Three Tides Receive Postseason Honors
September 1, 2015 - International League (IL1)
Norfolk Tides News Release
The International League today announced its postseason All-Star Team and Award Winners, and Norfolk manager Ron Johnson has been named Manager of the Year while Dariel Alvarez and Oliver Drake have been named to the All-Star Team. The postseason All-Stars are selected by the circuit's managers, coaches, media and club representatives.
Ron Johnson is in his fourth season at the helm of the Tides and has guided Norfolk to a 75-61 record this season. The Tides lead the IL South Division by 3.0 games with eight games remaining, as Johnson looks to guide Norfolk to the postseason for the first time since 2005. Johnson recently surpassed Gary Allenson as the Tides franchise leader in managerial wins, and he's helped Norfolk go 34-26 in one-run games this season, the most one-run games played by any team in all of Minor League Baseball. He is the fifth Tides skipper to be named the IL Manager of the Year and the first since Toby Harrah in 1995 - the last season the Tides captured the Governors' Cup. It is the second Manager of the Year award for Johnson, who was also named the Texas League Manager of the Year in 1995 after guiding Double-A Wichita to the postseason.
Dariel Alvarez, 26, hit .275 with 16 home runs and 72 RBI in 130 games with the Tides before making his Major League debut with Baltimore on August 28. The Cuban native was also named to the IL's midseason All-Star team and captured the Triple-A Home Run Derby championship belt in Omaha. He currently ranks among IL leaders in at-bats (1st, 512), games (T-2nd, 130), total bases (3rd, 217), hits (4th, 141) and RBI (T-5th, 72). Alvarez was also named to the midseason and postseason All-Star teams as a member of the Double-A Bowie Baysox in 2014. He is the first Norfolk outfielder to be named to the IL's Postseason All-Star Team since Alex Ochoa in 1995.
Oliver Drake, 28, is 1-2 with 23 saves and a 0.82 ERA in 42 relief outings with Norfolk this season. The Naval Academy product held IL batters to a miniscule .151 average, as 38 of his 42 appearances were scoreless. Drake, who was also named a midseason All-Star, has registered 43 more strikeouts (66) than hits allowed (23) in 44.0 innings pitched. His 23 saves rank 2nd in the International League and are tied for the 4th-most in a single season in Tides franchise history. He is the third Norfolk reliever to be named to the IL's Postseason All-Star Team since the Tides became an Orioles affiliate, joining Cory Doyne (2007) and Jairo Asencio (2013).
Norfolk and Rochester were the only IL clubs to have multiple All-Star representatives. Norfolk had not had multiple All-Star selections since 1996, when Jason Hardtke (2B), Mike Fyhrie (P) and Derek Wallace (RP) were named to the team.
The Tides are in the midst of their final regular season homestand, with a 7:05 game tonight against Charlotte before four games in three days vs. Gwinnett. Norfolk caps the regular season home schedule with consecutive fireworks nights on Thursday and Friday night before ending the campaign with three road games in Durham.
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