One night after a 4-for-4 performance where he launched three balls out of the park, Kole Calhoun makes it on base five times out of five, with three base-on-balls. The fifth appearance was a walk-off line-drive single that broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the ninth against Fresno.
The feat was particularly impressive as, after a leadoff Drew Heid triple, the next two batters struck out, and it looked like extra innings for sure. But Calhoun nailed the first pitch he saw, and delivered the Salt Lake Bees their fifth straight win, a PCL-leading 59th on the season.
He has made it on base nine consecutive times. He's hitting a preposterous .524/.583/.976 over his past ten games. He's also yet to make an error on the season, playing solid defense at each outfield position. He's the Bees' best player by a wide margin, and is simply demolishing AAA at this point.
Calhoun was drafted in the eighth round of the 2010 draft by the Angels. He made his major league debut last May 22 versus the Oakland Athletics and played in 25 games for the big club in 2012. Since then, he's toiled away in Salt Lake, where, with nothing left to prove, he's hitting .354/.428/.612 across 58 games.
Shame that he's a pale shadow of Brad Hawpe and J.B. Shuck, whose boundless potential skates wantonly over the plexiglass ceiling that Jerry Dipoto has erected to keep homegrown fan-fave talent in check.
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