Nine things to know about the Hickory Crawdads' final regular-season series
After clinching a playoff berth last week, the Hickory Crawdads (77-47, 43-17) are playing their final regular-season series of the season against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (71-53 overall, 39-20 second half) at L.P Frans Stadium.
Here are nine things to know about the series that started Tuesday night.
Somebody has to lose
The two hottest teams in the minor leagues face each other this week in Hickory. Hickory swept the six-game series at Wilson to increase their winning streak to 10 going into the series. Meanwhile, the Woodpeckers completed a seven-game sweep of the Salem RidgeYaks and have won 13 in a row overall coming into Tuesday's opener. Both Hickory and Fayetteville wrapped up playoff spots last week.
Championship Series preview?
There is a chance these two teams will face each other in two weeks for the Carolina League Championship, but, of course, they have hurdles to cross for this to happen.
The Crawdads will face the Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs in the South Division series, while the Woodpeckers will play the Fredericksburg (Va.) Nationals in the North Division series.
How will teams use this week?
With nothing to play for in the final week, both teams may choose to use the week to rest key players and get some playing time for those who need it. Fans will do well to remember that player development is valued by major league clubs above all else. Rosters for the Crawdads have been especially fluid over the last couple of weeks, and may yet change further leading up to the postseason. Expect pitching outings to be shorter than usual, and teams may try some different lineup combinations.
Spy vs. Spy on the bases
One matchup to watch this week will be the Woodpeckers running attacks against the prowess of the Crawdads catching squad. Fayetteville is second in the entire minor leagues with 301 stolen bases. However, they lead the minors by getting caught 95 times. The Crawdads catching corps leads the Carolina League in catching runners, putting down 31% of base stealers. Sebastian Baquera leads the way among the group, nabbing 39%.
Spy vs. Spy at the plate
Another matchup to watch will be the Crawdads lineup versus the Woodpeckers pitching staff. Fayetteville has allowed the fewest hits in the league, and opponents are hitting just .224, which also leads the Carolina League. However, the Crawdads hitters are second in the league in batting average at .251 and third in runs scored.
Crawdads superlatives
As the regular season wraps up, the Crawdads have several players dotting the top-10 leaderboard in statistical rankings. They are as follows:
Hitting:
Paulino Santana: 88 runs (1st), 119 hits (4th), 25 doubles (5th), 15 home runs (6th), 77 walks (7th), .822 OPS (7th), .386 on-base pct. (8th) 64 RBIs (T-9th).436 slugging pct. (9th).
Yolfran Castillo: 83 runs (2nd), 51 SB (2nd), 124 hits (3rd), 26 doubles (T-3rd), .284 BA (4th), .383 (10th)
Deward Tovar: 78 RBIs (1st), 18 home runs (4th), .458 slugging pct. (4th)
Pitching:
Moises Morales: 10 wins (1st)
Evan Siary: 3.36 ERA (1st), 1.08 WHIP (1st), OBA .232 (1st)
Louis Marinaro: 7 saves (T-4th)
Who’s hot?
With the Crawdads scoring nine or more runs in five of the six games at Wilson, there are several players who enter this series on fire. Kaden Carpenter was 7-for-19 with a double, two triples and two homers, and led the league with a 1.577 OPS. Tovar was second in OPS at 1.417, and Castillo was third at 1.213. Logan Hughes of Fayetteville knocked in nine runs as part of a 9-for-20 stretch in the Woodpeckers' last series.
Two-way players at Hickory
The Rangers assigned two two-way players to the Crawdads during the last homestand: Josh Owens and Seong-Jun Kim. Owens, who was with the Crawdads briefly last year after being drafted in the third round out of Providence High in Johnson City, Tennessee, has shown a fastball in the upper 90s in tossing four shutout innings so far. At the plate, he is 4-for-13 with a couple of walks. As a position player, Owens has played second and shortstop.
Kim, a native of Gwangju, South Korea, has fanned six over four innings and is 3-for-20 at the plate. Like Owens, Kim has played both middle infield positions. Both players should be with Hickory for a full season in 2027.
Woodpeckers to watch
Fayetteville has two of the top three MLB prospects in the Houston Astros organization on the roster, according to MLB Pipeline. Outfielder Kevin Alvarez is No. 1, and Hughes is No. 3. Hughes, a product of Texas Tech, was the No. 1 pick of the Astros in July’s MLB draft. He already has three homers in 18 games with an OPS of 1.073. Other top-30 prospects include pitcher Juan Fraide (No. 20), fourth-round pick shortstop Kam Durnin (No. 24), catcher/first baseman Luis De Leon (No. 25) and pitcher Jagger Beck (No. 27)
