Wilson, Zavolas dominate en route to weekly awards

Salem slugger, Carolina righty excel in first week of second half

Photos via John Wacher/Salem Red Sox and Evan Moesta/Carolina Mudcats

June 24, 2019

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (June 24, 2019) - Even though the Carolina League had a short week following the All-Star Classic, Salem outfielder Marcus Wilson and Carolina right-hander Noah Zavolas posted remarkable weeks to claim the Carolina League's Player and Pitcher of the Week awards, respectively, the league office announced on Monday.Wilson

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (June 24, 2019) - Even though the Carolina League had a short week following the All-Star Classic, Salem outfielder Marcus Wilson and Carolina right-hander Noah Zavolas posted remarkable weeks to claim the Carolina League's Player and Pitcher of the Week awards, respectively, the league office announced on Monday.
Wilson paced the circuit in most offensive categories following a four-game stretch that featured four multi-hit performances. Traded from Arizona's system to Boston's back in mid-April, Wilson was atop the CL this week in batting average (.615), home runs (4), RBIs (8), hits (8), total bases (21) and OPS (2.303). Even though Wilson and the rest of the league only played four games, he still finished tied for fourth in Minor League Baseball in home runs, while his OPS was behind only Sean Bouchard of Lancaster.

Since joining Salem on May 18, Wilson has been one of the most productive hitters in the CL. The Los Angeles native is hitting .348 with seven homers and 21 RBIs. He has claimed a weekly award for the second time in his career, with the first coming in mid-April while in the Low-A Midwest League.
One week after John King posted the first nine-inning complete game of the Carolina League season, Zavolas one-upped him on Sunday with the first nine-inning shutout the league has seen since August 25, 2018, when Potomac's Matthew Crownover no-hit Lynchburg. Zavolas surrendered just two hits and fanned a career-high 11 P-Nats in the Mudcats' 3-0 victory in Woodbridge. Zavolas retired the final 16 batters he faced to clinch his first professional complete game.
Zavolas has been one of the league's steadiest pitching options. Not only is the former Harvard star third among league qualifiers with a 3.21 earned run average, but he leads the way with 84.0 innings of work.
Wilson's Red Sox and Zavolas' Mudcats open seven-game homestands on Monday. Salem welcomes Fayetteville for a three-game series before Winston-Salem comes to town for four, while Carolina squares off with Down East through Wednesday and Potomac over the weekend.