Tuesday’s winner is Daniel Murphy. He will face the winner of this matchup.

Wednesday’s Match

We have our last elite eight matchup- Mike Lowell (Waynesboro 1993) vs Juan Pierre (Harrisonburg 1997).

• Lowell defeated Adam Everett and Gene Richards to get here. His writeup: “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.”
• Pierre beat Tommy La Stella and Denny Walling to get here. “The 1998 Sun Belt Player of the Year for South Alabama, Juan Pierre was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 13th round that June. He made quick work of the minor leagues, being named an All-Star in 1998 in Low-A, in 1999 in High-A, and in 2000 in Double-A. He made his major league debut on August 7, 2000, and hit .310/.353/.320 in 200 at-bats, finishing 6th in Rookie of the Year voting. He started a stretch of seven straight seasons in which he played at least 152 games in 2001, and hit .327/.378/.415, with 26 doubles, 11 triples, and leading the league with 46 stolen bases. He was traded to the Florida Marlins in November, 2002, and helped lead the Fish to a World Series title in 2003. He spent a year in Chicago with the Cubs in 2006, then spent three years with the Dodgers in LA, two back in Chicago with the White Sox, and then single years with the Phillies in 2012 and back in Miami to finish his career in 2013. In 7,525 career at-bats, Pierre hit .295/.343/.361, with 255 doubles, 94 triples, 614 stolen bases, and an almost-even 464/479 BB/K ratio. He lead the league in stolen bases three times, in hits twice, triples once, singles six times, and received MVP votes twice. He also set a record for the best fielding percentage in a full season, after not committing a single error in 162 games in the outfield in 2006. Pierre was the minor league outfield coordinator for the Marlins in 2019, and was named to the Valley League Hall of Fame that same year.”

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

Lowell

Pierre