News
HWB Quartet Selected for Futures Game
Kyle Galdeira
06/27/08
A quartet of Hawaii Winter Baseball alumni will represent
the U.S. Team in the 10th annual XM Satellite Radio All-Star Futures Game at
Infielders Mat Gamel and Chris Valaika (North Shore Honu, 2007) along with outfielders Dexter Fowler and Nate Schierholtz (Waikiki BeachBoys, 2006) are the four HWB veterans ingrained in the U.S. Team roster.
Players are selected by Major League Baseball and its 30 organizations, as well as from input from MLB.com and Baseball America.
Gamel, a prospect out of the Milwaukee Brewers organization,
took Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year honors as a third
baseman for North Shore last fall. The 22-year-old Chipola (
Schierholtz represents the San Francisco Giants organization, and has been anxiously awaiting his return to the Major League club since getting extensive playing time there last season. At Triple-A Fresno, Schierholtz is hitting a healthy .297 with 14 doubles, eight triples, 11 home runs and 48 RBIs. He also hit for the cycle on May 26.
Fowler is projected as the Colorado Rockies centerfielder of the future, and has impressed at Double-A Tulsa thus far. Through 74 games with the Drillers, Fowler owns a .314 batting average to go along with 21 doubles, five triples, seven home runs and 45 RBIs. The speedy 22-year-old has also stolen 15 bases and scored 60 runs.
Valaika, a Cincinnati Reds infield prospect, is hitting .311
with 11 home runs and 48 RBIs in the minors this season. He has split time
between
