2014 season recap
The 2014 Hagerstown Suns finished one win shy of clinching their first ever South Atlantic League Championship, falling in five games to the Asheville Tourists in the best-of-five South Atlantic League Championship Series. It was the second consecutive year the Suns had lost in the League Championship Series, and the third consecutive year the Suns made the postseason. Hagerstown finished the regular season with an 87-53 record, which tied with Greensboro for the best regular season record in the Northern Division. The Suns dispatched the Grasshoppers two games to none in the best-of-three Northern Division Championship Series.
The 87 wins during the regular season were the second most in team history, and there were a number of impressive individual performances throughout the season that led to the overall team's success. Starting middle infielder Wilmer Difo took home the league's MVP honor after hitting .315 during the regular season (sixth best average in the league among those who qualified) and finishing first in the league in games played (136), at-bats (559), and hits (176). He also finished in the top five in the league in RBI (4th - 90), stolen bases (2nd - 49), extra-base hits (3rd - 52), runs scored (4th - 91), and total bases (2nd - 263). In addition Difo led the team by slugging 14 homeruns.
While Difo secured the league's top honor for a position player, RHP Lucas Giolito received the Most Outstanding Pitcher award from the league as well as the Most Outstanding Major League Prospect award. Giolito was limited in the number of innings he could throw throughout the year as he was in his first full season after undergoing Tommy John surgery right after he was drafted by the Nationals in the first round in 2012. Despite the limited workload Giolito certainly impressed in the innings he was allowed to throw, going 10-2 with a 2.20 ERA in 20 starts. In 98.0 innings pitched he gave up just 28 runs (24 earned) on 70 hits, striking out 110 while only walking 28. Giolito limited opponents to a .197 batting average against.
Joining Giolito and Difo in representing the Suns on the league's annual All-Star team was CF Rafael Bautista. Bautista led the league in stolen bases with 69 in 84 attempts during the regular season. Those 69 stolen bases set a Suns team record for number of steals by an individual in a single season since the team has been a member of the South Atlantic League. As a team the Suns led the league with 235 steals in 140 games, which was 26 more steals than Asheville, who finished second in that category. As a team the Suns finished the regular season third in hitting (.273 average) and fifth in pitching (3.74 team ERA).
In addition to the year-end recognition received by Difo, Giolito, and Bautista for their outstanding play throughout the season, there were other individuals who received both weekly and monthly awards. RHP Nick Pivetta, who finished third in the league with 13 wins, 3B Drew Ward, and 1B Jimmy Yezzo joined Giolito in being named the league's player or pitcher of the week at least once during the year. RHP Reynaldo Lopez was named the league's player of the month for the month of August, as he went 3-0 in the month with a 0.27 ERA in six starts. All of these spectacular individual performances made the 2014 season one of the most memorable in team history.