SL Rocket City Trash Pandas

Know Your Opponent: Birmingham Barons

April 30, 2024 - Southern League (SL)
Rocket City Trash Pandas News Release


The Rocket City Trash Pandas open a massive six-game road series against the Birmingham Barons (Double-A, Chicago White Sox) on Tuesday.

It's a battle between the teams with the best records in the Southern League as the 12-9 Trash Pandas and 15-6 Barons meet for the second time this season.

The Trash Pandas defeated the Barons four times during a six-game series at Toyota Field in early April.

This will be one of three times where the two teams meet at Regions Field this season, not returning until May 28.

Rocket City Trends:

Outfielder Tucker Flint ranks seventh in the Southern League with his .297 batting average, Flint also ranks top five in both RBI and hits.

Infielder Cole Fontenelle became the first Trash Pandas player with 10 stolen bases on the season, he now sits just five away from tying Jordyn Adams (2022) for the tenth most in a single season.

The Trash Pandas have the best bullpen ERA in all of Double-A at 1.85, well ahead of second place Birmingham (2.26)

Birmingham Last Series: 5-1 @ Chattanooga

The Barons won the first four games against the Lookouts, finally dropping a game on April 27.

Birmingham's pitching staff was lights out against the Lookouts, allowing 2.6 runs per game during the six-game series.

Barons Hitting:

Birmingham boasts the top batting average in the Southern League, hitting at a .261 clip to open the season.

Two Barons players sit in the top three in the league in that category, including infielder Brooks Baldwin who holds a league-leading .425 average in 19 games.

Baldwin has driven in 15 runs this season which is second in the league behind teammate and former Trash Panda Edgar Quero who has 21.

Quero is tied for the Southern League lead with five home runs, three of them came at Toyota Field against the Trash Pandas earlier this season.

Barons Pitching:

Birmingham has also dominated on the mound this season as its 2.34 ERA is the best in the Southern League and sits second in the league with 199 team strikeouts.

The rotation has been the key for the Barons as the trio of Jairo Iriarte, Drew Thorpe and Ky Bush all rank in the top four in the Southern League in ERA.

Iriarte leads the bunch with a 0.51 ERA but remains in search of his first win.

On the other hand, Thorpe has won all four of his starts to open his Barons career. He's allowed just two runs in the process with one of them coming against the Trash Pandas.

Bush was sent to the White Sox organization from Rocket City alongside Quero.

Barons Prospect Watch:

Birmingham welcomes eight prospects in the Chicago White Sox top 30 list.

Five of them are in the top 10 including Thorpe, who is the team's highest ranking prospect at No. 3 in the system.

Thorpe is the only Barons player who is also an MLB Top 100 prospect, sitting at No. 77.

Infielder Bryan Ramos has also been a mainstay in the Barons lineup to open the season as he entered the year as the White Sox No. 4 prospect.

Quero, Iriarte and pitcher Jake Eder round out the Barons in the top 10.

Check out the Rocket City Trash Pandas Statistics



Southern League Stories from April 30, 2024


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.

OurSports Central