Six Swing Players Selected To All-Star Team
June 5, 2007 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release
Currently in the midst of a five-game winning streak and enjoying their best record of the season, the Swing of the Quad Cities got more good news on Tuesday with the announcement that six members of the Swing were selected to participate in the 2007 MWL Summer All-Star Classic.
The Western All-Stars, selected by field managers across the league, will include two starting position players and four pitchers from the Swing. In addition to 1B Brandon Buckman and SS Christian Lopez, the Swing will be represented by RHP's P.J. Walters, Brandon Dickson, Elvis Hernandez, and Kenny Maiques.
Buckman, a 23-year-old slugger out of the University of Nebraska, has emerged as one of the top offensive players in the league since opening day. The sweet-swinging lefty currently leads the league with 12 home runs and is tied for the top spot with 47 RBI, 72 hits, and 30 extra-base hits. Buckman is also among the league leaders with his .336 batting average (3rd), .593 slugging percentage (2nd), and 17 doubles (5th).
Also voted to the starting lineup was Lopez, a 20-year-old Puerto Rican who has been a valuable asset to the Swing for his ability to play all over the diamond defensively while batting anywhere in the lineup. Lopez hit .370 during the month of April before cooling off, and is currently batting .257 while checking in second on the team with 26 runs scored.
Leading a group of strong Swing pitchers is Walters, a 22-year-old righty from Daphne, Alabama, who tossed 30 scoreless innings from May 1-31. The changeup artist is 4-1 with a 2.48 ERA through 13 appearances this year, including 53 strikeouts and just nine walks over 54.1 innings of work. Walters was named the St. Louis Cardinals organizational Player of the Month for May as well as the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week from May 7-13.
Fellow Alabama native Dickson was also selected to the squad, thanks in part to his team-leading seven wins. A 22-year-old sinkerballer, Dickson has used an impressive groundball-to-fly ball ratio of nearly 2.5-to-1 to accumulate a 7-3 record with a 3.08 ERA.
The third Swing starter selected to the team was Hernandez, a 21-year-old from the Dominican Republic with a live fastball. Hernandez is 4-3 with a 2.81 ERA through 12 outings this year, including 43 strikeouts over 41.2 innings. "The Mosquito" was named the first Midwest League Pitcher of the Week of the season after opening the year with 11 strikeouts over eight shutout, one-hit innings.
Representing the Swing bullpen in the game will be closer Kenny Maiques. The native of Whittier, California, is currently second in the league with 13 saves thanks to a string of four in a row in which he has allowed just one baserunner. Maiques, 21, has posted a 2.79 ERA while racking up 20 strikeouts over 19.1 innings of work, holding opponents to a .225 batting average.
The 2007 MWL Summer All-Star Classic will be held at Phillip B. Elfstrom Stadium - home of the Kane County Cougars - in Geneva, Illinois, on June 19.
TICKETS: Tickets for all events at John O'Donnell Stadium can be purchased by calling the Swing of the Quad Cities ticket office at (563) 328-2000, coming to the box office located at the stadium along South Gaines Street, or by logging on to www.swingbaseball.com.
UP NEXT: The Swing are on the road through the end of the week, finishing the road trip with two games in Cedar Rapids on Thursday and Friday. The next Swing home game is on Saturday, as Cedar Rapids comes to John O'Donnell Stadium to kickoff a nine-game homestand! All Swing games feature a radio broadcast that can be heard on The Truth AM-1270 or online at www.swingbaseball.com, with the pre-game show starting 15 minutes prior to scheduled first pitch.
Midwest League Stories from June 5, 2007
- Swing Sweep The Rattlers - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
- Bees Bit by Big Inning Bug - Burlington Bees
- Swing Win Seventh Straight With Doubleheader Sweep - Quad Cities River Bandits
- Chiefs Score Late, Often In 9-1 Win Over Beloit - Peoria Chiefs
- Deal, Cougars Stifle L'Kings - Kane County Cougars
- Dragons and Eddy Rodriguez Walk Off Over Lugnuts - Dayton Dragons
- Dragons Stun Lugnuts With Walk-Off Homer - Lansing Lugnuts
- Quad Cities Knocks Around Rattlers In Game One - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
- Eight Whitecaps Selected to MWL All-Star Game - West Michigan Whitecaps
- Eight Dragons to Play in MWL All-Star Game - Dayton Dragons
- Four Loons Named to All-Star Team - Great Lakes Loons
- Five Lugnuts Heading to Midwest League All-Star Game - Lansing Lugnuts
- Six Kernels selected to MWL All-Star Game - Cedar Rapids Kernels
- Hank Conger named MWL Player of the Week - Cedar Rapids Kernels
- Chiefs Place Three on Midwest League All-Star Squad - Peoria Chiefs
- Six Swing Players Selected To All-Star Team - Quad Cities River Bandits
- Chiefs Send RHP Alburquerque to Mesa - Peoria Chiefs
- Four Silver Hawks Headed to MWL All-Star Game - South Bend Silver Hawks
- Three Wizards Named To All-Star Team - Fort Wayne TinCaps
- Midwest League Announces All-Star Rosters - MWL1
- Wizards melt down as the Whitecaps roll to a sweep - West Michigan Whitecaps
- Kernels complete sweep with 7-1 win over Bees - Cedar Rapids Kernels
- Kernels take first game of DH, 10-6 - Cedar Rapids Kernels
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