Gabe Alvarez needed a few (more) good men at Double-A Erie.
He manages a SeaWolves team that Friday clinched a first-half Eastern League division championship, but, truth be told, Erie’s lineup needed a boost.
So, minus bugles blaring, minus any rebel yells, Erie earlier this month got help when outfielder Justice Bigbie and first baseman Chris Meyers were told by West Michigan manager Brayan Pena to report for duty at Double A.
Bigbie’s right-handed bat, in 11 games heading into Sunday’s game against Hartford, carried a .372 batting average, .438 on-base percentage, and .558 slugging average, making for a muscular .996 OPS. A home run and five doubles were part of the mix.
Nice help from a 19th-round draft pick in 2021 (Western Carolina) who is 24 years old, stands 6-foot-2, and weighs 200.
Meyers, also 24, is 6-3, 210, bats left-handed, and two years ago was a 13th-round grab from the University of Toledo. He has been mashing the ball in about the same fashion as he clubbed his way out of West Michigan: .371 in his first 10 games at Erie, with .450/.514/.964 buoying Alvarez and the SeaWolves.
“It’s the biggest jump in the minor leagues, going from A ball to Double A, and they’ve not only been able to do it, but to do it when we were in a (first-half) pennant race,” Alvarez said Sunday as Erie got ready for its series finale at Hartford. “They’ve been right in the middle of my lineups, have come up with some big hits, and have played some really good defense.”
Bigbie raked at West Michigan (.333/.400/.544/.944), with six homers, while playing left field and right field, same as he’s been stationed at Erie.
“His hit tool is what stands out,” Alvarez said. “He’s a big, pure hitter who can hit line drives from line to line, and that’s what he’s done. He’s able to pull the ball, and go the other way just as hard.
“I think Meyers is going to be the guy who has more power (18 in 128 minor-league games compared with Bigbie’s 12 in 177 games). And I like the way he’s hit against left-handers (.421 in 29 games, total, in 2023).
“Plus, he’s played an excellent first base. I think he can be a really, really good defender at first base. It’s possible for Meyers to have some legit power.”
Not forgetting Navigato
If it’s true that Tigers outfielder Kerry Carpenter was a tad overlooked or underappreciated during his farm-system days with the Tigers, the same might be said of Erie all-purpose handyman Andrew Navigato.
“He’s a heck of a player,” Alvarez said of Navigato, 25, and a one-time Oklahoma State bruiser the Tigers snagged in the 20th round in 2019. “He’s going to play himself to the big leagues, I really believe that.
“He’s a high-level defender at multiple spots. You can play him anywhere on the field. You can hit him anywhere in the lineup and he’s going to give you tough at-bats. He runs the bases well. And he’s a smart player.”
Navigato is a right-handed batter who, as Alvarez attests, can play three infield positions, specializing at shortstop, or work at either corner outfield spot.
In his 39 games with Erie (he had a rehab stint at Lakeland), Navigato is batting .315, .370, .546/.916. He has seven home runs for the SeaWolves.
“You look at his slugging percentage, the doubles (15) and homers — with me last year (Erie) he hit 18 — and he’s a player, no doubt. I think because he was a later-round pick and because he’s not a very big guy (5-11, 188), people kind of underestimated him.
“But he’s a player.”
Short hops
▶ Alvarez on the effect Navigato and catcher Dillon Dingler (each had early-spring injuries) have had on his team:
“The second Navigato and Dingler got here is when our season turned around. Those guys took charge of our clubhouse and that’s where things need to happen. You need to have a good culture in the clubhouse. Then, it shows up on the field. Winning is a byproduct of that culture.”
▶ Alvarez on Wilmer Flores, who has been slowly approaching his gala 2022 form, and whose Thursday start saw him go five innings, with three hits, two runs, three walks and six strikeouts: “Wilmer is throwing the ball great. He’s a lot better. Some consistent starts now, and the velocity’s ticking back up (mid-90s, with occasional the 96 and 97). He’s 100% trending in the right direction. I’m expecting a big second half from him.”
Alvarez on Ty Madden, who began the season brilliantly and since has taken a tumble into the same mystifying straits (4.38 ERA, 1.46 WHIP) that earlier claimed Flores:
“They’re working on some things with his delivery,” said Alvarez, noting that in Madden’s last start (Wednesday, at Hartford, 4.2 innings, five hits, two walks, three strikeouts), Madden’s fastball sat mid-90s and touched higher. “I think he’s not far from it. Our pitching guys believe it’s a small mechanical issue.”
▶ Andrew Graham, manager at Single-A Lakeland, on the pitcher who has, of late, most impressed him: Carlos Marcano, a right-handed starter, only 19, who in four June starts has a 2.89 ERA and 0.96 WHIP, thanks to 18.2 innings, 12 hits, six walks, and 16 strikeouts:
“He’s really pitching well,” Graham said of a 6-2, 150-pound starter the Tigers signed out of Maturin, Venezuela. “Really good change-up. Attacking the zone. Mixing four pitches. Good tempo. Fastball at 93, but a lot of sinkers. He can get up to 95, 96, even 97. He commands his pitches well.”
▶ Graham on shortstop Peyton Graham, last year’s second-round draft pick (University of Oklahoma), who has had a rough first half with the Flying Tigers, but who in June is batting .326/.392/.435/.827:
“He’s coming around. A lot of it has to do with playing that first season of professional baseball, and needing to get bigger and stronger, and putting on some weight. There have been some better at-bats.”
▶ Graham on right-handed starter Cole Patten, a 17th-rounder last year (Villanova) whose Tuesday start against Bradenton (five innings, three hits, no runs, no walks, seven strikeouts) was reflective, in Graham’s view, of what Patten has been showing:
“Been consistent,” Graham said of a pitcher who goes 6-4, 196. “Has a plus change-up and gets a lot of swings-and-misses. He’s at 94, 95 (fastball) and can hit .96.”
▶ It’s worth keeping an eye on that rarest of Tigers farm commodities, an authentic catcher, in 18-year-old Josue Briceno, who was signed last year out of Maracay, Venezuela, for a hefty $800,000. In his first 12 games for the FCL Tigers, Briceno, who swings left-handed, is hitting a hefty .353/.431/.608/1.039, with three home runs, six walks, and 12 strikeouts. He is big for a catcher at 6-4, 200, but he has impressed talent snoops who say he handles the position deftly and also runs well.
Lynn Henning is a freelance writer and retired Detroit News sports reporter.