BY DAN GLICKMAN
After a break for Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, the Rochester Red Wings return to action with a three-game series at the Syracuse Mets starting on Friday.
With a 6-6 record in the second half and a 40-45 record overall, the Red Wings are currently three games out in the race for the second-half title. Their opponents from Syracuse are 2-9 in the second half and 35-50 overall, the worst record in both categories. Rochester is 5-7 against the Mets this season, going 1-5 during a road series in April but taking a home series in late May and early June, 4-2.
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The Mets feature several players that Rochester fans will recognize, including infielder Danny Mendick. The alumnus of Pittsford Mendon and Monroe Community College has played in 155 MLB games and is hitting .264 with eight HR and 35 RBI this season with Syracuse, including a three-RBI double against the Red Wings in Syracuse’s 6-1 win on April 6. Right-handed pitcher Reed Garrett threw in 42 games for Rochester in 2022 to a tune of a 3.04 ERA, and he has a 1.82 ERA this season in 22 games split between the Orioles and Mets’ systems. Outfielder Jaylin Davis is another former Red Wing, having played 41 games for Rochester in 2019. The right-hander has 12 home runs for Syracuse this season.
Offensively, Syracuse is led by shortstop Ronny Mauricio. The second-ranked prospect in the Mets system, according to MLB.com, the 22-year-old switch-hitting Dominican leads the International League in hits with 97 and is second in doubles (25). Over at third base is another major statistical leader for the Mets, Mark Vientos. Vientos is fourth in the league in slugging percentage (.636) and fifth in OPS (1.027). His 16 home runs tie him with DJ Stewart– now on the major league roster- for the team lead.
Syracuse lefty Joe Lucchesi leads the Mets in wins with a 6-3 record, tied for seventh in the International League. Also in the rotation is right-hander Mike Vasil, the eighth-ranked prospect in the Mets system. Called up to AAA just last month, Vasil was a member of the Futures Game roster in Seattle. It has yet to be announced who the Mets and Red Wings will send out in this weekend’s series.
Speedy infielder Lucius Fox joins Rochester out of the break. The native of the Bahamas, activated on Tuesday from the injured list, has been away from the Red Wings since April, but he has been rehabbing in the lower minors the past few weeks.
The Red Wings will return home next Tuesday to begin a series with the Durham Bulls.
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