For the second time this season, River City Rascals outfielder Kyle Gaedele was named Frontier League Player of the Week. Gaedele proved to be a true offensive catalyst for the Rascals as their 11-game winning streak reached its crescendo. The first-year Rascal went 8-for-17 on the week with three homes runs and 12 RBIs.
This week played out much the same as the one in which Gaedele last was given this honor. His first game of the week was far from award-worthy. In the series opener against the Gateway Grizzlies, Gaedele went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts. He did however reach twice thanks to being hit by pitches, a stat in which he leads the team. However, in the next two games Gaedele played about as well as someone can. He went 6-for-10 with nine RBIs and three runs scored. He homered twice in the back half of that two-game span– the series opener against Normal. It was Gaedele’s first home run since August 4. The next day he hit one more and got on base three more times via walks and and yet another hit by pitch, allowing him to contribute half of the runs to the Rascals’ 10th win in a row. Gaedele closed out the week with a comparatively pedestrian 1-for-3 day and his 12th RBI of the week.
When Gaedele’s monster week had come to a close, he had raised his average back above .300 and was sporting a .900 OPS. He was just a few on-base points shy of the elite .300/.400/ .500 benchmark.
Gaedele last earned Player of the Week honors for the week of June 12. The only other Rascal to earn Frontier League Player or Pitcher of the Week this season is Zeb Sneed. The right-handed starter won Pitcher of the Week on July 18. Sneed is the first Rascal to win that honor since Tommy Mendoza did it in June of 2014
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