Andrew Wantz Wins PCL Pitcher of the Week

SALT LAKE CITY (April 8, 2023) – Minor League Baseball announced today that Salt Lake Bees starting pitcher Andrew Wantz has won the first Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week Award for the 2024 season.

Wantz started for the Bees on Thursday against Tacoma and allowed a single run on two hits and one walk while striking out a career-high 11 Rainiers batters over six innings of work. His 11 strikeouts are the second most in a single game for any Minor Leaguer this season. The 11 strikeout performance is the most for a Salt Lake pitcher overall since Reid Detmers struck out 14 at Tacoma on June 29, 2022 and the most for a Bees pitcher at Smith’s Ballpark since Troy Scribner struck out 11 against Reno on June 28, 2017.

A UNC Greensboro product, Wantz was drafted by the Angels in the seventh round of the 2018 draft and has spent time in Salt Lake during each of the last four seasons. Primarily used as a reliever in his professional career, Wantz is transitioning to a starting pitcher role this year. The six inning start last week was tied for the longest of his career and was the first time since June 13, 2019 that Wantz had retired 18 batters in a single outing.

The Bees head to Las Vegas this week for a six-game series with the Aviators. Games during the series are set to take place at 8:05 p.m. from Tuesday-Saturday and 1:05 p.m. for Sunday’s finale and can be heard on the KSL Sports Network of streamed on the Bally Live app or MiLB.tv. The team returns to Smith’s Ballpark on Tuesday, April 16 for a six-game set with the Reno Aces.