With a 35-33 season in the books – their eighth straight year with a winning record – let’s wrap up a summer of Blog Fever with some postseason awards for the Pulaski Blue Jays.
Best hitter
Should I go with the Appalachian League player of the year, the first-round pick, the baby bull who made a run at the triple crown and hit some of the longest home runs Calfee Park has seen in recent years? Yes, I think so. There’s no choice but Travis Snider.
Best pitcher
Kyle Ginley pitched only 26 2/3 innings for Pulaski, leaving for Auburn with a 4.73 ERA. Those numbers don’t do justice to a right-hander who might have had the best arm on the Pulaski staff. If not for one awful outing – half of his 14 runs allowed came in a two-inning stint Aug. 6 against Danville – he’d have a 2.55 ERA.
Best entrance music
Jonathan Jaspe had the top dance number, “Latino” by the salsa group “Los Adolescentes.” Drew Taylor (Rammstein’s “Du Hast”) and Chris Emanuele (Disturbed’s “Stricken”) picked the most menacing songs. Paul Franko went with old favorite “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind, which is nearly a decade old but still punchy. (Josh Lex would qualify with Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” except he didn’t pick it himself.)
Best late-season surge
Early on, left-hander Kyle Walter seemed an unlikely candidate to lead Pulaski’s rotation in ERA, but there he was at the end, his 4.01 mark better than Francisco Mateo, Rey Gonzalez, Alex McRobbie and Mike Barbara. Walter pitched only 24 2/3 innings, though, never completing 3 innings in a start while converting from four years as a outfielder at Bucknell. Relievers Joe Wice, Alan Stidfole, Edgar Estanga and Nate Melek also came on strong in the final month after a slew of bullpen call-ups.
Most injured
Franko suffered a sports hernia – a tear in his lower abdomen, which doesn’t sound fun – before the season even started and also hurt his thumb. The injuries, especially the hernia, kept him on the bench at times, but most often he fought through it, even as his power stroke disappeared and his batting average plummeted to .236 – 65 points lower than last season.
Best name
Baron Frost sounds more like a G.I. Joe villain than a hard-hitting, spiky-haired Southern California outfielder. C.J. Ebarb also amuses me. And I spent half the summer trying to figure out whether Johermyn Chavez spelled his first name with a “J” or a “Y” – and only then realized we’d been spelling Gonzalez’s first name wrong for a season and a half.
Quickest promotion
When the season began without him, Chris Reddout figured his baseball career might be dead. But hey, he’s a left-handed pitcher. The Blue Jays scooped him up and promoted him after only two relief appearances for Pulaski. He started eight games for Auburn in short-season A ball, posting a 2-2 record and 3.79 ERA in 38 innings.
Most patient
Second baseman Wes Stone ranked fourth in the league with 36 walks, up from 22 last summer. Of course, he also struck out 43 times and batted .216. Good job looking, bad job swinging.
Biggest dropoff
Franko was hurt by injuries, but Heliezer Aguilar’s total lack of production was tougher to figure out. Last season the stocky outfielder led Pulaski with a .301 batting average – a somewhat empty .301, but .301 nonetheless. He followed up with a .194 campaign, confounding Jays coaches with his struggles.
Best interview
I didn’t interview everyone on the team, but top marks go to Franko, Ginley, Gonzalez and Matt Foster. Mateo was as friendly as anyone, even with a language barrier between us, and manager Dave Pano could not have been more helpful.
No comments yet