Lake County Sentinel
Eastern Division wins Eastern League All-Star game 10-2
BY JUSTIN LADA
SENIOR WRITER
MVP: 1B Matt Oberste, Binghamton (Mets)
Clint Frazier returned home from the MLB Futures Game in San Diego and was in the Eastern League All-Star game’s starting lineup in its 10-2 loss to the East. Frazier and the fellow Indians prospects Bradley Zimmer and Nellie Rodriguez had a rather quiet night, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. His All-Star “break” consisted of a flight to San Diego on Saturday, the Futures Game on Sunday, a flight back Monday to be in Akron to watch Zimmer in the home run derby Tuesday and play a few innings on Wednesday.
Zimmer has incurred some strikeout problems and issues vs. left handed pitching but has started to make the adjustments that hitters with his pedigree can do. Frazier has had a whirlwind week and between the questions about a promotion to Columbus or even Cleveland as well as trade rumors to help the Indians lock down their spot atop the AL Central. A little less spotlight might not be a bad thing. The Indians clearly needed a slight break after dropping three of four to the Yankees before the All-Star break and played sloppy baseball on Sunday and these guys could use one too.
After a slightly down June with a .691 OPS, Frazier has two homers and a .937 OPS in eight July games before taking two days off to head to San Diego for the All-Star break. Catching his breath and continuing to improve and be himself will be a key wherever he is playing this weekend or next month.
July has so far proved to be a good month for Zimmer. His average was down .234 at the end of June and just 10 days later he has it up to .244 and has a .998 OPS in July. He seemed to enjoy himself in the home run derby and is hopefully looking towards continued adjustments in the second half.
Nellie Rodriguez had 17 first half homers and represented Akron in the Home Run Derby along with Zimmer. In the game Rodriguez was 0-2 with two strikeouts. His .842 OPS helps mask his 121 strikeouts in 330 at bats in the first half.
RubberDucks line score
Clint Frazier: Started in RF, batting second: 0-2
Bradley Zimmer: Started in CF, batting fifth: 0-2
Nellie Rodriguez: Started at 1B: batting fourth: 0-2
Jeremy Lucas: subbed at C: 0-1
Grant Sides: pitched a scoreless 7th inning
Louis Head: 1IP, 3H, 1ER
J.P. Feyereisen: 1IP, 5H, 2ER
All-Star stars; The rebuild might not take long for Philadelphia. The Reading Phillies combination of catcher Jorge Alfaro, 1B Rhys Hoskins and 2B Jesmuel Valentin went 7-13 with Alfaro collecting three hits and Hoskins hitting a three-run homer in the first inning to propel the East squad to a lead they never surrendered. Valentin doubled twice and scored twice from his three hits.
Harrisburg (WSH) 1B Neftali Soto was the lone bright spot for the West’s offense, going 2-3 with a homer. Gabarez Rosa of Bowie (BAL) also homered.
MiLB Star of the All-Star game: Binghamton (Mets) 1B Matt Oberste was 4-5 with with a double and four RBI and was named the MiLB Star of the game. It was the 24 year old 2013 7th round pick’s first ever All-Star game.
Quotable:
Dave Wallace, RubberDucks and West team manager
On managing the All-Star game: Ken Babby (RubberDucks owner) and Jim (Pfander, GM) have put in a tremendous amount of work. I thought it was a great time. I thought the fans had a great time. I know the player and staff had a great time. I think it’s something that we should all be proud of.
On many Akron players in the game: It was really cool. I was proud and happy for them because they deserved it. J.P (Feyereisen) was joking because Perci and those guys got promoted. I don’t see it that way at all. In any league there’s guys that have earned it and deserved it. But they got 24 or 25 spots, but I was glad they got the recognition they deserved.
On his first All-Star game coaching: The only thing stressful was the pitching. We had 10 pitchers. Donnie Hart (Bowie, BAL) was getting called up and we tried to avoid him. So we had nine guys that could only go an inning each. Every organization wants their guys to enjoy it but not tax them in any way. But I was a little nervous especially facing that lineup. Everybody did a great job and it was fun to watch.
On Frazier and other Akron All-Stars not having a real break: I’m going to try to get them a day off. I told Frazier and Zim(mmer) not to show up for BP. Show up at five. They’ll be ready in case something happens. They’re going to be off from our game tomorrow and try to get some breather and rest and get them ready. I’ll try to have their best interests in mind because it’s not in ours to have both those guys on the bench. They tried to talk me into having Nellie (Rodriguez) off too and Lucas. I can’t do it. I told the Erie guys I expect all three of them to sit tomorrow.
Last but not least: Ken Babby, Jim Pfander and the entire Akron RubberDucks staff from top to bottom deserve endless recognition by city of Akron and minor league baseball for what they’ve done with the organization and its stadium since taking over the team. In just four short years, the stadium and organization transformed from dark, dingy and neglected to a complete revival, gorgeous and fun. 8,054 people took in the Eastern League All-Star game in person, the first in the franchise’s history and most certainly won’t be the last. Akron and Canal Park is once again a beautiful and exciting place to see baseball and hang out. .
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POSTED 04/25/2016 23:12
MVP: 1B Matt Oberste, Binghamton (Mets)