LOOKING BACK ON THE CHARLESTON RIVERDOGS

In our second installment of the Yankees minor league affiliates, we head down to South Carolina, where we find the Class-A Charleston RiverDogs.

Though they were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by the Greenville Drive in their minor league season, the 2017 RiverDogs, managed by Patrick Osborn, had a great season. They won the Southern Division of the South Atlantic League with a league-best record of 79-60. This piece found on the RiverDogs is an excellent read and will tell you everything you need to know about the 2017 season. Be sure to check out the whole piece by Matt Dean, but here's a portion...

Photo of Estevan Florial / File/Brad Nettles/Staff

"The Charleston RiverDogs continued to pave forward into a new era of success in 2017, making their second consecutive postseason appearance and taking advantage of a talented farm system in their 12thseason as a Yankees affiliate. Under first-year skipper Patrick Osborn, the RiverDogs notched their second straight 77-win campaign between the regular season and postseason, broke the 300,000 mark for attendance in a year that ended in a first-round playoff exit to the Greenville Drive in the South Atlantic League Division Series."

Look, 2017 turned out to be a historic one for the RiverDogs pitching staff as they set some franchise records and led the league in many areas.

Photo of Freicer Perez / http://snapshots.mlblogs.com

In another dominant season for Charleston pitching, the RiverDogs staff set the franchise-record for strikeouts for the second straight year under pitching coach Justin Pope; the Charleston staff fanned 1,252 batters, surpassing the previous record of 1,248 set in 2016. Along with ranking second in the league in strikeouts, Charleston arms posted a SAL-best 3.07 ERA, the second-lowest in RiverDogs history and the third all-time in franchise history, bested only by the 2016 RiverDogs and 1988 Rainbows. The club's 1.174 WHIP was the best in club history, also surpassing the 2016 staff.

Could this success be a sign of things to come for the Major League pitching staff? I can honestly say I have no idea, but it's fun to think about especially with the youth movement the Yankees recently injected into the Big staff. Look, a lot of it could have to do with the level of competition in Class A ball too. Some of these kids may never see an MLB field and be career minor-leaguers.

Photo: Getty Images

Things can obviously end up being successful, or things could always derail, you never know. Hell, you cold end up like a kid named Jordan Montgomery.

Photo: Wade Spees / The Post and Courier

Another piece I found interesting on the RiverDogs page was this little nugget about Isiah Gilliam and how he was named the RiverDogs "Top Dog" of the season.

And the bottom line, this is what it's all about on this level... watching young kids perform, be stand outs and hopefully one day be good enough to make it to the Bigs.

I admire the RiverDogs success.  I really hope they continue to improve.  It's great to see.

--Michael Carnesi
BYB Writer
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