Thursday’s winner is David Eckstein; he goes on to face Jason Kipnis in the Sweet Sixteen.

Friday’s Match

Today we have Adam Everett (Winchester 1996) vs Mike Lowell (Waynesboro 1993).

  • Adam Everett defeated Jerry May in he play-in round. This is what I wrote: “Adam Everett was drafted 12th overall in 1996 by the Boston Red Sox. In December of 1999, he was traded to the Houston Astros for… wait for it… Carl Everett, in a never-seen-before Everett-for-Everett swap. He made his major league debut with the ‘Stros in late August, 2001, and went on to be the starting shortstop for the team from 2003 to 2006. Known as a sterling defender, Everett finished in the top four in Defensive WAR in the National League in every one of those years- leading the league in 2006- but he never won a Gold Glove. After he was granted free agency in 2007, he spent a year with the Minnesota Twins, a year and a half with the Detroit Tigers, and then finished things up with the Cleveland Indians. He ended his career with a slashline of .242/.294/.346 in over 3,000 major league plate appearances. After he retired he was a special assistant in baseball operations in Cleveland in 2012, and then spent several years as a roving infield instructor and bench coach for the Astros. He is currently the owner of D-BAT Marietta Baseball/Softball Academy.”
  • Mike Lowell was drafted out of Florida International by the New York Yankees in 1995 in the 20th round. He made his major league debut with the Yanks in 1998, but was traded that offseason to the Miami Marlins, where he proceeded to lock down the third base job for the next seven years, before getting traded to Boston, where he played another five years before retirement. Lowell’s best season was in 2003, when he hit .276/.350/.530, with 27 doubles, 32 home runs, 105 RBIs, and an excellent 56/78 BB/K ratio. He finished 11th in MVP voting that year, was an All-Star, and won the Silver Slugger award. He also won the World Series title with the Marlins that year. In 2007, with the Red Sox, Lowell won another World Series, and was even named MVP in the series after hitting .400/.500/.800 in 18 at-bats. Overall in his 13-year career, Lowell hit .279/.342/.464 in 5,813 at-bats, with 394 doubles, seven triples, 223 home runs, and 952 RBIs. He was an All-Star four times, won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger, received MVP votes twice, and won two World Series titles. He retired after the 2010 season, and has worked for Major League baseball since then.

Vote by going to twitter.com/JohnATVL! (Closes Saturday 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!

 

Everett
Lowell