Rochester General Manager Dan Mason celebrated his… well he celebrated a birthday and completed his 30th season with the Red Wings on Monday. (Photo: Bare Antolos)

The Rochester Red Wings wrapped up the 2019 campaign on Monday with an 8-4 loss to the Syracuse Mets. The team finished 70-70, only the third time the Red Wings have ended a season .500.

Rochester won on opening night in Lehigh Valley but lost the next five games and eight of the next nine. Little did we know at the time but the last of those losses on April 13 offered a bit of foreshadowing.

That Saturday at Frontier Field the first pitch temperature was 61 and sunny with a stiff wind out to left. The IronPigs would win the game 20-18 in 10 innings with Lehigh Valley hitting a franchise record nine home runs. The Red Wings hit six long balls in the loss but the game previewed what was to come in Triple-A with the MLB baseballs being used for the first time.

Scoreboard of the final score on April 13.

Between the Pacific Coast League and the International League, the 30 teams combined to hit 5,752 home runs, 2,097 more than 2018 and an increase of over 57%. The 14 IL teams finished with 2,440 homers, a nearly 57% increase from the 1,555 hit last season.

Rochester was one of seven teams in the IL to set franchise records for home runs in a season. Gwinnett set its record at the end of June. Zander Wiel hit the record-breaking shot for the Wings on August 7. In the history of the IL, only five teams had hit 200 or more home runs in a season before 2019 and the feat had only been accomplished twice since 1936. Four teams — Columbus (213), Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (212), Charlotte (208), and Gwinnett (200) — all did so this season.

Zander Wiel. (Photo: Joe Territo)

The league saw 29 different players finish with at least 20 home runs. Only 24 players had done so in the IL since 2014 and only 31 since 2013. Wiel hit a Rochester-high 24 home runs while Wilin Rosario also reached 20 in his final at-bat during Monday’s finale. Brandon Barnes, who did most of his damage with Columbus before a trade brought him to the Red Wings in early August, hit his 30th combined home run on Monday.

Indianapolis was only team in the IL to not score more runs than last year. The Red Wings had the largest increase in runs scored, plating 305 more this season than in 2018.

Durham led the IL with a .418 slugging percentage a year ago.That number would have been tied for second-to-worst in the league this season. Scranton/WB led the league with a .483 slugging in 2019.

Rochester led the IL with a .278 batting average after finishing with a league-worst .227 average in 2018. This year is the first time the Red Wings have led the IL in hitting since 2008. The .278 mark is the highest by a Wings team since the 1996 club hit .281. The team also led the league with 299 doubles, the most in a season since 2014 when the team also led the IL with 299 two-baggers.

Individual Seasons

Wiel finished with one of the best seasons by a Red Wing in a long, long time. He batted .254/.320/.514 with 40 doubles, five triples, 24 home runs, 78 RBI, and 86 runs scored in 126 games. He led the league in doubles and extra-base hits, becoming the first IL player with 69 extra-base hits in a season since Andy Wilkins with Charlotte in 2014, and just the sixth IL player since 2005 with at least 40 doubles in a season, last accomplished when Taylor Motter hit 43 for Durham in 2015. The extra-base hits are the most by a Red Wing since Jim Fuller also had 69 in 1973 and the doubles are the most since Don Richmond had 40 in 1952. His runs scored are the most since Willis Otanez scored 87 times in 1998. Wiel now has the top mark in doubles, extra-base hits, and runs, obviously, during the Twins era. He also became only the fourth player with at least 24 home runs, ranks third with 241 total bases, and seventh in slugging since 2003. Wiel was one of two position players to spend the entire season on the active roster and was voted by the fans as the Most Popular Red Wing in 2019.

Zander Wiel won the fan vote for the Most Popular Red Wing. (Photo: Bare Antolos)

Rosario finished third in the league with 91 RBI, one shy of the Twins-era leader Garrett Jones, who drove in 92 in both 2008 and 2006. He was voted by the fans as the Most Valuable Red Wing.

Wilin Rosario was voted the Most Valuable Red Wing by the fans. (Photo: Bare Antolos)

Only 10 players during the Twins era had scored at least 71 times in a season prior to this year. Wiel, Rosario, and Drew Maggi all did so this year.

Drew Maggi scampers home ahead of the tag to walk-off Lehigh Valley on July 14. (Photo: Danielle Stout)

There are few players who burst onto the scene like Jaylin Davis did. Davis was promoted to Rochester on June 19 and made his Triple-A debut that night in Columbus. After batting just .167 in his first six games, the next 35 will be remembered by the fans for years to come.

Jaylin Davis raked in his time with Rochester. (Photo: Joe Territo)

From June 24 until his trade to San Francisco on July 31, Davis batted .353/.425/.779 with 11 doubles, one triple, 15 homers, 40 RBI, and 39 runs scored. He was named the league’s Player of the Month after batting .368/.442/.755 with eight doubles, 11 home runs, 27 RBI, 30 runs scored, and one stolen base in 28 July games. Davis led all minor leaguers in runs scored and led the IL in hits, home runs, RBI, total bases (80), extra-base hits (19), and slugging percentage during the month. Davis started the month with a nine-game hitting streak while tallying at least two hits in seven of those. He homered three games in a row for the first time in his professional career from July 13–15 and hit five home runs in seven games from July 13–19. Davis had a huge game on July 23 vs. Norfolk, going 5-for-5 with three doubles and four runs scored while setting career-highs in hits and doubles while matching a career-best in runs. He became the first Wing with five hits in a game since James Beresford on July 23, 2016 at Syracuse and the first with five hits at home since Wilkin Ramirez on July 1, 2014 vs. Norfolk.

What Could Have Been

Prospects Brent Rooker, Luke Raley, Nick Gordon, and Stephen Gonsalves all had seasons affected by injuries.

Gordon didn’t make his season debut until May 2 after beginning the season on the Injured List with a stomach issue. He played just eight games before going back on the IL with a left adductor strain. Gordon was reinstated on May 21 but went back on the IL on August 5 after getting hit by a pitch on his leg and missed the rest of the year. He hit .298/.342/.459 with 29 doubles, three triples, four homers, 40 RBI, and 49 runs scored in 70 games.

Nick Gordon has an injury-shortened season in 2019 after leading the minor leagues in games played last year. (Photo: Bare Antolos)

Rooker battled a sore left wrist for the first part of the season but didn’t get placed on the IL until May 18. From June 1 on he was one of the best hitters in the league, ranking among IL leaders in OBP (1st, .466), OPS (1st, 1.043), walks (T-1st, 29), runs (T-2nd, 28), RBI (T-2nd, 35), hits (T-4th, 44), total bases (4th, 79), extra-base hits (5th, 19), batting average (6th, .321), and slugging (8th, .577) before he went back on the IL with a right groin contusion. He was an International League All-Star and actually started the game due to other promotions to the big leagues. Rooker finished the season batting .281/.398/.535 with 16 doubles, 14 homers, 47 RBI, and 41 runs scored in 65 games with the Red Wings. He did play two rehab games with the Gulf Coast League Twins before the GCL cancelled the rest of the season due to Hurricane Dorian.

Brent Rooker’s first Triple-A season was cut short due to injuries. (Photo: Joe Territo)

Raley began the season with Rochester but a left ankle injury that required surgery ended his time with the Wings after just 33 games. He batted .302/.362/.516 with six doubles, eight homers, 23 RBI, and 29 runs scored. Raley was on a tear before his injury, slashing .385/.429/.662 in his last 16 games from April 28-May 18. He was tied for third in the league with 25 hits during that period. Raley played five games on rehab with the GCL Twins before Hurricane Dorian cancelled the season.

Luke Raley had a hot start to his Triple-A debut before his injury. (Photo: Joe Territo)

Gonsalves opening the season on the Injured List and made only one start with Rochester: May 21 vs. Buffalo. He suffered the loss after allowing one run on one hit and five walks with two strikeouts in 2.0 innings. He was placed back on the IL shortly after the start. Gonsalves made five rehab appearances with the GCL Twins beginning in mid-August before joining Double-A Pensacola. He will pitch for the Blue Wahoos in the playoffs that begin tonight.

Stephen Gonsalves was limited to just 2.0 Triple-A innings this season. (Photo: Bare Antolos)

Quick Hits

Rochester used a franchise record 74 different players this season and 75 guys appeared on the active roster. The Red Wings used 42 pitchers, tying the franchise mark set in 2017. The Wings had 27 pitchers record a win, also a franchise record.

One year after leading the IL with a 3.39 earned run average, Rochester finished tied for seventh in the league with a 4.91 ERA. Gwinnett led the league with a 4.29 ERA in 2019, a number that would have been the second-worst in the IL last year.

Maggi reached base safely in a career-high 37 straight games from June 21-August 9. The streak was the longest in the IL since Jordan Lennerton reached in 48 in a row back in 2013 and the longest by a Red Wing since Jason Bartlett’s 39 straight from June 18, 2005-April 8, 2006.

Drew Maggi’s 37-game on-base streak was the longest by a Red Wing since 2006. (Photo: Bare Antolos)

Ronald Torreyes hit a career-high 11 home runs in just 79 games. He hit 10 total home runs from 2013–18.

Ronald Torreyes set a career-high for home runs in 2019. (Photo: Garrison Kuhl)

The team hit six grand slams, four of which came in August, and two were in one game. Rosario and Barnes both hit grand slams on August 18 at Louisville.

And finally, if you didn’t see how the IL North Division was settled you may want to look at the box score. Syracuse and Scranton/WB had to play a tiebreaker game with the winner advancing to play Durham in the first round of playoffs and the loser going home. The Mets scored five runs in the 1st inning and had a 7-1 leading going to the bottom of the 7th inning. The RailRiders scored five times to cut the deficit to 7-6. Syracuse responded with six in the 8th to take a 13–6 lead. Scranton/WB responded with eight runs in the bottom half of the 8th to win 14-13. Only three home runs were hit in the game and they were all solo shots.

Rochester opens the 2020 season at home on Thursday, April 9 against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Click here to see the rest of the schedule.