Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

Baseball

South Atlantic League

Lexington Legends
vs. West Virginia Power

What: Three-game series

When: Monday through Wednesday (7:05 each night)

Where: Whitaker Bank Ballpark

Tickets: Call (859) 422-7867

Major League affiliates: Houston Astros (Legends), Pittsburgh Pirates

Probable pitchers (Legends listed first): Monday, RH Jonas Dufek (1-0, 4.96) vs. RH Ryan Hafner (0-3, 8.24); Tuesday, RH Nick Tropeano (2-3, 2.91) vs. TBA; Wednesday, RH Luis Ordosgoitti (0-1, 8.49) vx. LH Zack Dodson (1-4, 6.17).

Alen Hanson

Power to watch: Switch-hitting 2B Alen Hanson (5-foot-11, 152 pounds, from La Romana, Dominican Republic) leads the Power in games played (42), at-bats (177), average (.339), hits (60), runs (40), doubles (16), triples (6), stolen bases (13), total bases (106) and OPS (.984), and shares the team lead in walks (14). He is second on the team in homers (6) and third in RBI (21). Signed by the Pirates as a non-drafted free agent July 14, 2009, Hanson hit .324 and had two homers, 28 RBI, 48 runs and 20 stolen bases for the 2010 Dominican Summer League Pirates. Last year, in 52 games with the Gulf Coast League Pirates, Hanson led the league in triples (7), was second in steals (24) and fourth in runs (42), while batting .263 with two homers and 35 RBI. He also played three games for State College of the New York-Penn League. This season, he’s batting .355 against left-handers, .336 versus righties; .376 at home, and .304 on the road.

Delino DeShields Jr.

Legend to watch: 2B Delino DeShields Jr. (5-9, 203, from Ocala, Fla.) leads the league in stolen bases, swiping 26 in 27 attempts. Batting .239 with two homers and 15 RBI, the 19-year-old right-hander leads the Legends with 30 runs and shares the team lead with 26 walks. His father, Delino Sr., played 13 seasons in the Major Leagues and stole 463 bases. Both father and son were first-round draft picks — Senior went 12th in the 1987 draft; the Astros selected Junior with the eighth pick of the 2010 draft, then signed him for a franchise-record $2.125 million. He played only 18 games in the summer of 2010, two for the Gulf Coast League Astros and 16 for Greeneville of the Appalachian League, batting .289 with eight RBI, 14 runs and five stolen bases. With the Legends last year, as the sixth-youngest player in the SAL, DeShields Jr. learned his new position (moving from center field) while batting .220, with nine homers, 48 RBI and 30 stolen bases in 41 attempts.

Radio: WLXG-AM 1300

This entry was posted on May 20, 2012 at 10:12 pm and is filed under Appalachian League, Baseball, Greeneville Astros, Gulf Coast League Astros, Gulf Coast League Pirates, Houston Astros, Lexington Legends, New York-Penn League, Pittsburgh Pirates, South Atlantic League, State College Spikes, West Virginia Power. Tagged: Alen Hanson, Delino DeShields Jr., Delino DeShields Sr., Jonas Dufek, Luis Ordosgoitti, Nick Tropeano, Ryan Hafner, Zack Dodson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.