Nick Yorke | McClelland Miscellanea

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August 12, 2023 · 2:02 pm

Hartford 7 Portland 4

(Portland ME) Brainer Bonaci is the new guy in Portland.

No name on the back of his uniform but the 20-year-old played his second game with the Sea Dogs on Thursday afternoon.

Brainer’s presence wasn’t enough to help the team on this gorgeous afternoon but there’s always a bigger picture when it comes to the minor leagues.

Everyone is auditioning.

Trying to convince someone that AA Portland is below their skill level.

Brainer will get his chance to prove himself.

He is an infielder. You have to wonder how he fits in at the next two levels.

In this game, Portland was down 3-0 before even batting! Hartford’s leadoff batter Niko Decolati took starter Hunter Dobbins deep on the second pitch he saw.

The Sea Dogs got two back quickly but could never get even.

The celebrated prospects on both teams were missing.

#2 Zac Veen (injured), #3 Yanquiel Fernandez (inactive), #5 Drew Romo (inactive), and #7 Gabriel Hughes (inactive) were missing for the Yard Goats.

#1 Marcelo Mayer (injured), #6 Nick Yorke (inactive) were missing for the Sea Dogs.

However, I’ve done enough of the Portland games to know Marcelo and Nick by sight so that I could find them away from the playing field.

Today was a bright noonday game. I brought my Sigma 200m/F2.8. I could have brought the Sigma 600m/F5.6 but that F-Stop denies me the chance to shoot fast.

The sun was minimized by the hood on the camera. However, the sun was in the faces of the players coming my way so their visors shaded them. Nothing I could do about that position wise.

I experimented with some very high speeds to see if I could get the baseball in focus in pictures. I tried 1/4000 and got a blurry baseball. I’ll try even faster another time.

Despite some players being missing, I did get quite a few shots of #11 Brainer Bonaci and #12 Blaze Jordan. Both are twenty and very young to be at the AA level. The Red Sox bosses are obviously optimistic about the two of them to have them where they are so early.

Blaze is a 1B/3B with power.

Today was the day the area recreation departments came to Hadlock. There were sections of similar jerseys throughout the park. Might have been the highlight of the summer for some of the rec departments.

Slugger got in with a speedster today. The Big Guy appeared to be really trying to keep up but the kid, who may have a high school track career in his future, never slowed up. In fact, he never looked to see where Slugger was. The kid wasn’t going to be denied. But he was classy afterwards giving Slugger a high-five for his effort.

Continued thanks to Chris Cameron for arranging my visits. Being in the midst of a buzzing park with a chance to take pictures from a great vantage point is greatly appreciated.

Dylan Spacke was signing before the game

Grant Lavigne from Bedford (NH) High School homered for Hartford

New Hampshire 7 Portland 4

(Portland ME) You won’t remember the score.

You ask anyone who just attended a Sea Dogs game, “Who won?”

They might get that right, but it is unlikely they’ll have the score.

Why?

Too many other things caught their attention and later their memory.

And for each visitor the memories will vary.

I am easily caught up with watching/photographing the major leaguers of the future.

Some might care less for that. They hardly know the names of the players on either team!

Chase Meidroth was one of seven top-thirty prospects in the Portland batting order today

Today was gold for me. Why? The top seven in the Sea Dogs batting order were the seven of the top thirty Red Sox prospects. How often does that happen?

Newcomer Blaze Jordan had two hits vs New Hampshire today

Sometimes you go to Hadlock, and some of the prospects are inactive. Not today. They appeared at the plate one after another. There certainly were opportunities to get a look at each of them.

My struggle, photographically speaking, was the noon start in bright sunshine. I want the sun in my face so that the players’ faces I am trying to get are not shaded by visors. Not possible today because the only angle available had the “sun issue.”

The conditions forced me into some high ISOs. When I raised the ISO, the faces weren’t shaded BUT Portland’s white uniforms were overexposed. Getting the uniforms right shaded the faces.

Next time solution? Different lens. I brought my 600 with its high-numbered F-Stop. I couldn’t speed things up to lower the ISO. I had to drop the speed down to 1/640 and in doing so lessened my chance for great focus.

What I do like about the 600 is that I can avoid being too intrusive when shooting a person.

I am realizing that most of the long shots I take are of lesser quality. Most of what I want to shoot is going to come into range of my 200 and its nice F-Stop of 2.8. It will be a bit frustrating to let go of the long-range action shots, however.

Matthew Lugo hit a three-run homer for the Sea Dogs today

The star of today’s game was New Hampshire’s starter Sem Robberse. He shut out the Sea Dogs (and all their prospects!) for five innings while his teammates went off against Sterling Sharpe to build up a 7-0 lead. Matt Lugo had a 3-run homer off NH relief in the eighth inning to lessen the spread. However, the cows had left the barn!

I was intent on getting newcomer Blaze Jordan (#10 prospect) and Nick Yorke (#3 prospect). Blaze (1B) & Nick (2B) were selected 3^rd and 1^st in the 2020 draft.

Blaze had two hits this afternoon while Nick had one.

Today was recreation department day at Hadlock. Many camps attended and there were activities for the kids on the field before the game. Most camps had their own specific bright shirt. Probably helped the counselors trying to keep track of kids!

Marcelo Mayer having fun pregame in the dugout

Marcelo Mayer seems to be the prospect likely to make the biggest future splash at the major-league level. He’s 6-2/188 pounds. Good size for a shortstop. He seems very comfortable in the field for a 20-year-old. Drafted in the first round in 2021. He bats left-handed. I have tried to get shots of him in quantity because it is quite likely he will move on to AAA Worcester before the end of the season.

My photo moment of the game was catching Nick Yorke in the dugout in full spit. I was shooting at a fast enough speed to catch the “flow.” Some may be offended………I blame the camera!

Another race loss for Hall-of-Fame mascot Slugger. The Big Guy (not Biden) was up against a camper from O-AT-KA in Sebago. They were even heading into the final stretch, but Slugger couldn’t finish. He does a lot of walking around the stands greeting patrons before he does the race. That could well be taking the legs out from him.

Thanks to Chris Cameron for allowing me access to ever-entertaining Hadlock Field.