It was a quiet week in terms of game count in the Texas League, but there was plenty of action both on and off the field. With the first half complete, several players earned themselves promotions to Triple-A, including Luke Jackson, one of the Texas Rangers top prospects.
The Texas League announced its 2014 Hall of Fame class, which includes five former players, a former umpire/broadcaster, and a pair of owners. The full list including a brief look back at their contributions can be found on the Texas League website.
The biggest event of the week was clearly the Texas League All-Star game. Josh Whitaker, an outfielder in the Oakland Athletics organization, got the scoring started in the top of the fourth inning when he drove Rymer Liriano in on a one out single to give the South a 1-0 lead.
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In the bottom of the fifth inning Cody Stanley, who also started the game behind the plate, came through with the biggest hit of the night, a two-run home run to give the North a 2-1 lead. Later in that same innings, with Alex Yarbrough at the plate and Alec Asher on the hill, Brian Humphries scored from third base on a wild pitch.
That was it for the scoring as the North came through with a 3-1 victory in the Arkansas Travelers home field, Dickey-Stephens Park, and Stanley came away with the MVP honors.
It wasn’t all good things for Stanley at Dickey-Stephens on Tuesday, as his home run in the game matched his output in the Home Run Derby. Harold Riggins came through with four home runs in the first round, which was the last round for both he and Stanley. Ryan Rua and Max Muncy both clubbed eight home runs in the first round and advanced to the finals, where Rua put up another eight, while Muncy only managed to hit four, giving Rua the Texas League Home Run Derby title.
The Texas League is about ten games into the second half of the season, with Arkansas off to an early lead in the North division while there is a tie atop the South between Midland and San Antonio.