Official Minor League affiliate of the UK, The Erie SeaWolves, will look to get off to a winning start to their 2021 Double-A Eastern League season this Tuesday evening (Wednesday morning this side of the pond) as they take on the Fightin Phils in Reading (Pennsylvania, not Berkshire). This will be both teams first competitive game since 2019, due to the suspension of the 2020 season.
The starter for this evenings game will be Paul Richan, a 24 year old right-hander hailing from Newhall, California. Richan was acquired by the Detroit Tigers organisation in 2019 on a minor league deal from the Chicago Cubs, the club that drafted him the second round of the 2018 draft. He has a career 3.64 ERA with 12 wins in 32 games across 2 seasons in the Minors, one at Low-A and one at High-A, making this his first game at Double-A level.
Elsewhere on the opening day roster is Outfielder Riley Greene, the 5th overall pick in the 2019 draft. Greene is the 19th top prospect in the country, according to baseball prospectus, and spent the 2019 season across various teams at the Single-A level hitting .271/.347/.403. The 20 year old Florida native is the 7th top 5 pick to play for the SeaWolves in their 26 year history. The full opening day roster can be found below:
Looking to the opposition for this 6-game road trip for the SeaWolves, Reading finished the 2019 season with the best record in the League at 80-59 and will be hoping to carry that form into the new season. Though like Erie, they too will be looking for post season redemption having fallen at the first hurdle to the Trenton Thunder in the 2019 Divisional series. The Fightin Phils feature four of their organisations, the Philadelphia Phillies, top 30 prospects; Chief among those is the No. 4 prospect Francisco Morales, a 21 year old Venezuelan pitcher with a blazing fastball.
It will be hard to determine what the SeaWolves will look like on the field having missed 18 months of baseball since the end of the Double-A Eastern League season in September 2019. Erie finished that season with a 77-61 record finishing first in the West division, but failing to make the playoffs due to some bizarre qualification rules seeing them lose out to the 3rd place Bowie Baysox. Erie will be hoping to put that frustrating finish even further in the rear-view mirror as they take to the field this evening.
For those wanting to tune into tonight's game, first pitch is at 19:05 EST/ 00:05 BST. A TV broadcast will be available via subscription to MiLB.TV, or for those not willing to fork over their cash just yet, a radio broadcast is available via the clubs website.
Comments
Post a Comment