Fireflies Starting Pitcher Jordan Humphreys Runs Record to 5-0

By Jerry Del Priore

Starter Jordan Humphreys continued his white-hot start to the season after allowing just four hits and two earned runs while striking out six against two walks in Columbia Fireflies’ lopsided 12-2 win over the Hickory Crawdads (9-15) Sunday at L.P. Frans Stadium.

With the victory, the former Brooklyn Cyclone is now a perfect 5-0 with a 1.71 ERA with 40 whiffs to only five bases-on-balls across 31.2 innings in five starts.

While with the Cyclones in 2016, Humphreys, an 18-round pick of the New York Mets in the 2015 MLB amateur draft, posted a 0-1 record with a 1.50 ERA in six frames (one start) in 2016.

For his minor league career, the 20-year-old righty is 8-6 with a 2.88 ERA and has displayed an impeccable ability to illicit the swing-and-miss, with 132 K’s to just 22 walks in 118.2 innings in 25 contests (18 starts).

Second baseman Michael Paez led the Fireflies’ offensive charge with a 2-5 performance with a homer, four RBI and a run scored, along with designated hitter Jay Jabs, who also went 2-5, adding four RBI and a run scored in Columbia’s triumph.  

Both Paez and Jabs were with Brooklyn last year, as well as Humphreys.

The Fireflies are 13-12, tied for third place with the Charleston RiverDogs (NYY) in the South Atlantic League’s Southern Division.