All pitching, little offense in the 2017 Carolina League All Star Game

Haley Toyota Field
It was a very warm evening in Salem, Virginia for the 2017 Carolina League All Star Game, but both pitching staffs put a freeze on the offenses as the best hitters in the league combined to score only two runs on 11 hits. Here are some of my observations from Tuesday night:

    • One day after making a splash in the news for breaking a stadium light in the Home Run Derby, Eloy Jimenez went 0-3 in the All Star Game. After flying out to right in the second, he grounded out to third base in both of his final two at bats.

Eloy Jimenez

    • All Star Game MVP Michael Chavis had only one hit on the night, a two-run double in the first inning. Not only did Chavis drive in the only runs, he was also the only player to get an extra-base hit.

Michael Chavis

    • It’s hard to gauge the pitching performances from Tuesday since each pitcher only threw one inning. That being said, Trevor Kelley seemed to be the most efficient pitcher, throwing a perfect inning with two strikeouts while needing only 11 pitches.
    • Austin Hays was making some solid contact all night long, despite finishing 1-3. He had some hard hit shots that the defense managed to make the play on. Also worth noting that Hays was the only player on either team to draw a walk.

Austin Hays

  • While not necessarily relevant for fantasy purposes, I’d like to mention some great defensive efforts from Tuesday:
      • Potomac Nationals catcher Taylor Gushue made a fantastic throw to catch Myles Straw stealing second in the first inning. Straw has 17 stolen bases this season, and stole 21 in 2016 and 22 in 2015, so throwing him out is no small feat.

    Taylor Gushue

      • Carolina Mudcats outfielder Corey Ray showed some range and made a fantastic diving catch in center to take away a hit from Michael Chavis. Over in right field, his temporary teammate Daniel Spingola made a strong throw to Zack Collins at home plate to nab Anderson Miller for the third out of the second inning.
      • Along with driving in the only runs of the game, Michael Chavis played solid defense all night long. After being unable to throw out the speedy Myles Straw in time in the first inning, Chavis played each of his final six opportunities perfectly — not allowing a hit nor an error.

    Michael Chavis

Editor note: Even though he’s not mentioned above we wanted to share a great photo that Michael took of Nationals top prospect Victor Robles. Thanks Michael!
Victor Robles

To check out all of Michael’s Carolina League All Star Game photos, see his Flickr album.

Baseball fanatic. I love to write and photograph anything and everything related to America's Favorite Pasttime. Follow me on Twitter @MichaelGrennell for baseball news with other sports-related tweets mixed in.




Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*