Game Report - 9/18/21 - Eury Perez vs. Daniel Espino
My game report from 9/18/21, originally published for the now defunct Official Guardians Baseball Insider on the duel between top pitching prospects Eury Perez and Daniel Espino
Lake County Captains 4, Beloit Snappers 0
As the 2021 Minor League Baseball season approaches its conclusion, the Lake County Captains are entrenched in a battle for a playoff spot in the High-A Central division. Winning four of their first five games in this series and going 10-6 so far this month has been imperative as the Cleveland Indians High-A affiliate tries to stay within the frame of the playoff picture.
In his highly anticipated first full season as a professional baseball player starting pitcher Daniel Espino has impressed fans, pundits, and everyone else in the various realms of baseball with his high-octane arsenal that has struck out batters in Low-A and High-A left and right. In his final start of the 2021 season, the former 24th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft had the most dominant individual start of his career so far.
He went 6.2 innings, reaching a new career-high for the second straight start after going 5.2 innings last week versus Dayton. This is the second time he has put up at least 10 strikeouts in back-to-back appearances in his career, the first time he has gone two straight starts without walking an opposing batter, and the first time he’s eclipsed the sixth-inning mark in his professional career. In his last start of the 2021 season, the top prospect achieved a myriad of “firsts” in his professional career to end the year on a high note.
The Panamanian pitcher’s primary pitch is a fastball that sat 97-98 miles per hour and frequently touched triple digits on the gun. His fastball is a legitimate 70-grade pitch, as hitters have difficulty making effective contact on a relative basis due to a combination of viable pitch shape and top-tier velocity to go with an ability to keep it out the heart of the dish. The right-hander’s fastball possesses a sizeable amount of spin, life, and rise which work together to bring deception into the equation along with the other factors involved.
His second most-used pitch is a slider that is rated as one of the best individual secondary pitches in all three High-A leagues by pundits. The low to mid-80s slider has an effective two-plane break, and Espino adds and subtracts from it as well. He rarely employs his loopy 12-6 curveball or work-in-progress changeup, as he is still trying to refine and develop those two pitches. In addition to his ten strikeouts, Espino accumulated five groundouts and three flyouts.
He was in a fluid rhythm from his first pitch to his last, never taking too long between pitches or nodding off his catcher repeatedly. Espino threw 62 of his 82 pitches for strikes, remaining extremely efficient throughout his outing even though he was racking up strikeouts from the jump.
The two hits he allowed were the only two baserunners he allowed to reach during the outing. He aggressively used the fastball to get ahead early by trying to locate it on the edges of the zone for called strikes, then tunneling the slider effectively to coerce hitters into expanding the zone. Espino has no issue or lack of confidence about challenging hitters with his fastball in the upper half of the strike zone.
He pitched backward on occasion, starting opposing hitters off with sliders during their plate appearances. He doubled up the slider with no hesitation and buried it in the dirt with conviction. Espino’s composure on the mound was sound for a 20-year-old trying to get his team into the playoffs by preventing runs, and every pitch he made seemed 100% intentional. This was the most dominant individual start I’ve seen from a Lake County pitcher this season, and everything Daniel Espino did versus Beloit shows why Cleveland drafted him and why he was so highly thought of throughout the industry.
Relief pitcher Tim Herrin threw 2.1 innings of hitless baseball with three strikeouts and one walk and has finished his regular season with a 2.57 ERA. He threw 21 of his 33 pitches for strikes in the process. He also recorded two groundouts and one fly out. He inherited one run from Espino and did not let that runner score.
The position player group put up five total hits, eight strikeouts, and three walks.
Christian Cairo is continuing the on-base tear he has been on since getting called up to Lake County, drawing two more walks against Beloit.
Jhonkensy Noel and Julian Escobedo collected singles, Johnathan Rodriguez garnered a double, and Raynel Delgado and Micah Pries each hit home runs.
All of Lake County’s runs were scored in the third and fourth innings. Defensively, the position player group made at least five spectacular plays all over the field that really helped Daniel Espino dominate and ultimately put the team closer to the playoffs. Diving outfield catches, infielders snagging balls deep in the hole and stealing hits away, etc. it was all there tonight. This was yet another strong team win for Lake County as they try and reach the playoffs on the last day of the regular season.