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Garcia and Suchy Take Home SAL Honors, Diaz Named Top IL Catcher

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On Tuesday morning, the South Atlantic League announced it’s season awards, along with the league All-Star team, and two West Virginia Power players were recognized for their season. Both outfielder Michael Suchy and pitcher Yeudy Garcia were named to the Annual All-Star team, while Garcia also took home a bigger award, getting named the Most Outstanding Pitcher in the league.

With one week left in the season, Suchy is hitting .280/.364/.447 in 118 games. He has 31 doubles, ten homers and he has driven in 73 runs. The 22-year-old fifth round draft pick from 2014 is having a terrific first full season of pro ball, showing big improvements over his time in the NYPL last year. He ranks eighth in the SAL with an .811 OPS, tied for fifth in doubles, and he trails the RBI leader by eight, sitting in second place. He is also fifth with 190 total bases.

Garcia pitches tonight for the Power, trying to hold on to his league lead in ERA, where his 2.11 mark through 115.1 innings is four points ahead of the second best in the SAL. Garcia ranks third with a 1.05 WHIP and he is tied for fifth with 106 strikeouts, 11 behind the leader. Garcia has a .205 BAA and a 1.55 GO/AO ratio, showing all the signs of having a bright future. He is 22 years old, but he came directly from the Dominican Summer League last year, signing later than most international signings because he attended college before becoming a pro.

In the International League, Elias Diaz was the lone representative from Indianapolis. He was named the top International League catcher. While he has had a strong season on defense and held his own at the plate with a .271/.330/.382 slash line, Diaz has only caught 60 games this year. He has been splitting catching duties almost 50/50 with Tony Sanchez, who has caught 63 games. Diaz has been used as a DH 25 times and pinch-hit eight other times. He has thrown out 30% of runners attempting to steal, just slightly above his career average. The 24-year-old Diaz will join the Pirates for tonight’s game, his first call up to the big leagues.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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