EVERETT — Kyle Lewis missed two games last week during Everett’s six-game road trip, but his teammates didn’t mind.
That’s because Lewis, the 11th overall pick by the Seattle Mariners in this year’s draft, was in Los Angeles for the Golden Spikes Award ceremony, the award given annually to the top amateur player in the country.
The former Mercer University star was named the winner, beating out fellow finalists Seth Beer (Clemson), Corey Ray (Louisville) and Logan Shore (Florida). Lewis is the first player from the Southern Conference to win the award.
“It was pretty cool,” Lewis said. “For me, any time you can win an award is pretty awesome. I just appreciate those guys for picking me. And it was a really exciting day for my family to be up there. … That’s probably the best part, being to be able to celebrate with them.”
Lewis is the third Golden Spikes winner to be drafted by the Mariners.
Current M’s catcher Mike Zunino won the award in 2012 following his career at Florida and later spent a month with the AquaSox before moving up.
Jason Varitek won the award in 1994 after playing for Georgia Tech and began his career in the Mariners’ system with the Port City Roosters in Wilmington North Carolina, then Seattle’s Class AA affiliate. Varitek never played for Mariners. He was traded to Boston, where he became a star for the Red Sox.
“Any time you can win the college-player-of-the-year award, it’s quite an honor,” said Everett manager Rob Mummau, who managed Zunino in 2012. “It’s kind of like the Heisman in football. Kyle is great kid and works hard, and is a phenomenal talent.”
Lewis is still looking for his first professional home run after blasting 20 this spring at Mercer. However, he does lead the AquaSox with six extra-base hits and his 10 RBI are tied with teammate Eric Filia for second on the squad and sixth in the Northwest League.
“It’s more of a process for me at this point, just working on things every day and as long as I have good at-bats and control the zone pretty good, you can only be happy with that,” Lewis said. “I think the results take care of themselves and over the course of the season those things start to level out.”
He’s already seeing that start to happen. Lewis entered Monday’s game against Eugene with a five-game hitting streak. He was batting .350 (7-for-20) with three extra-base hits and nine RBI in that span.
Pitching staff continues to impress
Though the Frogs dropped two of three games in their weekend series at Tri-City, the pitching staff was hardly to blame. The AquaSox hurlers allowed just six runs in the three-game set and combined for a three-hit shutout in the series finale Sunday.
“I think the guys really competed well on the road,” Mummau said. “Throwing strikes, that’s No. 1, getting ahead. They’ve been consistent all year.”
Reliever Lane Ratliff surrendered two runs in Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Gesa Stadium. He had to be helped to the dugout after one-third of an inning. Mummau said Monday that Ratliff had been suffering from dehydration, but is expected to be fine.
The Everett hitters mustered just four hits in Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Dust Devils.
“(There were) a couple of line drives by our guys that were caught with men on,” Mummau said. “If they find a hole, maybe it’s a run or two and it might be the difference. But that’s baseball. We came off the road trip 3-3 and that’s not bad.”
King Felix to return to Everett?
Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is scheduled to throw a 45-pitch simulated game Wednesday in Houston. According to several media reports, if Hernandez does not have a setback, he is tentatively scheduled to make a rehab start for the AquaSox Sunday at Everett Memorial Stadium, though this has not been confirmed by the AquaSox.
Hernandez pitched for Everett as a 17-year-old in 2003 when he went 7-2 with a 2.78 earned run average and 73 strikeouts in 55 innings. His older brother, Moises, is Everett’s pitching coach.
For the latest AquaSox news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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