Hitting their stride

The Railriders have been playing their best stretch of baseball as of late. They took two out of three against Rochester at home and swept Buffalo in Buffalo. They are currently only three games out of first and are the top leader for the Wild Card Spot. There was some movement this week with some injuries to a couple Yankees. Gleyber Torres was put on the 7 day DL with an injury. With all that out of the way, let's go to the Three Stars of the Week.

Third Star: Tyler Wade: This players always seems to be on the three stars doesn't he? Well, who can blame me when he does a good job in the leadoff spot. He had 12 hits, two of them doubles and one was a triple with an RBI.

Second Star: Tyler Austin: Austin has been playing very well since his assignment. He was tied in the week's lead in RBIs at five with Clint Frazier. This week he had four doubles, a triple and five RBIs.

First Star: Caleb Smith: He's been a relatively unknown pitcher, but has slowly being noticed. He's 5-0 on the season with a 2.44 ERA and 66 strikeouts. This week, he was 2-0 with 10 strikeouts, throwing a rain shortned complete game shutout.

Here is what the local pro players are doing currently.

Matt Wotherspoon (Crestwood): Currently with the Railriders, Wotherspoon has appeared in two games with the Railriders. He has a 1.95 ERA with 5 strikeouts in 4 and 2/3 innings.

Mike Papi (Tunkhannock): Currently with the Cleveland Indians Triple-A club, the Columbus Clippers. He's been in 21 games. Hitting .209 with a double, a home run and 13 RBIs.

Cory Spangenberg (Abington Heights): Currently playing with the San Diego Padres. He's played in 45 games. Spangenberg has a .269 batting average with six doubles, four home runs and 12 RBIs.

Joe McCarthy (Scranton): Currently playing with Double-A Montgomery in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. He's appeared in 64 games, hitting .300 with 19 doubles, three triples, a home run and 22 RBIs. He's also stolen 11 bases on the year.

Kyle McMyne (Old Forge): Currently with Triple-A Louisville in the Reds organization. He's appeared in 25 games. He's 2-1 with a 3.19 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 42 and 1/3 innings

Chris Sweeney (Crestwood): Currently with the Frontier League's Evansville Otters. Sweeney is hitting .279 with four doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs.

Max Kranick (Valley View): Currently awaiting assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Tony Hernandez (Hazleton Area): Currently awaiting assignment by the New York Yankees.

MLB Draft
The Kansas City Royals selected both Hazleton Area Grad Sal Biasi and Valley West Grad Justin Vought. Both will have a month to decide if they will sign. Biasi would go back to Penn State for his senior year. Vought would go to Maryland for three years if he elected to not sign.