Thursday, April 24 vs. Birmingham: 6:35 PM

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SL Rocket City Trash Pandas

Thursday, April 24 vs. Birmingham: 6:35 PM

April 24, 2025 - Southern League (SL)
Rocket City Trash Pandas News Release


Tonight's game is Minor League Baseball's Game of the Day ! That means it will be streaming live and for free on MLB.com and MLB.TV, the MLB and MiLB apps, and the MLB Pipeline and MiLB homepages.

Thursday, April 24, 2025 - 6:35 PM - Toyota Field - Madison, AL

Matchup: Rocket City Trash Pandas - LAA (5-11) vs. Birmingham Barons - CHW (8-8)

Pitching Matchup: RHP Walbert Urena (0-1, 14.04) vs. LHP Noah Schultz (0-1, 4.97)

GAME: 17 of 138 - Home Game: 11 of 69

TV/Radio: WAAY MORE-TV 31.6 - Bally Live - MiLB.tv - ESPN WZZN 97.7 HD-2

Today's Promotions:

Thursday, April 24 | First Pitch: 6:35 pm | Gates Open: 5:30 pm | Trustmark VIP Gates: 5:00 pm

Raise the Roof Night T-Shirt Giveaway: Storm Guard Roofing will present the first 1,500 adults 18 and over with a Raise the Roof T-shirt.

Comic & Pop Culture Night: The Trash Pandas bring nostalgia to Toyota Field with exciting appearances from several special guests. Walter Jones, the original Black Power Ranger, and George Newbern, who is known for voicing Superman in various DC animated projects, will make an appearance. Also making an appearance is Danny from "Friends," the character Rachel dated who was often mistaken for a Yeti. Steve Cardenas, who portrayed Rocky as the second Red Ranger from Power Rangers, will join the lineup. Additionally, Ghostbusters characters will be suiting up for pictures, along with more!

Throwback Thursday: For the entire game, fans 21 and older can enjoy $3 domestic draft beers throughout the stadium. In a nod to the past, the Trash Pandas will wear their throwback pinstripe jerseys every Throwback Thursday.

FOR STARTERS: The Rocket City Trash Pandas continue their second homestand on Thursday night with game three of a six-game series against the Chicago White Sox affiliate Birmingham Barons at Toyota Field ... The Pandas went 1-5 on the recent road trip to Montgomery ... Rocket City will see Birmingham 24 times in 2025 ... Rocket City visits Birmingham June 3-8, with the June 4 contest being the Rickwood Classic, and August 19-24 ... the Barons return to Madison, July 29-August 3.

PANDAS WALK TO VICTORY ON WEDNESDAY: The Rocket City Trash Pandas secured a 5-1 victory over the Birmingham Barons in a game attended by 5,027 fans at Toyota Field on Wednesday. The game was marked by a rain delay of 1:17 and started as a pitchers' duel, remaining scoreless for the first four innings. The Trash Pandas initially took the lead in the fifth with a Tucker Flint home run. After the rain delay, Birmingham tied the game in the seventh with a single run, but Rocket City responded with four runs in the bottom half, thanks to erratic pitching from Birmingham, which included five walks. The win went to reliever Samy Natera Jr., while Gil Luna took the loss. Despite being outhit 4-3 by the Barons, the Trash Pandas celebrated their first weekday day game win since May 2018.

HIP, HIP, HOORAY: The Pandas stopped a streak of 10-straight losses in midweek day games with Wednesday's 5-1 win over Birmingham at Toyota Field. The last win in a midweek day game was May 18, 2022, at Birmingham. The Trash Pandas play five of their first six Wednesday games in the daylight this season (1-2).

WALK THIS WAY: The Trash Pandas walked 12 times in their 5-1 win over Birmingham on Wednesday, falling two shy of the most in a single game in club history. The Pandas walked 14 times in a 17-4 win at Chattanooga on June 25, 2024. Christian Moore has drawn seven walks over his last five games and ranks T-4th in the league with 11 walks. The Angels' top prospect has been on base in five straight games.

THE "GUZ" IS LOOSE: Denzer Guzman has reached base safely in 10 straight games since April 11. Over the streak, the 21-year-old has reached base 18 times, batting .306 with a double, two home runs, six RBIs, six walks, and a .419 OBP. Guzman ranks T-4th in the Southern League with three home runs, T-8th in RBIs with nine, and 9th with a .423 slugging percentage.

KKKKKKKKKLASSEN: Rocket City starter George Klassen set a new season high with nine strikeouts in his start on April 22 vs. Birmingham. Over the 21-year-old's last two starts, he has 17 strikeouts to one walk, giving up just one run on seven hits in 10.1 innings. Klassen is T-4th in the Southern League with 24 strikeouts in four starts, and 10th in innings pitched at 15.2.

PACING THE LEAGUE IN K'S: Through 16 games this season, the Trash Pandas pitching staff leads the Southern League, and rank 3rd in Double-A with 183 strikeouts in 140.2 innings pitched (11.71 K/9 IP). San Antonio (AA Padres) leads Double-A with 209 strikeouts. The back-to-back 17-strikeout performances on April 12-13, were the season's largest outputs, and highest since the Pandas fanned 17 batters on August 17, 2024, at Chattanooga. The most ever for the Trash Pandas in a game was 19, last occurring on opening night, 2023, on April 6 at Chattanooga.

THE BULLPEN ISN'T TRASH: The Rocket City bullpen has a 3.91 ERA over the first 16 games (76.0 IP/32 ER), 33 walks, 103 strikeouts. The 103 K's are tops in the league and 3rd in Double-A. San Antonio's bullpen leads with 134 K's. José Fermin was the first pitcher in the league to three wins, and Brady Choban is tied for the league lead with seven appearances, while Kelvin Caceres and Jared Southard are T-2nd with six appearances.

NASTY NATERA...JR: Samy Natera Jr. has two wins and a save in seven relief appearances, six with multiple strikeouts, covering 8.1 innings, one earned run, five walks, and 18 strikeouts, (19.4 SO/9).

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU: Infielder Sam Brown is on a season-best six-game on-base streak that began on April 17, batting .318 with seven hits, a double, four RBI, and .429 OBP.

FERMIN ISN'T FAIR: Reliever José Fermin became the first Southern League pitcher to three wins after his victory on April 17 in Montgomery. In six relief outings, the 23-year-old has allowed one run on three hits over 8.0 innings pitched, one walk to 15 strikeouts (16.9 SO/9), holding opponents to a .115 batting average.

ADDING KETCHUP TO THE MIX: The Angels promoted Caleb Ketchup to Rocket City on Tuesday. The outfielder had the only Rocket City hit on Wednesday in Montgomery, and picked up a stolen base as a pinch runner lastTuesday night. The outfielder has hit in three of his first four starts. Ketchup hit a home run in his first Trash Pandas at-bat last season on September 11 at Chattanooga.. In 2024, he led the Angels farm system, all of High-A, and ranked T-3rd in MiLB with 65 stolen bases while playing for Tri-City, Rocket City and Triple-A Salt Lake.

BRING ON THE BARONS: The Trash Pandas are meeting the Barons for the first time this week, and it's the first of four series' against each other in 2025. Last season, Rocket City went 16-14 against Birmingham last season, including a 9-6 mark at Toyota Field. The series in Birmingham, June 3-8, includes the 12:30 pm game on June 4 at historic Rickwood Field for the 2025 Rickwood Classic.

THE YOUNG GUNS: The Trash Pandas have three of the nine youngest players in the Southern League. For the second-straight year, OF Nelson Rada is the youngest player in the Southern League at 19.6 years old (8/24/05). INF Denzer Guzman is the eighth-youngest at 21.2 years old (2/8/04), and RHP Walbert Urena is the ninth-youngest,, just 14 days older than Guzman, born on 1/25/04 at 21.2 years old (1/25/04). Rada had a fantastic spring with the Angels, batting .333 over 11 games, a .370 on-base percentage, and six RBI. The Venezuela native spent the 2024 season in Rocket City, hitting .234 with 13 extra-base hits in 123 games. The 19-year-old was seventh in the Southern League with 35 stolen bases as the youngest player in the league. Guzman was promoted to Rocket City on May 7, collecting six home runs, nine doubles, and 30 RBI in 83 games. The 21-year-old from the Dominican Republic had his season highlighted with a walk-off grand slam on May 25, leading the Trash Pandas to a win over Montgomery.

PROSPECTS WITH A HALO: The Trash Pandas roster features five of the Angels' top 10 prospects and 11 of the top 25; included in the top 10 are Christian Moore (1), RHP George Klassen (3), LHP Sam Aldegheri (5), OF Nelson Rada (6), and INF Denzer Guzman (9). The other members of the roster included in the Top-30 include LHP Samy Natera Jr. (16), RHP Walbert Ureña (17), RHP Joel Hurtado (19), RHP Camden Minacci (20), INF Cole Fontenelle (23), and RHP Ryan Costeiu (24).

DARRELL-HICKS AND QUERO LAUNCHED TO THE LEAGUE: The Chicago White Sox have called up former Trash Pandas catcher Edgar Quero from Triple-A Charlotte, and he made his MLB debut on April 17 vs. Oakland. He picked up his first hit on April 18 at Boston. Quero, a 22-year-old switch-hitting catcher from Cienfuegos, Cuba, was acquired by the White Sox in a 2023 trade with the Los Angeles Angels involving pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López. Quero skipped High-A and joined Rocket City in 2023. In 60 games, he posted a .242 batting average with 2 home runs, 32 RBIs, and 35 runs scored. His on-base percentage stood out at .378, thanks to 45 walks. He also represented the AL in the 2023 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game ... Former Trash Pandas pitcher Michael Darrell-Hicks had his contract selected by the Angels on April 6 but was optioned back to Triple-A Salt Lake on April 7. The Angels recalled Darrell-Hicks again on April 11 from Triple-A Salt Lake and made his debut that day against the Houston Astros. In his debut appearance, he pitched one inning, allowing four earned runs on three hits and issuing three walks ... He was 6-4 with a 1.73 ERA over 30 relief outings in 2024 for the Trash Pandas, earning eight saves in ten chances and 46 strikeouts to eight walks over 41.2 innings. Overall, Darrell-Hicks had a 6-7 record in Rocket City over 33 games and three starts, striking out 58 and walking 13 over 53.2 innings in 2023 and 2024. The Angels signed the Parkersburg, WV native to a minor league contract on July 26, 2022.

FONTENELLE'S CYCLE: Not only was Cole Fontenelle's cycle on April 8 vs. Knoxville the first in Trash Pandas history, but it was the first in the Southern League since former Smokies star Moises Ballesteros did it on June 15, 2024, at Biloxi. Fontenelle led off each at-bat, which has only been done once in MLB history, by Todd Helton in 1999 against the Florida Marlins. The last LA Angels' minor league player to hit for the cycle was José Rojas, who hit for the cycle on May 11, 2018, while playing for the Double-A Mobile BayBears. Rojas completed his cycle with a grand slam in the eighth inning, leading the BayBears to a 14-3 win over the Mississippi Braves at Trustmark Park.

TOYOTA FIELD MAGIC: Denzer Guzman's walk-off blast on April 5 vs. Chattanooga was his second as a Trash Panda, following a walk-off grand slam against Montgomery in May last year. The Trash Pandas had six walk-offs last season, including the previous walk-off home run on July 15, when Christian Moore hit an opposite-field home run. It was the 18th walk-off win in Toyota Field history. Guzman's first two hits of 2025 were three-run homers.

BACK FOR MOORE: Christian Moore returns to Rocket City, ranking as the top prospect in the Angels' organization and the No. 66 overall player in MLB Pipeline's Top 100 Prospects list. Selected eighth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft, Moore starred as a second baseman for the Tennessee Volunteers, where he emerged as one of college baseball's brightest stars, leading them to the 2024 College World Series Title. He played in only two games with Single-A Inland Empire in the California League last season before being promoted to Rocket City. Moore hit .347 with six home runs and 20 RBIs in his first 25 minor league games.

SCHEDULE UPDATE: The Sunday, April 6, game against the Chattanooga Lookouts postponed by inclement weather will be part of a Wednesday, June 18, doubleheader when the Lookouts are back in Madison. The series will stretch from June 17 to 22 and now feature seven games in six days. Both games will be seven innings, with game one starting at 4:05 pm and game two starting roughly 45 minutes after the completion of game one.

MLB EXPERIENCE: Joining Trash Panda starter Sam Aldegheri with MLB time is veteran outfielder Travis Blankenhorn, pitcher Kelvin Cáceres, and infielder Evan White. The 28-year-old Blankenhorn has enjoyed six MLB stints with the Minnesota Twins (2020), New York Mets (2021), and Washington Nationals (2023). He made his major league debut for the Twins on September 15, 2020, in Chicago (AL) and recorded his first career hit in that game, a double. The Pottsville, Pennsylvania native is no stranger to the Southern League, having risen through the Twins system while Pensacola was their Double-A affiliate. In 2019, he was a Midseason and Postseason All-Star, leading the Wahoos in home runs (18), hits (108), and RBI (51). Entering the 2025 season, Blankenhorn has 3,445 minor league plate appearances and 100 at the major league level.

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