Tuesday’s winner was Wayne Comer; he will go on to face John Kruk in the next round.

Today’s Matchup

Collin Cowgill vs. Mike Cubbage

• From the University of Kentucky, Collin Cowgill played in Covington in 2005, alongside his brother, Michael, who attended JMU. Collin went on to be picked in the 5th round of the 2008 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He made his way to the majors with Arizona by 2011, and since, has spent parts of six seasons at the game’s highest level, hitting a total of .234/.297/.329 in 689 at-bats. He’s played for Arizona, Oakland, the New York Mets, Los Angeles Angels, and Cleveland. He hasn’t played in the majors since 2016; he spent 2017 in Triple-A for San Diego, 2018 for Philadelphia, and 2019 for Washington. He signed with the Seattle Mariners for 2020.
• Mike Cubbage, a Charlottesville native, played for the Charlottesville Hornets in 1968 and 1969. A VBL Hall of Fame inductee in 2019, Cubbage played in the major leagues from 1974 to 1981 with the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins. In almost 2,000 major league at-bats, he hit .258/.330/.369 with 34 total home runs. He coached in the minor leagues from 1983 to 1989, winning regular season titles twice. He coached in the major leagues for 14 years, including a stint as the interim manager of the New York Mets for seven games in 1991. He worked as a scout in 2004, and 2006-2014 for the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays. Since 2015, he has been a  Special Assistant to the General Manager for the Washington Nationals. He was elected to University of Virginia’s Hall of Fame in 2018.

Vote by going to twitter.com/JohnATVL to vote! (Closes Thursday morning)

And by the way, if you want to read much, much more about the 2019 VBL season, be sure to check out the 2019 Valley League Annual!

Cubbage

Cowgill