Pivetta, Ward, Laird Win Weekly Honors

Hagerstown took both Pitcher and Player of the Week awards for the Sally League while Brandon Laird was named the Imnternational League’s Batter of the Week for week of June 16-22.

Pivetta pitched just once, but six no-hit innings with one unearned run allowed on one walk and two strikeouts last Friday was enough to earn the honor of the Sally League’s Pitcher of the Week. Hagerstown won the game 9-1 and finished with a combined one-hitter with Andrew Cooper (2IP) and Ryan Ullmann (1IP) finishing up the game. For the season, Pivetta is 9-3 in 13 appearances (12 starts) with a pitcher’s line of 3.57/4.37/1.27 with 47K (6.71/9IP) and 23BB (3.29/9IP) in 63 innings pitched.

Even an 0-for-3 game yesterday couldn’t dissuade voters from naming 19-y.o. (yes, really) Drew Ward as Batter of the Week for the Sally League. Of course, the week was shortened by the All-Star break but in those four games, Ward went 7-for-17 (.412) with three doubles and two home runs for a Nintendo-esque .941 slugging percentage and a .444 on-base percentage. He scored four times and drove in six. The third baseman has struggled on defense (14 errors in 48 games) and has whiffed 60 times in 57 games but has also hit .274/.328/.465 with eight HRs and 48 RBI total on the season thus far.

Brandon Laird did play a full slate, as the I.L. all-star break isn’t for another couple of weeks, and hit .423 with a double, four homers for eight RBI and eight runs scored. The four longballs came in four straight games, one shy of the franchise record set by Corey Brown in 2012. The 26-y.o. was originally drafted by the New York Yankees in the 27th Round of the 2007 Draft and has seen time at the MLB level with New York (11 games, 2011) and Houston (17 games, 2012; 25 games, 2013) as a corner infielder. He was acquired in a spring-training trade with Kansas City for cash and/or a PTBNL this past March.