TRENTON- It just keeps getting better for the Thunder in 2016. Thursday the Eastern League announced the participants for the All-Star game on July 12 in Akron, and five Trenton players got the call to take part in the festivities. Pitchers Dietrich Enns and Jordan Montgomery will join centerfielder Dustin Fowler, catcher Kyle Higashioka and shortstop Tyler Wade as all-stars. "It is an honor...
TRENTON- It just keeps getting better for the Thunder in 2016.
Thursday the Eastern League announced the participants for the All-Star game on July 12 in Akron, and five Trenton players got the call to take part in the festivities.
Pitchers Dietrich Enns and Jordan Montgomery will join centerfielder Dustin Fowler, catcher Kyle Higashioka and shortstop Tyler Wade as all-stars.
"It is an honor to get recognized, and get invited to go to," Fowler said. "It is something that you always want to strive to do in the season. We are going to go out there and have fun, and not overthink things."
"You can't think you are doing well enough to stop doing the things that got you there," Fowler said. "You have to progress as much as possible. But there are plenty of people on this team that could have made it too. We have a great team, and a bunch of great guys, and it will be nice to all be able to play together."
Thunder manager Bobby Mitchell was happy for his players, and thought there could have been a larger representation for his Trenton squad.
"We could have had more," Mitchell said. "They only pick two pitchers from every team. If that is the rule, that is the rule. But if they didn't have it, we probably would have had more, in my opinion."
"It was also good that they made and adjustment with Higgy (Kyle Higashioka)," Mitchell said. "Initially, he wasn't really on, but he deserved to be on it. I know (Portland's catcher Jake) Romanski made it, and he (Higashioka) only had maybe 40 less at-bats than him, for the year."
"I know Romanski is hitting .300, but Higgy is hitting over .300 with a number of home runs, and RBI," Mitchell said. "It was good that he got to go. I think that is important."
"(When you get picked) it is compared to your peers," Mitchell said. "And other people, and other organizations, are noticing it. We can't include our own guys in our list, when we vote, so obviously they are being noticed."
For Fowler, and his team mates, it is just more recognition of the season the Thunder are having at the moment. With the last-place Richmond Flying Squirrels in town, for the first of a four-game set, Trenton is 50-29. While the Thunder still trail Reading, which has the best record of any team in professional baseball at 56-23, by six games, Trenton has opened up a six and a half game lead on Hartford.
"It is awesome," Fowler said. "All of us are playing together. It is great, and fun. We are having fun out there. That is what happens when you are winning. It is a lot better than losing. Hopefully we can keep it going, and continue to have a great season."
THUNDER HAVING FUN AT 21 GAMES OVER .500
With the Thunder and Reading looking very much like the two teams that will represent the Eastern Division in the playoffs, do the players ever have a look at the standings to see where they are?
"Unconsciously, you look at it from time to time," Fowler said. "But for the most part, we are just trying to go game-to-game, and win as much as possible."
Trenton reliever Alex Smith, who pitched two key innings of relief in the Thunder's crazy win Tuesday night, has started to take a look at the standings lately.
"I think we have been recently, just because we are so hot," Smith said. "But we are 21 games over .500, and we are still however many games behind. But we are opening a lead over Hartford, which is nice."
"At the end of the game last night, I said we have a really, really good team," Smith said. "I though that at the beginning of the year last year as well. It is awesome here right now. Everyone is happy, and having a good time. It is huge for us to get the early wins in each series, because everybody relaxes. And then we can just play in the final games of each series."
THUNDER COACHES REMEMBER CWS TRIPS
There were two big sporting events that had the players attention during the day Thursday, hours before the 7 p.m. game with the Flying Squirrels.
The College World Series came to a conclusion, with local coaches Kevin Schnall and Matt Schilling helping to lead Coastal Carolina to its first-ever Division 1 national championship in any sport.
But most of the attention pre-game went to the Portugal Poland Euro 2016 quarterfinal match, which had much of the team enthralled as the match went to penalties.
With the uptick in fans at the ball park wearing jerseys of various national and club teams, Smith, who is a massive Arsenal fan, is excited to see that the sport is getting more notice.
"It is getting pretty big over here, which is awesome," Smith said. "It is a huge sport everywhere else. Obviously we have all the other sports. But it is incredible. I love seeing it get big."
Contact Sean Miller at seanmillertrentontimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheProdigalSean