Blake Wehunt takes home SAL Pitcher of the Week honors

Blake Wehunt, the tall and hard-throwing righty, was named the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week for his dominating start in Aberdeen, MD last week, Minor League Baseball announced today, marking the third Drive pitcher to take home the league's weekly honors this season; a season record for the Drive.

Wehunt, called up to Greenville back on June 4th from single-A Salem, tossed five hitless and scoreless innings with a walk and six strikeouts in a 1-0 victory over the Aberdeen IronBirds, a game in which he was credited with the win.

Wehunt faced the minimum 15 batters through five innings of exceptional and efficient work in a week where pitching carried the Drive to four-straight victories in the six-game series. His no-hit outing marked the second no-hit outing for Wehunt in High-A as he previously recorded one back on July 5th against the Asheville Tourists where he worked five innings while striking out nine.

Since his call up in June, Wehunt has started 10 games for the Drive, holding a 4.80 ERA across 45 innings pitched, allowing 26 runs on 37 hits with 11 walks and 49 strikeouts.

Weekly honors are no stranger to Wehunt as he was named the Carolina League Pitch of the Week back on May 5th while pitching with the single-A Salem Red Sox, marking two Player of the Week honors this season at two levels for the product of Kennesaw State University and Georgia native.

The honor marks the sixth time this season a member of the Drive has collected the league’s weekly honors as Wehunt joins previous honorees Tyler Miller, Juan Daniel Encarnacion, Cutter Coffey, Mikey Romero, and Yordanny Monegro. It also marks the eighth time this season in which a Drive player has received SAL honors as Kristian Campbell was named Player of the Month for May and Romero was named player of the Month for July.

Miller and Encarnacion, have been promoted to the AA Portland Sea Dogs, and Campbell has received two promotions to date; a promotion to Portland and now to the AAA Worcester Red Sox. Coffey was traded by the Red Sox in a package for Major League catcher Danny Jansen and is currently rostered with the Toronto Blue Jays’ High-A affiliate, the Vancouver Canadians.

Wehunt’s award marks the 20th time a Drive pitcher has won Pitcher of the Week honors since the Drive were established in 2006.