It's Joe Boyle Day in Dayton. All participating opposing players receive one free pass, at least one trip back to the dugout bat in hand, and a loss for their troubles. Boyle has a 1.2 H/9. To put that in perspective, the career H/9 record is Nolan Ryan, with just over 6.5 per nine innings. The single-season record is Trevor Bauer's 5.05. Boyle is 400% better than the single best H/9 season by a starter in MLB history. If we add in relievers, Josh Hader has the best career hits allowed per 9 innings with 4.426. Jesse Hahn has the lowest seasonal number, with 2.0777, but he only threw 17.1 innings. Still, he almost doubles Boyle's numbers so far in Dayton. Just. ridiculously hard to hit so far this year. He belongs in AA yesterday. They play Quad City at home at 7:05.
Daytona is also at home. They start Hunter Parks. Parks is giving out 6 free passes per 9 and 9.5 hits. That typically works out to an ERA double his current 3.50, so we can maybe say Parks knows how to scatter base runners. (Or more accurately, we can say that he's been really lucky so far this season.) Regardless, he's probably going to have to be on his game-- the Tortugas aren't exactly stinging the ball. A .309 OBP and a .309 (not a typo, same number) slugging isn't a recipe for a great offense. The .213 BA isn't great shakes either. It'll help when Yerlin Confidan gets back on the field. He was at .280/ .368/ .440 when he went down for the second time on May 3rd.
Chattanooga starts Carson Spiers. Maybe. Or they might go with Connor Curlis. We don't talk much about Curlis, but he's been perfectly acceptable as a minor league depth option so far in his career. He gives up a bunch of HR. Expect lots of fireworks tonight in Tennessee at 7:15.
Louisville goes to Nashville tonight. No clue who starts for the Bats. It's likely not going to matter much-- the guys they pick is going to struggle. The Sounds are 24-11. The Bats are 13-22. Might be the time to start sniffing glue if you're a Bat fan.