SAL Hudson Valley Renegades

HVR Game Notes - May 26, 2023

Published on May 26, 2023 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Hudson Valley Renegades News Release


Hudson Valley Renegades (25-17) at Wilmington Blue Rocks (21-20)

RHP Juan Carela (1-2, 4.15 ERA) vs. RHP Cole Henry (MiLB Rehab)

| Game 43 | Road Game 22 | Frawley Stadium | Wilmington, Del. | May 26, 2023 | First Pitch 6:35 p.m. |

BACK TO THE MID-ATLANTIC:The Hudson Valley Renegades and Wilmington Blue Rocks meet for their second of five series meetings this season. The Renegades won four out of the six games in their first series back at Heritage Financial Park. The 'Gades made a pair of trips to the First State last season, sporting a 3-5 mark in eight games.

LAST TIME OUT: The Hudson Valley Renegades rallied late to down the Wilmington Blue Rocks 10-8. Aaron Palensky mashed his league-leading 12th home run and finished with three hits to lead the charge. Rafael Flores tallied four hits and Grant Richardson extended his hitting streak to seven games in the victory. Danny Watson tossed two innings and Jack Neely earned his second save of the season to secure the 'Gades win.

PAVING THE WAY: Aaron Palensky homered and recorded two doubles in the win on Thursday to push his SLG to .716. This mark places him second in MiLB trailing Christopher Morel (CHC) who recorded a .730 SLG for Triple-A Iowa before earning his promotion. In fact, two of the top five MiLB slugging leaders are in the Major Leagues, the other being Matt McLain (CIN).

BIG WINS AND LOSSES:The Renegades have already played in an extraordinary number of lopsided games this season, with 20 of the team's 42 games (47.6%) being decided by 5-or-more runs.

- Hudson Valley sports a 11-9 (.550) record in game decided by 5+ runs.

- The club has already played six games decided by 11-or-more runs (14.2% of games), and has a 3-3 (.500) record in those games.

- The 'Gades have also played nine one-run games, and are 3-6 (.333).

RICHIE RICH: Grant Richardson capped off a stellar week at the plate with a walk-off RBI single in the ninth inning on Sunday to snap the 'Gades four-game losing skid. Richardson is currently riding a season-long seven game hitting streak where he's hitting .417 (10-for-24) with a HR, six RBIs, five walks, a stolen base, and two runs. The former Indiana Hoosier has raised his season batting average up 76 points since the start of the streak.

DON'T RUN ON ME:Renegades catcher Antonio Gómez caught Jeremy De La Rosa on Thursday to bring his total to 17 in 22 games behind home plate this year.

- He owns the highest mark in the South Atlantic League and High-A, and good for t-3rd in MiLB.

- Gómez has thrown out 29.8% of would-be basestealers this year. The SAL average is around 21%.

- Nick Clarno (AUG, ATL) leads all of MiLB with 25 while Gómez is t-3rd.

- In the month of May, Gómez has caught 36% of attempted runners (13-for-36).

- After catching just four opponents in April, the 'Gades backstop has improved his CS% by nearly 18% month over month.

GAS STATION:Through 42 games this season the Renegades pitching staff has registered 476 strikeouts, the second most in the SAL and among all High-A teams, and the fifth-most among all non-Triple-A teams in the minor leagues. Hudson Valley pitchers are striking out 11.60 batters per nine innings, and 29.4% of all batters faced this season.

THE K-ZONE:Over their last 14 games, the Renegades pitching staff owns a 3.56 ERA in 124.0 innings, good for second in the South Atlantic League and sixth in High-A. The Quad Cities River Bandits (KC) lead the way for High-A clubs with a 2.63 ERA. Hudson Valley pitching has struck out 154 batters, the fourth-most in this span trailing Greenville (BOS -- 175).

ARSON PALENSKY: Over his past 24 games, Aaron Palensky is batting .358/.430/.768 (34-for-95) with 6 2B, 11 HR, 25 RBIs, 6 SB and 23 runs.

- He is currently first in HR (12), SLG (.718), & OPS (1.132), third in TB (84), tied for third in RBI (32), fifth in AVG (.333), sixth in XBH (20), and eighth in OBP (.414) in the SAL.

- His 12 HR are the most among NYY minor leaguers.

- With two doubles and a HR on 5/25 at Wilmington, Palensky passed Everson Pereira for the most career extra-base hits in franchise history (46).

- He is t-5th among all non-AAA MiLB players in HR this season, and t-12th overall. Palensky has the sixth-highest OPS in the minor leagues.

CLIMBING THE LADDER:With a hit on Thursday, Eduardo Torrealba has tallied 109 career hits with the Renegades. He currently sits fifth in franchise history sitting behind Matt Rico (112) for fourth. Angel Perez holds the franchise record with 125. Aaron Palensky is also closing in on the century mark as well with 94 career hits in a Renegades uniform.

WATTS-OUT: Renegades reliever Danny Watson's scoreless streak was snapped at 10.2 innings on Sunday afternoon. The streak was broken up on a Joe Suozzi RBI double in extra innings vs Brooklyn. It was the first run allowed since April 30th in Greenville. The former VCU Ram still hasn't allowed an earned run in his last seven appearances after hurling two scoreless innings on Thursday vs Wilmington.

STOP HITTING ME:On Friday the Renegades set a new franchise record (since 2005) by hitting six batters in a single game. It broke the previous record of five hit batsmen in a game, set on Sept. 5, 2015 vs Aberdeen.

- Six hit batsmen are t-9th-most in all full-season MiLB games since '05.

- Since 2005, only 27 teams have hit 6-or-more batters in a game in full-season minor league games.

- This is only the 2nd occurrence of 6 HBP in a game in the South Atlantic League since 2005, last happening on Aug. 5, 2022 by Greenville at Rome.

- The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (LAD, A) hit 8 batters on Aug. 19, 2022 vs Modesto to set the record.

The Renegades have hit 37 batters, tied for most in the SAL (w/GBO).

Check out the Hudson Valley Renegades Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from May 26, 2023


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