Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the top ten on the list of the best hitters in the 2018 Valley League season!

Our 10th best hitter, Jacob “Shaggy” Freeland, has proven over several seasons and several schools that he can control the strike zone as well as anyone. Take a look at his stats for Purcellville the last two seasons, plus the playoffs in 2018:

VBL G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS Avg OBP SLG
2017 17 59 12 18 6 0 4 19 13 10 1 2 0.305 0.431 0.610
2018 36 109 32 34 7 1 4 21 35 18 9 2 0.312 0.477 0.505
Play 2 9 1 1 0 0 1 3 1 1 0 0 0.111 0.200 0.444

In the league, he finished 9th in OPS, 5th in on-base percentage, tied for 1st in walks, tied for 9th in home runs, and tied for 4th in runs. His sterling 35/18 BB/K ratio shows his patience at the plate. His +17 in this category (not a real stat, obviously, but interesting all the same) is the best of all hitters surveyed for his list. Purcellville General Manager Ridge Fuller spoke highly of the young man: “Shaggy has a great understanding of the strike zone and he rarely swung at bad pitches. He was able to hit at the top and middle of our line up depending on the need of the team. Shaggy is the type of guy that can hit at any level because of how well he understands hitting and how guys will pitch to him.”

Shaggy has also proven himself at the college level. He’s been a bit of a nomad, playing at three different colleges so far, but he’s hit at all three:

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS Avg OBP SLG
2016 43 127 22 36 7 1 1 13 22 23 5 1 0.283 0.395 0.378
2017 51 155 39 47 12 1 14 44 27 33 9 0 0.303 0.411 0.665
2018 55 152 28 50 8 0 4 38 27 20 3 0 0.329 0.428 0.461

He played at Florida Southwestern as a freshman, Motlow State as a sophomore, and then Faulkner in 2018 as a junior. Watch for him to have an excellent senior season in 2019!

(Loudoun Times)
(Winchester Star)