John Michael Bertrand is PERFECT!!
SF Giants Minor Lines, April 26-28, 2024
Photo Credit: Richmond Flying Squirrels
On Friday night, led by a terrific start from Hayden Birdsong, the Richmond Flying Squirrels entered the 9th inning three outs away from throwing the franchise’s second nine-inning no hitter.
Astonishingly, that would NOT be the best pitching performance of the weekend. It wouldn’t even be the only game to enter the 9th sans hits! It wasn’t even the best performance if we limit our scope to Richmond! Just 24 hours later, that same club went into the 8th inning trying for their first ever Perfect Game, thanks to a perfect 21 up/21 down night from the big lefty, John Michael Bertrand. In the end, neither of those pursuits, nor a similar one in Fresno on Sunday, would be brought to a successful conclusion, but what dazzling efforts they were! That Richmond’s run of dominance came against one of the best hitting teams in the Eastern League — and one of the best hitting organizations in baseball — only made their weekend sweeter.
Before we get to all of that no hitter action, however, I hope you saw my video interview on Friday with yet another talented Richmond arm, Reggie Crawford, who sat down with me last week to discuss his baseball journey. Reggie is an incredibly thoughtful, articulate, and engaging player, which I think the video format perfectly captures, so make sure you don’t miss this one!
In the Dugout with Reggie Crawford
Everything about Reggie Crawford is immense. He’s a huge guy, with huge stuff and enormous talent. But he’s also a person with real star-wattage in his personality. He’s thoughtful, articulate, and incisive in the way he views his pursuit of greatness. And there’s no better way to bring that aspect of Crawford across than with another “In the Dugout” vi…
As we’ll see in tomorrow’s mailbag, the 4x4 approach last Monday received rave reviews! Which is to say that one reader offered at least tepid approval. So we’re going with that as a full-throated mandate! Four x four, it is! That means excellent weekend performances by players like Will Wilson, Casey Schmitt, and Wil Jensen will get short shrift today, but hopefully we’ll catch up with them all in the coming days.
HITTER of the WEEKEND: Jonah Cox (SJ), 5 for 11, 2 R, 2 RBI, 3 SB, 3 K
PITCHER of the WEEKEND: John Michael Bertrand (Rich), 7.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0BB, 4 K
It was an absolutely stacked crowd vying for that POTW honor! Bertrand wasn’t even the only guy who was perfect! We’re gonna talk about a lot of arms and a lot of Ks in today’s wrap (though I’ll weave a few bats in as well). You ready for it? Show ‘em how it’s done, Mr. “5 Straight Ks” Jensen.
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