Season Wrap: Richmond Flying Squirrels

This is the second of a series of season wrap ups for the Giants system. Before we start looking forward, it’s always good to look back and remember the year that was! Next up, we move to the Double-A Northeast league affiliate.

2021 Richmond Flying Squirrels

57-56 (4th place in Double-A Northeast League, Southwest Division)

Overview

On September 14, the Squirrels took a 6-3 victory in Erie in the opener of their final series of the year. The win moved their record to 56-52. With five games remaining, they needed just one more victory to ensure the franchise’s first winning record since 2015. It was no small goal to be aiming for either. The club had gone a godawful 247-311 in the four seasons since then, including a franchise worst 55-84 in 2019. Putting a winning product on the field was important to the Giants and important to the Squirrels. The team lost the next day….and the next….and the next…. and the next! And on the year’s final day, sitting at a precarious 56-56 record, they failed to score for the first eight innings. Fortunately they held their opponents scoreless as well, and a three-run 9th inning put them over the top.

Fittingly, the hit that put them in the lead in that final game came from David Villar — his 29th double of the year. I say “fittingly,” because Villar led the team in virtually every category (see below!), so it made sense that leading them to a victorious campaign would fall to him as well. Despite the close call in flirting with a fifth consecutive losing season, the 2021 rendition of the Squirrels distinguished themselves in several ways as one of the best versions in franchise history.

Villar, of course, did much of the distinguishing. He became the first Squirrel ever to hit 20 home runs while calling The Diamond (and its homer squashing air) home. In doing so, he broke the club record for homers in just 106 games — 25 fewer than Jarrett Parker had used to set the original team record of 18. (On that same 2013 Squirrels team, Adam Duvall, with whom Villar shares some offensive characteristics, hit 17 in 105 games in a season shortened by injury).

Amanda White @ajw578

@treywilson757