Because I’m planning on being at the game Thursday night, I’ve picked my Shorebird of the Week a couple days early. It’ll be published at the normal time though based on Tuesday’s stats.
And those stats have Chris Vinyard as the secondary source of power to last week’s SotW Brandon Tripp. He’s the righty in a deadly right-left power combination.
One of a few really low-round selections on the Shorebirds club (picked 38th in the 2005 draft), he played an extra year of college ball at Chandler-Gilbert CC in Arizona before signing and starting his pro career last year in Aberdeen. While he was drafted as a catcher, Chris’s 6′-4″, 230 pound size makes him a good fit to play first base and that’s where he’s landed, splitting time with Brandon Snyder at first and playing DH on other nights. In 2006 Chris was a solid contributor to the IronBirds’ success, landing a spot on the NY-Penn League’s midseason All-Star team and garnering the loop’s Player of the Week honors last August. For the season he batted .284 in 73 games, hitting 8 homers and knocking in 47. The home run total tied for the short-season league’s lead while the RBI total was second overall.
Vinyard has kept pretty much on pace thus far this season, although the average sits at only a .247 mark. He has knocked in 21 runs in just 24 games to go with 5 homers, so the power is there. As the nights get warmer and balls carry better out of Perdue Stadium, he should easily double his home run total from last season.
