Sports stats

FL New Jersey Jackals

Pitching Help on the Way

June 21, 2021 - Frontier League (FL)
New Jersey Jackals News Release


Maybe Brooks Carey is a magician. Maybe he's a mind reader. Maybe a hypnotist. How else to explain the New Jersey Jackals' winning record despite an extremely shorthanded pitching staff missing several key performers?

Maybe it's just that Carey is an old-school baseball pro who knows in his gut when it's time to make a move in the rotation, in the bullpen or on the mound late in the game with one out and one on.

Because of injuries and late arrivals, the Jackals have been missing relied-upon members of their pitching staff since opening day, still battling their way to a 13-8 record after Sunday's 18-10 loss at New York that broke a modest three-game win streak.

The good news is that pitching help is on the way.

In fact, it already began when standout 2019 reliever Reece Karalus returned to the team June 11, after missing the first two weeks of the season to earn his degree at Santa Clara University in California.

Now that he's back, Karalus, who turned 27 last week, teams up with 31-year-old Dylan Brammer (10 appearances so far this year, 2.70 ERA), reuniting the set-'em-up, knock-'em-down 1-2 late-game relief punch that drove the Jackals to the 2019 Can-Am League championship. Karalus made 35 relief appearances that year; Brammer made 31.

And, more pitching help is right around the corner.

Remember Brendan Butler? He went 6-3 with a 3.55 ERA in 17 starts for the club in 2019, then he decided to retire from baseball after that. But, Carey kept him on the roster, anyway, as "inactive" and recently, Carey said, the just-turned 28-year-old "got the itch" to return to the diamond, and he's expected back in Little Falls in 2-3 weeks.

Ronald Herrera is due here a week or two after that.

He's the Venezuelan fireballer New Jersey signed in March, after he'd appeared in a couple of Big League games with the New York Yankees in 2017. Right before this year's training camp, however, Herrera was working out on his own and got hit with a line drive. The cast on his right throwing hand came off last week, and Carey is confident that Herrera will provide a big boost as a starter.

So, New Jersey started the season without Karalus, Butler and Herrera, but it was actually worse than that.

Carey had signed 23-year-old Micah Kaczor, who'd been a starter for the River City Rascals in 2019, but Kaczor's contract was purchased by the Colorado Rockies on April 29. Similarly, Carey had inked Hayden Shenefield as a starter/reliever, but Shenefield was signed away by the Cincinnati Reds on May 31.

All of that left Carey without five key pitchers that he'd been counting on. All five were missing on Opening Day.

Five? He was missing six key pitchers just a few days into the season when Christian Tessitore - who'd started two playoff games for New Jersey in the 2019 championship run - was placed on the injured list.

What to do? Carey picked up two young hurlers who'd been playing college ball earlier in the spring, and both Angelo Baez and Jared Milch came through immediately. Baez, a 22-year-old righty, has made three starts and the team has won all three. Same for Milch, a 23-year-old lefty - three starts, three team victories, not to mention a slim 2.54 ERA with 20 strikeouts and just four walks. In his most recent start on June 17, Milch had his best outing yet, throwing seven shutout innings in a win over Tri-City.

Mixing the returning players and the new recruits and knowing when to hit each button - that's been Professor Carey's recipe for success.

--- Matt Vogel was a spot starter and reliever here in 2019, and Carey has chosen just the right situations for him so far this year - seven relief appearances, 2.00 ERA, 15Ks, 3BBs, team 6-1.

--- Jason Zgardowski was acquired preseason and he started the year with a 2.38 ERA in nine reliefs (team 8-1), until he had a negative outing in Sunday's loss, bumping him up to a 5.25 ERA for the moment.

--- Jack Weinberger has been another strong addition. He last pitched for Springfield College in 2018. Now he's 3-0 in seven appearances and sporting the perfect 0.00 ERA over 12 2/3 innings carefully curated by Carey.

--- Spencer Hereford started three games, all won by the Jackals, with a 1.69 ERA until he was charged with six earned runs on Sunday, boosting his ERA to 3.85 for now.

After Sunday's scorefest, New Jersey's team ERA is a bloated 5.53 today, but that average includes: Tessitore's 23.62 ERA in one outing before he went on the injured list the next day; backup catcher Colin Butkiewicz's 27.00 in one inning before being released; infielder Riley Mihalik's 18.00 in emergency relief; and, identically, outfielder Russ Olive's 18.000 in emergency relief.

Through the early ups and downs, the Jackals manager, himself a former Triple-A pitcher with the Baltimore Orioles, has remained both practical and philosophical, and always a gentleman.

On a fine spring night at Yogi Berra Stadium last week, Carey used Baez, Karalus, Zgardowski and Brammer to claim a victory over Tri-City. He still had a tiny limp after preseason knee surgery, but he was just as eager and competitive as anybody in the home dugout.

"We've managed to hang in there," Carey said before the game, before the "night's special" chicken sandwich would be a hit in the stands and before the light-pink, dark-pink sunset would color the sky beyond the left-field foul line.

"If we can hold on a little longer, there's help on the way and we'll need it if we're going to win this division."

Check out the New Jersey Jackals Statistics



Frontier League Stories from June 21, 2021


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.

Other Recent New Jersey Jackals Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central