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Washington Nationals: Hagerstown Suns midseason review DoDcast

By Ricky Keeler |
Aug 1, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Detailed view of a Washington Nationals hat and baseball glove against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 1, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Detailed view of a Washington Nationals hat and baseball glove against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

We talked with Hagerstown Suns announcer Kevin Gehl about how the Washington Nationals Low-A affiliate did in the first half

This week, the Washington Nationals Low-A affiliate, the Hagerstown Suns, had their All-Star break. If you want to find the minor league team in the Nats system with the best record, look no further than the Suns. They did not win their division, but finished the first half with a 38-31 record.

Due to their success, the Suns had seven players and their entire coaching staff selected to the South Atlantic League All-Star game in Columbia on Tuesday. Sheldon Neuse won the league’s home run derby on Monday and Aldrem Corredor had a two-run single in the actual game.

During the first half, the Suns had one of the best offenses in the SAL. They were tied for the league lead in home runs and runs scored and led the league in batting average. This was all with top prospects shortstop Carter Kieboom and outfielder Juan Soto playing fewer than 30 games.

One of the surprises on the Suns is outfielder Daniel Johnson Jr. After hitting one home run with Auburn last year in short-season ball, he hit 13 home runs in the first half. Also, Neuse drove in a team high 37 RBI’s and the Suns had six players drive in 30 or more runs.

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On the mound, the Suns had two All-Stars in Mackenzie Mills and Tyler Watson. Mills went 7-2 with a 2.66 ERA in 12 starts (67.2 innings pitched) and has only lost one game since May 1. As for Watson, he had 67 strikeouts in 12 outings and went 4-0 with a 3.07 ERA in five starts in May.

To talk more about the Suns first half, my special guest on the DoDcast was Kevin Gehl, who is the play-by-play voice for Hagerstown. During our conversation, Gehl and I talked about what stood out to him about Kieboom and Soto, Johnson’s rise to the top of the order, and the team having a different hero every night. You can find the whole interview below:

Also, we talked about the two All-Star pitchers and the unique pitch that Sterling Sharp brings to the mound every fifth day. Finally, we talked about what is his favorite part about broadcasting Hagerstown games and what it was like having Tim Tebow there for Columbia last month.

Next: Goodwin quickly becoming valuable asset

You can follow Kevin on Twitter (@KevinGehlSuns) and be sure to listen to the Suns games during the second half of the season on HagerstownSuns.com. They begin the second half tonight against Greensboro (7:05 p.m ET first pitch). We would like to thank Kevin for taking the time to tell us about the Suns first half.

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