Banuelos and Verdugo Named to 2018 All-PCL Team
Published on August 27, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma City Dodgers left-handed pitcher Manny Bañuelos and outfielder Alex Verdugo have been named to the 2018 All-Pacific Coast League Team, the league announced today.
Both rank among the league's best in their respective positions with Verdugo pacing the PCL with a .335 batting average and Bañuelos ranking among the league's top 10 pitchers in ERA (3.59) and strikeouts (126).
This marks the fourth straight year a member of the OKC Dodgers has been named to the end-of-season All-PCL Team. This is also just the second time since Oklahoma City rejoined the PCL in 1998 that multiple Oklahoma City players have made the team in the same season, as well as the first time since 1999.
Bañuelos, 27, ranks third in the league with a 3.59 ERA over 27 appearances (18 starts), while his 126 strikeouts are fifth-most in the PCL. His 10.74 strikeouts per nine innings paced all PCL starting pitchers to begin August before he moved to the Dodgers bullpen earlier this month.
He is the Dodgers' staff leader with a team-high eight wins and 18 starts over a team-leading 105.1 innings. He has held opponents to one earned run or fewer in 10 starts and to two earned runs or fewer in 20 of his 27 appearances overall.
Bañuelos, from Durango, Mexico, has surpassed his career high for strikeouts in a season and is just shy of his single-season career marks for wins (nine) and innings pitched (129.2). At the plate with Oklahoma City, he already has a career-high three hits, including two doubles, as well as his first four career RBI.
Bañuelos signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers Nov. 14, 2017 and originally signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent out of the Mexican League in March 2008.
He was named to the 2018 Mid-Season PCL All-Star Team, along with Verdugo, but both were unable to participate in the Triple-A All-Star Game in July.
Verdugo, 22, paces the Dodgers with 111 hits through 86 games this season, including 19 doubles and nine home runs. He has a team-best 31 multi-hit games and has tallied 43 RBI, 43 runs scored as well as eight stolen bases. He is slashing .335/.391/.474 with Oklahoma City this season.
The native of Tucson, Ariz., is leading the Dodgers in hits for the second straight year after compiling 136 hits, 27 doubles and 39 multi-hit outings over a team-high 117 games during his first Triple-A season in 2017.
Verdugo also has had two stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, appearing in 14 total games and batting .280 (14x50) with five doubles, one homer, three RBI and seven runs scored.
He has compiled two 13-game hit streaks with Oklahoma City this season (June 3-18 and June 29-July 20), and also had an 11-game hit streak May 12-June 1. He collected a RBI in a career-best seven straight games April 14-20.
The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted Verdugo in the second round (62nd overall) of the 2014 MLB Draft from Sahuro High School in Arizona.
Bañuelos and Verdugo are the first duo of Oklahoma City players to make the All-PCL Team since shortstop Scott Sheldon and pitcher Matt Perisho in 1999. Bañuelos and Verdugo bring the total number of Oklahoma City players named to an end-of-season PCL All-Star Team to 11 since 1998.
They continue a stretch of four straight years of Dodgers making the postseason squad, including last year's PCL Pitcher of the Year Wilmer Font, 2016 selection Rob Segedin and 2015 pick Austin Barnes. Damon Berryhill was named PCL Manager of the Year in 2015.
To view the complete 2018 All-PCL Team, which is determined through a vote of league field managers, media representatives and broadcasters, visit pclbaseball.com.
The Dodgers play their final home game of the regular season at 7:05 tonight against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. With 10 games remaining in the regular season, the first-place Dodgers lead second-place Colorado Springs by 1.5 games in the American Northern Division standings.
Live radio coverage begins 15 minutes before first pitch on AM 1340 "The Game," 1340thegame.com, or through the free iHeartRadio mobile app.
Tickets are available through the OKC Dodgers ticket office located on South Mickey Mantle Drive, by phone at (405) 218-2182, or by visiting okcdodgers.com.
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