Hicklen, Politi rewarded for MiLB-leading weeks

Hicklen's home runs, Politi's hitless frames earn weekly awards

Photos via Ken Inness/MiLB.com and John Wacher/Salem Red Sox

August 26, 2019

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (August 26, 2019) - Wilmington's Brewer Hicklen led Minor League Baseball with five home runs en route to the Carolina League's Player of the Week award, while Salem's Andrew Politi was the only Minor Leaguer to throw nine innings without allowing a hit to collect the Pitcher of

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (August 26, 2019) - Wilmington's Brewer Hicklen led Minor League Baseball with five home runs en route to the Carolina League's Player of the Week award, while Salem's Andrew Politi was the only Minor Leaguer to throw nine innings without allowing a hit to collect the Pitcher of the Week award for August 19-25, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
Hicklen's signature performance came on Thursday against Salem, when he became the first Carolina Leaguer since Salem's Kyri Washington on May 4, 2018, to hit three home runs in a game. Hicklen's three-homer performance came one day after he blasted two homers in game one of a doubleheader.

A Year-End Carolina League All-Star, Hicklen also logged a Minor League-best 27 total bases last week, which were 13 more than any other CL hitter. The former seventh-round pick out of UAB posted a .400 average (11-for-25) with CL-leading totals in RBIs (9), hits (11) and OPS (1.563). Overall this season, Hicklen is hitting .268 with 14 homers, 50 RBIs and a league-best 38 stolen bases in 120 games.
Politi did not surrender a hit in his two outings last week. On Wednesday at Wilmington, the former Seton Hall star gave up one unearned run over four innings of work. Four days later, Politi blanked Myrtle Beach over five innings. Not only did Politi strike out five in both outings, but he averaged just 12 pitches per inning during the stretch.
The Long Valley, N.J., native had been used as a reliever in 28 of his first 30 appearances coming into last week. He lowered his earned run average to 3.51 thanks to his dominant nine innings of work, which propelled him, like Hicklen, to his first career Minor League weekly honor.
Hicklen and the Blue Rocks open up a four-game series in Lynchburg on Monday at 6:30 p.m., while Politi and the Red Sox travel to Winston-Salem to meet up with the Dash for the first of four games at 7 p.m. If the season ended Monday, the Blue Rocks and Red Sox would meet in the Northern Division Championship Series.