Farmers Only Weekly Harvest: Chase Burns brings the heat

The 2024 first rounder was impressive in his 2025 debut while Andrew Abbott and Alexis Diaz make rehab appearances!

After a season-long hiatus, Farmers Only is back in a little bit of a different format. Instead of daily recaps, we’re shifting to weekly recaps of each club and who did well, who didn’t, etc. And, of course, there will be nicknames.

Louisville Bats

Louisville went 3-3 on the week against the Omaha Storm Chasers and had a few very solid performances along the way. The First Noelvi Marte collected 8 hits over the week, including 3 doubles, while walking 3 times and swiping 3 bags. Will Benson had 2 doubles, a triple, and a home run as a part of his 8 base hits and Ivan “The Great” Johnson went 7 for 16 in 4 games last week. Tyler “Brake Pads” Callihan was also solid, hitting 2 doubles and a home run while walking 5 times. On the mound, we saw Andrew “Who Framed Roger” Abbott make 2 rehab starts. Abbott threw 10 innings over those 2 appearances, allowing 4 runs on 10 hits with 5 walks and 8 strikeouts. Aaron Wilkerson had the best outing from Louisville’s starting pitching. He threw 6 shutout innings on Saturday, allowing 2 hits and no walks with 9 strikeouts. Chase “NASCAR” Petty got shelled on Wednesday, allowing 6 runs in only 3.1 innings of work. Out of the bullpen, Zach “take it to the” Maxwell continued his scoreless streak, throwing 3 shutout innings this week. He’s allowed no runs in 5 innings of relief so far. Alexis Diaz also made a couple of rehab appearances, allowing an unearned run on 1 hit, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts over 2 innings of work.

Chattanooga Lookouts

Double-A Chattanooga started their season on Friday and were only able to get two games in due to inclement weather on Sunday. Friday was a dream of an opener for them, as they hammered the Rocket City Trash Pandas by a score of 9-1. Edwin Arroyo went 3 for 6 and drove in a run while “Don” Hector Rodriguez went 3 for 4 with a double, a walk, and 2 RBI. Jay “Ray” Allen II also went 3 for 4 with a double. On the mound, Jose Acuna went 5 innings and allowed 1 run with 3 strikeouts while Arij “Flying Dutchman” Fransen struck out 6 batters in 3 shutout innings in relief. Saturday didn’t go quite as well, as a 3-run 9th saw the Lookouts fall 8-6. Edwin Arroyo collected 2 more hits (but unfortunately had to leave the game with an apparent leg injury after his second hit) while Sal Stewart Little went 3 for 4 with a double and a homer. Kevin “Cain and” Abel struck out 6 and walked 1 in 4 shutout innings.

Dayton Dragons

High-A Dayton went 0-3 and lost a couple of 1-run heart breakers in their opening weekend. Stop me if you’ve heard that one before. 2024 first rounder Chase “When I touch it, it” Burns was as advertised, striking out 6 and walking 1 in 4 shutout innings in his start on Friday. Not much went on for Dayton in a 3-4, extra innings loss on Saturday. On Sunday, Adam Serwinowski, despite being a late scratch before his start on Saturday, threw 3 shutout innings and struck out 3. Leo Balcazar went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles on Sunday while Yerlin “both a friend and a” Confidan went 2 for 3 and scored 3 runs.

Daytona Tortugas

Daytona also started their season on Friday and went 2-1 against the Bradenton Marauders this weekend. Alfredo “Adamo” Duno had a few hits, including a double and a home run on Saturday. Carter “Put the mallow on the” Graham also had 3 hits with a home run. Sammy Stafura and Iverson “Practice” Espinoza each went 3 for 6 on the weekend. Logan Van Treeck struck out 5 in 3 scoreless innings of relief on Saturday, while Kenya Huggins and JeanPierre Ortiz each threw 4 shutout innings in the 7-0 win on Sunday.