Otto Kemp, Justin Crawford and Mick Abel, three players who spent varying amounts of time this season with the IronPigs, were named to Minor League Baseball’s International League all-star team.
Abel, who was traded in late July to the Twins, was named pitcher of the year after posting a 7-2 record with a 2.20 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 18 starts between Lehigh Valley and St. Paul. He allowed three hits and one walk with nine strikeouts in six shutout innings for Minnesota at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park.
It is the first time since 2018 the IronPigs have had at least three players selected to the postseason all-star team (Joey Meneses, Cole Irvin, Mitch Walding, Pedro Beato). Abel is the fourth IronPig to earn pitcher of the year honors, following Tyler Cloyd (2012), Jake Thompson (2016) and Irvin (2018).
Kemp slashed .310/.417/.570 with 16 homers, 67 RBIs, 64 runs, 13 stolen bases and a franchise-record 19 hit by pitches in 74 games with Lehigh Valley. On April 22 he was hit by a pitch a club-record four times. He was first in the IL in home runs (14), runs (49), total bases (133), RBIs (55), extra-base hits (34), slugging percentage (.594) and OPS (1.010), tied for second in doubles (19), third in hits (70) and fifth in batting average (.313) and on-base percentage (.416) at the time of his first call-up to the Phillies. The IronPigs were 53-21 with him in the lineup.
Crawford set a franchise record by hitting .334 in 112 games, good enough for the IL batting title, the first in franchise history. He slashed .334/.411/.452 with seven homers, 47 RBIs and 46 stolen bases before seeing his season end Sept. 4 due to a concussion. He was third in the IL in OBP and stolen bases, second in hits (147) and first in runs (88). Crawford was voted the IronPigs’ hitter of the year.
Abel was IL pitcher of the month for May and pitcher of the week in mid-July. He was 7-2 with a 2.31 ERA in 13 starts with the IronPigs. He struck out 81 in 74 innings. The right-hander made his MLB debut with the Phillies on May 18, striking out nine batters with no walks, and tying Curt Simmons for the most strikeouts by a Phillies pitcher in his debut since at least 1901.
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
Source: Berkshire mont