The Eastern League has announced their season-ending All-Stars and two Altoona Curve players were named to the team. Catcher Elias Diaz and starting pitcher Adrian Sampson were the selections. Both players had breakout season this year and they were both recently promoted to Indianapolis.
Sampson made 24 starts before his promotion. In 148 innings, he had a 2.55 ERA, with a 99:30 K/BB ratio, a .229 BAA, 1.05 WHIP and a 1.20 GO/AO ratio. He ranks second in the Eastern League in both ERA and WHIP, third with ten wins and eighth in strikeouts.
Diaz had a .328/.378/.445 slash line in 326 at-bats. He has career highs in all three Triple Crown categories this year. Even with the strong hitting this year, Diaz is an even better defensive player. He was called the Eastern League’s best defensive catcher in a recent poll on Baseball America. Last year, he was named the best defensive catcher in the Florida State League.
Both Diaz and Sampson were named to the Eastern League All-Star team back in July.