Stanifer Makes Home Debut against Chesapeake's de León
EL New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Stanifer Makes Home Debut against Chesapeake's de León

Published on September 11, 2025 under Eastern League (EL)
New Hampshire Fisher Cats News Release


The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (23-41, 52-81) meet the Chesapeake Baysox (28-37, 59-73) for the third game of their series at 6:35 PM EDT on Thursday night. Toronto's No. 6 prospect Gage Stanifer is set to make his home debut against Baltimore's No. 21 prospect Luis De León (MLB Pipeline).

LAST NIGHT

New Hampshire's Je'Von Ward knocked a single to right field in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Fisher Cats walked off the Baysox on Wednesday night, 3-2. It was the Fisher Cats' first extra-innings walk-off win on the season and first walk-off since Peyton Williams' pinch-hit, game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth against Harrisburg on April 16.

New Hampshire opened the scoring with a two-run bottom of the third inning on a single from Williams and a fielder's choice by Cade Doughty.

The two teams exchanged three scoreless frames before Chesapeake plated two runs in the top of the seventh, tying the game at 2-2.

Fisher Cats starter Bobby Milacki went three scoreless before Pat Gallagher followed with three scoreless, one-hit innings of relief. Conor Larkin (W, 5-4) picked up the win by firing a scoreless top of the ninth and 10th innings.

PITCHING MATCHUP

Gage Stanifer (0-1, 9.00 ERA) will make his second Double-A start at Delta Dental Stadium on Thursday night. Stanifer enters Thursday night sixth among all minor league hurlers with 157 punchouts this year. The 21-year-old also ranks second in the Blue Jays' farm system in strikeouts behind Trey Yesavage (TOR No. 1, MLB Pipeline), who is fourth with 160 strikeouts. Stanifer debuted last week in Somerset, where he allowed four runs on two hits and five walks over four innings pitched. The righty tossed two scoreless innings before being tagged for three runs in the bottom of the third and went on to take the loss in the Patriots' 4-0 win. He made his way to New Hampshire from High-A Vancouver on September 5 after leading all Canadians arms with 115 strikeouts in 76 innings pitched. Stanifer broke camp with Single-A Dunedin and piggybacked Yesavage for seven games. In seven relief outings for Dunedin, Stanifer allowed two earned runs on 10 hits across 26 innings pitched, with 38 strikeouts to 12 walks. Stanifer was called up to Vancouver with Yesavage and Khal Stephen on May 20. Stanifer made his first High-A start the same day that Yesavage made his first Double-A start on June 12. Stanifer was introduced to the Canadians' rotation on June 12 and went on to go 4-4 with a 3.39 earned run average with 89 strikeouts over 61 innings pitched as a starter. Stanifer (TOR No. 6) becomes the fourth top 10 Blue Jays' pitching prospect to make his way to New Hampshire this season, joining Yesavage (TOR No. 1), Juaron Watts-Brown (BAL No. 13) and Stephen (CLE No. 7), according to MLB Pipeline. Watts-Brown was dealt to Baltimore with cash for reliever Seranthony Dominguez and Stephen was traded one-for-one to the Guardians for Shane Bieber at this year's trade deadline. After starting in Somerset last week, Stanifer will make his first Double-A start in the Granite State on Thursday.

Left-hander Luis De León (1-0, 0.82 ERA) makes his third career Double-A start for the Baysox in Thursday night. Through two starts with Chesapeake, De León has surrendered just one earned run on eight hits over 11 innings of work. In that span, De León has collected 16 strikeouts to four walks and the Baysox are 1-1 in his first two starts at Double-A. De León made his Double-A debut on August 29 in Reading and fanned eight batters while allowing no earned runs on five hits through 5-2/3 innings pitched. He followed with 5-1/3 one-run innings and eight more strikeouts in a winning effort against Harrisburg on September 5. The southpaw opened his fourth season of professional baseball on the seven-day injured list and rehabbed with Single-A Delmarva. After making four starts for the Shorebirds, De León moved to High-A Aberdeen on May 27. De León was named the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week by firing back-to-back scoreless starts on August 9 and August 16, respectively. De León punched out 12 and allowed three hits in six blank innings against Wilmington (A+, WSH) before collecting eight strikeouts in five, not-hit innings against Hudson Valley (A+, NYY). De León received the promotion to Double-A Chesapeake on August 26 and will make his first career start against the Fisher Cats on Thursday night.

THIS DAY IN FISHER CATS HISTORY

September 11, 2004 - The Fisher Cats advance to the Eastern League finals with a 5-2 win at Binghamton to close out the series, three-games-to-one. Francisco Rosario allowed two runs on five hits and struck out seven in 6.1 innings. Mike Snyder gave the Fisher Cats a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the third inning, and they scored two more in the fifth when Tyrell Godwin and Dominic Rich roped back-to-back RBI singles.

WHAT'S NEXT?

New Hampshire and Chesapeake are set for a 6:35 PM EDT first pitch on Friday night. Alex Amalfi (5-8, 4.63 ERA) gets the ball for the Fisher Cats against Chesapeake's Juaron Watts-Brown (3-4, 3.80 ERA). Watts-Brown makes his return to Delta Dental Stadium after being traded to Baltimore with cash for reliever Seranthony Dominguez on July 29.

Check out the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Statistics

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