredNats Fall Short in 8-5 Loss at Lynchburg - Fredericksburg Nationals
- Fireflies Split Doubleheader Saturday - Columbia Fireflies
- Big First Inning Helps Hillcats Down Nationals - Lynchburg Hillcats
- GreenJackets Sweep Doubleheader against Pelicans - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Jackets Take Two in Twin Bill with Birds - Augusta GreenJackets
- Shorebirds Edge Crawdads in Nightcap to Split Doubleheader - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Mudcats and Salem Canceled Saturday - Carolina Mudcats
- Columbia Fireflies Roster Moves and Game Notes 5.31 vs Fayetteville - Columbia Fireflies
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