12 plays of 2018: Shuck shines in big week

Before the calendar flips to 2019, we celebrate the holidays by looking back at 12 moments from the New Orleans Baby Cakes' 2018 season.

August 5

Used almost exclusively as a pinch hitter by the Miami Marlins for the first three months of the season, J.B. Shuck took off once he received regular at-bats upon joining the Baby Cakes after the All-Star break.
After hitting .189 through his first 18 games with New Orleans, Shuck went 3-for-5 against Reno on July 25 to spark a 16-game stretch where he collected 27 hits in 56 at-bats, a .482 batting average which included a home run, six doubles and 13 runs scored. The highlight came on August 5 in Albuquerque, when Shuck reached base in all five plate appearances by going 4-for-4 with a double, a walk, a stolen base and the go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning to complete the Baby Cakes' comeback from a 4-0 sixth-inning deficit.
In five games from July 30-August 5, Shuck went 11-for-16 (.688) and reached base in 14 of 19 plate appearances to lead all of professional baseball for the week. For his efforts, Shuck was honored as the Pacific Coast League's Player of the Week.
Shuck's bat remained hot all the way through the end of the campaign, capped by three hits in the season finale. From July 25 through the end of the year, Shuck paced the circuit in both hitting (.393) and on-base percentage (.481).