Thanks to MiLB.com for some of this story.
CAREER NIGHT FOLLOWS SCARE FOR SCHRADER
As the 27th-round pick in last summer's amateur draft, Jacob Schrader was the final pitch that the Braves felt was worth signing. No one below his round came around -- albeit a number of them were the "impossible signs." But if it stung him to be such a lowly pick, it didn't show. He signed less than two days after his pick.
But Schrader had credentials. Born and raised in Pasco County, he went to Tampa and wound up as the MVP in the Division II national tournament in 2013. In five tournament games, he had two homers and seven RBIs.
That number appeared again Monday night, when the now-struggling Schrader had a career (and career-saving?) night for the Rome Braves. Schrader, struggling with a .194 average this season, fell into a 1-2 hole against Greensboro starter Jarlin Garcia. He took a hack and fouled one off. A scary moment followed.
A blow to the face. Suddenly, nothing looked right.
"It hit me in my left eye," Schrader said of the foul ball. "My left eye was blurry."
A worst-case scenario for any batter, but Schrader shook it off and stayed in the game.
"I just tried just see the ball with my right eye and hit the ball," he said. "It happened to work, it was comical."
Schrader then crushed a pitch to deep left field for his first homer of the season, a three-run shot. He stayed locked in, finishing 3-for-5 with a career-high two homers and seven RBIs to lead Class A Rome past Greensboro, 14-9, at State Mutual Stadium.
"It was a weird at-bat," Schrader said. "The eye is good now, it's not blurry anymore. I've just got a couple lace marks above it."
The Braves' 27th-round pick last summer hit another three-run drive in the sixth and added an RBI single in the eighth to cap his best day as a pro. His Braves teammates hunted him down in the clubhouse shower and doused him with a cooler full of icy water afterward.
"Relief," he said. "I've been struggling the past few games, I put in some early work with our hitting coordinator, but it was mostly psychological stuff. My stroke has been feeling good, but (Minor League hitting coordinator Ortegon) helped me out a lot."
Schrader's seven RBIs were the most ever for a Rome batter -- four players had previously plated six runs in a game: Diory Hernandez in 2004, Jamie Romak in 2006, Cody Johnson in 2008 and Robert Hefflinger in 2012. The 23-year-old entered the game batting just .194 with no homers and six RBIs in a dozen games since receiving a promotion to the South Atlantic League. Hitless in his previous two starts for Rome, the University of Tampa product posted numbers Monday that weren't too far removed from his entire 2013 season total, when the first baseman hit .195 with five homers and 16 RBIs in 36 games with Rookie-level Danville. Monday's effort raised his average more than 50 points to .244.
"I just try to go out and do what I have to do, play the game right way and play hard," he said. "It's rewarding that the Braves have that kind of faith in me, to move me up after last season. It felt really good, they have that much faith in me."
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CLASS AAA
Columbus 11, Gwinnett 1
LP: Rodriguez (2-2) 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K.
Terdoslavich 2-3, R.
Hamilton 1-2, 2B, RBI.
La Stella 1-4.
CLASS AA
Mississippi 6, Montgomery 2
SP: W. Perez (2-1) 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
Schlehuber 5-3, HR (1st), 2 RBIs.
E. Reyes 4-4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBIs. (.476)
Kubitza 2-5, 2B, 3B, 2 RBIs. (.188)
Hunter 2-6, R.
ADVANCED CLASS A
Lynchburg, idle.
CLASS A
Greensboro 11, Rome 4
LP: Salazar (0-2) 2.1 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 4 WP. (12.83)
Perez 2 IP, 1 H, 2 K.
Schrader 1-4, 2B, R, RBI, SB.
Franco 2-3, R.
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Originally Posted by rico43
