Yesterday’s winner is Brad Zebedis; he will face the winner from today.

In this matchup, we have Jordan Tarsovich (Strasburg 2013) against Nathan Minnich (Winchester 2011).

  • Tarsovich was the MVP of the league back in 2013, the second for the team in three years. He slashed .414/.511/.529 in 157 at-bats, with 34 runs scored, 10 doubles, a triple, two home runs, 10 RBIs, a 28/20 BB/K ratio, and 13 stolen bases. It’s clear to see why he was MVP; he led the league in all three categories- batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. He returned to VMI for his junior year in 2014, and hit .293/.392/.435 in 184 at-bats. In his (redshirt) senior year, he hit .337/.419/.568 in 199 at-bats, and found himself selected in the 22nd round of the 2015 amateur draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers gave him two years in pro ball while bouncing him around to five different levels. In January of 2017, the Dodgers traded him to the Oakland A’s. He spent that season in Double-A Midland, but was released the following spring. Tarsovich hit a total of .238/.338/.352 in 747 minor league at-bats. He currrently lives in Richmond.
  • Nathan Minnich came to Winchester in the summer of his junior year (2011). He finished third in the league in OPS (.998), hitting .277/.445/.553 in 159 at-bats, with 33 runs scored, 11 doubles, 11 home runs, 34 RBIs, and a 41/38 BB/K ratio. He returned to Shepherd for his senior year in 2012, in which he hit .487, with 21 home runs (a school record), 12 doubles, 72 RBIs, and a .980 slugging percentage. He led the country in slugging, on-base percentage, walks per game and RBIs. He became the first Shepherd baseball player to have his number retired that fall. He was also the first Ram to be drafted when the Boston Red Sox took him in the 8th round in 2012. He played in 39 games in 2012, split between Lowell in the New York-Penn League and the Red Sox in the Gulf Coast League. He got another 45 games in pro ball in 2013 split between the same teams before he was released. He totaled .223/339/.318 in 283 minor league at-bats. He currently lives in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.

Vote by going to twitter.com/JohnATVL.

And by the way, if you want to read a ton about either the 2015 or 2019 VBL season, be sure to check out the 2019 Valley League Annual!

Tarsovich
Minnich