The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

CHAVEZ Young had one of his best offensive games of the season thus far and his timely hitting helped his club stay ahead in a close race atop the league standings.

Young homered, finished 3-4 with two RBI and scored twice in the 14-5 win for his Bluefield Blue Jays over the Burlington Royals at Bowen Field at Peters Park in Bluefield, Virginia, on Sunday.

With the win, the Blue Jays continue to lead the Appalachian League East Division and the entire league with a 38-19 record.

Burlington led 3-0 after the top half of the first inning but the Blue Jays responded with five runs in their half of the inning to take control. Young singled on a line drive to left field and was plated by a Kevin Smith double just moments later for the team's first run of the game.

Young was hit by a pitch in his at-bat in the second inning and in the third, he hit a two-run home run to centre field as the Blue Jays scored six runs in the frame to pull away.

Young currently leads the Appalachian League with six triples, is third in runs scored with 40, and seventh in total bases with 90.

Through 52 games this season, Young is also hitting .272 with, four stolen bases, slugging .423, an on-base percentage of .317, an OPS of .740 and three home runs.

Out of Faith Baptist Academy in Ludowici, Georgia, the Grand Bahama native was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays organisation in July 2016 and was assigned to the GCL Blue Jays as a rookie just days later.

This past June, Young began the summer with the Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League in Single-A Short-Season before he was reassigned to Bluefield.

Just 11 games remain in the regular season and the Blue Jays are 0.5 games ahead of the Pulaski Yankees and 10 games ahead of the third-placed Danville Braves.

The two teams with the best win-loss percentage in both the East and West Divisions, at the conclusion of the regular season, will qualify for the playoffs.

In Round 1 of the playoffs, each division winner will face the second-place finisher in their division.

In the event of a tie for a playoff spot, the winner will be the team that has the better record in head-to-head competition between the two tied clubs.

The Appalachian League is a rookie league comprised of teams located in the Appalachian regions of Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee.

The league's season starts in June after major league teams have signed players they selected in the annual amateur draft and ends in September.

Along with the Pioneer League, it forms the second-lowest rung on the minor league ladder.

Although classified as a Rookie league, the level of play is slightly higher than that of the two Rookie leagues based on the parent clubs' spring training complexes, the Gulf Coast League and Arizona League.