Welcome to Crooked Numbers, a monthly column spotlighting the quirks and oddities of Minor League Baseball. This May edition features reptile cameos, offensive explosions, oppositional surnames, and much more.
Tracking these unusual events is a collaborative effort, so feel free to reach out if you’ve encountered anything peculiar at a Minor League game (benjamin.hill@mlb.com).
In the previous Crooked Numbers column, we discussed the unusual situation of Sacramento River Cats infielder Donovan Walton, who surprisingly became the team’s first “pitcher” to secure two wins this season. These victories, achieved over a three-day span, involved Walton pitching two innings to close out extra-inning, 9-8 road wins against the Reno Aces.
During a visit to Sacramento early last month, I had the opportunity to speak with Walton, the unexpected ace of the River Cats’ early season. Walton credited his mound success to lessons learned from his initial pitching appearance with the San Francisco Giants in 2022, where he allowed three runs in an inning against the Miami Marlins to close out a 15-6 victory.
“I was just lobbing it in there, and it didn’t go too well,” Walton recalled with a laugh. “I decided that if I got another chance, I’d try to make the ball move, make it a bit tougher for the hitters.”
Although Walton stopped pitching after his freshman year of high school, he drew upon his early experiences and guidance from his father, Rob Walton, a former Orioles pitcher and current pitching coach at Oklahoma State, where Walton played college ball.
“I was thinking of my dad and all our conversations,” Walton said. “He taught me a cutter in middle school, so I had that pitch in the back of my mind.”
Walton sent the game balls from his April victories to his parents, sharing the moment and the laughs with his dad.
“You see something new every day on the field,” Walton said. “I just got lucky.”
Since then, Walton’s “luck” has continued, appearing on the mound three more times in May, on the 7th, 9th, and 29th, each time pitching a scoreless inning. Over seven innings this season, he has allowed just nine hits and two walks, with only one unearned run.
“Baseball,” he noted, “is a crazy game.”
Returning to our regularly scheduled Crooked Numbers column:
A Calamitous Cameo
Position players pitching are typically a recipe for disaster, as demonstrated by Sugar Land’s Cooper Hummel on May 9. Coming in from left field to pitch the eighth inning of an 11-0 game against Oklahoma City, Hummel allowed nine runs on seven hits and three walks in just two-thirds of an inning. First baseman Luke Berryhill then took over and finished the game, which ended in a 22-3 loss.
From Second to a New Home
On May 3, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Arkansas Travelers, San Antonio Missions’ Nathan Martorella hit a single with one out in the third inning and advanced to second on a walk. Then, while standing on second base, he was unexpectedly pulled from the game. Martorella, confused, jogged back to the dugout and was informed that he had been traded to Miami as part of the deal sending Luis Arraez to San Diego. His teammate Jakob Marsee, who had struck out earlier in the inning, was also part of the trade. Chase Valentine replaced Martorella as a pinch-runner and scored on a single, marking Valentine’s only run at the Double-A level.
Nathan Martorella was … very confused about why he was pulled for a pinch runner for Double-A San Antonio.
He and Jakob Marsee left the game with a series of hugs shortly after. pic.twitter.com/OOAtmQVp7X
— Sam Dykstra (@SamDykstraMiLB) May 4, 2024
### Youth vs. Experience
On May 11, the game between the Portland Sea Dogs and the visiting Binghamton Rumble Ponies highlighted an intriguing face-off: Wyatt Young against Wyatt Olds. Young, Binghamton’s second baseman, faced off against Portland’s right-handed reliever, Olds, with two outs and the bases loaded in the fifth inning. In a dramatic moment, Olds struck Young out. Interestingly, despite their names suggesting otherwise, Olds is only four months older than Young.
### Hero in a Half Shell
In the Florida State League, turtle-related incidents are usually associated with the Daytona Tortugas, but they were not involved in the peculiar event on May 11. During the second inning of the game between the Bradenton Marauders and the St. Lucie Mets, play was interrupted by a turtle making its way across the outfield. Marauders reliever Magdiel Cotto intervened by picking up the turtle and gently guiding it through the bullpen door, allowing the game to resume.
“Is that a squirrel? Or a rodent? … It’s a turtle!”
A curious creature makes a mad dash across the outfield grass during @stluciemets/@The_Marauders action 🐢 pic.twitter.com/rlH3UJCaje
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) May 11, 2024
**Hence, His ERA Plummeted**
Springfield Cardinals right-hander Tink Hence had a tough game on May 12, giving up nine runs over 3 1/3 innings against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Despite this, none of the runs were earned due to three Springfield errors, one of which was by Hence himself. This marked a rare occurrence, with the last time a Minor League pitcher allowing more unearned runs in a game being Logan Webb on August 2, 2019, for Richmond against Harrisburg. In the Major Leagues, a similar event happened on June 5, 1989, when the Yankees’ Andy Hawkins allowed 10 unearned runs over 2 1/3 innings against the Baltimore Orioles.
**A Dozen Amazements**
A remarkable fifth inning unfolded on May 4 when the Vancouver Canadians racked up twelve runs, seven hits, four walks, four errors, two sacrifice flies, and two stolen bases against the Tri-City Dust Devils. This extraordinary inning ended up being the game’s pivotal moment, as the Canadians held on for a 13-10 victory, despite not scoring again after their massive fifth inning.
**Two Touchdowns and Two Extra Points**
The Vancouver Canadians’ twelve runs in one inning on May 4 were impressive, but not the highest of the month. On May 7, the Syracuse Mets exploded for 14 runs in the seventh inning against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Trayce Thompson led the charge with a grand slam in his first at-bat of the inning and a two-run double in his second. Hayden Senger, however, struggled, making the first and last outs of the inning during his three plate appearances.
The Syracuse Mets, a Triple-A team, saw their accomplishment mirrored at the lowest level of Minor League Baseball by the Florida Complex League (FCL) Phillies, who also scored 14 runs in an inning against the FCL Yankees on May 24. They managed this feat with six consecutive one-out walks and were spearheaded by Guillermo Rosario, who hit a two-run double and later capped the inning with a three-run homer.
**A Single Hit Amidst the Air**
In this instance, the video tells the whole story. It’s a moment where you can’t help but admire the effort involved.
**Making Up for Lost Time**
The Double-A Harrisburg Senators, who hadn’t seen a complete-game shutout from any of their pitchers since 2016, ended that drought in dramatic fashion during a May 26 doubleheader against the Akron RubberDucks. What happened next was something to remember.
**Unhittable Performance**
Zack Thompson of the Memphis Redbirds had an unusual outing on May 9 against the Norfolk Tides. Despite not allowing a hit, he was pulled after three innings due to walking a career-high seven batters, including a bases-loaded walk in the third inning. Despite these struggles, the Redbirds managed to win the game 3-2.
**A Bizarre and Spectacular Conclusion**
On May 14, the game between the Salem Red Sox and the Columbia Fireflies ended in a most unusual fashion. Despite Salem’s Noah Dean and Trennor O’Connell combining for nine no-hit innings, the game went into extra innings scoreless. Both teams scored in the 10th, with Columbia doing so without a hit. In the 11th, Salem scored three, highlighted by Natanel Yuten’s two-run inside-the-park home run. Columbia finally got their first hit in the bottom of the 11th—a two-run double by Chris Brito. The next batter, Austin Charles, then hit a two-run sacrifice fly, leading to a highly improbable 5-4 win for Columbia.
