Columbia Fireflies Roster Moves and Game Notes 7.22
Published on July 22, 2026 under Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Kansas City Royals have made the following roster moves affecting the Columbia Fireflies active roster:
INF Stone Russell has been promoted to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals roster.
There are no corresponding moves. The Fireflies active roster now sits at 28.
------------------------
The Fireflies continue their series with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers tonight at Segra Park at 7:05 pm. RHP Coleman Picard (1-1, 1.89 ERA) takes the hill for Columbia and Kannapolis counters with RHP Truman Pauley (1-8, 5.65 ERA).
Tonight is a CVETS Dog Days of Summer where your dog can join you at the game for free! Plus fans can enjoy $5 16 oz cans of White Claw seltzers. Tickets are available now at FirefliesTickets.com.
------------------------
MCDONAGH DOMINATES IN 7-4 WIN: Ryan McDonagh dominated the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers as the Fireflies took home a 7-4 victory in their series opener Tuesday evening at Segra Park. Ryan McDonagh (W, 2-2) was nearly perfect in his start for the Fireflies. The righty worked a career-best six innings around one hit, which came with two outs in the sixth frame. He matched a career mark with six strikeouts before handing the ball to the bullpen with a 6-0 lead. Columbia piled it on early for the second-consecutive game. The Fireflies brought nine to the dish in the first inning to score four runs. After Henry Ramos drew a lead-off walk, Josh Hammond and Yandel Ricardo hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. Then Jhosmmel Zue drew a walk to score Ramos and JC Vanek and Stone Russell had back-to-back RBI singles to give Columbia a 3-0 advantage. Connor Rasmussen closed the scoring in the frame with a sacrifice fly to left to score Zue to make it 4-0.
STERLING STARTERS: The Fireflies starting rotation has the top ERA in Minor League Baseball this season. The group has recorded a 21-19 record combined with a 3.45 ERA over 404 innings through the first 91 games of the season. Fireflies starters have 403 strikeouts and have held opponents to a .236 AVG on the season. The Frederick Keys have the second-best mark in MiLB with a 3.73 through 371.1 innings pitched this season. Overall, the Fireflies hold the fifth-best team ERA in Minor League Baseball at 4.15. The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers lead the way with a 3.78 mark.
LUMINOUS LOMBARDI: Michael Lombardi has been a master of the strikeout this season. Sunday, he etched three strikeouts over 3.1 innings of work. Lombardi leads the Carolina League in strikeouts with 99. Lombardi is on the doorstep of becoming the seventh Fireflies pitcher to strikeout 100 batters in a season. Tony Dibrell owns the Fireflies single-season strikeout record at 147. The last Fireflies player to notch 100 strikeouts in a season was Felix Arronde, who struck out 103 in 2024.
THE GAMBLER: Sean Gamble struggled out of the gates at the plate this season. The first rounder hit just .118 across 21 games in April, but near the end of May, the centerfielder turned the page. Since May 21, Gamble is hitting .267 across 46 games. He leads the team in OBP (.399), is second in OPS (.790) and leads the club in runs scored (35) and stolen bases (18) during the stretch.
THE GREAT HOMERUN RACE: Friday night, Hyungchan Um smashed his eighth homer of the season to left field. He now matches JC Vanek and Ivan Sosa for the most homers on the Fireflies this season. Last year, only Ramon Ramirez cracked double-digit homers for Columbia (11). 2018 and 2024 are the only two seasons in franchise history where more than two players have mashed 10 homers for the Fireflies. This year, Sosa, Um, Vanek and Roni Cabrera, who has seven round-trippers, are all on pace to do it.
MULTI-HIT MANIA: Yandel Ricardo and Josh Hammond are on a hot streak right now. Both players have played all four games since the All-Star Break and both have had multiple hits in each contest. Ricardo is 11-16 (.688) with two triples, a homer and nine RBI on the run and Hammond is 12-18 (.667) with four doubles, a walk and seven runs scored on the stretch. The last Fireflies player to have multiple hits in more than four-straight games was Stone Russell, who did it in five straight games from April 5-11 last year.
Carolina League Stories from July 22, 2026
- Columbia Fireflies Roster Moves and Game Notes 7.22 - Columbia Fireflies
- RidgeYaks' Seventh-Inning Rally Falls Short as Rain Ends Comeback Bid against Augusta - Salem RidgeYaks
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
