Tigers Minor League Recap – 8/6

Toledo Mud Hens (Triple-A)

Game 1 Final: Louisville 2 – Toledo 13

Top Performer(s):

Hao-Yu Lee, 2B — 2-for-4, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, 3 R, BB
Trey Sweeney, SS — 3-for-4, RBI, R, BB
Justyn-Henry Malloy, 1B — 1-for-4, 2 RBI, R

Bailey Horn — 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. Hard to pick a pitcher here because all of them did really good. I went with Bailey Horn today because he really attacked the zone and got 2 outs, including 1 K, on 9 pitches.

Game notes:

Nothing was going to stop the Toledo bats. 13 runs was spread across the entire roster. Every player drove in or scored a run and 7 got both. Hao-Yu Lee had a part of 6 of the runs scored (3 scored, 3 driven in) thanks to his double and triple in the game. He included a walk in there too. In the shortened game, the Mud Hens scored 11 of their runs in the 3rd and 5th innings.

Hao-Yu Lee got an elevated 96 MPH heater from Chase Petty on 2-0 and turned it around at 107 MPH for a leadoff double. pic.twitter.com/xYHz9Nu8RE

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 6, 2025

Pitching they did really well too. 6 Ks in the 7 innings, 7 base runners allowed. Sawyer Gipson-Long gave up the only runs that Louisville would score.

Game 2 Final: Louisville 7 – Toledo 9

Top Performer(s):

Trey Sweeney, SS — 3-for-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, BB
Andrew Navigato, 1B — 3-for-4, 3B, 2 R
Eduardo Valencia, DH — 1-for-3, 2 RBI, BB

Drew Sommers — 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. Hard to pick anyone else given he faced 3 batters and struck out all 3 of them. He got an incredible 7 whiffs on 8 swings with each of his 4 pitches getting at least 1.

Game notes:

Another offensive explosion, but this one was split between the two teams instead of being one sided. There was a run scored in all of the innings except for the 4th and multiples runs scored by a team in 5 of the 7. So there was non-stop action. Trey Sweeney really led the way with his 2 HRs. His 6th inning solo shot was a part of a back-to-back with Gage Workman.

Trey Sweeney, have a day. His second home run of the game, sixth hit of the double header as his family and friends are enjoying this homecoming pic.twitter.com/5pSxxxVN8w

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 7, 2025

Nick Margevicius got the start. It wasn’t his best start as he gave up 4 ER on 8 hits in 3.0 IP, though he did strike out 4. Tanner Rainey would get the bulk of the relief innings and earn the win. Codi Heuer would collect the save tonight pitching just 0.1 innings and getting a K.

Tomorrow’s projected starters:

Troy Watson (1-0, 1.64 ERA) vs Adam Plutko  (4-5, 4.91 ERA)

Erie SeaWolves (Double-A)

Final: Richmond 6 – Erie 3

Top Performer(s):

Kevin McGonigle, SS — 3-for-4, 3B, 2 R
Jake Holton, 1B — 3-for-4, 2 2B, RBI
Ben Malgeri, LF — 2-for-4, HR, R, RBI

Max Alba — 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. Max had his best outing so far in AA. Only taking him 60 pitches to get through 5 innings, he allowed just 3 base runners to get on and no runs came across, where he had allowed 5 runs and 4 runs in his first two starts.

Game Notes:

Scoring took a little while to happen in the game this afternoon with all 9 runs scored coming in the 6th inning or later. Though it looked like Erie might get the scoring started when they had Ben Malgeri on 1st and Jake Holton on 3rd with just one out. Then there was a line out double play off the bat of Campos to end the inning with no runs.

Tanner Kohlhepp would get the 6th inning and the Richmond batters would get the bases loaded after drawing a walk, error on sac bunt, and a single to start the inning. Tanner would then go on to get a force out at home and a strikeout of the next two batters and it would look like he would be able to get out of it. Unfortunately two walks from the next two batters would allow Richmond to take the early lead. To Tanner’s defense, there were some bad calls in both walks and they shouldn’t have happened. After the length at-bats, he would be replaced by Trevin Michael who would get the last out.

Erie would bring the lead down to one in the bottom of the inning after Kevin McGonigle hits his first triple with Erie, and of the year. He’d score on a Max Anderson sac fly. They would then tie the game in the bottom of the 7th thanks to a Ben Malgeri HR.

First Double-A triple for Kevin McGonigle and his second hit of the day. He would later score to put Erie on the board pic.twitter.com/Dg8jG99lFe

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 6, 2025

Richmond would take the lead again when they’d put up a 3 run 8th inning, which would include a bizarre sac fly double play that scored 2 runs. And those 3 runs would prove to be enough. The Seawolves would try to comeback again with Kevin McGonigle scoring his 2nd run of the game in the bottom of the 8th, but that would be all they could get for the rest of the game.

Tomorrow’s projected starters:

Game 1: Garrett Burhenn (11-2, 3.55 ERA) vs Shane Rademacher (0-0, 2.45 ERA)

West Michigan Whitecaps (High-A)

Final: Cedar Rapids 2 – West Michigan 8

Top Performer(s):

Seth Stephenson, CF — 4-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB, 4 SB
John Peck, 2B — 3-for-5, RBI, R
Andrew Jenkins, 1B — 2-for-4, RBI, R

Preston Howey — 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K. Preston got his 4th straight start and was easily his best. 5 Ks would be his career high and he allowed just 1 base runner. Preston has been an underrated pitchers in the West Michigan staff.

Game Notes:

The top 6 guys in the lineup each drove in 1 run and only 2 didn’t score a run. Seth Stephenson got 4 hits tonight and stole 4 bases. What makes that even more impressive is that he’s now got 2+ hits in 7 of his last 8 games and he has 9 SB in those 8 games. His OPS for the season is on the cusp of .800, he’s had a really good season.

John Peck and Andrew Jenkins both also had multi-hit games today as well. Garrett Pennington hit the only XBH, his RBI 2B in the 7th inning. He keeps up his great start to A+.

Pitching wise, Freddy Pacheco and Dariel Fregio also had hitless outings, combining for 3 IP and 4 Ks. The two blemishes on the pitching staff was the 2 solo shots given up by Joe Adametz in the 6th.

Tomorrow’s projected starters:

Lucas Elissalt (A+ debut) vs Ty Langenberg (3-4, 5.09 ERA)

Lakeland Flying Tigers (Single-A)

Final: Bradenton 4 – Lakeland 7

Top Performer(s):

Carson Rucker, 3B — 2-for-5, 2 RBI, R
Jude Warwick, SS — 2-for-3, RBI, R, BB, SB
Samuel Gil, 2B — 1-for-4, RBI, BB

Jatnk Diaz — 3.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. Jatnk got his first A start today. He had a little bit of issues with hitting the strike zone tonight, but he was able to get 6 Ks. He was able to get 11 whiffs on 22 swings and 4 of his pitches had a 30% CSW% or better.

Game Notes:

Lakeland started the game out quickly scoring 5 runs in the first 2 innings, including batting around in the 2nd. Their lead would get cut to 2 as Bradenton scored 3 runs in the top oof the 4th thanks to a double that scored 2 runs.

Jude Warwick continues his hot streak getting his first multi-hit game in A and 2nd in his last 4 games. He’s also now scored 11 runs in his last 12 games, including 4 games in a row.

First Single-A RBI for Jude Warwick gives Lakeland the 6-3 lead pic.twitter.com/99fPza5BgC

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 7, 2025

As mentioned above, Jatnk Diaz got his first A start tonight. He started off very strong getting the first 7 batters out with 5 coming the way of strike outs. He would show his command issues as he walked 3 of the next 4 and giving up the double in the 4th. His changeup was really good and might have been his best pitch on the night.

Eliseo Mota also had a good outing. He got a 33% Whiff% and a 31% CSW% on 39 pitches tonight. He touched 95 a few times and had two pitches thrown that might have been mis-categorized as cutters, but if they are actually cutters it could be an interesting pitch given the spin on it.

Tomorrow’s projected starters: TBD vs TBD

DSL Tigers 1 (Rookie ball)

No DSL Tigers 1 games today, but there are 1 scheduled tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s projected starters: TBD vs TBD

DSL Tigers 2 (Rookie ball)

No DSL Tigers 2 games today, but there are 1 scheduled tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s projected starters: TBD vs TBD

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