Cleburne Railroaders outfielder Aaron Altherr and Sioux City Explorers starter Austin Drury won the American Association’s Carbliss batter and pitcher of the week awards for the week ending 7/20, the league announced Monday.
Altherr dominated at the plate in Cleburne’s week on the road in Kane County and Milwaukee, leading the league in hitting with 11 hits in 24 at-bats (.458). Included in those was four home runs and a double, leading to 12 runs batted in and nine runs scored.
As Cleburne’s pitching staff stepped up and helped them to five big wins this week, Altherr made sure their efforts didn’t go for naught. In particular in Kane County, he drove in nine runs in those three games alone and had multiple hits in four games this week.
Altherr is a former major leaguer with the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets and San Francisco Giants. This is his first season in the American Association after also playing in the KBO, Frontier League and Mexican League since his time in the show.
On the pitching side, he may have not picked up the win despite pitching nine innings of shutout ball, but Drury did win pitcher of the week for his outstanding performance on Friday against Sioux Falls.
In a game the Explorers did eventually win 1-0 in 10 innings, Drury went nine frames allowing just three hits and two walks, striking out seven.
Drury is having an outstanding third season with Sioux City as part of the league’s best rotation. His ERA is down to 3.07, good enough for eighth in the league but just third on his own team behind Jared Wetherbee (2.55) and Kyle Marman (2.98).
Carbliss is the founding partner of the American Association.
