Off Topic
"Magana's been a joy to watch," skipper Mel Jenkins said. "Half his long drives—the ones that stay in the stadium—whizzed past helpless outfielders, who looked like commuters sprinting after a train they were never gonna catch."
OF Ricardo Magana has slashed Pacific pitching at 426/551/870 (1.421 OPS) in June's first fifteen games, and 14 of his 23 hits have been for extra bases. He has also walked 14 times and driven in 16 runs, second to Ken'ichi Okubo's 19. Magana won player of the week in the FL for his bust-out performance the first week of June, hitting .556 after a .212 batting average in May. He now has six homers and a .321 b.a. in 89 official at bats. A line drive pull-hitter, Mighty Magana's Spray Chart nevertheless shows an equal four homers to deep right and four to deep left (that includes his two MiL home runs in April). His other base hits show a preference for the right side of the field.
The rookie (he was DM 2061 #1 draft pick, 19th overall) has delivered two walk-off hits in his brief time as a Popper, against Long Beach at the end of May and against San Fernando on June 10th. The single vs LBC's Gilberto Cordero (twice Magana's age) drove in Des Moines local Domingo Pinto in the bottom of the 14th for a 7-6 win after both team's had scored three runs in the 9th inning before 43 thousand plus fans. Magana thrilled the home crowd again days later when he connected for a 10th-inning double against SFB reliever Bob Butler that drove in Okubo, who opened the inning with a single vs the same reliever. Oh, and Magana also homered twice in the contest.
Butler has since joined the Kernels and is grateful not to be pitching against the rookie.
Update (6/25/93)—Magana had two huge games this week: A 3 for 5 effort, with two homers, in a 12-3 win vs Portland, against which the Kernels would "complete the sweep" the next day, 8-6. And, yesterday, Magana smashed three homers vs the thinly-clad Krill, as the "new look" Kernels defeated Bikini for the second game in a row, scoring ten runs each game. Magana starts today with an updated home run total of 11 in 128 at bats.
