Tuesday was the official start of summer, but some of the Greensboro hitters decided not to wait till then to start warming things up.
First National Bank Field is of course notorious for being hitter-friendly, but the first two months of the season, the offense didn’t seem to be clicking like you would have hoped.
While there are plenty of players still struggling this month, a few have really started to stand out, especially in June and after struggling out the gate.
I featured Dariel Lopez on Tuesday, looking at the changes he’s made to his swing and how it has him pulling more than before. April was a really rough month for Lopez, but he’s gotten better as the season has gone on. In June he’s slashed .282/.324/.478 with three home runs, seven extra-base hits and seven RBI.
No Grasshopper has driven in more runs in the month of June than Ernny Ordonez. The first two month of the season Ordonez struggled to get acclimated to High-A, posting a collective wRC+ of 56 in April and May. This month has him slightly above average at 108.
Sammy Siani was taken by the Pirates with the 37th pick in the 2019 draft. After a slow start, he is starting to show some of those tool that made him so highly regarded. In June Siani has a .977 OPS, with not only four extra-base hits, but eight stolen bases. He has an wRC+ of 165 this month after posting just a 79 in April and May.
It’s not uncommon for the offense to start finding themselves as the weather warms up, and that may be finally starting to be the case in Greensboro, at least for some.
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