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New Jersey Jackals

Moorer Making Highlight Reels

August 18, 2021 - Frontier League (FL)
New Jersey Jackals News Release


For a player who's batting .267 with 27 RBI, it's at first hard to see why Jackals manager Brooks Carey would say that there should be cameras on the guy at all times.

"You'd end up with a highlight reel every week," Carey said.

For his hitting? No, not necessarily, though center fielder Demetrius Moorer is a solid producer at the plate and has sometimes taken over games with his offensive output.

There was that 4-for-5 game with two RBI in a victory over Tri-City on June 5... And a 3-for-4 with an RBI on July 18... And a 3-for-3 on Aug. 8.

But that's not what the cameras would really be for.

Moorer is a major contributor without a bat in his hand, but with his eye-opening speed, both in the outfield and on the bases.

"He saves this team a lot of runs," Carey said. "I don't see any better outfielders in this league. He comes in to make plays, he goes back to make plays, he's in the gaps, he's all over the place."

That's Moorer's highlight reel on defense. His highlight reel on offense is just as dazzling.

In addition to the .267 average, he leads the team with 41 walks. Not highlight-reel stuff? Just watch him fly from first to third. Watch him round third and race to the plate when most baserunners would be standing on second base.

Or watch Moorer torture opposing pitchers and catchers and infield alignments when he takes off to steal a base.

He's currently first in the Northeast Division and sixth in the Frontier League with 28 stolen bases, and that's the part of his repertoire that makes the 27-year-old from Homestead, Fla., laugh a little.

"It is fun," he said. "I can't say it's not fun, but there is work involved in it, too. For one thing, your body has to be in condition to do it and that takes work away from the field.

"The most important thing is that I get myself in scoring position to help the team. That's what makes me proud about it, helping the team in whatever way I can."

Some nights, he helps without headlines. Like Opening Night, when he went 0-for-4... but had a stolen base and a run scored in a 4-3 win. Or June 16, 0-for-3... with a walk, three steals and two runs scored. Or Aug. 13, 1-for-1... with two walks, a steal and three runs scored.

He's second on the team in runs scored, in large part due to all those steals, not to mention all those walks that helped make him second on the team in On-Base-Percentage, setting the stage for all those steals.

Got it? Just try to keep your eyes on him - if your eyeballs can move that fast.

And, tomorrow, Aug. 19, it's Happy Birthday, Demetrius.

HERRERA, KNAPP MAKE INSTANT IMPACTS

Last Friday night had to make the Jackals smile, and not just because they swept two from New York that night.

That was the night that two new starting pitchers took the mound for New Jersey, and their performances were sights for sore eyes.

First, it was 29-year-old Ricky Knapp making his second start after coming here from the High Point Rockers, the Atlantic League's team in North Carolina. Knapp went six innings - a rarity this year - giving up one earned run, striking out six and walking one.

A week earlier, he'd made his Jackals debut, hurling seven innings of shutout ball. Current ERA: 0.69.

The righty from Port Charlotte, Fla., was an 8th-round selection out of Florida Gulf Coast University by the New York Mets in the 2013 draft, and he reached the Triple-A level with them in 2016 and 2017.

As for Herrera, his arrival in Jersey was a long time coming, just now joining the team after months of rehab following a throwing-hand injury right before training camp.

Signed as a 17-year-old in Venezuela by the Oakland A's, Herrera made it to the big leagues for two games with the New York Yankees as a 22-year-old in 2017.

Last Friday night, in his first time in a Jackals uniform, he threw three scoreless innings, yielding just one hit. Not exactly headline material but deemed outstanding by his new manager and new teammates, everyone eager to see his next few starts when he'll hopefully pitch deeper and deeper into games.

STRETCH RUN IS NOW

After Tuesday night's 8-6 loss in Canada, the Jackals now have 24 games remaining in the regular season - 12 home and 12 away. And, starting today eight games behind in the Northeast Division pennant race with two teams ahead of them, stretch time is crunch time.

They're in Trois-Rivieres for two more games, then it's home for a weekend series with the Florence Y'Alls, who lost last night and are, at this moment, one game behind the Evansville Otters in the West Division.

Next week, New Jersey goes on the road for three midweek showdowns with the Northeast-leading Sussex County Miners. There will be another trip to Canada to start the final week of the season, then a last shot home series against the second team ahead of the Jackals in the standings, the Washington Wild Things.

By Carl Barbati, former sports editor of the New Jersey Herald, Daily Record and The Trentonian.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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