The Aberdeen IronBirds are still looking for their stroke. The team has fallen five-and-a-half games behind the first-place Staten Island Yankees in the McNamara Division of the New York-Penn League. In their first five games after hosting the league all-star game last Wednesday, Aberdeen went 3-2.
IronBirds first baseman Chris Vinyard began to pull out of his slump just before the all-star game. He was named the NYPL player of the week for Aug. 13-20, when he bated .429 with five doubles, a triple and a home run with six runs scored and three runs batted in. Vinyard said that Aberdeen has had trouble losing to teams they should beat.
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“We took four out of six on the road before the break,” he said. “We should not have lost a single game to those two teams [Williamsport and Vermont]. Hopefully, we can come out and win the games we should and be No. 1 or No. 2 in the last few weeks.”
At the all-star game, Vinyard won the home-run derby and played the entire length of the game. He was joined by Miguel Abreu and Luis Lebron as the IronBirds? all-stars. Abreu said that in the last part of the season, he is working on having good at-bats.
“I have been wasting a lot of at-bats, and I am going to try now to not swing too hard,” he said. “I like to swing at the first-pitch fastball. That is my best pitch. I just say, ?Throw me a fastball and I will swing.?”
Batting .274 through Monday, Abreu also has shown his versatility as a fielder this season by playing nearly every position in the infield and outfield.
“I don?t care,” he said. “Wherever the coach puts me I?ll play. I just want to swing.”
Manager Andy Etchebarren has said several times that Abreu is a special player, but Abreu knows he has to work counts more and try to get walks. In Aberdeen, Abreu has 21 strikeouts to six walks in 212 at-bats.
“That is something I need to work on a little bit, but I love to swing,” Abreu said.
Aberdeen will make a push for first place this week with six games through Sunday against Staten Island and the second-place Brooklyn Cyclones.
