Until last week, perhaps the most noticeable thing about this week’s Shorebird of the Week was the sheer amount of dirt he’d collect on his jersey every night – he reminded me of the Pigpen character in the old comic strip “Peanuts”.
But on the team’s most recent road trip to Greenville and Asheville Tyler Kolodny has made a mess of opposing pitching. Tyler’s been on a tear and assumed the team leadership in home runs with 9.
Aside from an 0-for-3 performance in the first game of the trip, over the last seven games of the eight game string Kolodny has gone 14-for-29 (almost a .500 average) and included in that streak was a 6 RBI performance last Friday at Greenville. The average that was hovering just over .200 a month ago is now a more solid .244 mark in 96 games.
The 21 year old California native has slowly worked his way up the ranks in his three seasons of pro ball, with Delmarva being his first full-season team. Last year at Aberdeen he hit .240/10/38 in 72 games and in 2007 he tore up the Gulf Coast League with the GCL Orioles by hitting .318/6/30 in 43 games. So the power’s been there and may yet become greater with experience and maturity.
Besides his scrappy method of play, the one thing I like about Tyler is his batting eye. Despite his somewhat low batting mark his OPS is better than average at .757 because his on-base percentage is very good. The 40 walks he’s drawn is a team-leading mark.
One disparity I found odd was his poor performance at Perdue Stadium. Tyler is hitting just .189 here and .281 on the road.
So let’s hope that, with most of the Shorebirds’ remaining schedule comprised of home games, the law of averages wins out and Tyler continues his hot hitting for the balance of the campaign.
It will give us time to warn the clubhouse attendant in Frederick to buy some extra Tide for Tyler’s uniforms next season.
