web1_aide-CROPPED.jpg

Worker killed by lift device at Lancaster County packaging plant

web1_TTL071617piano.auditions.jpg

The National Guild of Piano Teachers hold auditions

<p>In his five appearances with the New York Yankees this season, Domingo German has come out of the bullpen every single time.</p><p>But, if you ask Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders catcher Eddy Rodriguez if the hard-throwing right-hander&#8217;s big-league future is as a reliever, he&#8217;d probably disagree.</p><p>&#8220;He throws very hard, but he&#8217;s not afraid to throw any pitch in any count, which I think that&#8217;s what&#8217;s going to make him &#8212; because you see him, &#8216;Oh, good arm, good breaking stuff. Bullpen guy.&#8217; I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; Rodriguez said during a recent homestand. &#8220;The changeup that he has &#8212; ability to keep hitters off his fastball with his changeup &#8212; I think he can be a pretty darn good starter up there.&#8221;</p><p>When German made his last appearance &#8212; a July 9 start for the RailRiders &#8212; the 22-year-old once again proved to his batterymate that he&#8217;s more than a fastball pitcher.</p><p>He mixed in his curveball and changeup, too. German&#8217;s curveball was especially impressive.</p><p>But something Rodriguez noticed during the righty&#8217;s outing was his ability to mix speeds with his fastball, something the veteran catcher hopes German was doing on purpose.</p><p>&#8220;I think if he is doing it on purpose, I think that&#8217;s a huge, huge step forward &#8212; where guys realize that you don&#8217;t always have to throw your best bull to get your results,&#8221; Rodriguez said. &#8220;That&#8217;s something I&#8217;ve actually had to talk to him about because he did do that, and actually the ones he took some off had some serious bottom to them.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Where&#8217;s the love?</strong></p><p>The RailRiders had three nods in Wednesday&#8217;s Triple-A All-Star Game, a matchup the Pacific Coast League beat the International League 6-4.</p><p>Al Pedrique managed the IL All-Stars, Caleb Smith was one of the pitchers selected and Dustin Folwer got the recognition for his outfield play. But with Fowler&#8217;s season-ending injury in the end of June, Smith and Pedrique were the only members of the RailRiders in Tacoma.</p><p>Considering Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was tied for the best-record in the IL heading into the All-Star Break, Pedrique wished more RailRiders were able to share the experience. The skipper said he felt both Tyler Wade and Clint Frazier deserved the nod.</p><p>&#8220;Yes I am (disappointed),&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;In my case as a manager, it would be great to have all four of those guys, and together (it would have been) fun watching those guys playing together, but we just have to move on and at least we have one guy on the team.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Gallegos a late-game option</strong></p><p>Now that Gio Gallegos is finally healthy, Pedrique expects the right-hander to be a player he can lean on out of the back of the bullpen.</p><p>The right-hander already has a pair of saves this season and saved four during his 2016 campaign.</p><p>&#8220;Gallegos comes out of the bullpen and throws 95, 96, with a nasty breaking ball. Definitely&#8217;s good to have in the back of the bullpen,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;Him, (Tyler) Jones, those are going to be the guys responsible to finish games. We just have to somehow have the starters go six innings if that&#8217;s possible, but we&#8217;re very happy to have Gallegos back.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Lail finding bullpen groove</strong></p><p>Brady Lail&#8217;s role with the RailRiders continued to fluctuate this week.</p><p>After getting the starting nod on July 8 against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the right-hander picked up his second-career save on Thursday. Lail pitched three innings of one-run baseball, while allowing just one run.</p><p>The 23-year-old has registered saves in two of his last three outings.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Domingo-German-NYY-CMYK-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">German </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Domingo-German-NYY-CMYK-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>German </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

RailRiders Weekend Notebook: Domingo German more than a fireballer at next level