From the Dayton Dragons:
Dayton, OH – The Dayton Dragons are off to the best start in franchise history at 12-2 and a big part of the teams early season success has been the hitting of shortstop Chris Valaika and the pitching of right handed starter Daryl Thompson. The Dragons dynamic duo has been named Midwest League’s “Offensive Player of the Week†and “Pitcher of the Week,†respectively for April 16th – April 22nd.
Valaika’s 11 game hitting streak came to a close on Sunday in the Dragons 2-0 shutout win over Burlington but the shortstop helped pace Dayton to a 5-2 record for the week and in the process raised his batting average from .360 to .423. The UC Santa Barbara product hit .481 for the week while collecting four multi-hit games. Entering play on Tuesday night, the Reds third round selection in the 2006 First Year Player Draft leads the MWL with 23 hits and a .411 batting average.
Thompson led the Dragons to a pair of shutout wins in his two starts during the week over the Swing of the Quad Cities and the Burlington Bees. With the two shutout performances, the right hander ran his consecutive shutout innings streak up to 13.0 innings to lower his earned run average to 0.53, good for third in the MWL. Thompson, acquired by Cincinnati from the Washington Nationals in the trade that sent former Dragon Austin Kearns to D.C., is in his first full season with the Reds and is tied for the MWL lead with three wins in 2007.
And from the FSL:
Pitcher of the Week
Carlos Fisher, Sarasota
2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
Like a professional bowler, Fisher has been setting ’em up and knocking ’em down with alarming alacrity over his first two starts this season. The 24-year-old has scattered just two hits and two walks over 13 shutout innings, and opponents are batting a meager .196 against him.
And his next start he threw 6 innings of 3 hit, shutout ball, striking out 11.