It was a pretty fair week for my wife’s nephew, Wes Dorrell. Wes was a four-year starter behind the plate for Clovis, and earned a Division I full-ride scholarship to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo during his senior year (2006). He was also the MVP of the City-County All-Star Game and finally, as a senior, made the Fresno Bee’s All-Stars after being nosed out more than once by others who, in my estimation, were less worthy. But I digress...
Wes played pretty much full-time as a freshman, filling in at 1B or DH-ing when wasn’t catching, and did well enough to be named to at least one Freshman All-American list, albeit not the one associated with the NCAA or Baseball America. He was one of the hardest players to strike out in college baseball (only 11 K), but was probably somewhat overshadowed by his often-spectacular junior teammate, CF Grant Desme, who would be taken by the Athletics in the third round.
This year has been down, then up for Wes. He started slowly, drew his coach’s ire and briefly sat. But he’s back in the lineup, playing first and catching, and last week was probably his best week so far as a collegian.
On Thursday he belted a HR off CSU Fresno hurler Tanner Scheppers, regularly listed as one of the top 10 college pitchers by scouts, sufficiently-hyped that he was drafted in our fantasy league (!).
He homered again on Friday against a less-heralded Fresno State pitcher and also doubled off the top of the wall.
On Saturday he pulled a ball over the wall against Team USA starter and UC Irvine ace Scott Gorgan (13-2, 2.83 last year). UC Irvine made the ‘final four’ in the College World Series last year and this year have been ranked as high as fourth in the nation.
On Sunday his modest HR streak came to an end, but he smacked an RBI double and a sac fly against UC. I think they quit giving him fastballs at the end, but what do I know? I was too busy to actually catch any of his games. If things keep going like this, I may have to draft him just so I can tell my sister-in-law that I 'own' him.
1 comment:
Ok Ron, when you acquire the first pick next year you know who to pick!
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