Kyle Gaedele became the first River City Rascal to be named Frontier League Player of the Week this season. Gaedele went 11-for-24 on the week with three home runs and 10 RBIs. The Chicago native’s huge week raised his average from .233 to .298 and OPS from .659 to .884.
After the first game of the week, Gaedele might have been one of the last players you would suspect would be receiving the Player of the Week honors. The 26-year-old outfielder went 0-for-4 in the Rascals’ 18-5 series-opening win over the Florence Freedom, but did reach base twice, score and drive in a run. His week really got started the following day with a 4-for-5 night with a double, three runs scored and two RBIs. His encore performance was a 3-for-3, 3-RBI night.
Gaedele went his first 21 games of his first season of independent league ball without a home run. He then hit one on three straight days against the Southern Illinois Miners. All but one of his hits in the series was a home run, and he drove in four runs.
The San Diego Padres drafted Kyle Gaedele in the sixth round of the 2011 draft out of Valparaiso. Gaedele spent five years in the Padres’ minor league system, reaching as high as Double-A San Antonio twice. He was released by San Antonio this spring after slashing  .220/.325/.300 in 100 ABs last year for the Missions. He hit nine home runs total between A+ and AA last year, but only one came for San Antonio.
Gaedele will look to defend his title and continue his power spurt in a pair of road series this week against the Normal CornBelters and Evansville Otters.
The last Rascals player to be named Player of the Week was Zach Kometani for the week of August 23 last season.
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[…] the Rascals struck back. Morales went deep with one out to cut the deficit to 4-1. The reigning Frontier League Player of the Week, Kyle Gaedele walked with one out and proceeded to draw tons of attention from Normal starter Max […]
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