We are back with the Week 12 edition of Niner Nuggets. The Niners will travel to Chapel Hill on Tuesday, and return home to host Rice this weekend at the Hayes. Currenty Charlotte is riding a 9 game win streak including two consecutive weekend sweeps.
Charlotte moved up 9 spots in the RPI to 79 with a 5-0 week last week, and are tied for 6th in C-USA with 3 weeks left to play.
Rankings (Teams of interest in the national rankings)
USA Today Coaches Poll: 7 Southern Miss, 13 UConn, 10 Louisville, RV North Carolina, RV West Virginia, RV Davidson
Conference USA
There are 3 weeks remaining in the season and all eyes are starting to focus on the Conference USA Tournament seeding. The Top 8 teams qualify for the C-USA tournament. With 9 conference games remaining, no one has clinched a spot, and no one has been eliminated yet. Below is a chart showing the current standings, the remaining schedules, and tie breakers.
A look at Week 11 overall results and what’s ahead in Week 12 for Conference USA, sorted by RPI. Overall Conference USA moved up to 6th in RPI. Bold denotes teams that come to the Hayes. Charlotte does not play FIU this season.
Out of Conference Opponents
A look at the teams on the 49ers’ schedule, sorted in order that they play the Niners. There are only 2 more out of conference games remaining and they are both on the road.
We are heading down the final stretch in the Conference USA Baseball season with 4 weeks remaining. There is still plenty up for grabs rolling in to Week 11 as we look toward the C-USA Tournament.
C-USA has 12 schools that play baseball and only the Top 8 teams qualify for the tournament. With 12 games remaining, no one has clinched a spot, and no one has been eliminated yet. Below is a chart showing the current standings, the remaining schedules, and tie breakers.
We are back with the Week 11 edition of Niner Nuggets. The Niners will host UNC Asheville on Tuesday, NC A&T on Wednesday and then travel to Marshall this weekend. It looks like ther will be radio only for the mid-week games and the games at Marshall will be shown on Marshall’s YouTube channel.
Charlotte moved up 29 spots in the RPI with a 4-0 week last week, and are tied for 7th in C-USA with 4 weeks left to play.
Rankings (Teams of interest in the national rankings)
USA Today Coaches Poll: 5 Southern Miss, 16 UConn, 17 Louisville, RV North Carolina, RV West Virginia
Conference USA
A look at Week 10 results and what’s ahead in Week 11 for Conference USA, sorted by RPI. Overall Conference USA moved up to 7th in RPI. Bold denotes teams that come to the Hayes. Charlotte does not play FIU this season.
Out of Conference Opponents
A look at the teams on the 49ers schedule, sorted in order that they play the Niners. Currently, the Niners have faced 3 conference leaders in UConn (Big East), Campbell (Big South), and College of Charleston (CAA) out of conference.
We are back with the Week 10 edition of Niner Nuggets. The Niners will host Coastal Carolina on Tuesday and UAB this weekend.
The Niners had their 2nd C-USA Pitcher of the Week this week as Matt Brooks took home the weekly award. Matt pitched a 1 hit shutout vs Winthrop on Tuesday night & was 1 out away from a no-hitter.
Rankings (Teams of interest in the national rankings)
USA Today Coaches Poll: 6 Southern Miss, 16 Uconn, 18 Louisville, RV North Carolina, RV West Virginia, RV Davidson
Conference USA
A look at Week 9 results and what’s ahead in Week 10 for Conference USA, sorted by RPI. Overall Conference USA moved up to 8th in RPI. Bold denotes teams that come to the Hayes. Charlotte does not play FIU this season.
Out of Conference Opponents
A look at the teams on the 49ers schedule, sorted in order that they play the Niners.
USA Today Coaches Poll: 11 Louisville, 14 Southern Miss, 21 Uconn, RV North Carolina, RV Davidson, RV LaTech
Conference USA
A look at Week 8 results and what’s ahead in Week 9 for Conference USA, sorted by RPI. Overall Conference USA moved up to 9th in RPI. Bold denotes teams that come to the Hayes. Charlotte does not play FIU this season.
Out of Conference Opponents
A look at the teams on the 49ers schedule, sorted in order that they play the Niners.
USA Today Coaches Poll: 14 Louisville, 20 North Carolina, 24 Southern Miss, RV Uconn, RV Davidson, RV Purdue
Conference USA
A look at Week 7 results and what’s ahead in Week 8 for Conference USA, sorted by RPI. Overall Conference USA is 10th in RPI. Bold denotes teams that come to the Hayes.
Out of Conference Opponents
A look at the teams on the 49ers schedule, sorted in order that they play the Niners.
With conference play set to start, it’s time for our annual look at a sampling of year-over-year (over year) metrics. Here are the numbers and a few observations:
2020
2021
2022
Record
9-8
11-8
11-5
RPI
121
41
111
Strength of Schedule
71
14
148
Offense
Runs/Game
5.35
7.11
8.44
Batting Avg.
.259
.283
.299
On Base %
.374
.354
.436
Slugging %
.339
.354
.487
Doubles
20
36
33
Home Runs
8
30
23
Walks
94
60
117
Strikeouts
130
145
132
Stolen Bases-Attempts
15-23
19-21
24-29
Pitching
Earned Run
6.34
3.44
4.09
WHIP
1.58
1.34
1.36
Opponent Batting Avg.
.262
.206
.236
Walks
84
98
68
Strikeouts
157
207
156
Doubles
35
28
19
Home Runs
17
12
11
Fielding
Fielding %
.957
.982
.972
Errors
27
12
16
Double Plays
20
28
10
Stolen Bases Allowed
52
19
23
Runners Caught Stealing
5
7
7
Observations
Coming into the season we would not have guessed that the strength of schedule (SOS) would be 148 based on the names on the schedule. But there’s no way to know how it’s going to shake out once the game start. Statistically speaking, the Western Illinois series is holding the SOS back. On the flip side, the Niners already have some resume-quality wins. The win over UCONN comes to mind. Plus, there are plenty of opportunities ahead to build the resume on the schedule both in league play and during the mid- week. There’s still reason to believe this will be a top 50 schedule when the dust settles.
The program’s positive offensive trend continues. Runs/game, batting average, on-base %, and slugging % are all at 3 year highs. Here’s the scary part (for the opponents): the starting lineup has been intact for exactly two games to this point due to injury. Josh Madole missed the first two weeks of the season. Once he returned, Austin Knight went out. Now that both of them have returned, David McCabe has missed time. McCabe is day-to-day at the moment. If the Niners can get the lineup healthy, look out.
The pitching staff continues to make progress. Most notably, walks are down. Limiting free passes was an area of emphasis for the staff in the offseason and it appears to be paying dividends. That group has had it’s share of bad luck with the injury bug as well. Lefty Christian Lothes is out for the season after having Tommy John in the Fall. C-Lo is undergoing rehab and looks to be back strong next season. An important part of the bullpen, Evan Michelson, has also missed time but should be getting close to making a return. In the meantime the staff has turned to a number different arms that have stepped up. AJ Wilson and Michael Oh are great examples.
As with any season, this is a marathon, not a sprint. The non-conference weekends are over and the 10 week conference grind is just beginning. The roster has shown what it is capable of. The Niners have been in every game they’ve dropped. In particular, the season opener against Louisville and the Friday night game vs WVU sting because they were so close. The series finale against App stings because the Niners actually did win it, but we digress. The point is, that the team appears to be finally getting healthy as we head into the meat of the schedule and that’s a good thing.
To get you ready for opening weekend here is an abbreviated version of Niner Nuggets. We’ll have more for you after the weekend.
Take a look at where all of the 49ers 2022 opponents will be playing this weekend listed in order of the schedule. Other than Tampa, there are a few games worth paying attention to. Rice is traveling to #1 Texas this weekend. Future 49er opponents squaring off this weekend are App St at Campbell, Western Illinois at WKU, and West Virginia & Coastal Carolina in the Baseball at the Beach event in Myrtle Beach.
After having the entire 2020 MiLB season cancelled due to Covid it was refreshing to have MiLB baseball back in 2021, even if it was delayed and came with some uncertainty. We were personally excited to get out to the minor league parks once again and happy to have some #ProNiners to cover for the first time since the 2019 Arizona Fall League.
2021 provided many highlights from a 49ers perspective and was an exciting season to cover. Things were certainly different as Covid caused minor league teams to go with 6 game weekly series’ throughout the season and many teams only played half of the opponents in their league due to travel limitations. One of the most exciting points this season was when the 49ers had two guys up at the Triple-A level at the same time. We also added two more #ProNiners to the mix from the 2021 Charlotte squad.
Norfolk Tides
Zach Jarrettcontinued his upward progress through the Orioles organization in 2021. After being drafted in the 28th Round out of Charlotte in 2017, Zach has steadily climbed the ladder towards Baltimore one step at a time. In 2019, Jarrett was up and down between High- A Frederick and Double-A Bowie. He earned spots on both the mid and post season Carolina League All Star teams in 2019 and was primed for a good season at Double-A Bowie in 2020 before the season was cancelled.
After Spring Training this season, Jarrett was assigned to Double-A Bowie where he batted .302 over 11 games before getting called up to Triple-A Norfolk. Zach was called up on May 19 and made his Triple-A debut on May 21 by going 2 for 3 with a Double. He remained in Norfolk for the remainder of the 2021 season where he ended up batting .231 for the season with 10 HR, 40 RBI, 46 Runs, and 12 SBs in 102 Games. Despite fewer games on the schedule this season, Zach had career highs in stolen bases (12) and Walks (44) while playing mostly CF for Norfolk. Zach did not commit an error and had five Outfield Assists in 2021. He was frequently shown making highlight catches like this one during the season. Jarrett’s 10 home runs were 1 off his total from the 2019 season and 4 off his career high in 2018. We were fortunate enough to see one of the ten in person here in Charlotte.
All things considered, Zach had a pretty good year in 2021 and he’s just one step on the ladder away from playing in the big leagues. We are looking forward to seeing what happens in 2022.
Hudson Valley Renegades
Josh Maciejewski has worn many different hats in his pro career since being drafted by the Yankees in the 10th Round of the 2018 Draft. After being drafted from Charlotte, Josh eased in to his pro career, starting out in the Gulf Coast League and eventually finishing the 2018 season with the Staten Island Yankees. 2019 was a whirlwind season for Josh as he pitched for four different Yankees affiliates during the season. He pitched for Staten Island, Tampa, Charleston, and Scranton-Wilkes-Barre. Maciejewski pitched well in Charleston, earning Sally League Pitcher of the Week honors . He was called up to Triple-A twice during the season and ended up in High-A Tampa to finish the year. With all his travels, and his performance on the mound, Maciejewski was named an Organizational All-Star with the Yankees following the 2019 season.
In 2021, the Yankees moved their High-A affiliate from Tampa to Hudson Valley, and that is where Josh started the season. Maciejewski pitched well in Hudson Valley and was called up to Triple-A Scranton for 3 weeks starting at the end of July. He made four Triple-A starts for SWB with his best coming on August 17 vs Worchester where he allowed only 2 Hits and 0 Runs in 5 IP.
Overall, Josh topped his career highs for Games (22), Starts (17), IP (101.1), and Ks (105) in 2021. He had a 9-4 record and a 4.10 ERA at the High-A level and earned High-A East Pitcher of the Week awards in July and September. It was a good season on the mound for Maciejewski including a good showing at the Triple-A level when given the opportunity. He has now pitched at every level in the Yankees organization except for Double-A and the Major Leagues. Let’s hope we can check some more boxes off in 2022.
Photo: @TiffW96
Reece Hamptonwas working his way up the Tigers organization after being drafted in the 12th Round in 2018 and was playing in High-A Lakeland at the end of the 2019 season. He hit .270 with 12 SBs in his first full professional season.
Hampton started off the 2021 season in Spring Training camp with the Detroit Tigers organization but was released in late April. He quickly signed a contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks in early May and was assigned to their High-A affiliate, the Hillsboro Hops. Over 44 Games with the Hops, Reece set career highs in SBs (16) & HR (4) before being released in August. Shortly after that, Hampton signed a free agent deal with the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League.
Reece took the Atlantic League by storm, putting up video game numbers in his first two weeks with Gastonia. Over 46 games with Gastonia, Hampton hit .350 with 10 HR, scored 39 Runs, and drove in 27. He also stole 10 bases for the Honey Hunters in their final stretch of games. It was an up and down 2021 season for Reece, but he finished it very strong and we look forward to see what is ahead in 2022.
Toronto Blue Jays
Colton Laws has been battling through shoulder issues for much of his professional career. Laws was drafted in the 7th Round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays and went on to pitch sparingly for the Bluefield Blue Jays and the Vancouver Canadians to close out the summer of 2017. He started the 2018 season with the Lansing Lugnuts in the Low-A Midwest League. He made 10 starts in Lansing before he started to have shoulder problems. He ultimately needed to have offseason surgery. Laws missed the 2019 season recovering from surgery and was ready to go to start the 2020 season. Unfortunately there was no 2020 season, and Laws was forced to wait another year to get back on the mound.
After another setback, Laws started the 2021 season working down in the Blue Jays Spring Training Complex in Dunedin. He was officially assigned to the Vancouver Canadians and on the injured list for most of the season. Eventually he took the mound in a rehab assignment for the Florida Complex League Blue Jays in July, where he pitched 1 scoreless inning. He would pitch in a total of 6 rehab assignments between the Complex League and the Dunedin Blue Jays, pitching 6 innings, striking out 5 and allowing only 1 Run.
Colton has worked hard to get back to this point and we hope his injuries are behind him. We are looking forward to seeing a healthy and successful 2022 season from Colton Laws.
The 49ers program added two more #ProNiners to the ranks during this summer’s MLB Draft. Bryce McGowan and Aaron McKeithan both heard their name called this summer and decided to sign and begin their professional careers.
Palm Beach Cardinals
Aaron McKeithan was drafted by the St Louis Cardinals in the 16th Round of the 2021 MLB Draft. After signing, he worked out in the Cardinals’ Florida Complex and then was assigned to the Palm Beach Cardinals roster in Low-A. McKeithan got a little taste of pro ball, playing in 22 games in the final months of the season, batting .154. He also threw out 4 runners attempting to steal and only allowed 1 passed ball from behind the plate. We are looking forward to following Aaron as he starts his climb through the Cardinals organization.
Photo: Phrake Photography
Bryce McGowan was drafted in the 18th Round of the MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies. McGowan signed and was eventually assigned to the Arizona Complex League Rockies. He made 4 appearances and pitched 1 inning in each allowing only 1 hit and striking out 4. After the season ended, the Rockies invited McGowan to participate in the Fall Instructional team in Arizona where made a few more 1 inning stints. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting before you know it and we are looking forward to seeing where Bryce will be playing in 2022.
TJ Nichtingstarted off the 2021 season in Spring Training with the Orioles. Unfortunately he was released by the Orioles after the spring and did not come north with the organization. TJ was drafted by the Orioles in the 9th Round in 2017, and had advanced up to AA Bowie where he spent the entire 2019 season. He also was selected to play in the prestigious Arizona Fall League following the 2019 season. Over three seasons in the Orioles organization, Nichting batted .267 with 66 Doubles, 14 HR, 121 RBI and 25 SB.
49er Brett Netzer also was in Florida this spring for Spring Training with the Red Sox. He did not play in 2021 and is listed on the Restricted List by the Red Sox organization. In three minor league seasons Netzer has played up to Double A Portland and batted .263 with 10 HR and 127 over his career.
Harris Yett retired from baseball prior to the 2021 season. Yett was drafted by the Orioles in 2019. He spent most of the 2019 season in the Gulf Coast League, and went up to Aberdeen and Delmarva late in the season. After the 2020 season was canceled, Yett retired from baseball.
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