ALTOONA, Pa. — April showers often bring rain delays.
For Altoona catcher Jason Delay, April brought, well, a slowdown to the start of his season.
Entering play on April 27, Delay was hitting .174 with three hits in seven games. But a three-hit game April 27 against Richmond kickstarted Delay at the plate.
The 24-year-old Vanderbilt product has hit .500 with 11 RBIs in seven games he's appeared in during he month of May. The hot start through the first half of the month of May has brought his average up to a team-leading .373 and has saw him become the top catcher for Altoona as a result.
It was a conversation on the bench with hitting coach Jon Nunnally that helped everything click for Delay and turn the corner as he adjusted to life at the Double-A level.
"There wasn't too much mechanical. One day I was sitting on the bench talking to Nunnally and he explained to me no one wants a catcher who hits singles," Delay said. "My goal is to go out there and do damage, hit homers and doubles. I'm not going to get on and hit a single and start stealing, that's not the type of player I am. I need to go up there trying to get on second, that's sort of the mental switch."
To have a mental switch there had to be a mentality he was following at the plate that hadn't been working . For the 2017 fourth-round pick it was as simple as his approach when in the batter's box.
"I had been going up there more to make contact rather than to do damage and that mental shift creates more of an aggressive approach," Delay said.
Altoona manager Michael Ryan has been doing his best to stay out of Delay's head while he's on his current hot streak, but the third-year manager has been impressed in many ways by the work Delay is doing at the plate.
"It's hard to pick just one thing, just how quiet he is at the plate and how balanced he is," Ryan said. "He's getting pitches to hit and he's not missing them. It's been fun to watch and when guys are like that you just try stay out of their way.
"He's balanced, he doesn't look out of sorts, there's not a lot of movement, it's just nice and relaxed. We call it quiet hitting. He hits like the type of person he is, he's just real quiet and can explode to it, he looks good."
With the success at the plate comes more time behind the plate for the Texas native, and it's his defense in which he takes the most pride. But to Delay there's always room for improvement.
"Typically, I consider myself a defensive player first, I think overall receiving is my number one priority," Delay said. "I think I've done a good job with that, I'd say the one place I can approve is throwing runners out, just doing what I can from there."
Will Delay see himself in Pittsburgh by the end of this year? Probably not, but with the way the injuries are racking up anything is possible. In the meantime though, Delay is on the road to proving himself as a solid catcher at the Double-A level both at the plate and behind it.
CURVE'S TOP HITTERS
Jerrick Suiter, 1B -- Suiter was a run-producing machine over the last week knocking in five runs over the course of four games while hitting .307.
Hunter Owen, 3B - Owen was the benefactor of Suiter knocking in runs as he was the player Suiter drove in the most, scoring three runs and having an RBI of his own to go with his .461 batting average for the week.
CURVE'S TOP PITCHERS
Top starting performance: Scooter Hightower vs. Erie on May 11: 6.0 innings pitched, no runs on three hits, three strikeouts and a walk. Hightower is 2-3 with a 4.58 ERA this season.
Top reliever: Beau Sulser. Sulser went 3.1 innings in relief to notch his fourth win of the 2019 season Friday night against Erie. The righty allowed three hits but did not yield a run during his outing, while striking out two and walking one. His ERA now sits at 0.44 on the season.
THE ROSTER MOVES/INJURY UPDATE
Here are the roster moves over the last week:
5/9: RHP Matt Eckelman promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis. RHP Joel Cesar assigned to Altoona.
THE RESULTS/SCHEDULE
Altoona went 2-2 over the course of the last week taking down Erie and Bowie during its most recent home stand.
The Curve fell to the Baysox, 12-2, Wednesday before recording an 8-4 win against the Seawolves. They faced off against Detroit's top prospect Casey Mize and forced him out of the game after five innings, scoring two runs off the former top pick.
It was a pitcher's duel Saturday night as Altoona took down the Seawolves 2-1 with Scooter Hightower besting Erie starter Matt Manning. The same could not be said Sunday as the Curve got shellacked, 14-4. James Marvel got roughed up allowing eight runs in 5.1 innings of work.
Altoona currently sits at 18-17 and in third place, seven games behind division leader Harrisburg.
ALTOONA FUN THING
With the postponement of Monday's game against Binghamton, the Curve and the Rumble Ponies play three times in less than 20 hours with a doubleheader starting at 5:35 p.m. Tuesday and the final game of the series starting at 10:35 a.m. Wednesday.
