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Matt Curry Wraps Up a Good Year With a Promotion and the AFL

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Matt Curry stepped out of Manager P.J. Forbes’ office after the Curve beat Akron 6-4 on their final home game on Thursday and received hugs and high fives from his teammates. The first baseman was told that he was being promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis.

Although the move is not yet official, Curry will join up with the Indy Indians, who are at home today and are gearing up for the playoffs which kick off on September 5.

“I think he’s an intriguing player for the organization,” Manager P.J. Forbes said after the game. “He got rushed here last year a little bit. And I think it was a good thing — he had failure. I think he learned from it and when he came back this year, he learned from what he did last year and made some adjustments. He’s really put together a great season. I’m happy for him. He’s set himself up nicely going in to next year.”

Curry made the unusual jump from Low-A West Virginia to Double-A Altoona last season, skipping the High-A level altogether.  Curry finished with a .242/.320/.374 line over his final 87 games last season. After spring training, the organization sent Curry back to the Double-A level, and the first baseman has been able to put together a solid season.

Prior to game action on Thursday, Curry was hitting for a .283/.351/.477 line over 52 games this season. Curry has belted out 11 long balls with 33 doubles and a team-leading 75 RBI. Those RBI are the most by a Curve player since Matt Hague drove in 86 during the 2010 season.

After two solid months of June (.385 avg) and July (.284), Curry has hit a slump in the month of August. The 24-year-old is hitting just .240 so far this month, but a lot of it has to do with luck. Curry said he has been squaring balls up, but they’re getting hit right at guys, or just missing holes.

“Just trying to get my timing back,” Curry said. “I kind of lost it a little bit in my swing, I’d say. It’s an up and down thing with hitting. I know that it will come back around. I’ve been hitting some balls hard and they’ve been caught also. I can’t try to push, I’ve just got to let it come back to me.”

“Just hitting it right at people. It’s baseball. I’ve gotten some broken bat hits also. It kind of evens out. Sometimes you don’t think it does because everything going on with it at the same time. I know it will come back around. I’m not worried about it.”

Curry is one of five players currently set to represent the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Arizona Fall League. Top prospects in all 30 organizations are sent to face off against each other in the Fall. It’s not only a chance for Curry to get some more at-bats, but for him also to showcase his talent.

“I was talking to my agent in spring training and he said, ‘this would be a good year to go to the Arizona Fall League. You just need to have a good year.’,” Curry said. “I’ve had an okay year. I’ve kind of fell off as of late. I haven’t finished as strong as I wanted to. But getting to go to the Arizona Fall League is a great accomplishment for me. It was one of the things that I wanted to do coming into this year. It’s a great opportunity and hopefully I can shine there.”

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