OPENING NIGHT 2022: New batch of Biscuits packs a punch
Morgan Ensberg and the Montgomery Biscuits are lined up to open the home season on Tuesday. (File photo)
By TIM GAYLE
Last year’s batch of Biscuits struggled at times to supply the offensive punch, yet battled until the last out before losing the Double-A South title to Mississippi in the fifth game of the 2021 playoffs.
This year’s squad, Montgomery manager Morgan Ensberg predicted, will have a little more offensive punch.
“We have more hitters than we did last year,” he said. “We have a really solid looking lineup. Of course, we’ve got to play the games to find out but this team really looks like it can hit.”
Montgomery (2-1) will face the Tennessee Smokies (2-1) tonight in the 2022 home opener at Riverwalk Stadium at 6:35 p.m.
Last year’s team didn’t provide any fireworks at the plate, but solid play and timely hitting -- along with an improbable late-season rally -- propelled the Biscuits into the Double-A South Championship Series for the first time since winning back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007.
The Biscuits split the first two games at Riverwalk, split the next two at Trustmark Park to force a final game, then lost in Biscuits’ 2021 fashion, 2-1.
This year’s squad is virtually remade, featuring some of the Rays’ top minor-league prospects. Among the top 30 Tampa Bay prospects, six were Biscuits last year and have been promoted. Seven newcomers have taken their place, including pitchers Taj Bradley and Ian Seymour, along with catcher Blake Hunt and shortstop Greg Jones, two players who made the Biscuits’ roster late last season.
“Every team has, let’s say, one through 10 top prospects,” Ensberg said. “And a lot of teams might have 15 good prospects. We have 40. You see some kid ranked 38th (among Tampa Bay’s minor league prospects), he’d be fourth in another organization. It is as deep of a system as I’ve ever seen. Obviously, I haven’t seen every single system but I was in Houston’s system when they were No. 1 and this tops that.”
The newcomers include corner infielders Austin Shenton and Curtis Mead and outfielder Kameron Misner, three prospects noted for their prowess with a bat.
“We’re definitely going to be a strong-hitting team,” Mead predicted. “We’ve got a lot of guys that probably in other organizations would be in Triple-A. So I think we’re going to be pretty good. I would imagine that we would be playing deep into the playoffs.”
Both the Biscuits and the Smokies won their first two games, lost the third and took Monday off before meeting at Riverwalk tonight. Michael Mercado, who pitched in Single-A Bowling Green last year, will make his Montgomery debut on the mound against Tennessee’s Javier Assad.
A MAX fireworks show will follow the game, the start of a week long home stand that includes “Military Wednesday,” a shirt giveaway that features varieties of Biscuits hats on “Thirsty Thursday,” Ladies’ Night on Friday, “The Nine” night on Saturday and an Easter Egg Hunt with Bark in the Park on Sunday.