SAL Hudson Valley Renegades

Renegades Game Notes

Published on April 21, 2024 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Hudson Valley Renegades News Release


Hudson Valley Cider Donuts (9-4) at Aberdeen IronBirds (5-9)

RHP Cam Schlittler (2-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Zach Fruit (0-1, 2.25 ERA)

| Game 14 | Home Game 6 | Sunday, April 21, 2024 | Heritage Financial Park | Wappingers Falls, N.Y. | First Pitch 2:05 p.m. |

THE RETURN: The Cider Donuts, Hudson Valley's alternate identity, makes its return on Sunday afternoon, with the Renegades donning special Cider Donuts jerseys for the ballgame. The promotion was featured on ESPN's SportsCenter: AM on Saturday morning as the "Minor League Promo of the Week", with anchors Jay Harris and Gary Striewski sporting Cider Donuts jerseys during the segment. A finalist for the 2023 Minor League Baseball Alternate Identity of the Year, the Renegades feature freshly-made Cider Donuts for sale at Heritage Financial Park during every game. The 'Gades have also partnered with Hudson North Hard Cider on a Renegades Cider Donut Cider that is available at the ballpark and in stores locally.

DOWN TO THE WIRE: With their 4-3 win on Saturday, the Renegades have won four consecutive games in their last at-bat, including three walk-off wins.

WEB GEM: The Renegades made national news on Thursday night. In the seventh inning of the ballgame, Roc Riggio made a remarkable diving catch in shallow center field, colliding with center fielder Nelson Medina. He then proceeded to turn around and fire the ball back into second base, where first base Josh Moylan was covering, to double off the runner and complete a double play. The defense brilliance from Riggio was featured on SportsCenter as the #1 play on the "Overachieving for the Prekend" segment.

HOME, SWEET HOME: After an eight-game road trip to begin the 2024 season, the Renegades are finally home for a 12-game homestand at Heritage Financial Park. The Renegades were the last team among 120 MiLB clubs to host their home opener, with all 119 other clubs having played at least one game at home thus far in 2024.

I'M WALKIN' OFF OVER HERE!: In their first three home games of the 2024 season, the Renegades recorded walk-off wins over the Aberdeen IronBirds. On Tuesday night, Omar Martínez drew a walk-off walk off Luis Sánchez in the ninth, while Nelson Medina followed that up with a walk-off single off Yaqui Rivera in the 11th on Wednesday. Thursday presented a third different scenario for a walkoff, with Cole Gabrielson scoring on a wild pitch by Ironbirds reliever Deivy Cruz. Hudson Valley had seven walk-off wins in 2023 and just two in 2022.

COMEBACK KIDS: With wins on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Renegades have won two games this season when trailing after the eighth inning. The 'Gades were just 1-39 when trailing after the eighth in 2023.

THIRTY, FLIRTY & THRIVING: The Hudson Valley Renegades are celebrating their 30th anniversary season throughout 2024. Now in their fourth season as a full-season club and affiliate of the New York Yankees, the Renegades will pay tribute to the greatest players and moments in franchise history throughout the season. Since the team's inaugural 1994 season, 131 Renegades have gone on to play in Major League Baseball, with catcher Kevin Brown being the club's first alumni to reach MLB on Sept. 12, 1996. Hudson Valley has been affiliated with three MLB clubs, the Texas Rangers (1994-96), Tampa Bay Rays (96-19) and Yankees (20-Present). They won the New York-Penn League Nader Cup Championship three times: 1999, 2012, and 2017. Other notable former Renegades include 2008 AL Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria, 2009 AL Rookie of the Year Jeremy Hellickson, 2010 AL MVP Josh Hamilton, and Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt.

OVER A DECADE OF SUCCESS: With a 70-62 (.530) record in 2023, the Hudson Valley Renegades recorded their 11th consecutive season with an above .500 record (since 2012). During that span, the team has won two league championships (2012 and 2017), seven playoff appearances (12, 14, 16-19, 23), and five league championship series appearances (12, 16-18, 23). Including their 4-2 start to 2024, among teams in affiliated baseball with at least 800 games, the Renegades have the best winning percentage (.576) in MiLB.

NEW FACE: Garrett Martin has quickly made his mark at the plate for Hudson Valley in 2024. Through nine games, Martin has .386 OBP with a .803 OPS. The outfielder already has four doubles this campaign, most on the team and ranking fourth in the South Atlantic League. His fourth double on Thursday night came with the bases loaded, driving in three runs. The Arlington, TX native has 9 RBIs in 2024, the most on Hudson Valley.

LIMITING HITS & RUNS: Hudson Valley pitchers have been on a roll early on, and have allowed only 66 hits through 13 games. The Renegades have allowed the fewest hits in MiLB, allowing 6 fewer hits than the next-best team (Portland, BOS, AA). Incredibly, Amarillo (AZ, AA) has allowed a staggering 147 hits through 14 games, most among all non-AAA teams. The team's 2.37 ERA is the second-lowest mark in High-A, and fifth-best among all MiLB teams.

HUDSON VALLEY TO THE SHOW: Already in 2024, the Renegades have seen four former players make their MLB debuts. Mitch Spence (2021) made his MLB debut with the Oakland Athletics, Matt Sauer (2021-23) debuted with the Kansas City Royals, and Oliver Dunn (2021) broke in with the Milwaukee Brewers all over MLB Opening Weekend. On Monday night, Josh Maciejewski (2021, 23) made his big league debut for the Yankees against the Marlins. The Renegades have now had 131 former players reach the major leagues, including 18 from the Yankees era and 16 from the star-studded 2021 team.

FINISHING STRONG: Over his last 14 games of the 2023 regular season, Jesús Rodríguez went 19-for-53 (.358) with two doubles, a triple, two home runs, 9 RBIs, and seven runs scored. Rodríguez has carried that success into the 2024 season by reaching base safely in eight of his first eleven games. He is currently batting .267 on the young season, already with five multi-hit games, the most on the team.

VZ POP: Omar Martínez has quickly built on his strong season in the Florida State League with Single-A Tampa in 2023. The Renegades backstop is slashing .316/.409/.605 with a 1.014 OPS through 10 games. He has reached base safely in all but one of his appearances, and has at least one hit in eight of 10 games. On Saturday vs Aberdeen Martinez launched a go-ahead solo home run to right in the bottom of the eighth for to seal a 4-3 Hudson Valley victory. The long ball was the 22-year-old's third of the season, the most of any Renegades player. Last year, Martinez was third among Florida State hitters with 18 home runs, and his 35 extra-base hits ranked sixth.

EASY AS 1-2-3: With Brian Hendry and Matt Keating combining on a three-hitter in Game 2 of last Friday's doubleheader in Rome, the Renegades became the first team in MiLB this season to have thrown a 1-hitter, a 2-hitter, and a 3-hitter (since joined by Montgomery). They followed that up by tossing a second two-hitter on Sunday in Game 2 of the twin bill with Rome and a three-hitter on Tuesday against Aberdeen. The 'Gades have allowed three-or-fewer hits in five of their first 13 games played, and five-or-fewer hits in seven contests.

MIDWEST REINFORCEMENTS: Jace Avina debuted with the Renegades on Wednesday, after being traded to New York for Jake Bauers in November from Milwaukee. The 20-year-old made a big impact in Friday's game vs Aberdeen, notching two hits in three at-bats. He also had a beautiful outfield assist from center field in the second, as he threw out Ryan Higgins at third.

INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH: The Hudson Valley Renegades and the Bhutan Baseball & Softball Association have partnered to present Bhutan Night on August 20 at Heritage Financial Park. The team is currently fundraising to bring over several Bhutanese baseball players for baseball and cultural enrichment tour of the Hudson Valley and New York. More details on the night can be found at www.hvrenegades.com/bhutan.

NON-SACRIFICIAL LAMBS: The Hudson Valley Renegades have not laid down a sacrifice bunt in either of the last two seasons, one of four teams in MiLB to not register a sacrifice bunt in that time (also Asheville, Fayetteville and Tampa). The last time the Renegades successfully executed a sacrifice bunt was Eduardo Torrealba on 8/31/2021 at Greensboro, a span of 291 regular season games.

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South Atlantic League Stories from April 21, 2024


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