CBN POW Week XXIII _ Tyler Black

September 14, 2023

By George Farelli

Canadian Baseball Network

Not often do we have three players/pitchers of the week honours earned by Canadians.

That was the case. Yet, here at Canadian Baseball Network minor league Player of the Week central we are supposed to make the hard decisions.

We could have gone with 1B Jared Young (Prince George, BC) of the Iowa Cubs.

We could have selected LHP Adam Macko (Stony Plain, Alta.) of the Vancouver Canadians.

We could have gone with a Young-Macko tie.

Instead, we chose to go with a sole winner and that winner is INF Tyler Black (Stouffville, Ont.) of the triple-A Nashville Sounds.

Why?

Because he hit for the highest average of the 165 players in the minors.

Black earned Canadian Baseball Network minor league Player of the Week for Week XXIII, hitting .471 (8-for-17) with a homer and 10 RBIs. How his week that was went:

_ Batting clean up and playing first base he tripled in three runs and walked twice for a perfect day of 1-for-1 as Nashville beat the Memphis Redbirds 6-2 before 4,639 at First Horizon Park. Greg Allen led off the game with a single, then both former Blue Jays MVP Josh Donaldson and Abraham Toro (Longueuil, Que.) struck out. After a walk to Jahmai Jones. Black tripled to left. In the third, Black hit a scoring fly ball putting the Sounds up 3-0. He walked in the fifth and again in the seventh when he stole second and scored. Toro had a pair of hits going 2-for-5.

_ Playing first and hitting sixth, he was 0-for-1 with three walks scoring a run in a 4-1 win against Memphis in front of 5,684 at First Horizon. He walked and stole second in the second inning, did the same in the fourth and he walked in the sixth and came around to score on a throwing error from third when the Memphis second baseman failed to make a catch. Toro was 1-for-4, with a two-run double.

_ Playing third and batting clean up he was 1-for-4 knocking in a run in a 7-6 win against Memphis before 6,007 at First Horizon. Black walked in the sixth and singled to right in the seventh, cutting the Memphis lead to 6-2. 1B Toro hit a bases-loaded triple to centre tying the game at 6-6 in the eighth.

_ Playing third and batting fourth, he was 3-for-4 in an 8-4 loss to Memphis before 8,121 at First Horizon. Black led off the second with a double to left, singled to right in the third and singled to left in the eighth to score Donaldson. 1B Toro was 1-for-3 with a double.

_ Batting fifth and playing first, he was 2-for-3, knocking in three runs as Nashville beat Memphis 8-7 in front of 10,092 at First Horizon. Black walked in the first, homered to right to score Donaldson, who had gone deep in the first, walked in the sixth and reached on an infield hit to second and three batters later scored the walk-off run on a Brian Navarreto single. DH Toro was 2-for-4 with a pair of singles.

_ Hitting fourth and DHing, he was 1-for-4, knocking in a run in a 10-7 win against Memphis before 6,437 at First Horizon. Black hit a run-scoring double in the third, then walked and scored in the fifth. 1B Toro was 1-for-3.

For his efforts he earned the Tailgate Brewery Play of the Week as well.

Highlight I _ 1B Jared Young, Prince George, BC (Iowa Cubs)

Named by MiLB.com as Player of the Week in the Triple A International League for the period Sept. 4-10. His stats for the week:

G AB RUNS H AVG HR RBI TB SLG OBP

6 24 10 11 .458 6 10 29 1.208 .552

Highlight II _ LHP Adam Macko, Stony Plain, Alta. (Vancouver Canadians)

Named by MiLB.com as Player of the Week in Single A Northwest League for the period Sept. 4-10. His stats and a description of his performance is included below.

G W-L SV ERA ER H IP BB K

1 1-0 - .000 0 0 5.0 2 8

Best Offensive Performances

Name Class Team AB R H HR RBI AVG

Tyler Black AAA Nashville 17 6 8 1 10 .471

Jared Young AAA Iowa 24 10 11 6 10 .458

Pier-Olivier Boucher A Augusta 12 2 5 - 1 .417

Dylan O’Rae A Carolina 17 3 6 - 2 .353

Abraham Toro AAA Nashville 24 6 8 - 5 .333

Damiano Palmegiani AAA Buffalo 20 2 6 2 7 .300

Myles Naylor A Stockton 27 4 8 2 5 .296

Kole Cottam IND Spire City 14 4 6 3 5 .429

(Minimum 10 ABs)

Best Pitching Performances

Name Class Team G WIN SAVE ERA INN K WHIP

Adam Macko A Vancouver 1 1 - 0.00 5.0 8 0.400

After being acquired in a trade with the Seattle Mariners by the Toronto Blue Jays during the off season, it was well known that Macko had to make several adjustments to his new organization and a different environment. So his slow start to the 2023 season with his new team the Vancouver Canadians was no surprise. However, once be became acclimated the results steadily improved as he finished very strongly, winning four of last five starts. This week on Sept. 5, in a 7-3 win over Tri City Dust Devils, he made an excellent start, pitching five innings without allowing a run or a hit, while striking out eight, to secure his fifth win of the season. His overall record with the Canadians in 20 Single A Northwest League starts, stands at 5-5 with a 4.81 ERA and includes 106 strikeouts in 86 innings.

Name Class Team G W S ERA INN K WHIP

Calvin Ziegler A St. Lucie 1 - - 0.00 1.0 3 0.000

Ziegler is a very highly rated pitching prospect with the New York Mets, who underwent surgery in April to remove bone spurs in his right elbow, and this, of course, caused him to miss nearly the entire 2023 season. I say nearly, because on Sept. 9 the second last day of the season and, as the result of a successful rehab and recovery process, he was the starting pitcher for St. Lucie Mets in a 3-2 win over the Daytona Tortugas. Limited to only one inning, he proceeded to strike out all three batters he faced. He was not involved in the decision, but I’m sure this outing and the result, was considered a win by both himself and the Mets organization as he heads into the off season. Oddly enough, his return to the mound this week, coincided exactly with his last previous pitching appearance, which occurred on Sept. 9, 2022 in a game that St. Lucie Mets lost to the Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels.

Name Class Team G W S ERA INN K WHIP

Thomas Ireland A Down East 1 1 - 0.00 4.0 5 0.500

Selected by Texas Rangers in the 13th round of the 2021 draft, Ireland is a 21-year-old native of Regina, Sask. and, because he missed the entire 2022 season due to an injury, is currently active in 2023 as a first year pro player. Recently promoted by the Rangers from the Rookie Arizona Complex League to their Single A affiliate Down East Wood Ducks in the Carolina League, he had an excellent outing on Sept. 7 in a 4-2 win over the Augusta Greenjackets. He pitched four scoreless innings in relief, gave up one hit while striking out five Augusta hitters to secure his first win of the season ... and his first win as a pro. This result improved his record in five Single A Carolina league appearances, to 1-2 with a 5.79 ERA. If we were to include his stint with Rookie ACL Rangers, his overall numbers would be 13 pitching appearances with a 1-2 record and 3.27 ERA.

Season completion dates

Aug. 22 _ Arizona Complex and Florida Complex leagues.

Sept. 3 _ IND-Frontier League.

Sept. 4 _ INF American Association.

Sept. 9 _ Class-A Florida State League, Class-A Midwest League and IND Pioneer League

Sept. 10 _ Class-A Northwest League, Class-A South Atlantic League, Class-A California League and Class-A Carolina League.

Previous Players of the Week

Week I _ Edouard Julien (Ancienne-Lorette, Que.) triple-A St. Paul Saints (Twins)

Week II _ Cade Smith (Abbotsford, BC) double-A Akron RuberDucks (Guardians).

Week III _ Abraham Toro (Longuiel, Que.) triple-A Nashville Sounds (Brewers)

Week IV _ Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) double-A Midland (A’s) and Trei Cruz (Toronto, Ont.) double-A Erie (Tigers)

Week V _ Wesley Moore (Surrey, BC) class-A Clearwater Threshers (Phillies).