news-record.com

Hoppers at the break

The Hoppers will have four representatives in West Virginia for tonight’s All-Star Game.

Closer Pete Andrelczyk, starter Johnny Dorn, first baseman Ben Lasater and third baseman Paul Gran were all selected for the team. Here are their stats at the break:

Lasater: .309 BA, .932 OPS 11 HR, 46 RBI, 25 2B

Gran: .257 BA, 2 HR, 17 RBI, 7 SB, 132B

Dorn: 7-5, 3.15 ERA, 85.2 IP, 54 K, 1.23 WHIP

Andrelczyk: 1.35 ERA, 50 K and 8 BB in 33.1 IP, 12 SV, 1.02 WHIP

This is a good time to take a look at the Hoppers at the halfway point.

Pitching has been up and down, and the team ERA of 3.91 ranks 11th out of 16 teams in the South Atlantic League. Dorn has certainly been the steady hand in that area and probably deserves better than his 7-5 record. The Hoppers are also hanging in tough in the standings because Andrelczyk has been lockdown when it comes to that crucial ninth inning.

It's at the plate that this team stands out, especially when it comes to the long ball. Lasater started off red-hot and currently leads the league with his 25 doubles, but it’s the overall power in the lineup that keeps them in a lot of ball games. Take a week ago at home, for example, when they trailed Hickory by two heading into the last-at bat, only to win with two bombs by Kevin Mattison and Jeremy Synan.

Check this stat out – the Hoppers have hit 69 homers this season, and the next highest team in the SAL is Greenville, at 48. That’s a quite a gap. Lasater (11), Justin Bass (11), Synan (10) and Mattison (10) all have double-digit homers this season. Those guys combined have hit as many or more homers than 13 of the league’s other 15 teams.

Bottom Line: This group struggled for a bit a few weeks ago, but they got things together before the break and sit tied for second in the Northern Division – six games behind Lakewood. The BlueClaws went 8-2 in their last 10 games, but didn’t open up a huge lead because the Hoppers went 7-3 themselves in that span and currently have a three-game winning streak. But even with the balls flying out of the park like they have been, this team will need to improve the pitching if they want to make a run.
 

-Jesse Baumgartner