Craig, Hayes Named Eastern League Season-Ending All-Stars
August 23, 2018 - Eastern League (EL1)
Altoona Curve News Release
CURVE, Pa. - Altoona Curve first baseman Will Craig and third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes have been selected as Eastern League End-of-Season All-Stars, the league announced on Thursday afternoon.
The team was voted on by Eastern League managers, coaches and media personnel. The selections mark the first end-of-season all-star team nods of both players' careers.
Craig, a first-round draft pick by the Pirates in 2016 out of Wake Forest, currently leads the league with 97 RBIs, ranks tied for fourth with 20 home runs, tied for second with 50 extra-base hits, fifth with 70 runs scored, fifth with 202 total bases and first with 12 sacrifice flies. He also leads all Eastern League first basemen with a .993 fielding percentage.
The Johnson City, Tenn. native was the starting designated hitter in the Eastern League All-Star Game in July and was recently named by Baseball America as the top defensive first baseman in the Eastern League. Craig has set new career highs in home runs, RBIs, doubles and triples this season, and he has collected the second-most RBIs in a single season in Altoona franchise history.
Hayes, a first-round draft pick by the Pirates in 2015 out of Concordia Lutheran (Texas) High School, is currently ranked ninth in the league with a .281 batting average and tied for fourth with 30 doubles, while adding a career-best seven home runs. He was the starting third baseman for the Western Division in the Eastern League All-Star Game in Trenton, N.J. and for the U.S. team the All-Star Futures Game in Washington, D.C. in July.
For the season, Hayes has a .976 fielding percentage, which is the best in the minors and would rank as the highest by a third baseman in the Eastern League since at least 1959. Baseball America named Hayes as the league's top defensive third baseman last week.
Hayes is currently ranked by MLB.com as the Pirates' No. 2 prospect, the No. 5 third base prospect in baseball and the No. 53 overall prospect. Craig is rated by MLB.com as the Pirates' No. 16 prospect.
This year marks the ninth straight season the Curve were represented by at least one player in the in the league's season-ending all-star selections.
Hayes finished tied in the voting at third base with New Hampshire's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The full 2018 Eastern League All-Star Team is listed below:
Catcher: Deivi Grullon (Reading)
First Base: Will Craig (Altoona)
Second Base: Cavan Biggio (New Hampshire)
Shortstop: Bo Bichette (New Hampshire)
Third Base: Ke'Bryan Hayes (Altoona) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (New Hampshire)
Outfielders: Trey Amburgey (Trenton), Jonathan Davis (New Hampshire) and Harold Ramirez (New Hampshire)
Utility Player: Levi Michael (Binghamton)
Designated Hitter: Corban Joseph (Bowie)
Right-Handed Starting Pitcher: Jordan Romano (New Hampshire)
Left-Handed Starting Pitcher: Keegan Akin (Bowie)
Relief Pitcher: Matt Pierpont (Hartford)
The Curve are home through August 30 on their final homestand of the regular season. 2018 Playoff tickets are currently on sale at AltoonaCurve.com, by phone at 877.99.CURVE or in person at the Peoples Natural Gas Field box office.
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