Tag: Stubby Clapp

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From My Seat Sports

Ben’s ’Birds

CREDIT: Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

When the Memphis Redbirds open their 22nd season Thursday night at AutoZone Park, they’ll do so with their eighth manager. But 37-year-old Ben Johnson will be the first native Memphian to deliver the Opening Day lineup card to the home plate umpire. So it’s a homecoming of sorts for the former Germantown High School centerfielder, but with a recent standard almost impossible to match, particularly for a man in charge of his first Triple-A club.

“I’m in a position to put these players in a position to succeed,” emphasizes Johnson. “I don’t know that every manager puts his players first in their day-to-day. Their dream is my dream; I want them to be great. I can help them with that.”
Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

Ben Johnson

Born at Baptist East in 1981, Johnson entered professional baseball as a St. Louis Cardinal, adding a layer to his homecoming this season. The Cardinals chose Johnson in the fourth round of the 1999 draft, but traded him to San Diego a year later. He made his debut with the Padres in 2005 and played in 98 big-league games, his last with the New York Mets in 2007. (Johnson suffered a severe injury to his left ankle sliding into second base, one that contributed to his early retirement as a player. “The body went,” says Johnson, “and it took some time for the mind to grasp that.”) He chose to stick with baseball, becoming a scout for four years (2014-17) with the Arizona Diamondbacks before joining the Durham Bulls (Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays) as third-base coach for the 2018 season.

The Bulls fell to Memphis in last season’s Triple-A National Championship Game but, for Johnson, the event led to a career-altering meeting with St. Louis president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak. “We had a good conversation, and that started the ball rolling,” says Johnson. “He didn’t ask about my interest [in the Redbirds job], but just how interested I was in coaching. How I felt about coaching. He knew from my response that I love coaching.” Mozeliak happened to be the Cardinals’ pro scouting director in 1999 when the Cardinals originally signed Johnson as a player. The reunion had a road map.

“I’d see Mo on the scouting trail, and I covered the Cardinals [as a Padres scout],” notes Johnson. “You make sure you speak to a guy like that when you see him. There was some depth to it, I guess.”

Early in his playing career, Johnson spent offseasons in Memphis, but he and his wife and two children have lived in Phoenix for more than a decade now. “Better weather, more players coming together,” notes Johnson. “It was better for my career [in baseball].” But the lure of Memphis — and the Cardinals system — seemed more than serendipitous. “Interviewing for this job hit home more than any other position I’d ever interviewed for,” says Johnson. “We grew up Cardinal fans.”

Coming of age in the 1990s, Johnson admired the Atlanta Braves dynasty, particularly outfielder David Justice. But the Cardinals were in his heart, notably Ozzie Smith and a man he now counts as a colleague, Cardinals bench coach Willie McGee. “Sometimes when you meet your heroes, they’re not [what you’d like them to be],” says Johnson. “It’s all about the players with Willie, and it’s genuine. He’s transparent with the players.”

When asked about managers who have influenced his own philosophy from the dugout, Johnson starts with his high school coach, Phil Clark. “He helped me through the initial pro phase of my life,” says Johnson. “He helped me with what to say and what not to say to scouts.” Johnson also appreciates the influence of Dave Clark (currently the third-base coach for the Detroit Tigers) and Craig Colbert, his manager at a few levels in the Padres’ system. “There were days we didn’t like each other a lot,” says Johnson. “As I matured, we started to get along better. He had a big part in bringing me up as a player.”

Johnson’s first big-league manager was Bruce Bochy, a man who has since won three World Series as skipper for the San Francisco Giants. “There was no ‘eye wash’ with [Bochy]. No false hustle needed. Fake energy is not necessary. I don’t need you to sprint from field to field in spring training if you’re getting your work in. Be a professional. Show up on time, work hard, and we’ll be fine.”

Johnson chuckles at the notion of filling the shoes of his predecessor, Stubby Clapp, a Memphis favorite before he won two straight Pacific Coast League titles as Redbirds manager. Now the Cardinals’ first-base coach, Clapp is the first man Johnson calls with questions any rookie manager will confront. “The Cardinals have made it clear that it’s my fault if I don’t reach out,” says Johnson. “I’ve probably asked Stubby a hundred questions. He’s genuinely interested in what I have to say. He gives me an honest answer, and in a way that doesn’t make me feel like he’s annoyed.”

Having benefited from his own development as a minor-leaguer, Johnson has a grasp on priorities as the Redbirds take flight under his watch. “We have a really talented young group,” says Johnson. “I’m not judged by wins and losses. It’s how we go about handling our business, and building the foundation of development. The number-one goal is to produce championship-caliber players for our major-league team.”

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From My Seat Sports

Gameday Gratitude

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

I like to give thanks this time of year for the little (and big) treasures from the local sports scene that have enriched life in Memphis.

• I’m grateful for two years of Stubby Clapp-led baseball teams at AutoZone Park. The Memphis Redbirds’ 2017 championship club — 13-0 in extra-inning games — felt over the top at times. The winning came so steadily, so “easily.” Then 2018 happened and the Redbirds did it again. More than 60 players but one hugely popular manager with a clubhouse touch apparently borrowed from Casey Stengel. The back-to-back Pacific Coast League championships will forever be attached to the height-restricted back-to-back PCL Manager of the Year. Clapp is moving on to St. Louis, where he’ll coach first base for the Cardinals. He managed to transform Memphis baseball both as a player and a manager, a total of three championships left behind in the record book.
Larry Kuzniewski

Jaren Jackson Jr.

• I’m grateful for Jaren Jackson Jr. The day will come — I know it’s hard to stomach — when the remaining members of the Memphis Grizzlies’ Fab Four (Mike Conley and Marc Gasol) are no longer sprinting the floor at FedExForum. A franchise can fall into a post-superstar hangover in which roster comings-and-goings matter little to a fan base. (See the post-Kevin Garnett years in Minnesota.) “Triple J” (or “Trey J”?) may be the bridge to the next era for our NBA outfit. I’ve seen nothing not to like about the 19-year-old forward over the first month of his pro career. Here’s hoping we get to see a playoff run (or two) with Conley, Gasol, and Jackson.

• I’m grateful for Darrell Henderson on first down. And second and third. The numbers for the Memphis Tigers’ junior tailback are silly: 1,521 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns with at least two games left to play. There will never be another DeAngelo Williams, but let it be said Henderson has been a nice reminder.

• I’m grateful for Coach Penny Hardaway. It’s been a unique view. I’m of Hardaway’s generation (two years older), so I’ve witnessed his rise to greatness as a player, his dormant years of early retirement, and now this year’s resurrection as a city’s cultural icon, all the while passing through my own life stages, however distant they are from the limelight. So I feel young whenever Hardaway is described as a new or rookie coach and I feel “seasoned” when I remember he’s older today than Larry Finch was when Finch coached his final Tiger game. Most of all, I’m grateful to again be on a ride driven by Penny Hardaway. He’s yet to disappoint.


• I’m grateful for plans to erect a statue of the great Larry Finch. This was overdue, but many of life’s happiest developments are just so. Memphis recently endured a period of conflict over statues that divided segments of the community. We will soon be able to visit a statue (and park!) that I’m convinced will unify Memphians. For such a bronze idol we should all be grateful.

• I’m grateful to be married to an exceptional athlete. My beloved wife, Sharon, will run her first marathon on December 1st, not quite four months after her 50th birthday. She has become a local running star, whether she’ll admit it or not. (She won the 2018 Race for the Cure women’s division, all age groups.) I’ve witnessed her devotion to the cause, her daily training (well beyond my reach), and the joy she’s taken through the agony of a last mile. You spend your working life admiring athletes from different circles, then find yourself cheering loudest for the person across the dinner table.


• As always, I’m grateful for Flyer readers. I hear from you year-round, appreciate your perspectives, counterpoints, and especially your passion for Memphis sports. The title of this column originated from my own devotion to fandom, to being part of the crowd that makes a sporting event — large or small — worthwhile. Thanks for keeping it alive these 17 years.
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From My Seat Sports

Q & A: Stubby Clapp

Stubby Clapp is headed back to the major leagues. Nearly 18 years after last donning the uniform of the St. Louis Cardinals as a player, Clapp is taking over duties as first-base coach for the club. In two years as manager of the Memphis Redbirds, Clapp won a pair of Pacific Coast League championships (and the 2018 Triple-A National Championship) and was twice named the PCL’s Manager of the Year. He’s currently managing the Surprise Saguaros in the Arizona Fall League.


Your name came up in discussions about managerial vacancies in the big leagues. What can you share about the process that led you to taking the coaching job in St. Louis? I went through three interviews with Texas and didn’t get considered for other [big-league jobs] beyond my name being thrown around. St. Louis was up front and forward about wanting me to be on staff if things didn’t work out on the managerial side. I feel blessed with the opportunity. To play for the Cardinals, and now bounce back and get to coach with the club . . . it’s a special honor.

You aced the test in Memphis, with two championships in two seasons. And you were required to use more than 60 players each year. Was there a unifying quality to the 2017 and 2018 Redbirds that led to such success? I’ve thought about this, and I’ve given a bunch of different answers depending on my mood or thought process. But the more I think about it, the more I think about my staff both years. We were together on things, had each others’ backs to make sure we were doing things the right way. The first thought was always, “What’s best for the player?” Winning came second. That positive attitude translated to the players, and they grabbed hold of it. It became a culture. When you have good culture and talent, good things come to fruition.

Positive energy has a stronghold over talent. If you’re bitter and you’ve got talent, you’re always looking at what you didn’t do. I’m a big believer in a positive atmosphere and knowing that it’s okay to fail in trying to be great.

Despite all the wins and trophies, it couldn’t have been easy. Were there stumbles along the way? There were struggles. Times we had to look ourselves in the mirror. Last year, there was more [roster] movement early on, especially on the pitching side of things. Guys stepped up and did great jobs. You just gotta believe that something [positive] is going to happen. And go for it.

What kind of relationship do you have with Cardinals manager Mike Shildt (another former Memphis skipper)? We’ve developed a relationship over the last couple of years. I have a lot of respect for the way he’s made his way in the game. It’s unbelievable. He’s worked hard. He’s a great story. He’s got a good idea of the way things should be run, and he’s a very good communicator. I can’t wait to help out in any way.

The World Series seemed to tilt on the managers’ use of their bullpens, an area you handled well in Memphis. Any thoughts or secrets you can share on proper bullpen management? I did it in a way that made sure the guys were ready to produce in the big leagues. I followed those parameters and used some creativity to make sure we had enough innings [covered] every day. Between my pitching coaches [Bryan Eversgerd in 2017, Dernier Orozco in ’18] and I, we made sure they were ready. It wasn’t necessarily who we had to throw every day, but making sure the proper workloads were there, even on back-to-back days. There was constant communication. But we let the pitchers dictate what part of the game they were good at, whether it’s middle relief or end of the game, one inning or ground-ball [specialist]. We let them dictate rather than demand something out of them. Then we let them excel in those situations.

It’s been a long time since you’ve been in the big leagues. What kind of impact do you hope to make, starting in 2019? Positive impact on day-do-day activities and game preparation. Any way they need me. Infield work, base-running … if they just need a pump-up session. Whatever Shildty needs me to do, I’ll be there ready to roll and try to get some things accomplished.

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Sports Sports Feature

Go Redbirds! Boo, Grizzlies!

CREDIT: Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

After a pair of heart-stopping comeback wins last weekend, the Memphis Redbirds advanced to the Pacific Coast League (PCL) championship series for a second straight season where they’ll defend their title against the Triple-A affiliate of the world champion Houston Astros, the Fresno Grizzlies. Battling Mother Nature in both Oklahoma City (where they split the first two games of the best-of-five semifinal series) and Memphis, the Redbirds beat a hot Dodger team in four games, the last two in walk-off fashion.

In Game 3 Friday night, Alex Mejia, Lane Thomas, and Max Schrock delivered consecutive RBI singles in the bottom of the ninth inning to erase a 4-2 Oklahoma City lead and give Memphis a 2-1 series advantage. But that comeback served merely as prelude to Sunday’s epic Game 4.

Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

Memphis Redbirds

The Redbirds tied Sunday’s game at a run apiece in the bottom of the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Tommy Edman. (The game had been scheduled for seven innings, as Game 5 would have followed had the Dodgers won.) Oklahoma City took a two-run lead in the top of the 10th inning on a home run by Henry Ramos. But the Redbirds rallied again, this time tying the score at 3 on a two-out, two-strike single by Alex Mejia. Then, things got a little weird.

Edman reached second after drilling the ball off the Dodgers’ first baseman, putting Redbirds at second and third. Oklahoma City manager Bill Haselman then seemed to corner Redbirds manager Stubby Clapp by walking Schrock. Out of position players on his bench, Clapp was forced to let relief pitcher Giovanny Gallegos bat with the winning run 90 feet away. Gallegos had exactly one at-bat in his seven-year professional career.

Gallegos clubbed the baseball over the leftfielder’s head for a series-clinching walkoff victory. Such is Redbirds baseball in what can now be called the Stubby Clapp era. Pieces of a good team are removed. Others arrive, suit up, and impact victories.

The 2018 Redbirds, for a time, had the finest outfield in the minor leagues: Tyler O’Neill, Oscar Mercado, and Adolis García. Mercado was traded in late July and O’Neill and García are now helping the St. Louis Cardinals fight for a big-league playoff spot.

In April, Memphis had what appeared to be an electric rotation of starting pitchers: Jack Flaherty, Austin Gomber, John Gant, Daniel Poncedeleon, and Dakota Hudson. Hudson won 13 games for the Redbirds and earned PCL Pitcher of the Year honors. But all five men are now pitching for the Cardinals, leaving the likes of Jake Woodford, former Cardinal Tyler Lyons, and Kevin Herget to take turns in the PCL playoffs.

And take their turns they will, now three games from back-to-back championships for a man — already a back-to-back PCL Manager of the Year — who may be on to new ventures next spring. When the Toronto Blue Jays announced last week that manager John Gibbons will not return in 2019, Clapp’s name instantly became an offseason talking point. (Clapp is a native of Windsor, Ontario.) Would a major-league team hire a manager with no experience in such a role at the game’s highest level? Check out the managers’ offices at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park as the Yankees and Red Sox prepare for this year’s postseason.

For at least three more games, though, Stubby Clapp will command the Memphis Redbirds. (The championship series opens Tuesday night in Fresno, with Games 3 through 5 scheduled for AutoZone Park, starting Friday night.) You can bet against the Redbirds at your wallet’s peril. Clapp has emphasized “never say die” for two seasons now as a Triple-A manager. When relief pitchers are drilling series-winning hits to the wall, perhaps it’s time we all believe in the mantra.

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From My Seat Sports

2018 Redbirds Preview: Encore Season?

A star player, long retired, returns to lead a new generation, applying a touch that results in a historic season and ultimately a championship.

If Penny Hardaway’s first season as University of Memphis basketball coach goes anything like Stubby Clapp’s return to Memphis last year as manager of the Redbirds, the Bluff City may actually implode. In his first season in the skipper’s office, Clapp led the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate to the most wins (91) any Memphis baseball team had posted since 1948. The Redbirds reeled off a franchise-record 11-game winning streak early in the 2017 campaign and posted a statistically impossible record of 13-0 in extra-inning games. Your turn, Penny!

A few storylines as the Redbirds’ 21st season in Memphis gets underway:

• Forget about an encore.
The Redbirds won their first four games of the season in Round Rock, and scored 40 runs in doing so. But look at those silly numbers above. The 2017 Redbirds won or split 27 consecutive series, for crying out loud. It’s not happening again. But here’s the good news: The Redbirds could shave 10 wins — and merely split their extra-inning results — and still win their division of the Pacific Coast League. Furthermore, no Redbird team has successfully defended a championship, so there’s much to gain with another pennant chase.

Stubby Clapp hopes his ‘Birds get off to another flying start.

• The boys are back. 
Carson Kelly (catcher), Patrick Wisdom (third base), Luke Voit (first base), Harrison Bader (centerfield), and Wilfredo Tovar (shortstop) played significant roles in last year’s championship, and they’re all back. Outfielder Tyler O’Neill hit a combined 31 home runs last season between Tacoma and Memphis. Judging by his button-popping physique and four home runs in the team’s first four games, he’ll hit another 31 this year.

With the Cardinals keeping only four reserve position players on their roster, there will be an express shuttle between AutoZone Park and Busch Stadium. (Bader has already flown north to fill in for the injured Jedd Gyorko, currently on the 10-day disabled list.) But that shuttle will also deliver big-league-ready players to Memphis. When I asked Clapp last week about new faces that caught his eye during spring training, he paused and said, “We only have three.” (Max Schrock was acquired in the trade that sent Stephen Piscotty to Oakland and he’ll take over at second base.) A “veteran” Triple-A team means a team of players hungry for the next promotion. Under the right leadership — Clapp was named Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America last year — the 2018 Redbirds will aim to capitalize on the culture of winning established in 2017.

• A pair of aces.
Two young flame-throwers — Jack Flaherty and Dakota Hudson — should front the Redbirds’ pitching rotation. Flaherty went 7-2 with Memphis last season and posted a 2.74 ERA. Filling in on for the injured Adam Wainwright, Flaherty struck out nine Milwaukee Brewers in five innings for St. Louis last week then fanned 11 in Round Rock Sunday in his first start for Memphis. Hudson went 9-4 with a 2.53 ERA at Double-A Springfield last year before a July promotion to Memphis. (He won a pair of playoff games for the Redbirds.) As of now, 21-year-old Jordan Hicks and his 101-mph fastball are in the Cardinals’ bullpen. But when the Cards’ newly signed closer, Greg Holland, is ready for game action, Hicks may join Flaherty and Hudson in the Memphis rotation. The Houston native had not pitched above Class A before making the St. Louis roster last month.

• The USL is coming!
We learned a hard truth last season at AutoZone Park: A popular manager and exceptional team don’t necessarily sell tickets. The Redbirds finished 13th in the 16-team PCL in attendance, averaging 5,073 tickets sold for their 69 home dates. The upcoming season may well be the team’s last in a baseball-only stadium, as the Bluff City’s new United Soccer League franchise will open play — coinciding with baseball season — in 2019. Championships have proven easier to attain at AutoZone Park than profitability, so significant adjustments — including what we see in the stadium — continue. But in a facility built for baseball, Memphis has a baseball team built to win. Should make for a good match in the months ahead.

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From My Seat Sports

Stubby Clapp Named Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America

Baseball America has named Memphis Redbirds manager Stubby Clapp its 2017 Minor League Manager of the Year. Once a favorite among Redbird fans for his backflips and gritty play at second base, the 44-year-old Clapp returned to Memphis last spring for his first stint as a Triple-A manager. Despite significant roster fluctuation between the Redbirds and parent St. Louis Cardinals, Clapp led Memphis to 91 wins (the most by any Bluff City team since 1948) and the franchise’s third Pacific Coast League championship, beating El Paso in a five-game championship series.

During their title march, the Redbirds set a franchise record with an 11-game winning streak, won or split 27 consecutive series, and built an astounding record of 13-0 in extra-inning games. Clapp earned accolades as the PCL’s Manager of the Year in September, shortly after the end of the regular season. He’s the first Memphis manager to earn either of these honors.

“I’m honored and humbly accept the award in respect to all the other managers,” says Clapp, who lives with his family in Savannah, Tennessee. “Because I know the hard work that goes into their days. It’s not an easy gig.”

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From My Seat Sports

Memphis Redbirds: 2017 PCL Champions

Those of us who watch (and write about) sports more than regularly do so with the hope of, now and then, witnessing something that has not been seen before. Better, something that may never be seen again. As the stories are written and shared about the 2017 Pacific Coast League champion Memphis Redbirds, various components will take hold and become the team’s legacy. Among them:

*Stubby Clapp’s return to the town and ballpark that embraced him 15 years earlier as a player (and champion) and earning PCL Manager of the Year.
*The most regular-season wins (91) by a PCL team in 11 years.
*27 consecutive series either won or split.
*Sending more than 20 players to the parent St. Louis Cardinals, including their top two starting pitchers (Luke Weaver and Jack Flaherty), but never slowing.
*Facing elimination in two games at Colorado Springs in a semifinal series and winning them both despite allowing a combined 18 runs (they scored a combined 24).

All these achievements are memorable, but if I live to be 102, the tale of the 2017 Memphis Redbirds I’ll tell will be of their record in extra innings: 13-0.

Read that again: 13-0. The odds of such a record — when extra innings are generally a coin flip — are beyond calculation. The Redbirds won all six of their extra-inning games on the road. Home teams have an advantage, of course, in batting last. Didn’t matter for these battling ’Birds.

For some perspective on the Redbirds’ unblemished mark in the tightest of baseball games, consider that no major-league team has gone undefeated in extra-innings dating back to at least 2000. And the only three teams that finished a season with just one extra-inning loss did not win as many as 10 games in extras. (The 2001 San Diego Padres and 2002 San Francisco Giants went 8-1, while the 2006 Toronto Blue Jays went 7-1.) This century’s king of extra-innings is actually the 2012 Baltimore Orioles, a team that went 16-2 after the ninth inning. (Those O’s won 93 games and the AL wild-card contest before losing a division series to the New York Yankees.)

Adolis Garcia played twice as many games for Double-A Springfield this season (84) than he did for Memphis (40). He hit a respectable 15 home runs combined (in 445 at bats). But playoff hero? There was Garcia last Thursday afternoon at AutoZone Park, being drenched in Gatorade at home plate, having delivered a two-out, two-run, walk-off home run and the Redbirds’ final extra-inning victory of the season.

Sixty-two players — more than twice the number of the active-roster limit — suited up for the 2017 Redbirds. There were key contributors nowhere near El Paso when the team sprayed champagne Sunday night in Texas. Catcher Carson Kelly, outfielder Harrison Bader, and pitchers Weaver, Flaherty, and Ryan Sherriff are now with the Cardinals as the parent club clings to its own playoff hopes. It simply didn’t matter. Clapp’s reinforcements — notably Matt Pearce, the winning pitcher in the clincher — rose to the considerable occasion.

The Redbirds didn’t clinch the franchise’s third championship in extra innings, but the tying runs were on base for El Paso in the ninth inning. Mathematicians and odds makers will look at that 13-0 extra-inning mark and insist luck was a huge component to the 2017 Redbirds’ success. To them I’d respond: Damn right. Call it luck, magic, karma, the Stubby Factor . . . whatever. As summer turns to fall here in the year 2017, with troubles — geopolitical, environmental, economic — weighing heavy near and far, I like the idea a minor-league baseball team in Memphis, Tennessee, had some luck on its side. Feels like the good guys won.

Flags fly forever. So do pennants.

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From My Seat Sports

PCL Championship: Memphis vs. El Paso

Patrick Wisdom, Redbirds president Craig Unger, and Manager Stubby Clapp

The Memphis Redbirds are headed to the Pacific Coast League championship series. This may have seemed pre-destined, the Redbirds having posted the most regular season wins (91) in the PCL since 2006. But the cruel nature of postseason baseball forces a Triple-A team built over five months and 140 games to prove itself in a best-of-five series, and often (as noted in last week’s column) with stars long gone to expanded major-league rosters. Having split the first two games of its conference final with Colorado Springs last week at AutoZone Park, Memphis didn’t so much as win a three game series on the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains as survive the closest thing to beer-league softball professional baseball will see this year.

Consider some numbers from Games 3 through 5 (the latter two won by the Redbirds). Memphis and Colorado Springs combined to scored 73 runs on 99 hits in the three games. The fewest runs scored by a losing team was eight (by the Sox in Game 4), and the Redbirds lost a game in which they scored 15 runs (Game 3). Memphis manager Stubby Clapp — the PCL’s Manager of the Year — made a total of 14 pitching changes to bring his team back to Memphis with its season alive.

I’m convinced the Redbirds won their semifinal series in a game they actually lost. Down 16-7 in the eighth inning of Game 3, the Redbirds rallied for seven runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth, coming up a run short in what looks like the final score of a bad-weather football game (16-15). When asked what distinguishes his club, Clapp has insisted it’s a refusal to quit, however bleak things might look on the scoreboard. The Redbirds may have entered Game 4 (and Game 5) with their season on the line, but they had every reason to believe they could make more than a dent in the Colorado Springs bullpen. (Three home runs in the first inning of Game 5 made it clear the Sky Sox starters weren’t safe either.)

The roster shakeup (thanks to St. Louis and Milwaukee promotions) made for some bizarre moments. Sky Sox pitcher Aaron Wilkerson made his Triple-A debut this season in Game 2 at AutoZone Park . . . and no-hit the Redbirds for seven innings. (Wilkerson was removed after seven, having reached a pitch-count limit. This is still the minor leagues, and still primarily about development, no-hitters be damned.)

There was an uncomfortable moment for Memphis in the 10th inning of Game 4 when the Redbirds loaded the bases, the score tied and one out. His club’s season on the line, Clapp sent Tommy Edman to the plate. Edman starred last year on the campus of Stanford University. A sixth-round pick of the Cardinals in the 2016 draft, Edman split the 2017 regular-season between Class-A Palm Beach and Double-A Springfield. That key at-bat was Edman’s third at the Triple-A level, all as a pinch-hitter in these playoffs. He struck out, but Nick Martini followed with a walk, the Redbirds rallied to score four runs, and Stubby’s gang improved to 12-0 in extra-inning games this year. Perhaps there is some pre-destiny in the mix.

The Redbirds will have to beat the PCL’s defending champs to raise their third pennant. And the El Paso Chihuahuas — an affiliate of the San Diego Padres — have retained plenty of offensive firepower since the MLB roster expansion, including this year’s PCL batting champ, Nick Buss (.348). Outfielders Franchy Cordero (.326) and Rafael Ortega (.317) would make life difficult for the likes of Luke Weaver and Jack Flaherty (now pitching in the St. Louis Cardinals’ rotation). Clapp will send Dakota Hudson (eight Triple-A starts), Kevin Herget (10), and Ryan Helsley (two) up against this formidable lineup.

It’s somewhat eerie to compare this Redbirds postseason run to the one Clapp enjoyed (as the team’s second baseman) in 2000. Seventeen years ago, Memphis fell behind its semifinal opponent (Albuquerque) two games to one, only to rally and win a pair of games (at home, a significant difference from last weekend’s fun in Colorado Springs). Those Redbirds also relied on lower-level reinforcements, one of them — Albert Pujols — delivering the most famous hit in franchise history, a home run to win the PCL title at AutoZone Park.

This year’s PCL champion will be crowned in El Paso (where Games 3 through 5 will be played, as many as necessary). Clapp played his college ball at Texas Tech in Lubbock, a short (by Texas standards), 350-mile drive from El Paso. In a year of coming home for Stubby Clapp, you get the sense this story’s final chapter may include one more dose of pre-destiny.

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From My Seat Sports

PCL Playoffs: Next ’Bird Up for Memphis

Minor league baseball never feels more minor than when the playoffs arrive in September. This is especially the case at the Triple-A level, where eight teams — four from the Pacific Coast League and four from the International League — vie for championships at the highest level below the majors. When big-league rosters expand on September 1st, many of the finest Triple-A players in the country are given lockers in major-league clubhouses, leaving playoff teams — like the 2017 Memphis Redbirds — with unfamiliar faces in the batting order and pitching rotation.

Stubby Clapp

St. Louis Cardinal fans were thrilled to see Harrison Bader launch a tie-breaking home run in Sunday’s win over the Giants in San Francisco, the Cards still clinging to hope for a wild-card slot in the National League playoffs. Those with an interest in Memphis winning its third PCL title would prefer to see the 23-year-old Bader in centerfield at AutoZone Park Wednesday night when the Redbirds and Colorado Springs open their best-of-five semifinal series.

Pitchers Luke Weaver and Jack Flaherty combined to win 17 games for Memphis this season. At the front of the Redbirds’ rotation, they would make Memphis the prohibitive favorite to win the PCL championship. Instead, they’re now 40 percent of the Cardinals’ rotation. (Adam Wainwright landed on the disabled list with a back ailment and Mike Leake was mercifully — for St. Louis — shipped to Seattle last week for a minor-leaguer and a Starbucks gift card.) Relief pitcher Ryan Sherriff was a PCL All-Star each of the last two seasons, but can now be found in the Cardinal bullpen.

The roster depletion is ugly on paper, but hasn’t yet impacted a Redbird season that is already historic by a few measures. Not even two months into the season, Memphis set a franchise record with an 11-game winning streak. (Back then Paul DeJong was clubbing baseballs for Memphis. He’s now the Cardinals’ everyday shortstop.) The 2017 Redbirds are the first PCL team in 11 years to win 90 games and the first in 36 years to win its division by more than 20 games. (The last Memphis baseball team to win 90 games was the 1955 Chicks.) Few postseason awards are more predictable than Stubby Clapp’s PCL Manager of the Year hardware. In his first year at the helm, Clapp has filled slots with the bats and arms St. Louis allows him, while retaining cohesiveness in the clubhouse consistent with five months of sustained success.

Dakota Hudson will take the mound Wednesday for Game 1 against the Sky Sox. One of the top pitching prospects in the Cardinal system, Hudson went 9-4 at Double-A Springfield before a late-season promotion to Memphis (one that coincided with Weaver’s move to St. Louis). Hudson will likely be throwing to a catcher — Gabriel Lino, Jesse Jenner, or Jeremy Martinez — who spent most of the season below Triple A. The Cardinals seized both the Redbirds’ starting catcher (Carson Kelly) and backup (Alberto Rosario) for their playoff push. After Hudson, Clapp will give the ball to the likes of Kevin Herget (62 innings pitched for Memphis this season) or Matt Pearce (54 innings). They’ll be tasked with winning a championship for some teammates nowhere near AutoZone Park.

Another irony of the PCL playoffs is empty seats. With school having resumed and football season underway, small crowds are the norm as the best teams in Triple A face one another for a crown. It will be a shame if Memphis baseball fans don’t find a way to properly salute this year’s club. Pending another Cardinal promotion, Patrick Wisdom (31 home runs and an all-league selection) remains a Redbird. So do Breyvic Valera (.314 batting average), Nick Martini (.303), and Rangel Ravero (.314). With the recent addition of outfielder Tyler O’Neill (a combined 31 home runs for Tacoma and Memphis), the Redbirds present a formidable lineup even with the mass defection to St. Louis.

Baseball measures greatness with flags. Having posted the greatest regular season in franchise history, it’s now time for the 2017 Memphis Redbirds to raise their own.

EDITOR’S NOTE: On Tuesday morning, St. Louis promoted Valera, a reinforcement for Cardinal infielder Matt Carpenter (currently nursing a shoulder ailment).

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From My Seat Sports

Q & A: Stubby Clapp

In his first year as a Triple-A manager, Stubby Clapp has led the Memphis Redbirds to the longest winning streak in franchise history (11 games), the most single-season wins in franchise history (83 through Sunday), and a division title clinched with more than 20 games to play in the regular season. (The Redbirds will likely host Colorado Springs in the opening round of the Pacific Coast League playoffs, with Game 1 of their series scheduled for September 6th at AutoZone Park.)

Have you taken any time to celebrate (or at least contemplate) what this team has already accomplished?
We celebrated the night we clinched the division, then back to work. The work’s not done. Everybody knows the kind of season it’s been, but we don’t talk about it. You can feel it in the atmosphere. But we don’t talk about numbers; we just go out the next day and play. That’s the easiest way and humblest way to do it.

Your club is 10-0 in extra-inning games and either won or split 27 consecutive series. These are major violations of the law of averages. How do you explain such numbers?
They don’t quit. Don’t have “quit” in their vocabulary. We don’t have one superhero. We have a team full of very capable, highly talented athletes who try to play 27 outs every night . . . and some (in extra innings). I’m not a big numbers guy. I’ve never looked at how it all stacks up until the season’s over.

Has there been a game or moment that, in your eyes, represents what this team has become?
Every extra-inning game. Every game they’ve won by one run, or come back late in the game. It’s not just once. First game of the season: 13 innings. We won. That was the first time I’d ever managed a National League-style game, learning how to double-switch. We got through it and the players pulled it off.

A few significant members of your team — Paul DeJong, Luke Voit, and Carson Kelly to name three — are now playing with the St. Louis Cardinals. If anything, your club’s record has improved. Again, how do you explain?
We’ve kept all 25 guys involved. Every day. Somehow, some way, all 25 guys are involved. I don’t like to let position players sit more than two days. All of our players have big-league value, so it wouldn’t be fair to let them sit three or four days, then ask them to be ready when someone gets called up. I’ve tried to keep everyone hot and involved. So they’ve been ready to play. I can’t take credit, because I read it in one of my books: include everybody. There have been several things that have happened to me in life that have made me think about including everybody. When you make the extra effort to do that, it’s usually a positive response. You get a good clubhouse atmosphere and the by-product is [winning] results.

Are there unsung heroes in the clubhouse, players fans might not realize have played a critical role in the team’s success?
Nick Martini, Wilfredo Tovar, and Alberto Rosario. Rosey was our backup catcher. He accepted his role, and he was great at what he did. When Carson [Kelly] was gone, he stepped right in and helped us get quality starts [from our pitchers]. Same with Tovar. When DeJong got called up, I didn’t think twice about what I was going to do [at shortstop]. Martini came up from Double-A and was ready to play.

How would you compare the gratification of an 83-45 record with telling players like DeJong and Voit they’re going to the big leagues for the first time?
I can’t take one from the other, because they’re two different things. When you tell a DeJong or Voit they’re going up for the first time, that’s an individual thing. But when I look at our record, that’s the clubhouse. Our team.

It’s rewarding to send someone to the big leagues, both for [the player] and for me. I get to see that the work they’ve put in is rewarded. Looking at the record, I get to see the rewards of the team paying attention, getting it put together, and doing it from 7:00 to 10:00 every night.

Do you see any similarities between the 2017 Redbirds and the 2000 club you helped win a PCL championship?
The chemistry. When guys are pulling for each other. All in for the right reasons, everyone involved. Players are doing the right thing for each other, and not just themselves.