The Chattanooga Lookouts are having themselves a fine season. They currently find themselves in first place as they begin the final week of the first half and there’s a playoff spot on the line. Last week they got some big time help from Rece Hinds and Connor Phillips to help keep that going and the Southern League took notice, naming Rece Hinds the Player of the Week in the League and Connor Phillips the Pitcher of the Week in the league.
For the second week in a row it was Connor Phillips being named as the Southern League Pitcher of the Week. This past week he made two starts against the Rocket City Trash Pandas and allowed two runs in 12.0 innings on 10 hits, one walk, and he struck out 20 batters.
Those two starts were just a continuation of the turn-around that Phillips has been on. In his first seven starts of the season he had 17 walks and 52 strikeouts in 31.1 innings pitched to go with a 4.02 ERA. Tons of strikeouts, but he was walking too many hitters still – something that’s followed him throughout his career. But on May 20th he walked just one batter and struck out 13 against Biloxi and he hasn’t looked back. In six starts, including that one, since he’s thrown 32.2 innings with seven walks and 57 strikeouts while posting a 2.48 ERA for the Lookouts.
Last week started with a bang for Rece Hinds. He started the week by hitting two home runs against Rocket City and one of them was a walk-off home run in the 10th inning. The outfielder then homered in the next four games, extending his home run streak to six. When the week was over he had gone 8-21 (.381) with six homers, four walks, and six strikeouts. He hit .381/.500/1.238 – good for an OPS of 1.738.
It began a week before, but Hinds really started making more contact in the last two weeks. Since June 9th he’s struck out six times in 37 plate appearances (16%). Prior to that he had struck out in 43% of his plate appearances on the year. Hinds followed a similar path, though not quite to this extreme, last season, when as the season progressed he began to cut down his strikeout rate. Keep an eye on it as the season continues.
Here are the other Players of the Week this season from the farm system:
- Andrew Abbott – Southern League – April 10-16
- Blake Dunn – Midwest League – April 24-30
- Noelvi Marte – Southern League – May 1-7
- Matt McLain – International League – May 1-7
- Noelvi Marte – Southern League – May 16-21
- Tommy Eveld – Southern League – May 22-28
- Christian Encarnacion-Strand – International League – June 5-11
- Connor Phillips – Southern League – June 5-11
- Rece Hinds – Southern League – June 13-18
- Connor Phillips – Southern League – June 13-18