RECORD-SETTING SEASON FOR THE SALT LAKE BEES
The Salt Lake Bees finished their 28th season with a 70-80 record , finishing fourth in the Pacific Coast League ’ s western division . The 150-game season was the longest schedule for a Salt Lake City based baseball team since the 1964 Salt Lake City Bees finished with a 58-98 record .
It was the year of the pitcher for the Bees as the team led the PCL in earned run average for the first time in franchise history . Bees pitchers had seven shutouts during the season and set a franchise record by striking out 1,269 batters during the year . Cesar Valdez and Jake Kalish tied for the league lead with 10 wins each with Valdez taking home the league ERA title with a 3.94 mark , best among qualified pitchers .
Change was a constant on offense as only three players ( Kean Wong , Jake Gatewood and Dillon Thomas ) appeared in more than 100 games for the Bees . Wong set a franchise record with 41 stolen bases during the season , finishing third in the league . Gatewood led the team with 22 home runs , while Thomas finished tops on the club with 77 RBIs .
Over the course of the season 29 different players were called up from the Bees to the Angels . Six players – Brendon Davis , David MacKinnon , Gerardo Reyes , Kenny Rosenberg , Michael Stefanic and Nash Walters – made their Major League debuts this season after playing for Salt Lake . The Bees also hosted injury rehab assignments from Angels stars Michael Lorenzen , Archie Bradley , Matt Duffy , David Fletcher and Mickey Moniak .
Awards were frequent for the Bees this year as the team took home a franchise record eight player of the week nods during the season . Four different Bees batters ( David MacKinnon , Jose Rojas , Orlando Martinez and Michael Stefanic ) won the award , breaking a streak of nearly eight years since the last Bees hitter to win the award . On the mound Cesar Valdez , Jhonathan Diaz and Davis Daniel won the pitcher of the week honor with Daniel winning the award twice in September . David MacKinnon took home the batter of the month award in May while Jake Kalish and Daniel each won pitcher of the month in May and September respectively .
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