The South Atlantic League All-Stars were announced this morning and the West Virginia Power will send two players to the game. Catcher Reese McGuire and second baseman Erich Weiss were named to the squad.
McGuire missed some time in late April/early May and was hitting .222 at the time. He has been on fire since returning, compiling a 19-game hit streak that was snapped last night. He hit .333 in 22 games in May and currently has a .283/.342/.324 slash line in 145 at-bats. It’s not just the offensive surge that put him on the team. McGuire has thrown out 49% of attempted base stealers, catching 21 of 43 runners.
Erich Weiss is West Virginia’s team leader in OPS with an .837 mark. He has a .323 batting average, which ranks him 8th in the South Atlantic League. He also leads the Power with 34 runs scored, 63 hits, 14 doubles and 27 walks.
We could see more players added to the team at a later date as either injury replacements or to fill in for players that were promoted prior to the game. The SAL All-Star game takes place on June 17th in Hickory.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
I’m surprised that JaCoby Jones did not make it, purely on his power production numbers…
The 22 y/o Weiss makes the All-Star team.
The 21 y/o Jacoby Jones does not make the All-Star team.
The 20 y/o Mathisen does not make the All-Star team.
The 19 y/o McGuire makes the All-Star team.
The 19 y/o’s Meadows and Ramirez do not make the All-Star team.
Too bad Meadows and Ramirez were/are injured. Be cool to have three 19 y/o’s make it.
I’ve seen 25 year old players make the SAL All-Star team. Weiss won’t make the prospect team due to his age, but he is definitely one of the best second baseman in the league
The knock against Weiss was that he didn’t show much power. Has that doubt been eviscerated? Is he now a genuine prospect?
I think he is still marginal right now. He only has one homer, so while 14 doubles is a real nice total at this point, he is still missing the over-the-wall power. He’s also having a tough time with LHP, posting a .581 OPS with a 33% K rate, so that needs to improve. At his age, coming from a major college, he should be doing well in the SAL and I’d say the results are still good despite the flaws.
Great to hear about the success that Reese is having this season. Cannot wait to see him in the higher levels and see if he can continue to have success with the bat. His defense and arm are golden…just hope he can continue to hit.