Assad, Duran claim CL's weekly honors

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (May 20, 2019) - Myrtle Beach right-hander Javier Assad is the Carolina League's Pitcher of the Week for a second straight week, while Salem outfielder Jarren Duran pushed his overall batting average north of .400 en route to the league's Player of the Week honor, the league office announced on Monday.
Assad continued his assault on CL hitters with another gem on Wednesday against Winston-Salem. The Mexico native limited the Dash to just one hit--a Jameson Fisher single in the second--over seven sensational innings, during which he struck out nine. The Pelicans scored the game's lone run in the fifth to send Assad to his second win of the season.

Dating back to the fourth inning of his start on April 27 at Salem, Assad has churned out 21 consecutive scoreless innings, which have featured only six hits by the opposition. During this stretch, he has whittled his season-long earned run average from 5.06 to 2.19.
One week ago, Assad held first-place Down East to one hit over six shutout innings to pick up the league's weekly honor. Therefore, the 21-year-old has become the first Carolina League pitcher to rattle off back-to-back weekly wins since Lynchburg's Justin Garza accomplished the feat over the first two weeks of the 2018 season.
Duran has been one of the circuit's best players throughout the season, but he put together his best performance over the last seven games. The former seventh-round pick paced the Carolina League in hits (12), total bases (20) and doubles (5). His .444 batting average was third-best, while his 1.256 OPS trailed only Fayetteville's Miguelangel Sierra.
Thanks to his impressive week, Duran now boasts a season-long average of .406, which is 49 points above the next-closest CL qualifier. Only Yordan Alvarez of Round Rock (Triple-A, Houston) has a higher average in all of Minor League Baseball.