Angel Salome Wins 2008 Southern League Batting Championship

Published on September 2, 2008 under Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


MARIETTA, GA - The Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs is pleased to announce that Huntsville Stars catcher Angel Salome has won the 2008 Southern League Batting Championship with a .360 average.

Salome became the first catcher to win a Southern League batting title since 1998, when Chattanooga's Jason LaRue hit .365. He shattered Huntsville's single-season record of .340 set in 1997 by Mike Neill, who entered 2008 as the last member of the Stars to win the league's batting title.

After beginning the season hitless in his first 10 at-bats, Salome rallied to finish April with a .311 average. He then led the Southern League with a .407 mark in May, a month during which he collected three hits in a game six times. He added three more hits to go with a career-high six RBI in a 15-10 victory against the Lookouts on June 3.

The 22-year-old Salome returned from a week on the disabled list to pass teammate Mat Gamel in the batting race on August 6. With a double in that game, Salome began a 13-game hitting streak in which he batted .500 (26-for-52) to raise his overall average to .364. He went on to lead the Southern League with a .434 average in August.

Salome finished the season comfortably ahead of Gamel (.329), marking the first time teammates finished 1-2 in the Southern League's batting race since Chattanooga's Brady Clark and Jason Williams in 1999. With Salome, Gamel, Alcides Escobar (.328) and Michael Brantley (.319) all ranking within the league's top 10, the Stars led the circuit with a .285 team batting average.

In addition to winning the batting crown, Salome also finished second with a .559 slugging percentage, third with a .415 on-base percentage and fifth with 83 RBI. The native of the Dominican Republic was the starting catcher in the Southern League All-Star Game and was named to the circuit's postseason All-Star team last week.

AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SB

Salome .360 367 67 132 30 2 13 83 33 3

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Southern League Stories from September 2, 2008


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