Valencia Stars: 58-51 (.532) # 5

[leejay56]

The Stars are doing much better after a solid June and July. Those two months the Stars went 33-20 and now have moved up to third place in a very close and tough FL Pacific division...

So why the big turn around the last 60 day? SS Ángel Zalapa has turned the corner and after a slow start he is back to his normal self helping the Stars move from 8th to 3rd... In June
Zalapa hit .303 7 18 and in July he really mashed it hitting .374 11 24. Zalapa performance in July earned him the Best FL Batter in July. Overall Zalapa is hitting .290 25 homers 66 Rbi's. At this pace its possible for him to hit 35 plus homers and drive in close to 100 runs this season. When Zalapa gets hot he can really carry a team but when he has so many good hitters around him the Stars really excel.

1B/DH Ellis Curran has come out of nowhere and has looked fantastic since his call up in May. Curran was sent down after a subpar 2039 season when he hit .250 21 69...After a few injuries the Stars decided to give Curran a try and he never looked back. Curran has finally lived up to his potential and more in his first 84 games back. His stats so far this season are .310 batting average 26 homeruns and 74 Rbi's.. Wow.. Curran is projected to hit 35 plus homers and drive in over 100 runs and this is a player that started in AAA ball this season... could be comeback player of the year...

The Stars decided to give Rookie Pedro Salazar the starting DH roll a in July from a bench roll. Salazar 23, has looked good his first month as he hit .400 and so far in August he's hitting .444...Salazar was drafted in the 2036 first-year player draft (Round 6, Pick 5, 188th overall pick) by the Valencia Stars. The Stars always liked how he hit in HS as he had over a .400 batting average his last two years. In the minors he hit over .300 each season and now has a shot to continue to help the Stars win games. This season Salazar is hitting .352 4 19...