a 19-year-old in the ACL last year. An ISO of 200 is considered elite in the MLB where there’s a lot more power after players have had a chance to physically mature. Infielders The infielders set to play in Columbia this year are going to look really familiar—and that’s not a bad thing! Two of the Fireflies top bats at the end of 2022 were Daniel Vazquez and Lizandro Rodriguez who got early call-ups for a stint in the Carolina League prior to the end of the campaign. At the start of the 2023 campaign, a lot was put on those two to carry the Fireflies lineup during the Fireflies first half playoff run. Vazquez finished the season playing a career-high 113 games, nearly doubling his
previous mark of 77, and tripling his previous home run personal best while hitting .223. On the other side of the bag, Rodriguez launched seven round-trippers, a career-best, while hitting .235 in 118 contests. Rodriguez will be 21 this whole season, the age of a college junior and Vazquez won’t turn 21 until December. These two were signed in the same International Signing Period and have been paired as a middle infield tandem by the Royals for three seasons now. One last familiar face you’ll recognize is Austin Charles at the hot corner. A 2022 20th round selection from the Royals, Charles hit .239 in his first full season action last year. He’s another young player who will not turn 21 until November. Now Columbia will see a few new faces in the infield this year. Jhonny Perdomo, Chris Brito and Derlin Figueroa are all joining the squad for the first time. Brito was an undrafted free agent signed this winter out of Rutgers. Brito’s dad enjoyed a cup of coffee in the bigs, and might be the source of where Brito inherited his bat. After all, he set the all-time record for most homers (46) and RBI (200) at Rutgers. Perdomo has had a fantastic career that continued to blossom with a .336 average in the ACL in 2023 after an All-Star season in the DSL in 2022. Finally, Figueroa might be the most intriguing player in this group. He was acquired as one of two prospects the Dodgers sent back to KC for Ryan Yarbrough at the trade deadline last year. Despite some pedestrian numbers to start the year in the ACL, 11 games into his change in scenery appeared to be just what Figueroa needed. He went 20-35 (.571) with an out of this world 1.688 OPS after the trade deadline. Outfielders The final group of Fireflies is primarily composed of new faces. Brennon McNair and Erick Pena return, but both are moving around. McNair was exclusively an infielder in 2023 and is trying the outfield out for the first time in 2024 and Pena is moving from center to the corner outfield in his third season in the soda city. The moves are paving the way for the remaining outfielders Milo Rushford and Erick Torres. Rushford is another MLB legacy player, as his father played a few seasons in the show in the 90s. Rushford showed incredible bat to ball skills, hitting .333 in 32 games in the ACL in 2023 after just three games in 2022. He will get his first crack at full season baseball in 2024. Torres is a plus center fielder who also hit over .300 in a 32 game showing in the ACL last year. Both players are young, Rushford is 20 and Torres is 19 and should be fun to watch as they compete with each other at the plate and work together to cover a lot of ground in the vast Segra Park outfield in the 2024 season. CLICK FOR FULL ROSTER AND STATS
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