Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds Vs Round Rock Express
May 1, 2017 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release
Memphis Redbirds (13-11) vs. Round Rock Express (11-13)
Monday, May 1
- 11:05 a.m. (CT)
- AutoZone Park (10,000)
- Memphis, Tennessee
Game #25
- Home Game #12 (6-5)
RHP Mike Mayers (1-3, 8.15) vs RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx (0-1, 2.89)
THE GAME
TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds wrap up their five-game homestand with the Round Rock Express (Rangers) this morning at AutoZone Park. Memphis has already assured itself of a series victory and is looking for its fourth straight win overall.. Today's game will be broadcast live on 87.7 FM and internet webcast at MemphisRedbirds.com, with Steve Selby on the call.
ON THE HILL: The Redbirds hand the ball to Mike Mayers in today's series finale. Due to quirks in the schedule this will be Mayers' third consecutive start on an Education Day with an 11 a.m. local start time. The previous two instances have not gone as planned as Mayers yielded 10 earned runs in eight innings during the previous road trip. Overall, the righthander has dropped three straight decisions after winning his initial start of the campaign.
Round Rock counters with righthander Austin Bibens-Dirkx. The 32-year-old will be making his third start of the season and sixth overall appearance. He last appeared on Monday in a relief role against Iowa, tossing three shutout innings. His last start came on April 19 vs Iowa when he suffered the defeat, allowing four runs (three home runs) on six hits in six innings. Bibens-Dirkx faced Memphis three times last season with good success, going 2-0 with a 2.79 ERA in 19.1 IP (14 H, 6 R, 6 ER, BB, 17 K).
SCHEDULE WITH ROUND ROCK: The Redbirds and Express meet for the fifth time this season with 11 games still on the docket. Memphis was 9-7 against Round Rock a year ago, marking the first time the Redbirds posted a winning record against the Express since the team switched to a Rangers affiliate in 2011. Memphis won five of eight matchups between the squads at AutoZone Park last year.
THIS DATE IN REDBIRDS HISTORY (May 1, 2001): Keith McDonald set a PCL record with five doubles in the game. The Redbirds doubled nine times as a team. Memphis went up 14-0 in the top of the 8th, but allowed 10 runs in the 8th and four in the 9th but pulled out the victory, 15-14 at Colorado Springs.
BIRD BITES
BADER: 16 of his 20 hits have come batting either fifth or sixth this season (16-for-44, .364, 3 2B, 2 HR, 8 R, 5 RBI)
CUNNINGHAM: Five-game hitting streak (7-for-30, .350, 2 2B, 3B, 6 R, 5 RBI)
DeJONG: Smoked his third multi-homer game of his career yesterday (9/2/15 w/ Peoria, 5/6/16 w/ NW Arkansas)
HUFFMAN: Reached base safely in eight straight starts (11-for-30, .367, 7 2B, HR, 6 R, 6 RBI)
KELLY: 6 of his last 9 hits have gone for extra bases over the previous 10 games
PHAM: Hits in 8 of his last 11 games (11-for-37, .297, 3 2B, HR, 8 R, 8 RBI)
RAVELO: Collected three hits and scored three runs in his first appearance with Memphis yesterday
ROSARIO: Hitless in three straight appearances (0-for-11)
TOVAR: Eight of his 13 hits this season have come batting 8th (8-for-23, .348, 2 2B, 4 R, 3 RBI)
VALERA: Hitting .357 at home (10-for-28, 3 2B, 3B, 3 R, 2 RBI) compared to .190 on the road (8-for-42, 3 R)
VOIT: Ranks among league leaders in extra-base hits, (13, t-3), SLG (.680, 4th), and OBP (.448, 4th)
WISDOM: Hitting .385 at home (15-for-39, 6 2B, HR, 6 R, 7 RBI) versus .171 on the road (7-for-41, 2B, HR, 4 R, 4 RBI)
BY THE NUMBERS
.257 Memphis finished the first month of the season 12th in the league in batting average
4.54 The Redbirds wrapped up April ninth in the circuit in ERA
THE SEASON
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds blasted four home runs, including back-to-back-to-back shots in the bottom of the seventh inning, to run away from the Round Rock Express, 11-7. Paul DeJong became the fourth Redbird this season to hit multiple homers in a game, finishing with three RBI on the day. Patrick Wisdom, Harrison Bader and Wilfredo Tovar also posted multiple RBI's.
On the hill, Chris Ellis earned his first win of the year, giving up four runs on nine hits in 5.2 innings.
OFFENSIVE OASIS: Memphis' offense has reached peak form this series against the Express, pounding out 30 runs on 46 hits so far for a .362 team batting average (league average .270). Forty-five of the hits have come in three of the games with a one-hit win added on Saturday. Prior to this series, Memphis had reached double-digit hits in just six of its first 20 games, something it has now done three times this series.
At one point or another in the last four games, the Redbirds have set new season-bests in runs (11), hits (17), doubles (tie, 5), home runs (tie, 4), extra-base hits (twice, 9), and total bases (twice, 34). In the series, Memphis has 12 doubles, a triple, and 10 homers, good for a .709 slugging percentage (league average .414).
HOME COOKING: In 11 games at AutoZone Park this year, Memphis has posted 42 extra-base hits, including 18 home runs. Friday night's 17-hit outburst was the highest total by the Redbirds since July 14 of last season against Albuquerque. This series against Round Rock has increased the team's batting average at home by 61 points to .263 and the team's overall batting average 20 points to .257. Memphis is slugging 92 points better at home (.496) compared to on the road (.404).
CAN WE KEEP THE DH?: Facing its first American League affiliate of the year, Memphis has taken full advantage of using the DH. In four games, the DH has gone 6-for-15 (.400) with two doubles, two home runs, four runs scored, and four RBI. Paul DeJong hit a pair of dingers as the DH yesterday.
RETURN OF THE BOMB SQUAD: After a five-game homer drought on the previous road trip, the Redbirds have certainly regained their home run stroke this series, connecting on 10 blasts, including tying a season-high with four yesterday. After a brief dip in the league leaderboard, Memphis has resumed the top spot in the PCL (El Paso, 28) and sits at second in all of MiLB (Quad Cities, 32).
The Redbirds are way ahead of their pace from a season ago when the squad did not hit its 29th homer until game 44, which came on May 26. A majority (19 of 29) of the long balls this season have been solo blasts.
Memphis has already hit three leadoff home runs, four game-winning home runs, gone back-to-back twice, and went back-to-back-to-back for the first time since 2009 yesterday. Paul DeJong became the fourth Redbird, and second this series, to hit multiple homers in a game this season yesterday.
EXTRA, EXTRA: The Redbirds have posted 202 hits in the first 24 games of the season, including a league-leading 53 doubles. Despite ranking 12th in the league in hitting, Memphis is fifth in total bases (348) and fourth in slugging percentage (.443)
TURN THE BEAT AROUND: After registering just one quality start in the first 14 games of the season, Memphis starters have tallied four quality starts and a complete game in the last 10 contests. On Saturday, Arturo Reyes tossed the first complete game, albeit rain-shortened, for Memphis since Deck McGuire had a rain-shortened five-inning complete game on September 4 last season.
Entering last Friday's doubleheader, Memphis starters held a 5.72 ERA (39 ER/61.1 IP) through the first 14 games. Since then, though, Redbirds starters have yielded just 21 ER in 51 IP for a 3.71 ERA. Overall, Memphis' team ERA has dropped more than half a point over the stretch from 5.09 to 4.54.
STARTING OUT QUICK: The 'Birds have scored 16 runs in the first inning and 13 runs in the second inning of games, which are two of their three most fruitful frames of the season (5th, 17).
Memphis has scored first in 14 of its initial 24 games this season, which trails only Tacoma and Iowa (15) in terms of times scoring the game's first run. However, the Redbirds are just 8-6 in those contests, which ranks 14th in the league.
The Redbirds have scored the game's final run 11 times and are 10-1 in such games, the second-best mark in the circuit.
RUN, RUN, RUNAWAY: The Redbirds are 9-for-25 in steal attempts and have been picked off nine times. The 16 caught stealings are the most in the PCL, with no other squad having been caught more than 12 times (Fresno, 15-for-27).
Memphis has also struggled with controlling the opponents' running game, catching just five of 28 would-be base stealers (17.9%), the third-lowest success rate in the PCL.
NO MORE DOUBLE SWITCHING: Memphis plays its fifth game of the season today against an American League affiliate, signaling the return of the designated hitter. The Redbirds' first 20 games have come against NL affiliates in New Orleans (Marlins), Colorado Springs (Brewers), and Oklahoma City (Dodgers).
Memphis' next five games will come against AL affiliates in Round Rock (Rangers) and Omaha (Royals) before reverting to NL play for 20 of the following 24 contests.
ABOUT LAST SEASON: Memphis finished 65-77 last season, 18.0 games behind first place Nashville, who finished with the best regular season in the Pacific Coast League. The Redbirds had 59 players appear in a game last season, 25 of whom were making their Triple-A debut.
MEMPHIS PLAYERS AND COACHES
HOME SWEET HOME: After a rough road trip (1-for-23), Patrick Wisdom has returned to his strong hitting at home with seven hits in the series, including a pair of three-hit games. This season, Wisdom leads Memphis with 15 hits at home, highlighted by six doubles. Including his time last season, Wisdom is a career .280 hitter at AutoZone Park with 22 extra-base hits in 51 games compared to .210 with 14 extra-base hits in 50 contests on the road.
STRIKING NEW GROUND: Daniel Poncedeleon became the first player promoted to the Redbirds this season as a counter move for Opening Day starter Luke Weaver going on the disabled list.
Since then, all he's done is toss a team-leading 22.0 innings in four starts and is tied for the team lead with 20 strikeouts. He currently ranks second among PCL starters (fourth overall) with a .187 opponent batting average and is tied for seventh in the PCL in ERA (1.64).
THE ROSTER: Of the 25 players who comprise Memphis' roster, 21 appeared at Triple-A last season, be it with Memphis or another organization. Of those who played at Triple-A, 13 donned a Redbirds uniform. Additionally, the roster is full of Major League experience with 11 players combining for 369 games played. Tommy Pham leads the roster with 136 games of MLB experience.
PROSPECTING: The Cardinals organization has seen a steady growth in the rating of its prospects the last three seasons, elevating from 15th to 14th to 12th this season, according to Baseball America. While top prospect Alex Reyes is sidelined for the season, six of the top 30 prospects tabbed by the publication are currently on the Redbirds roster. That includes Luke Weaver (#2), Carson Kelly (#4), Harrison Bader (#7), Paul DeJong (#14), Sam Tuivailala (#23), and Breyvic Valera (#29).
ST. LOUIS MAJORITY: When digging into St. Louis' current 25-man roster, 16 players have spent time in Memphis: pitchers Lance Lynn (2009-11), Tyler Lyons (2012-17), Carlos Martinez (2013-14), Kevin Siegrist (2013-14), Miguel Socolovich (2015-16), Michael Wacha (2013), and Adam Wainwright (2004-05, '08); catcher Yadier Molina (2004); infielders Matt Adams (2012, '14, '16), Matt Carpenter (2011-12), Aledmys Diaz (2015), Greg Garcia (2013-16), and Kolten Wong (2013-14, '16); and outfielders Randal Grichuk (2014, '16), Jose Martinez (2016). and Stephen Piscotty (2014-15).
REDBIRDS ALL-TIME ROSTER: Since St. Louis and Memphis signed a player development partnership in 1998, a total of 611 players and coaching staff have appeared on the Redbirds, including this season. Of that number, 252 have played or served in a coaching capacity for the St. Louis Cardinals in their career.
BREEDING GROUND: As of today, 25 members of the Cardinals' 40-man roster have played for the Redbirds in their respective careers.
OFFSEASON REBRANDING
A FRESH LOOK: The Redbirds unveiled a new brand identity on January 18 that speaks directly to the soul of the city and its rich traditions.
The primary logo replicates that of a neon street sign, quickly calling to mind Memphis' iconic Beale Street, located just a few blocks from the ballpark. The tube lighting is applied elsewhere throughout the brand package, including in the primary word mark and the numbers seen on the jerseys. Both the home and away uniforms feature the neon "Memphis" across the front with the neon "M" formed in the shape of a music note, to honor the home of the blues and the birthplace of rock 'n' roll.
In order to successfully capture this essence of Memphis, the Redbirds turned to Dan Simon of Studio Simon for design.
The primary colors of the new brand are St. Louis Cardinals red, navy and yellow, to represent the affiliate of the Redbirds since 1998. There are two primary hat versions: a red home hat featuring a more modern take on Rockey the Redbird's head, and the iconic music note neon "M" on a blue hat with a red bill. Fans will note a faint yellow outline around the jersey elements, which gives the effect that the neon is turned on.
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