ATVL’s #5 starting pitcher from the 2014 season raked in the accolades after the season: Baseball America named him the 5th best prospect in the league, and Perfect Game named him the 4th best prospect, along with the title of “Best Breaking Stuff.”
We’re talking about Mike Vinson, the right-hander from both the Strasburg Express and Florida Gators.
For Strasburg over the summer, Mike went 3-1, 2.15, while allowing 37 hits and 5 walks in 37 2/3 innings, while adding in 34 strikeouts. His batting average against was .253, his WHIP was 1.114, and he had a 1.2 BB/9 and 8.1 K/9. Mike pitched in one game in the playoffs, and allowed 5 runs in 5 innings. His regular season ERA was 4th in the league.
Mike had an oddity happen during the season: His pitching line was precisely the same in two starts in a row. Against Winchester on June 30, and then at Woodstock on July 7, his line was 7 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, and 7 strikeouts. I suppose that if you are to have two starts in a row exactly the same, they might as well be as good as Mike’s (or Johnny Vander Meer’s, maybe).
Mike needed the innings, as he was redshirted for medical reasons for the 2014 college season. In 2013, as a freshman at Florida, Mike went 1-0, 4.79, with 19 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings. He was named to the 2013 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll (so he’s smart, too!).
Congratulations on your excellent summer, Mike!
All Things Valley League 