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Helpi Reyes Advances in Moniker Madness
Another week down and another win for Jamestown Jammers starting pitcher Helpi Reyes, who advanced into the final 16 in an online contest on Minor League Baseball’s official website.
MiLB.com’s Moniker Madness is in its sixth year and is a fan vote to determine “Who has the best name in the Minor Leagues?” The tournament starts with 64 players, similar to NCAA Tournament and has now been trimmed down to the final 16.
“I was the first to notice when we were in Brooklyn,” said relief pitcher and social media-extraordinaire Beau Wright. “We’re aware, but it’s kind of on me to keep checking.”
Reyes defeated Roidany Aguila in the first round and Yogey Perez-Ramos in the second round to advance to the Natty Nattress Region semifinals.
Reyes, who turns 20 on Friday, is native of Cotui, Dominican Republic and doesn’t speak a whole lot of English. While some of his teammates are aware of contest, Reyes isn’t, but it’s hard to fault him on focusing on pitching instead of an online vote.
And the same goes for his teammates.
“I don’t think so,” said Wright referring to if his teammates are stuffing the ballots. “We just think its cool for him to be in it.”
Reyes will face Boss Moanaroa, a first baseman for the Greenville Drive of the South Atlantic League. That voting goes from July 24-26 with the winner to take on either Rougned Odor of the Hickory Crawdads or Zelous Wheeler of the Norfolk Tides. Quarterfinal voting will be this weekend, starting on Helpi’s birthday, July 27 and going through July 30.
“Pretty much I have been plugging it on the website and Facebook,” said Justin Michael, media relations officer for the Jammers. “But beyond that we haven’t made buttons or anything special like that.”
Fans can vote by simply logging onto milb.com and clicking on the Moniker Madness page. Once there, you only need to fill out winners for each matchup before filling out your name and birthdate.
Voting ends at midnight on Thursday
On the field, Reyes has been an important cog to the team. He’s 1-2 with a 3.26 ERA in seven starts this year. He’s allowing opponents to hit just .214 off him and has struck out 26 while only walking 14 batters this year.
In addition, Reyes has improved in a lot of categories this year versus his first stint in Jamestown last year when he went 1-6 with a 5.37 ERA.
“He is slated as our No. 1 starter in the rotation,” Michael said.
Elsewhere in the contest, in the Icicle Reeder Region, it’s top-seeded Caleb Bushyhead vs. Socrates Brito, and Bear Bay vs. Kevin Quackenbush. Winners will face each other next round.
In Farmers Works Region, top-seeded Duke von Schamann vs. Rock Shoulders and Jamodrick McGruder vs. Scooter Gennett.
Finally, in the Razor Shines Region, it’s top-seeded Forrest Snow vs. Tuffy Gosewisch and Michael Goodnight vs. Xander Bogaerts.
Morning Jam: Vote for Helpi
Who has the best name in minor league baseball? Well, it might just be Jamestown Jammers starting pitcher Helpi Reyes, who moved on to the second round in a fan vote held on the official website of Minor League Baseball, MiLB.com.
The sixth annual “Moniker Madness” is a 64-name bracket — identical to that of the NCAA Tournament, with seeding 1-16 — that allows fans to vote for the best name in the minors. Two players are pitted against each other with a fan vote solely deciding the winner all the way through the championship.
There is not a prize for the champion. It’s merely a softhearted game that gives some players recognition for nothing else than a fun name to say.
Reyes, a No. 3 seed, defeated Roidany Aguila, a catcher for the South Bend Silver Hawks (Arizona) in the first round. He’ll now face Yogey Perez-Ramos, a rookie outfielder playing for the Yakima Bears of the Northwest League.
You can vote for Reyes and on the rest of the bracket by logging on to MiLB.com. Round Two voting will go from July 17-23. If Reyes wins, he’ll move into the final 16 where he’ll face either Delta Cleary Jr. or Boss Moanaroa. That voting is only three days long and will go form July 24-26.
Among this year’s favorites are No. 1 seeds Caleb Bushyhead, Rougned Odor, Duke von Schamann and Forrest Snow. Odor and Snow made the final eight last year. My personal favorites such as Bear Bay and Rock Shoulders are also still alive in the voting.
The five previous winners are Seth Schwindenhammer (2011), Rowdy Hardy (2010), Dusty Napoleon (2009), Will Startup (2008) and Houston Summers (2007).
You can also keep up with Moniker Madness on both Twitter (@monikermadness) and Facebook (facebook.com/monikermadness).
ON THE FIELD
The Jammers snapped the three-game losing streak by defeating Batavia last night 5-3. Kentrell Dewitt broke a 2-2 tie with a two-run homerun in the 6th. Sharif Othman followed up with a back-t0-back homer to put the Jammers up three, which would be enough to win.
Nick Wittgren nailed down his eighth save of the year. In two innings of work, he struck out four and only allowed one baserunner, which reached on an error. Now, in 14 innings, Wittgren has allowed 9 hits, 1 walk and struck out 20. Opponents are hitting .173.
Jesus Solorzano went 2-for-4 to bump his batting average up to .250.
I’m working on a new usage chart, one a little easier to read. Look for that later in the week.
The Jammers finish up a mini two game set with Batavia tonight at home. It’s probably Matt Milroy tonight. He doesn’t usually follow Mason Hope in the rotation, but with the rainout and the doubleheader, things have been pushed around. He’s on his usual four days rest. Tomorrow is Helpi Reyes.
Jammers First Quarter Report Card
Saturday’s 6-3 win over the Brooklyn Cyclones marked the Jammers 19th game of the season, and more importantly, the one-quarter point of their 76 game schedule. The Jammers finished off the weekend by sweeping the first-place Cyclones and sit at 9-12 and in fifth place in the Pinckney Division. It’s the first time since the first week of the season that Jamestown had crept out of the basement.
With one quarter of the season out of the way, the Jammers — and the rest of the NYPL — had the day off Tuesday before picking back up Wednesday. The next scheduled day off is July 31.
So, it’s time for some grades here at the end of the first quarter.
Starting Rotation: C+. This would actually be much worse if not for the last week of action. The Jammers starters still have an ERA of 4.32 with a record of 1-7, but solid outings from Helpi Reyes and Ramon Del Orbe on Sunday and Monday, respectively, helped that out. Reyes’ win on Sunday was the first by a Jamestown starter.
Also, only six of the 21 starts have lasted five innings or more and Reyes has three of them. None of them have lasted into the seventh inning, although you do rarely see that by any pitcher in the NYPL.
Group MVP: Reyes
Where it can improve: Blake Logan was inserted into the rotation in Ryan Newell’s spot. All Logan has done is throw seven scoreless innings in two starts and allowed one hit. If Del Orbe can find some consistency, and Hope can build off his last start, the rotation can actually be pretty good.
Bullpen: A+. There’s really no other way to put this; the Jammers would be well under .500 and probably own the league’s worst record if it was not for the bullpen so far. Even though the 8-5 record doesn’t look overly great, the team also owns seven saves. Think about it this way: Jamestown’s starters have one win, so the bullpen is grabbing the win and the save every night.
But, the 2.26 ERA says it all really. Plus the fact the bullpen has thrown 115.2 innings compared to the 81.1 of the starters. It’s usually the other way around.
Where to start? Closer Nick Wittgren has been tremendous. His five saves are second in the league, behind Tri-City’s Blake Ford. In seven games, Wittgren has thrown 10.2 innings and allowed just one run for a 0.84 ERA. He’s also struck out 14 while walking nobody. Exactly what you want from a closer.
Setup man Jheyson Manzueta has been excellent as well. He holds a team-high three holds and is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA. He’s struck out 18 batters in 14 innings.
Long-man Jake Esch is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 20 innings. Beau Wright and Frankie Reed have been quality lefties with ERA’s under 4.00 as well.
Group MVP: Wittgren
Where it can improve: Really, it can’t. If this group can do this all year, Jamestown will compete for a playoff spot.
Catchers: C-. The offensive numbers aren’t there, but Jose Behar and Sharif Othman are doing a fine job behind the plate, and at this level, that’s all you can ask for right now. Behar is hitting .205 with three RBI in 12 starts behind the plate. I like his arm and he’s shown pretty good range, too.
Othman is hitting just 1-for-22 (.045) this year with a RBI. He wasn’t used much this year until he started three out of four game during the road trip.
Brian Dice seems to be the third option behind the plate. He’s hitting .267 (4-for-15) with a homerun in three starts. Also started at DH.
Group MVP: Behar
Where it can improve: More at bats for Behar should drive that average up a little.
Infielders: B-. The Jammers lost arguably their top prospect Austin Nola to Greensboro a week ago. He had started 15 of the 16 games he played in while in Jamestown.
Taking over for him at shortstop has been fellow rookie Anthony Gomez. Pedro Mendoza has also got plenty of at-bats since being activated. In addition, the team lost middle infielder Yeison Hernandez to Greensboro.
First base has been between Viosergy Rosa and Felix Munoz. But, the other gets the start at DH sometimes. Rosa, a holdover from last year, is hitting .255 with a homer and six RBI in 12 starts. Munoz has nine starts and is hitting .283 with two homers.
Gomez was the guy at second before getting switched back to his natural position at short. Returnees from last year Yefri Perez and Pedro Mendoza have been at second since the switch and have both done a good job.
After playing in just two of the first nine games, Perez has started 10 of the last 12 and is batting a team-high .345.
Matt Juengel has pretty much been the everyday guy at third base with 11 starts and is batting .213 with five RBI.
Group MVP: Perez.
Where it can improve: With Perez and Mendoza at the top of the order, the offense has been better. We’ll see if it holds.
Outfielders: C+. It’s a four-man group, but centerfielder Juancito Martinez has been the mainstay each night. Martinez, my team MVP, has started a team-high 18 games and leads the club with 21 hits and nine steals and two homers. He’s hitting .318 with a .400 on-base percentage.
The rest of the group has struggled. Returnee Kentrell Dewitt is hitting .185 in 15 starts in left field. Cameron Flynn is hitting .170 in 13 starts in right field.
The utility man is Jesus Solorzano with 17 starts in all three outfield positions. He was considered one the Marlins top prospects by Baseball America in January, but the 21 year old is hitting just .209. He does have a team-high two homers and eight RBI.
Group MVP: Martinez.
Where it can improve: The three besides Martinez need to start hitting. Solorzano is the key.
Morning Jam: June 28
Another blowout loss at the hands of Auburn. The three game series ended with a 7-0 loss on Wednesday meaning Jamestown had been outscored 22-5 in the series. They had just five hits and little-used infielders Yefri Perez and Rony Peralta had four of them. In addition, just one walk. Ugly cap to an ugly series.
• Jammers starters have thrown 36 innings, allowed 40 hits, walked 18 and allowed 27 runs (23 earned). Take away Ramon Del Orbe and those numbers are somehow even more brutal. It is going to be a very long year if that keeps up.
• Possible solutions? Well, I’m not sure, but Jake Esch and Blake Logan feel like real options at this point. Esch has done a marvelous job out of the pen and has had outings of three and four innings this year. Logan, a rookie out of college, was a starter this season. So was Drew Steckenrider, who is on the temporary inactive list right now.
• Jamestown is now hitting .244 as a team. Was just this weekend when I said the Jammers were in good shape with their offense. Well, Auburn settled that down as Jamestown batted exactly .200 (19-for-95) in the series and averaged less than two runs. I don’t know, at some point Angel Espada has to use guys that are swinging hot bats. Clearly, the plan has been to use Austin Nola everyday, but the rookie shortstop (who I said wasn’t nearly as bad as his numbers indicated last night) had another tough day at the plate, going 0-for-4.
• They’ll start a three-gamer with Batavia tonight. The Muckdogs are a game better than Jamestown at 4-6 and took two of three from Jamestown this past weekend. Again, they’ll go back-and-forth between Jamestown and Batavia starting in Batavia tonight. Helpi Reyes (0-0, 5.63 ERA) on the mound for the Jammers.
Jammers-Scrappers Lineups
Opening Day here at Diethrick Park with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. Here are today’s lineups.
Jamestown
1. Yeison Hernandez (2B)
2. Anthony Gomez (DH)
3. Austin Nola (SS)
4. Matt Juengel (3B)
5. Viosergy Rosa (1B)
6. Jesus Solorzano (RF)
7. Jose Behar (C)
8. Kentrell Dewitt (LF)
9. Juancito Martinez (CF)
SP — Helpi Reyes
Mahoning Valley
1. Jose Ramirez (2B)
2. Mark Bradley (DH)
3. Aaron Siliga (CF)
4. Charlie Valerio (C)
5. Hunter Jones (LF)
6. Evan Frazar (1B)
7. Erik Gonzalez (3B)
8. Juan Romero (RF)
9. Jairo Kelly (SS)
SP — Geoffrey Davenport
Reyes Named Opening Day Starter
Quick note here, Helpi Reyes will be on the mound tonight for the Jammers on Opening Day. Reyes, a 20 year old from the Dominican Republic spent all of 2011 with the Jammers and went 1-6 with a 5.37 ERA in 12 starts and 15 games overall.
He’ll be opposed by Geoffery Davenport, a 43rd round pick out of Arkansas in 2011. Davenport had Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left throwing elbow and will making his professional debut.
I’ll post the starting lineups once I get to Diethrick Park later on today.
Pre-game festivities and fireworks tonight. Should be a great night in Jamestown.
Elsewhere in the NYPL
Aberdeen @ Hudson Valley 6:35 p.m.
Staten Island @ Brooklyn 7 p.m.
Auburn @ Batavia 7:05 p.m.
Connecticut @ Lowell 7:05 p.m.
State College @ Williamsport 7:05 p.m.
Tri-City @ Vermont 7:05 p.m.
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