Garcia Named CL Player of the Month
July 5, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release
MYRTLE BEACH, SC - The awards just keep rolling in for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. A Pelican has taken home Player or Pitcher of the Week six times this season, but for the first time one has earned the monthly honor. Shortstop Leury Garcia has been voted Carolina League Topps Player of the Month for June by the circuit's managers after batting .342 and scoring 22 runs in 25 games.
The Santiago, Dominican Republic native struggled mightily in May, batting .184 with a .193 on base percentage. He slugged a meager .207 and recorded only one stolen base. But the switch-hitter turned it on in June as he hit .342 (38-111) with a .397 on base percentage. Out of the 25 June games he played, he notched multiple hits in 14 of them, including five three-hit contests.
Garcia was at his hottest when his team needed it most. After being put back in the leadoff spot after spending some time in the nine hole, he was the spark plug atop the Pelicans lineup, stealing ten bases as he raised his season batting average from .229 to .273. Thanks in large part to his production at the plate and in the field, Myrtle Beach was able to hold off the Kinston Indians and win the Southern Division first-half crown, earning the Birds their first playoff bid since 2008.
His .342 clip was the second-highest June batting average in the Carolina League, trailing only Wilmington's Nick Francis. Garcia rapped 38 hits to rank third among all Class A hitters and his 22 runs scored were the eighth-most among A-ballers.
Entering the season as Baseball America's 15th-ranked Texas Rangers prospect, Garcia has continued his development in Myrtle Beach, despite being one of the league's youngest players at 20. He spent the 2009 and 2010 seasons at low-A Hickory and last year, his 51 stolen bases were the tenth-most in all of minor league baseball.
That spurred Baseball America to tab Garcia as the fastest baserunner in the Texas farm system. They recognized his ability at shortstop as well, choosing him as having the best infield arm in the organization, saying he has "plus-plus arm strength and range - on groundballs as well as pop-ups - giving him the ability to make spectacular plays that most shortstops can't make."
Garcia has done that in spades this season, wowing the Myrtle Beach faithful and shocking opposing hitters who found themselves robbed of base hits.
A Myrtle Beach Pelican earning league awards has become a common occurrence in 2011. Third baseman Mike Olt and center fielder Ryan Strausborger have won Carolina League Player of the Week. Robbie Ross, Robbie Erlin have taken home Pitcher of the Week, as has Joe Wieland, who won it twice.
The Pelicans wrap up a four-game set in Lynchburg tonight at 7:05 p.m. The Birds continue their longest road trip of the season in Winston-Salem and Wilmington before finally returning home to host the Salem Red Sox on Wednesday, July 13. First pitch at BB&T Coastal Field is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. for all four games of the series from Wednesday through Saturday. Tickets for all Pelicans home games are available at the BB&T Coastal Field box office, MyrtleBeachPelicans.com, and by phone at 843-918-6000 or 877-918-TIXX.
Carolina League Stories from July 5, 2011
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- Pelicans Game Notes - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Garcia Named CL Player of the Month - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Drake's Dominance Earns Pitcher of the Week Honors - Frederick Keys
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