Biscuits Return to Montgomery

There is pro baseball in Montgomery again. 

Much to cover, it was a steep learning curve and kinda comes at you fast when the team starts on the road. We are still putting faces to names and this six game homestand was very much a spring training for local ballpark bugs like myself. A couple walk off wins gave fans a nice welcome back from the Biscuits team.

BISCUITS NOTES

Shane Baz

Montgomery has versatile players and some very good pitching. 

Our first look gave much insight to the makeup of the roster, with mostly new players and just a handful returning from the 2019 playoff team.

Strengths for Montgomery include batters who know the strike zone really well and pitchers who are able to get ground balls to get out of jams.

Weaknesses include making consistent contact at the plate and consistent strike throwing on the pitching side. A couple of Montgomery players seemed over-matched when facing the  best opposition and already injuries have begun the roster shuffles.

 

MO OPTIONS

Ensberg "Its a Game of Inches"

 The Skits are speedy on the basepaths and have lots of moving parts - players able at multiple positions allowing skipper Ensberg to mix and match often. 

Maybe too versatile, with so many options and not enough obvious starters it could be some time before Ensberg decides what player fits at which position on the diamond and in the batting order. 

Morgan Ensberg has a habit of putting players in a position to do good things so it could work out well if he wants to keep shuffling the lineup every day.

NEW UNIFORMS

Did you notice the new look uniforms? 

Emblazoned with "The Gump" across the chest, these tops are vintage-Astros inspired with Biscuits themed colors. 

The new style was given sort of a luke-warm reception from the fans who felt that the font was tough to read. 

Also many are not big on the nickname for the capitol city, so it remains to be seen how often the new togs will be donned. 

It was mentioned that the uniforms would probably be much improved with the addition of stirrups to complete the faux-back look.

BISCUITS OF THE SERIES

Miles Mastrobuoni

A new feature by request, we will spotlight top Biscuits players from each series this summer.

The top spot of the batting order features Miles Mastrobuoni, Miles has been chosen as our first Biscuit of the Series.

Mastrobuoni had ten hits in twenty-nine at bats, he banged out multi-hit games in three of the six contests and notched at least one safety in each game. 

Miles smacked five doubles in the series against the Lookouts, he walked three times, plated three runs and scored thrice himself.

Miles occupied centerfield, right field and shortstop during the series. 

Mastro returns to the Biscuits for a third season, he sports a .300+ batting average in over 500 double-A plate appearances but Miles is sent back for more seasoning, in part due to a logjam in Durham. He offers veteran leadership and speedy versatility in the first home series, and was productive, making solid contact often. 

BISCUIT HURLER

Tommy Romero

The top hurler of the series for Montgomery is Tommy Romero, who struck out eight in four innings with two hits and no walks. And he looked dominant doing so. 

Early season pitch count meant he did not get a chance to earn the win but Romero had Chattanooga hitters baffled.

Romero returns to Montgomery after his late season promotion in 2019 when he was named the Florida State League pitcher of the year. The righthander appeared with Caguas and pitched five very strong innings representing Puerto Rico in the Serie Caribe this winter. 

 

CATCHING ON

The catching situation became a situation pretty quickly as the primary backup sustained a broken finger before making his home debut. Rene Pinto moves into the main receivership and is backed by Osberg and Ford Proctor.

 

SEAVER WHALEN FIRST BISCUITS PITCHER TO BAT AT RIVERWALK

Seaver Whalen made his double-A pitching debut this week, notable mostly because he is an infielder. When he came to the plate he was announced as a third baseman, but in fact he was the first pitcher to bat for the Biscuits at Riverwalk Stadium. 

A few Biscuits previous pitchers have batted in road games, primarily against NL affiliates, but none had at-bats at home.

Several position players have taken the mound for Montgomery, but another instance of a player having followed their pitching appearance with an at bat in the same game is not documented.

Dillon Paulson

NO THREE BATTER MINIMUM

The Lookouts brought in a relief pitcher for the 8th inning. He faced two batters and then with two balls on the next hitter, was lifted from the game. Looks like there is no three-batter minimum here.

 

 STATS SHEETS

I don't know why, but its been tough to get the usual info. I often request the handouts that are given away in the pressbox but for whatever reason this year I haven't figured out who to ask to bring them down for me. 

With the changes to the MiLB website and the killing of several independant stats sources, its almost impossible to get current numbers for Montgomery players beyond batting average and ERA. 

I used to include deep stats and would again if statcast offers up a pay service for minor league spin rates. Hmu if you have numbers help!

 

THE SHIFT AND HOW TO SWING IT

At one point the Biscuits were called back onto the field when a ground ball fielded by the third baseman and thrown to first for the final out of the inning was ruled NOT an out based on the fact that at least one of the infielders didn't have their toes on the infield dirt. Fans were generally stumped when the team lumbered back to their positions with no argument.

 

SIGNIFYIN

One of the highlights of the series was the banter between Lookouts coach Lenny Harris and Biscuits coach Gary Redus. The two former big leaguers enjoyed mid-inning chats and quips, building into a fun exchange of taunts and good natured ribbing.

Lookouts player homers - Harris to Redus "I'm teaching him to hit for contact"

Redus "You aren't charging enough for lessons"

 

On Sunday the banter was even more lively...

Harris "Gary! I know you are the one who had em cut off the water to the visitors clubhouse!"

Redus "You said you brought bottled water!"

Harris "No man, the showers don't work! You tryin to stink us out?"

Redus "Stink you out? Don't you shower before you come to the park?"

Harris "Yeah, but now we gotta ride home after the game with swamp ass!"

Redus *points* "The river is right over there!"

Harris "Yeah? We got rivers in Chattanooga, too. Wait till you come to our park"

Redus "Oh, we don't go there, you ain't on our schedule this year! See ya, swamp ass!"

 

UMP SHOW

Perhaps none benefit more from masking than the umpire crew, who also was able to do away with wearing uniform numbers. 

 Essentially men in black, these stagehand looking officials seemed to be having a rough go of it, perhaps it was spring training for them too.

In spite of shrinking MiLB by several dozen teams, we are still seeing three man umpire crews. Presumably that means some umpires have been let go or reassigned from field duties instead of being taught to be more efficient umpires by working as they would in the major leagues.

Yes, some of us enjoy watching the officials and knowing their uniform numbers helps keep track of them. 

Also, the baseball being used is MiLB Pat O'Conner balls, having been the only orb I have seen in use since at least mid-2018 and maybe before that. 

If you have any Southern League baseballs, they can now be considered collectors items from a defunct league. 

We are officially in the AASO now.

 

PARK NOTES

Moises Gomez

I usually keep it between the lines but this year there have been some questions so here is an overview of changes at the ball yard that I have noticed. 

Every day during this series the rules for the park seemed to change as masks were first required for all then became optional for fans, with distancing in the stands only required for those under MLB surveillance. 

 

Social distancing was not required in the seating bowl at the ballpark and few fans wear masks. If you are concerned about getting the 'rona from someone sitting behind or next to you, the ballpark is not the place to be. Vaccinate thyself.

Its noted that all park employees continue to mask as do players and all Rays staff.

The YMCA is now being played in the early innings and is thusly largely ignored by a majority of fans. Seventh inning stretch is still Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

Alex Valverde

Batboys have been eliminated as teams reduce the number of people allowed in dugouts during games. 

Players are forbidden from signing autographs. Teams are escorted to the bus after games and kept well away from fans, for the most part. I personally saw two autographs given in a week, both were for kids, both included a quick check to see who was watching first.

 

The music level is lower than previous years, a relief in some ways but it makes it a little hard to pick up every players walkup and entry music, which I really enjoy.

 

Gone is the lighted Monty in centerfield, but now we have a "Monty Cam" promotion with waving arms so maybe we will get him back later?

 

Jim Haley

 This year Big Mo is masked, slimmer and now described as a vegetarian. 

On the vegan front, a fan tweeted that the Biscuits didn't offer vegetarian options. Owner Lou DiBella replied himself that the veggie burger was simply out of stock and offered one on him next time. Good on Lou for taking care of the little things and making sure people had options they need.

  The stadium train was not in use for the first series but has not been permanantly mothballed, I am told.

BAKER FALLS FLAT
A character called The Baker now throws biscuits to the crowd. By that I mean he tosses them to about two sections behind the home dugout and nothing thrown to the home plate or first base side at all. Somehow they managed to increase the hype and lower the actual number of biscuits given away. 

Described as having "empty, dead eyes" and astride a partially inflated cock - not a hen - The Baker has yet to endear himself to the fans and may struggle to do so, a la Miss Gravy.

Its tough on the promotions front when your season is cancelled and you are left with a chicken suit, so I feel for the front office here.

On the upside, this is not the "Year of" anything as far as can be told. Before the shutdown there was talk of making every year a biscuit-related chinese astrology thing. We can be thankful our stars were fortuitous on this one. 

SLOW START

I will have to catch you on the flip side for a history section, I simply haven't time to write it up before posting deadlines. Between catching up on the numbers and sorting the many photos from this series, I am still way behind and so just tossing this out there as is. 

I am open to suggestions, if there is something you want to see in the blog, or used to see and want it back, let me know!

BULLPEN LIFE