SPORTS

Going, going ... gone! Tourists on homer tear

Keith Jarrett
kjarrett@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE – Chicks dig the long ball — and so do the Asheville Tourists.

With 19-year-old Ryan McMahon leading the way — and the South Atlantic League — the Tourists have come out banging early in the season.

Going into Thursday night’s McCormick Field game versus Hickory, Asheville (8-6) had belted 18 homers, seven ahead of any other Sally team.

McMahon hit his sixth homer of the season, a solo shot in the third inning Thursday night.

The 18 homers in 12 games — Asheville didn’t leave the yard in its first two games of the season — are part of an impressive offense that also paces the league in batting average (.290) with a lusty slugging percentage of .466, the only team among 14 in the SAL above .400.

McMahon’s six homers leads the league, outfielder David Dahl’s four are tied for second and infielders Michael Benjamin and Correlle Prime (three each) are tied for third in the league.

The long balls are sailing out in bunches — 15 of the 18 homers came in an eight-game stretch.

“We’ve been on a quite a stretch of hitting home runs, but overall we’ve just been swinging the bat really well,” Asheville manager Fred Ocasio said.

With five left-handed hitters on the roster, including Dahl and McMahon, the all-season prospects of fly balls sailing over McCormick Field’s the 320-foot power-alley in right-center field are high.

“I think we have four or five guys capable of hitting 15-20 home runs, especially in this ballpark,” Ocasio said.

McMahon, a second-round pick of the parent club Colorado Rockies in last year’s draft, hit just four home runs in his senior year of high school last season in Yorba Linda, Calif.

But paying for play has brought out the power in the 6-2, 190-pound third baseman. He hit 11 home runs in 59 games at Grand Junction (Colo.) last year in rookie ball and now has 16 homers in his first 73 games as a pro.

“I don’t know what it is, to be honest with you,” McMahon said. “Maybe getting bigger and stronger — I’ve gained about 20 pounds since high school — but other than that I really can’t explain it.

“I’m just seeing the ball real well now and getting good at-bats, but I’m just trying to hit the ball hard and up the middle. I’m not thinking about home runs.”

“That’s Ryan getting stronger, more experience, more repetitions,” Ocasio said. “He just looks very comfortable at the plate right now.”

McMahon said it’s time to turn all this offense into more wins.

“We should be like 12-4 now, not 8-6,” he said. “So, if we can get the wins rolling, I’m sure the home runs will take care of themselves.”