Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders’ season filled with highlights, memorable moments

Although they missed the playoffs, the season was a successful one for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. They finished 78-68 overall — 41-31 in the second half — and were in contention for the postseason until the final weekend.

This was the final season that Scranton/Wilkes-Barre will be known as the RailRiders; the team is rebranding next season.

"As a team, we were able to do a lot of good things and play some really good baseball for the most part," pitcher Brendan Beck said. "It's a bummer we came up a little short in the playoff push, but only one team can make it. We were playing meaningful baseball until the very end, so it was a good year."

Beck, the Yankees' No. 27 prospect according to MLB Pipeline , provided perhaps the biggest highlight of the season on June 5 at Syracuse when he combined with Carson Coleman on a no-hitter — the seventh in franchise history (third nine-inning). The right-hander was named International League Pitcher of the Year after finishing tied for second in wins with 10 and leading the league in ERA (2.93), strikeouts (151), innings (135.1), WHIP (1.06), and opponents' batting average (.210). His strikeout total ranks fourth in franchise single-season history and his ERA ranks fifth.

On May 7, Beck made his major-league debut at Yankee Stadium against the Texas Rangers. Other RailRiders who got the call and made their major league debuts included Elmer Rodriguez (April 29), George Lombard Jr. (Aug. 4), Bradley Hanner (Aug. 14) and Alexander Cornielle (Sept. 25).

Rodriguez joined Beck on the International League All-Star team. The right-hander, who is the Yankees' No. 2 prospect, went 8-4 with the RailRiders with a 2.45 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 106.1 innings.

Not only did the RailRiders have players who went up, but they also had a number of players come down, such as Jasson Dominguez , Anthony Volpe , and J.C. Escarra . Several Yankees players also did rehab assignments — pitchers Gerrit Cole , Max Fried , Carlos Rodon , catcher Austin Wells , and outfielder Cody Bellinger .

"There's been more movement on this team, more back and forth turnover with position players and pitchers than any team I've been on," manager Shelley Duncan said. "Had a lot of guys come down from the big leagues with a tough mindset and they really gave themselves to the team. A lot of guys here with deep, strong individual aspirations and they poured themselves into the team. I've seen us go through stretches where things were bleak and they don't give up hope or shut it down. They fight through it. I've seen players grow, I've seen some guys have some unbelievable years. I've seen some guys make some big career jumps. There's a lot this season."

Besides Beck, several other RailRiders ranked among the International League leaders. Yanquiel Fernandez tied for third in home runs with 27, ranked third in RBIs with 87, and tied for ninth in hits with 126. Oswaldo Cabrera tied for fifth in hits with 134 and was 10th in batting at .288 (134 for 466).

Duke Ellis finished second in the league in stolen bases with 60, one behind Worcester's Braiden Ward. Ellis set the franchise single-season record for steals, breaking the mark of 44 set by the Red Barons' Tommy Barrett in 1989. He also became the franchise's career leader in steals with 102, surpassing the record of 82 held by the Red Barons' Nick Punto . Ellis also ended the season with a 15-game hitting streak and a 20-game on-base streak.

Another highlight was a season-high eight-game winning streak from July 26 to Aug. 4, including a six-game series sweep in Iowa against the Chicago Cubs ' Triple-A affiliate. It was the first time since 1990 that a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre team visited Iowa.

That winning streak gave the RailRiders a 23-9 record in the second half, good for first place in the standings by one game over the Durham Bulls and two over the Indianapolis Indians. However, they lost their next four games to Rochester at PNC Field by a combined 40-11 and that was the turning point for the RailRiders. Interestingly, that also was the turning point for the Red Wings and as they went 27-14 the rest of the way to win the second-half title, then capture the league championship over the first-half champion Memphis Redbirds. Rochester lost to the Pacific Coast League champion Oklahoma City Comets in 10 innings, 5-3, in the Triple-A National Championship Game in Las Vegas.

"It's really a shame we were not in the playoffs," relief pitcher Eric Reyzelman said. "I feel if this team got a chance to play in there, we would have been the last team coming out of Vegas. It's tough the way it ended, but we played hard until the last second."

While winning a championship would have been a storybook ending to the RailRiders era, it was still an exciting, memorable season.