Apr
22
The Battery
Filed Under Andrew Walker, Erik Huber, Jose De Los Santos, Keanon Simon, Miles Durham, Tom Hagan
Let’s face it folks… We’ve had a rough week. The Hickory Crawdads have lost 6 out of their last 7 games as we were swept in Asheville by the Tourists over the weekend and on Monday. The good news is that today is an off day (Tuesday) so everyone should get some down time before we start a 3-game home series against the Augusta GreenJackets.
The photos above highlight our top offensive performers so far this season. Starting from the top left, we have Andrew Walker. He’s a catcher who is hitting .333 after 18 at bats, with 3 doubles, 4 RBIs, 2 homers and a 1.202 OPS. In the top center, we have Jose De Los Santos at short stop. Jose is hitting .323 after 62 at bats with 1 triple, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs and a .751 OPS. On the top right, we have Keanon Simon who has been in the DH role for most of the season so far. He’s hitting .319 with 3 RBIs and a .700 OPS. On the bottom right we have Miles Durham at first base. Miles is hitting .302 with 5 doubles, 3 homers and 13 RBIs and a .832 OPS. On the bottom center we have Erik Huber from the outfield. Erik is hitting .303 with 2 triples, 3 doubles, and 3 homers, along with a .888 OPS. On the bottom right we have Tom Hagan from the outfield. Tom is hitting .324 with 3 doubles, 9 RBIs, and one homer with a .861 OPS.
With 6 batters in our lineup all hitting over .300, I’m at a loss as to why our total offensive performance isn’t any better than it has been lately. I suppose our pitching has fallen off just a little lately, but in the greater scheme of things, it hasn’t been that bad. We’ll see what happens in this next home series that starts tomorrow night in Hickory.
The Madison Factor
As I’m wandering around the clubhouse and in the dugout at some of the early home games this season, one of the common rambles I hear from players is “When are we gonna get to see a big crowd in the stands?” Since most of these guys are new in Hickory, they haven’t learned when to expect a lot of people in the park just yet. The only advice I have to offer this week is to watch out for Thursday.
Caldwell County’s golden boy, Madison Bumgarner, will pitch in front of his home crowd on Thursday as a starting pitcher for the Augusta GreenJackets. I believe the first large crowd that the Crawdads will enjoy this year at L.P. Frans Stadium will be a hostile crowd.
Madison graduated from South Caldwell High School in 2007 and was drafted in the first round of the 2007 draft (10th overall pick) by the San Francisco Giants. Madison is still just 18 years old and won’t turn 19 until August.
If you are planning to come to the park on Thursday, be prepared for a large crowd. I think the combination of Madison Bumgarner’s homecoming and the Hickory Crawdads Thirsty Thursday will pack the seats…
John M. Setzler, Jr.
(the guy with the camera)
FYI: Adam Simon was called up to Lynchburg as Benoit went on the DL up there (tonsilitis, I’m hearing). Matt Foust went to extended spring to make some starts there. Zach Oliver was called up to replace Simon.
BTW, while we all want to see crowds, we’ve only had 6 gate openings.. the one Saturday was the rain soaked DH, last Thursday Thirsty crowd was decent, as was Friday firewoks. Its not where we’d like it, but it will get there. The other dates were the mid week games.