Tag Archives: Modesto Nuts

2023 CHAMPS MODESTO IN STOCKTON ON OPENING NIGHT

Posted on April 5, 2024 by | Leave a comment

The 2024 California League season opens tonight with all eight teams in action for three-game series to kick things off. The matchups are as follows:

VISALIA at INLAND EMPIRE
RANCHO CUCAMONGA at LAKE ELSINORE
FRESNO at SAN JOSE
MODESTO at STOCKTON

The Modesto Nuts take the field at Banner Island Ballpark tonight as the reigning California League champions for the first time since 2017. The 2023 Nuts got hot at the right time, which was ALL THE TIME in the second half. After going 34-32 and finishing six games out in the first half, Modesto went 43-23 in the second half to narrowly win the North division by one game over Fresno. The blistering second half included at 16-game win streak in August/September and finishing the season with 17 wins in the last 19 games.

The playoffs were more of the same with a pair of two-game sweeps to raise the championship banner.

Tonight we start all over and in minor league baseball the players change quickly, so here’s a hat tip to the incredible season that Modesto put together last year. The banner will fly at John Thurman Field for years to come.

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MODESTO PLAYERS FEATURED IN SPRING BREAKOUT

Posted on March 10, 2024 by | Comments Off on MODESTO PLAYERS FEATURED IN SPRING BREAKOUT

The Modesto Nuts sent out a Nuts Baseball Bulletin this past Thursday with details on the parent club Mariners’ roster for the inaugural Spring Breakout game to be played on Friday, March 15th:

The Mariners Spring Breakout Roster Released

Major League Baseball and the Seattle Mariners today announced the Mariners roster for the inaugural Spring Breakout game, set for Friday, March 15 at 1:10 p.m. PT against the San Diego Padres.

The debut of Spring Breakout will showcase baseball’s future stars, as each Major League Club will field a team of top prospects to play a team of top prospects from another organization in an exhibition game.

Eleven players on the roster featured, played and ended their season with the Modesto Nuts in 2023.

The roster features 21 of the Mariners’ top-30 prospects according to MLB.com, including each of their top-10 prospects: #1 Cole Young, #2 Harry Ford, #3 Colt Emerson, #4 Lazaro Montes, #5 Felnin Celesten, #6 Jonny Farmelo, #7 Tai Peete, #8 Tyler Locklear, #9 Michael Arroyo and #10 Jonatan Clase.

Who will be with Modesto in 2024? Get an early look at the future stars on March 15th.

The Mariners Spring Breakout game will be televised live from Peoria Stadium on ROOT Sports with Aaron Goldsmith and Mike Blowers on the call, as well as broadcast live on Seattle Sports (710 AM) with Dave Sims and Gary Hill Jr. on the call. The game will also be televised live on MLB Network.

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MODESTO 2024 COACHING STAFF ANNOUNCED

Posted on January 26, 2024 by | Comments Off on MODESTO 2024 COACHING STAFF ANNOUNCED

The Seattle Mariners announced the 2024 coaching staff for the defending California League champion Modesto Nuts. Here’s the press release:

SEATTLE, Wash. – Seattle Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto, Director of Player Development Justin Toole and Senior Director of High Performance Rob Scheidegger announced today the Class-A Modesto Nuts staff for the 2024 season:

Zach Vincej, Manager
Hecmart Nieves, Bench Coach
Jordan Cowan, Hitting Coach
Jake Witt, Pitching Coach
Kyle Briggs, Strength & Conditioning Coach
Blake Wooten, Athletic Trainer

Vincej (VINCE-ee) returns as Manager after leading Modesto to a California League Championship in his first year as skipper. Last season, the Nuts went 21-2 over their final 23 games of the season under Vincej, catapulting them to a Cal League Championship. Modesto carried its second-half surge into the Postseason, outscoring its opponents 36-14 over its final 3 games to claim the Cal League title.

Vincej served as a coach for Triple-A Tacoma in 2022 and prior to his coaching career, the infielder played 8 seasons (2012-19) in the minor leagues and appeared in 10 Major League games between Cincinnati (2017) and Seattle (2018). Vincej was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 37th round of the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Pepperdine University (CA). He won a Rawlings Minor League Gold Glove Award for his play at shortstop with Double-A Pensacola (CIN) in 2016 and made his Major League debut with the Reds on Aug. 1, 2018.

Nieves (heck-mart nee-YEV-es) enters his 3rd season in the Mariners organization and his 2nd with Modesto, after serving as Third Base/Catching Coach for the Nuts last year. In 2022, he served as a coach for the Rookie Dominican Summer League Mariners. Prior to joining the organization, he served as a baseball operations assistant in the Dominican Republic for the Detroit Tigers. Nieves played baseball at Ottawa University (KS) from 2017-18.

Cowan (COW-in) enters his first season as a full-time coach after serving as a player-coach in the Mariners organization in 2023. The former infielder played 9 seasons of minor league ball (2013-19, ’21-22), including 8 in the Mariners system. The Seattle native was selected by Seattle in the 37th round of the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Kentlake High School in Kent, WA.

Witt returns for his 2nd season as Modesto’s Pitching Coach. Prior to joining the organization, he served as Pitching Coach for the DSL Orioles in 2022. Before his stint in Baltimore’s organization, he worked at Driveline Baseball in Kent, Washington during 2021. He coached summer ball in Pierre, South Dakota for 3 seasons (2018-20) and pitched collegiately at West Hills Community College (CA).

Briggs joins the Mariners organization after spending the last 2 seasons (2022-23) as Strength & Conditioning staff in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. Wooten returns for his 2nd season as Modesto’s Athletic Trainer, previously spending time in the Orioles system.

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MODESTO BLANKS SAN JOSE 5-0

Posted on April 29, 2022 by | Comments Off on MODESTO BLANKS SAN JOSE 5-0

Four Modesto pitchers combined to shut out the San Jose Giants on Thursday night as the Nuts won 5-0. Harry Ford went 2-for-4 with two walks and a double to lead the 7-hit Modesto attack.

Nuts starter Jimmy Kingsbury threw four innings and allowed one hit and two walks with three strikeouts. Tyler Driver (W, 1-0) followed with two clean innings, no hits or walks with four strikeouts. Kelvin Nunez did nearly the same, going two shutout innings with one hit allowed, no walks and four Ks. Finally, Andrew Moore handled the ninth inning with one hit, no walks and three strikeouts.

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MERRILL, FLEMING NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Posted on April 25, 2022 by | Comments Off on MERRILL, FLEMING NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Lake Elsinore SS Jackson Merrill and Modesto RHP William Fleming have been named California League Player and Pitcher of the Week for April 18 – 24.

JACKSON MERRILL – The Lake Elsinore SS went 9-for-19 with two doubles, a homerun and two walks last week against Fresno. The 2021 first-round selection (27th overall) is currently second in the league with .393 batting average, fifth in OBP (.452) and ninth in OPS (.970).

WILLIAM FLEMING – Modesto’s 6’6″ right-hander threw six innings of one-hit ball against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on Thursday night with eight strikeouts against one walk. Fleming threw 80 pitches, 54 for strikes, while putting zeroes up on the scoreboard.

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QUAKES TOP MODESTO WITH 5-RUN 9TH

Posted on April 23, 2022 by | Comments Off on QUAKES TOP MODESTO WITH 5-RUN 9TH

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes came up in the top of the ninth inning trailing the Modesto Nuts 8-6 but they put up five runs, winning 11-8 on Friday night. The visiting Quakes strung together five singles and pushed runs across with a wild pitch and a ground out in their game-deciding rally.

Austin Gauthier was 2-for-4 on the night and drove in four runs, including a 2-RBI single in the ninth.

Luis Rodriguez was 3-for-5 with a double for Rancho.

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CLARKE HOMERS TWICE, PORTS EVEN SERIES WITH NUTS

Posted on April 16, 2022 by | Comments Off on CLARKE HOMERS TWICE, PORTS EVEN SERIES WITH NUTS

Stockton’s bats broke out for the second night in a row, led by Denzel Clarke‘s two home runs, in a 14-10 win over Modesto at Banner Island Ballpark Friday night. Clarke, the Oakland A’s #17 prospect, led off the bottom of the first with a solo shot and added a three-run bomb in the seventh. Stockton got three more long balls in outlasting the Nuts to even the series at two games apiece.

A three-run first inning and a six-run fourth put Stockton up 9-2 with rehabbing big-leaguer James Kaprielian in control but the Nuts got to Stockton’s bullpen and made it a slugfest.

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MODESTO’S 8-RUN INNING KEEPS STOCKTON WINLESS

Posted on April 14, 2022 by | Comments Off on MODESTO’S 8-RUN INNING KEEPS STOCKTON WINLESS

The Modesto Nuts woke up in a big way with an 8-run seventh inning that sent them to a 10-3 win at Stockton on Wednesday night. The Ports were up 3-0 and seemingly in control until a three-run homer by Ben Ramirez knotted up the game with one out. After that, the floodgates opened.

A single and an HBP followed but the Ports got the second out of the inning and looked to get back in the dugout and find a way to win their first game of the season. But what followed was a sequence of wild pitch, wild pitch, walk, walk, walk and then, with Modesto up 5-3, Milkar Perez hit a bases-clearing double to make it 8-3.

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TRANSACTIONS

Posted on December 4, 2021 by | Comments Off on TRANSACTIONS

Two of the transactions that made news before the lockout began involved players who were in the Low-A West in 2021. The Arizona Diamondbacks dealt for OF Jordan Luplow, sending SS Ronny Simon to Tampa Bay in the exchange. Simon played 77 games with the Visalia Rawhide before being promoted to High-A Hillsboro. With Visalia, Simon hit .249/.343/.475 with 15 homeruns. He has been assigned to the High-A Bowling Green Hot Rods.

Elsewhere, the Seattle Mariners acquired 2B/OF Adam Frazier from the San Diego Padres for a package that included OF Corey Rosier. Drafted in the 12th round, Rosier played one game in Rookie ball before joining the Modesto Nuts where he played 31 games and absolutely destroyed Low-A West pitching. In 118 ABs, Rosier slashed .390/.461/.585 with three homeruns and walked 18 times. The UNC Greensboro alum had a 15-game hitting streak during his 31-game stint at Modesto. Rosier may see more Low-A West pitching as he has been assigned to Lake Elsinore.

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VEEN’S CYCLE HIGHLIGHTS FRESNO’S 12-9 WIN

Posted on August 25, 2021 by | Comments Off on VEEN’S CYCLE HIGHLIGHTS FRESNO’S 12-9 WIN

The Fresno Grizzlies ended Modesto’s 10-game winning streak on Tuesday night, outlasting the Nuts in a 12-9 slugfest at Chukchansi Park. Zac Veen hit for the cycle, including his 15th homer of the season and seven RBIs.

The Grizzlies got on the board in the first inning with two runs but Modesto came back with four in the top of the second. Veen hit a grand slam in the bottom of the second as the Grizzlies scored six runs to make it 8-4.

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