During the week of May 15th, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs visited the Rochester Red Wings in what was a rain-filled week. The matchup featured the International League East home run leader as well as a resurgent former number one overall pick.
Jackson Tetreault - Right-Handed Pitcher
5 IP 2 H 0 ER 3 BB 5 K (5/21/22)
Tetreault was a 7th-round selection of the Washington Nationals in the 2017 MLB Draft out of the State College of Florida. He pitched across three levels last season before finishing his season in Triple-A. From a physical standpoint, the 25-year-old Tetreault checks in at 6’5 190 and is high-waisted with a wiry build. He works strictly from the stretch with a medium leg kick with a slight pelvic tilt at the top of his delivery. He has a short arm stroke which he uses to his advantage as it appears he hides the ball well to opposing hitters.
Tetreault came out of the gates attacking the Lehigh Valley hitters with fastballs up in the zone in the 95-97 mph range before settling into a consistent 93-95 mph range. Metrically, his four-seam fastball would be grouped in the “rider” bucket as he generates well above average induced vertical break outputs. The carry on his fastball was evident in the first inning as it appeared his fastball jumped as it entered the hitting zone, which was reflective in his five first-inning whiffs.
His first inning was a little shaky with his command as he issued two walks and loaded the bases, but he was able to work out of trouble and settled into a rhythm over the course of the next four innings. Aside from his fastball, Tetreault relied heavily on his slider, curveball, and changeup. He incorporated his changeup and curveball more frequently as he worked through the order the second time. Changeup sat 85-87 mph and had good lateral movement and the curveball sat in the low 80s and had good downward shape and was able to land early in counts to get ahead.
Tetreault's slider is his best secondary offering. His slider took on two shapes, one which played more as a firmer offering and can be classified as a cutter, and the other offering playing more as a traditional two-plane slider. The cutter grades out well metrically as he throws the offering with conviction in the 89-91 mph range and is able to take just enough vertical break off the offering in order to play effectively off of his fastball. The traditional slider sat 83-85 mph and showed good depth with late biting action and was used as a put away pitch with two-strikes.
Tetreault is not currently on the Nationals 40-man roster, but given his solid campaign in Triple-A Rochester, he could play himself into the fold by the season's end as the Nationals continue to search for rotation depth. The club's starting pitchers currently rank in the bottom third in numerous pitching categories.
Mark Appel - Right-Handed Pitcher
0.2 1 R 0 ER 2 H 0 BB 0 K (5/22/22)
The former 2013 number one overall pick of the Houston Astros is in the midst of a breakout campaign in Triple-A. It has been well documented the struggles the soon-to-be 31-year-old Appel has experienced in his professional career. However, it appears that he has finally found his niche as a reliever for the IronPigs.
On the season, Appel has 18 innings of work and has pitched to the tune of a 2.00 ERA while punching out 22% of the batters he's faced, while only walking 8%. During his outing on Sunday, he appeared to be on a pitch count as he only threw 15 pitches before being removed from the game. He was the victim of a couple of soft hit balls that fell in for base hits, and later came around to score on a fielding error.
His stuff looked good, as his fastball sat 95-96 and had late-running action as it darted under the hands of the right-handed hitters. The slider closely aligns with the gyro family as the offering appeared to drop as it approaches the plate and he generated two whiffs with the pitch. As it was alluded to earlier, Appel induced soft contact with his batted balls and he kept the ball on the ground. Inducing soft contact on the ground is something that Appel has done well on the season as he has posted a 53% ground ball rate which is outperforming his career average of 44%.
There is no questioning Appel’s makeup as he has dealt with adversity his entire professional career. If he continues to perform like he has this season, there may be light at the end of the tunnel as he may prove to be a quality depth option for the Phillies down the stretch.
Darick Hall - First Baseman
1-6 1 BB 2 K (5/21/22-5/22/22)
The left-hand-hitting slugger, Hall, is a sturdy 6’4 235 pounds and is now the current International League home run leader with 14 following the promotion of Nolan Gorman. Hall has posted a 147 wRC+ to go along with a respectable 19% strikeout and 9% walk rate. Hall is susceptible to swing and miss as his swing tends to lengthen which hampers his plate coverage at times. He had a tough time laying off elevated fastballs as he swung through four elevated heaters on the weekend. He compensates with his ability to elevate and hit the ball hard which he has proven to do on a regular basis this season.
Per his run times, Hall is a well below average runner. However, after he laced an opposite field single, Hall stole second base. This is a recent trend in the minor leagues following the introduction of the pitch clock and pitchers only allowed three throw overs to first base. This has led to an increase in stolen bases in Triple-A East. Last year, there were 1,895 successful stolen base attempts in Triple-A East. To date, there have already been 772 successful stolen bases, which puts the league on pace for roughly 3,551 successful attempts. Once runners reach first base, it appears that runners are able to time up opposing pitchers while also taking into account the winding pitch clock, which equates to the base runners getting great jumps on the first movement from the pitcher. This is an encouraging sign for Major League Baseball executives as the league looks to continue to find ways to increase their action index while also increasing scoring.
On the year, Hall has crushed right-handed pitching as he has posted a .330 average with 12 of his 14 home runs coming off of righties. Long term, Hall profiles as a platoon-designated hitter type in the major leagues who could provide a club a power bat off of the bench.