5 storylines as Somerset Patriots return home after 12-game road trip
The Somerset Patriots are finally back home at TD Bank Ballpark after a season-long two-week road trip to Portland and Binghamton, one in which they went .500 over a 12-game stretch.
Despite a somewhat disappointing showing up north in which they split both six-game series, the New York Yankees Double-A affiliate remains the Eastern League’s best team with a 32-18 record and holds a half-game lead in the Northeast Division standings over the Hartford Yard Goats.
Starting Tuesday, Somerset will host another of the league’s top teams, the Akron RubberDucks, who are in second place in the Southwest Division with a 29-22 start to their season.
With over a third of the season now complete, and things becoming more and more clear with many players on the roster, here are five things to keep an eye on during the homestand:
Will Warren set to make home debut
Barring a change in the starting rotation, one of the Yankees quick-rising pitching prospects, Will Warren, is set to make his TD Bank Ballpark debut in the opener against Akron on Tuesday night, set for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch. The 22-year-old was drafted by the Bronx Bombers in the eighth round last year and needed just eight starts in High-A Hudson Valley to earn a somewhat surprising promotion as the first starter out of their rotation to be summoned to Somerset.
His Double-A debut last Wednesday didn’t go as planned, however; the right-hander took the loss against the Rumble Ponies, allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings in Binghamton.
Elijah Dunham gets season turned around
Perhaps no Patriots player did more to improve his stock since the team bus pulled out of the parking lot in Bridgewater than outfielder Elijah Dunham, who has emerged from a crowded prospect picture and no longer seems to be lost in the shuffle.
The 24-year-old racked up four multi-hit games on the road, including three home runs in the Portland series, and finished a triple shy of the cycle on May 29, smacking a season-high four hits against Sea Dogs pitching. Even after cooling off a bit in Binghamton, he’s now hitting .257 on the season.
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Anthony Volpe slowly, but surely, showing improvement
It was an undoubtedly good road trip for Yankees top prospect Anthony Volpe, as the 21-year-old Somerset shortstop boosted his average by 12 points to get it to .209 heading into Tuesday’s homestand opener. Volpe, who stole his 20th base in the June 5 series finale in Binghamton – he’s been caught just three times this year – went 0-for-10 to start the trip but finished 11-for-34 over the last eight games, putting together arguably the most consistent stretch he’s had thus far this season.
The big Breaux power show continues
The road was also good to Josh Breaux, who has seemingly turned a corner after missing two weeks earlier this season with an undisclosed injury. The 24-year-old catcher smacked three home runs on the road trip, including a solo shot in a 2-for-4 performance on Sunday afternoon, giving him a team-leading 10 so far in 2022 while upping his average to .217 on the year.
Pitching staff sees changes
If the pitching staff looks a little different than the last time you saw it, well … it is. While Josh Maciejewski has been called up to Triple-A Scranton and sent back down to Somerset since the team was last home – after usually piggybacking Luis Medina’s outings, he made his first actual start of the season on May 27 in his second trip to the highest level of the minors – one of the team’s top starters, Jhony Brito, earned a promotion to the RailRiders that is likely a more permanent one. In addition, steady reliever Kyle Zurak was a surprise release by the Yankees organization, while former big-leaguer Jose Mujica was sent down to the Patriots bullpen from Scranton for the second time this year.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: New York Yankees: Somerset Patriots open homestand, 5 things to watch
