Opening Night 2022: Syracuse

 
The lockout that delayed spring training had one other unique effect: this year's minor league season opens a few days before MLB. I was on hand at NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse for that "mini" Subway Series rivalry as the Mets AAA club hosted their Yankees counterpart, the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Railriders. And the weather couldn't have been better! After a sunny day with temps in the 60s, it was still warm and bright as the 6:35 pitch pitch approached.

Longtime Mets player and coach Mookie Wilson threw a ceremonial opening pitch. 

Teams lined up on the baselines, the color guard from nearby Fort Drum at the mound...

Moments later, it's the first pitch of the International League season! Yes, MLB (having now obtained the trademarks) restored the traditional names of most minor leagues this year.

The rest of the night belonged to the not-yet-Yankees:
Oswald Peraza, the most "ready" of the Yankees crop of middle infield prospects crushed a Thomas Szapucki pitch over the wall in left-center for an immediate 1-0 lead. He makes the "hard" contact that grades well for a promotion to the majors earlier than later.
Peraza has already mastered the skill of celebratory elbow bumps after a big hit...

Four Scranton pitchers threw a combined shutout. Starter Matt Krook was the most effective.

The 6'4 lefty struck out seven and allowed just two hits and a walk in his five innings.    
Oswaldo Cabrera followed Peraza's homer with a hard-hit double to center -- and later stole 3rd base.

Estevan Florial, who appeared briefly with the 2021 Yankees capped the scoring in the 8th...
...with a rocket of a homer over the right field fence that literally disappeared into the night.
With the Mets best prospects in AA or below, the Syracuse lineup had several players best known as 2021 injury fill-ins: Johneshwy Fargas, Patrick Mazeika and Travis Blankenhorn, 
Bottom line: a good start for the young Yankee prospects, and just one game out of 150 for Syracuse. The Railriders won it 5-0.










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