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By Jarrod Prugar
For the Mirror
Momentum is a wild ride in Minor League Baseball, and the Altoona Curve epitomized that in the first half of the 2023 season.
The Curve finished 34-34 in the first 68 games of the season, good for third place and three games behind Southwest Division leader Erie, but until the last week were in position to possibly win the division and clinch a playoff spot.
"It was like this real big rolling hill the entire time," Altoona manager Callix Crabbe said. "It felt like we should have been in a better position to come out down the stretch and win, but that's not baseball."
There were many instances where the Curve looked like they figured it out only for one piece of the puzzle to not take shape or struggle which ultimately held the team back from achieving more to start the season.
"We were trying to figure out how we're going to use guys in certain spots and we were able to identify that," Crabbe said. "Then we had a really good stretch where we started playing really good baseball. And then we started to run into some trouble again in terms of runners in scoring position offensively then the back end of the bullpen."
Now, the team will be in Harrisburg on Wednesday to start the second half of the season with a postseason berth on their minds as well as finding some consistency.
Oh Henry!
Catcher Henry Davis came into 2023 with one goal in mind: Get to Pittsburgh.
To do that he started with Altoona before being sent to Triple-A June 6. Davis spent only two weeks with Indianapolis before making his Major League debut June 19.
While in the minors, Davis feasted off minor league pitchers, hitting .284 with 11 home runs, between the Curve and the Indians.
Replacing Davis was Abrahan Gutierrez, who has assumed starting catcher duties for Altoona. Gutierrez is hitting .255 in 15 games for the Curve thus far.
Getting the call
It was a moment 13 years in the making for Altoona third baseman Drew Maggi, who finally received a call to baseball's highest level.
Maggi made his Major League debut April 26 at PNC Park before notching his first MLB hit later that week in Washington against the Nationals.
Maggi's story garnered national attention with him having appearances on MLB Network as well as Good Morning America plus words of congratulations from all across baseball.
New faces
Gone is Davis. Gone are Kyle Nicolas and Jared Jones.
Gutierrez replaced Davis and the dynamic duo of Braxton Ashcraft and Anthony Solometo were brought up from Greensboro to take the spots of Nicolas and Jones.
The most recent new face is Tsung-Che Cheng, who will be helping Liover Peguero man the middle of the field for the time being.
"With new players here, now, we're getting the chemistry right," Crabbe said. "Getting everyone comfortable, identifying again, who we should put in certain spots, and I expect them to play well in the second half."