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CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes

August 19, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


LHP T.J. House (6-11, 4.94) at RHP Justin Grimm (4-2, 3.39)

I'M BACK!: The Pelicans have battled injuries to key players in the second half, but tonight marks the long-awaited return of third baseman Mike Olt, who is finally back from a broken collarbone. Mike suffered the injury in a home plate collision with Winston-Salem's Jason Bour on June 6 at BB&T Coastal Field and is playing in rehab games for the AZL Rangers. Sunday, Olt, the seventh-best Rangers prospect entering the year according to Baseball America, played in his first contest and blasted a three-run homer in his first trip to the plate in Rookie ball. In a four-game rehab stint, Mike went 3-for-14 and slowly increased his workload at third base, going from five innings in the field to seven before playing the whole game in his last two contests. Olt left the Pelicans in early June with a .286 average, ten home runs, 34 runs batted in, and a .903 OPS. His homer total still leads all Pelicans hitters, as does his OPS. Olt has been gone for so long, he has actually played less than half the season, missing 65 of the Birds' 122 games. The Pelicans started the season 33-23, lost the night Olt went down and have since gone 32-33. If Olt returns to form down the stretch, he could be a huge stabilizing force for Myrtle Beach as they approach the postseason.

WHOA, DIFAZIO: Myrtle Beach catcher Vinny DiFazio socked a towering solo homer in the eighth inning of last night's loss, his eighth long ball of the season. DiFazio is now tied with Ryan Strausborger for second on the team in homers with eight, they trail the returning Mike Olt who has ten. Vinny is only hitting .218, and hasn't been over .230 since April, but throughout the year he's still been able to get on base at a phenomenal clip. Despite only playing every other day as he splits catching duties with Zach Zaneski, DiFazio still is 17th in the league in walks with 40. Among Carolina Leaguers with 240 plate appearances, Vinny leads them all with an on base percentage of .379. Teammate Jared Prince is percentage points behind DiFazio, but he leads all qualifiers in OBP. Behind the plate, the Hampton, NJ native has thrown out more base stealers in the second half. Staring July 4, Vinny has thrown out 10 of 26 of runners attempted base stealers (38.5 percent), raising his season average to 26.6 percent, just short of the league average of 32.

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