GLENDALE — The following are updates on the area’s Major League Baseball players.
Freddy Sanchez (Glendale Community College, 1998) infielder, Pittsburgh Pirates: The former Vaqueros standout is displaying some unexpected power this season for the Pirates.
He’s slugged seven home runs in 106 games, a career best. His previous best was last season when he hit six round-trippers.
Sanchez, 29, has been able to steadily raise his batting average throughout the season after a slow start. Through Monday’s game against the visiting New York Mets, he was batting .305 with 134 hits, 55 runs scored, 48 runs batted in and 30 doubles.
He has been on a tear as of late, hitting .395 in his last 10 games. He also had nine RBIs during that span. Sanchez has also feasted on left-handed pitching this season, as he is batting .367.
Sanchez is coming off a 2006 season in which he hit .344 and captured the National League Batting Championship. He is the 11th player in club history to capture a batting title and the first since Bill Madlock in 1983.
Jason Hirsh (St. Francis High, 2000) pitcher, Colorado Rockies: The 25-year-old Hirsh broke his right leg during an outing Aug. 8 — and kept on pitching against the Milwaukee Brewers.
X-rays revealed the fracture, a day after Milwaukee’s J.J. Hardy lined a ball off Hirsh’s leg during the first inning of Colorado’s 11-4 win. Despite the injury, Hirsh pitched five more innings.
Hirsh allowed three runs — two earned — and three hits in six innings, throwing 87 pitches and improving his record to 5-7.
Before an MRI revealed the break, Hirsh said the calf was “tight,” and he was surprised by the diagnosis.
The team placed him on the 15-day disabled list Thursday.
The Rockies could have put Hirsh on the 60-day DL, but it seems they think there’s still a chance of him returning this season.
Earlier this season, Hirsh spent a month on the DL because of a sprained right ankle.
On the season in 19 games, Hirsh has pitched 112 1/3 innings, allowing 103 hits and 48 walks, while striking out 75 for a 4.81 earned-run average.
Gregg Zaun (St. Francis High, 1989) catcher, Toronto Blue Jays: Toronto began a three-game home series Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Zaun entered Tuesday’s contest batting .256 (53 for 207) with six home runs and 31 runs batted in.
Zaun, who signed a new contract with Toronto during the offseason, has posted 16 doubles.
