Game Info: Sunday, April 27 vs. Birmingham: 2:35 PM

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SL Rocket City Trash Pandas

Game Info: Sunday, April 27 vs. Birmingham: 2:35 PM

April 27, 2025 - Southern League (SL)
Rocket City Trash Pandas News Release


Sunday, April 27, 2025 - 2:35 PM - Toyota Field - Madison, AL

Matchup: Rocket City Trash Pandas - LAA (6-13) vs. Birmingham Barons - CHW (10-9)

Pitching Matchup: RHP George Klassen (0-1, 4.10) vs. RHP Grant Taylor (0-1, 1.08)

GAME: 20 of 138 - Home Game: 14 of 69

TV/Radio: WAAY MORE-TV 31.6 - Bally Live - MiLB.tv - ESPN WZZN 97.7 HD-2

Today's Promotions:

Sunday, April 27 | First Pitch: 2:35 pm | Gates Open: 1:30 pm | Trustmark VIP Gates: 1:00 pm

Bluey Appearance: Get ready for a wackadoo day at the ballpark as everyone's favorite Blue Heeler pup, Bluey, makes a special appearance at Toyota Field to take photos with fans during the Trash Pandas game from 1:15 to 5:15 pm (nonstop)! There is no additional cost to meet Bluey.

Pregame Autographs: On Sundays this season, select Trash Pandas players will be available for autographs before the game, from 1:40 to 2:00 pm, at the Pepsi Gate, located on the first base side of the Bill Penney Concourse.

Postgame Kids Run the Bases: After every Sunday home game, Toyota Field offers kids the chance to run the bases, presented by Listerhill Credit Union! Sprocket's Kids' Club members can skip to the front of the line by presenting their ID cards.

Blue Bell Sunday Sundaes : Limited-edition souvenir helmet sundaes will exclusively be available at the Sweet Space concession stand on Sunday!

FOR STARTERS: The Rocket City Trash Pandas wrap up their second homestand on Sunday afternoon with the finale of a six-game series against the Chicago White Sox affiliate Birmingham Barons at Toyota Field ... Rocket CIty will be on the road this week in Knoxville for a six-game set, April 28-May 4 ... The Pandas went 1-5 on the recent road trip to Montgomery ... Rocket City will see Birmingham 24 times in 2025 ... Rocket City visits Birmingham June 3-8, with the June 4 contest being the Rickwood Classic, and August 19-24 ... the Barons return to Madison, July 29-August 3.

BACK IN THE WIN COLUMN: The Trash Pandas defeated the Birmingham Barons 4-2 on Saturday at Toyota Field, thanks to a career-best performance from pitcher Joel Hurtado, who threw 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits. The Pandas took the lead in the third inning with an RBI groundout from Denzer Guzman, followed by a triple from Christian Moore in the fifth, bringing in another run. Guzman added another run with a sacrifice fly. An insurance run in the eighth came from a wild pitch after a double by Travis Blankenhorn. Moore was a key player, going 1-for-3 with two runs scored, while Guzman had two RBIs and continued his on-base streak to 13 games. Samy Natera Jr. secured the save, striking out two in the ninth.

CHRISTIAN MOORE IS HEATING UP: The Angels' top prospect and 8th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, Christian Moore, has reached base safely in seven of his last eight games. Over his last five, he has recorded a double, two triples, seven walks, two stolen bases, and a .455 OBP. Moore now ranks third in the Southern League with 14 walks and T-1st in triples.

DENZER IS DAZZLING: Denzer Guzman has reached base safely in 13 straight games since April 11. Over the streak, the 21-year-old has reached base 25 times, batting .356 with two doubles, three home runs, nine RBIs, eight walks, a .455 OBP, and 1.055 OPS. Guzman ranks T-2nd in the Southern League in RBIs with 12, T-3rd with four home runs, 4th in slugging (.508), 7th in OPS (.883), T-6th in total bases (31), and 10th in batting average (.279). Guzman recorded his first career four-hit game on 4/25 vs. Birmingham (4x4, HR, 2B, RBI, 2 R).

FERMIN TO LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Angels have called up right-handed reliever José Fermin from Rocket City, becoming the 39th player promoted from Rocket City to the Majors. Fermin, third this season, and 13th to bypass Triple-A. Fermin was 3-0 record and a 1.13 ERA in six relief appearances this season, and was the first Southern League pitcher to earn three wins. A native of the Dominican Republic, he began his professional career in 2024 and advanced through the Angels' minor league system. Fermin joins fellow former Trash Pandas Edgar Quero and Michael Darrell-Hicks in making their MLB debuts this season.

WALK THIS WAY: The Trash Pandas are 2nd in the Southern League, and 8th in Double-A with 89 walks in 19 games (4.7 per game). The Pandas walked 12 times in the 5-1 win over Birmingham on April 23, two shy of the most in a single game in club history. The Pandas walked 14 times in a 17-4 win at Chattanooga on June 25, 2024. Christian Moore leads the club and ranks 3rd in the league with 14 walks.

KKKKKKKKKLASSEN: Rocket City starter George Klassen set a new season high with nine strikeouts in his start on April 22 vs. Birmingham. Over the 21-year-old's last two starts, he has 17 strikeouts to one walk, giving up just one run on seven hits in 10.1 innings. Klassen is T-5th in the Southern League with 24 strikeouts in four starts.

BIG STRIKEOUT NUMBERS: Through 19 games this season, the Trash Pandas pitching staff is 2nd in the Southern League and ranks 6th in Double-A with 203 strikeouts in 167.2 innings pitched (10.9 SO/9 IP). The back-to-back 17-strikeout performances on April 12-13 were the season's largest outputs and highest since the Pandas fanned 17 batters on August 17, 2024, at Chattanooga. The most ever for the Trash Pandas in a game was 19, last occurring on opening night, 2023, on April 6 at Chattanooga.

THE BULLPEN ISN'T TRASH: The Rocket City bullpen has 111 strikeouts, tops in the league and 4th in Double-A. José Fermin was the first pitcher in the league to three wins, and Brady Choban, Kelvin Caceres, Samy Natera Jr., and Jared Southard are T-1st in the league with eight appearances.

NASTY NATERA...JR: Samy Natera Jr. has two wins and two saves in eight relief appearances, seven with multiple strikeouts, covering 9.1 innings, one earned run, six walks, and 20 strikeouts, (19.3 SO/9).

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU: Infielder Sam Brown is on a season-best 8-game on-base streak that began on April 17, batting .345 with 10 hits, two doubles, five RBI, and .444 OBP.

BRING ON THE BARONS: The Trash Pandas are meeting the Barons for the first time this week, and it's the first of four series' against each other in 2025. Last season, Rocket City went 16-14 against Birmingham last season, including a 9-6 mark at Toyota Field. The series in Birmingham, June 3-8, includes the 12:30 pm game on June 4 at historic Rickwood Field for the 2025 Rickwood Classic.

HIP, HIP, HOORAY: The Pandas stopped a streak of 10-straight losses in midweek day games with Wednesday's 5-1 win over Birmingham at Toyota Field. The last win in a midweek day game was May 18, 2022 at Birmingham. The Trash Pandas play five of their first six Wednesday games in the daylight this season (1-2).

THE YOUNG GUNS: The Trash Pandas have three of the nine youngest players in the Southern League. For the second-straight year, OF Nelson Rada is the youngest player in the Southern League at 19.6 years old (8/24/05). INF Denzer Guzman is the eighth-youngest at 21.2 years old (2/8/04), and RHP Walbert Urena is the ninth-youngest,, just 14 days older than Guzman, born on 1/25/04 at 21.2 years old (1/25/04). Rada had a fantastic spring with the Angels, batting .333 over 11 games, a .370 on-base percentage, and six RBI. The Venezuela native spent the 2024 season in Rocket City, hitting .234 with 13 extra-base hits in 123 games. The 19-year-old was seventh in the Southern League with 35 stolen bases as the youngest player in the league. Guzman was promoted to Rocket City on May 7, collecting six home runs, nine doubles, and 30 RBI in 83 games. The 21-year-old from the Dominican Republic had his season highlighted with a walk-off grand slam on May 25, leading the Trash Pandas to a win over Montgomery.

PROSPECTS WITH A HALO : The Trash Pandas roster features five of the Angels' top 10 prospects and 11 of the top 25; included in the top 10 are Christian Moore (1), RHP George Klassen (3), LHP Sam Aldegheri (5), OF Nelson Rada (6), and INF Denzer Guzman (9). The other members of the roster included in the Top-30 include LHP Samy Natera Jr. (16), RHP Walbert Ureña (17), RHP Joel Hurtado (19), RHP Camden Minacci (20), INF Cole Fontenelle (23), and RHP Ryan Costeiu (24).

DARRELL-HICKS, QUERO, AND FERMIN LAUNCHED TO THE LEAGUE: The Los Angeles Angels called up right-handed reliever José Fermin from Rocket City, becoming the 39th player promoted from Rocket City to the Majors. Fermin, third this season, and 13th to bypass Triple-A. Fermin was 3-0 record and a 1.13 ERA in six relief appearances this season, and was the first Southern League pitcher to earn three wins. A native of the Dominican Republic, he began his professional career in 2024 and advanced through the Angels' minor league system.The Chicago White Sox promoted Edgar Quero from Triple-A Charlotte, and he made his MLB debut on April 17 vs. Oakland. He picked up his first hit on April 18 at Boston. Quero, a 22-year-old switch-hitting catcher from Cienfuegos, Cuba, was acquired by the White Sox in a 2023 trade with the Los Angeles Angels involving pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López. Quero skipped High-A and joined Rocket City in 2023. In 60 games, he posted a .242 batting average with 2 home runs, 32 RBIs, and 35 runs scored. His on-base percentage stood out at .378, thanks to 45 walks ... Former Trash Pandas pitcher Michael Darrell-Hicks had his contract selected by the Angels on April 6 but was optioned back to Triple-A Salt Lake on April 7. The Angels recalled Darrell-Hicks again on April 11 from Triple-A Salt Lake and made his debut that day against the Houston Astros. In his debut appearance, he pitched one inning, allowing four earned runs on three hits and issuing three walks ... He was 6-4 with a 1.73 ERA over 30 relief outings in 2024 for the Trash Pandas, earning eight saves in ten chances and 46 strikeouts to eight walks over 41.2 innings. Overall, Darrell-Hicks had a 6-7 record in Rocket City over 33 games and three starts, striking out 58 and walking 13 over 53.2 innings in 2023 and 2024.

ADDING KETCHUP TO THE MIX: The Angels promoted Caleb Ketchup to Rocket City on Tuesday. The outfielder had the only Rocket City hit on Wednesday in Montgomery, and picked up a stolen base as a pinch runner lastTuesday night. The outfielder has hit in three of his first four starts. Ketchup hit a home run in his first Trash Pandas at-bat last season on September 11 at Chattanooga.. In 2024, he led the Angels farm system, all of High-A, and ranked T-3rd in MiLB with 65 stolen bases while playing for Tri-City, Rocket City and Triple-A Salt Lake.

FONTENELLE'S CYCLE: Not only was Cole Fontenelle's cycle on April 8 vs. Knoxville the first in Trash Pandas history, but it was the first in the Southern League since former Smokies star Moises Ballesteros did it on June 15, 2024, at Biloxi. Fontenelle led off each at-bat, which has only been done once in MLB history, by Todd Helton in 1999 against the Florida Marlins. The last LA Angels' minor league player to hit for the cycle was José Rojas, who hit for the cycle on May 11, 2018, while playing for the Double-A Mobile BayBears. Rojas completed his cycle with a grand slam in the eighth inning, leading the BayBears to a 14-3 win over the Mississippi Braves at Trustmark Park.

TOYOTA FIELD MAGIC: Denzer Guzman's walk-off blast on April 5 vs. Chattanooga was his second as a Trash Panda, following a walk-off grand slam against Montgomery in May last year. The Trash Pandas had six walk-offs last season, including the previous walk-off home run on July 15, when Christian Moore hit an opposite-field home run. It was the 18th walk-off win in Toyota Field history. Guzman's first two hits of 2025 were three-run homers.

BACK FOR MOORE: Christian Moore returns to Rocket City, ranking as the top prospect in the Angels' organization and the No. 66 overall player in MLB Pipeline's Top 100 Prospects list. Selected eighth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft, Moore starred as a second baseman for the Tennessee Volunteers, where he emerged as one of college baseball's brightest stars, leading them to the 2024 College World Series Title. He played in only two games with Single-A Inland Empire in the California League last season before being promoted to Rocket City. Moore hit .347 with six home runs and 20 RBIs in his first 25 minor league games.

SCHEDULE UPDATE: The Sunday, April 6, game against the Chattanooga Lookouts that was postponed by inclement weather will be made up as part of a Wednesday, June 18, doubleheader when the Lookouts are back in Madison. The series will stretch from June 17 to 22 and now feature seven games in six days. Both games will be seven innings, with game one starting at 4:05 pm and game two starting roughly 45 minutes after the completion of game one.

MLB EXPERIENCE: Joining Trash Panda starter Sam Aldegheri with MLB time is veteran outfielder Travis Blankenhorn, pitcher Kelvin Cáceres, and infielder Evan White. The 28-year-old Blankenhorn has enjoyed six MLB stints with the Minnesota Twins (2020), New York Mets (2021), and Washington Nationals (2023). He made his major league debut for the Twins on September 15, 2020, in Chicago (AL) and recorded his first career hit in that game, a double. The Pottsville, Pennsylvania native is no stranger to the Southern League, having risen through the Twins system while Pensacola served as their Double-A affiliate. In 2019, he was a Midseason and Postseason All-Star, leading the Wahoos in home runs (18), hits (108), and RBI (51). Entering the 2025 season, Blankenhorn has 3,445 minor league plate appearances and 100 at the major league level.

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