Bearcats in the Big Leagues: Now Walk it Out

Josh Harrison

Josh Harrison went on an adventure Tuesday night. He stepped to the plate with no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Pittsburgh Pirates tied 2-2 with the Milwaukee Brewers. On the second pitch he saw from Milwaukee reliever Tyler Thornburg, Harrison blasted the ball deep to right center. Milwaukee's center fielder banged into the wall attempting to make a catch, but failed to do so. Harrison, running hard the entire time, blazed past first and second and rounded for third. The ball came in quickly from the outfield and Milwaukee nearly managed to throw Harrison out at third, but the relay throw went wild, allowing Harrison to get up, dust himself off and celebrate his way on to home plate, scoring the winning run. It was not the most conventional way to win a baseball game, but it was still a way to win one.

Harrison was credited with a triple on that play, which is one of only four hits he has had in 20 at-bats and as many plate appearances since the All-Star break. Although that is not an incredibly strong success rate, Harrison has been finding gaps in the outfield, with three of those knocks going for extra bases. The bad news is his batting averagehas dipped to .269 and his on-base percentage (.298) has tumbled below the .300 threshold.

Ian Happ

While we don't want to officially say Happ is in a slump, the fact that over the last 10 games he is batting .171, has not recorded an RBI or home rune and has struck out 10 times is not the greatest sign that he isn't. Happ did go 2-for-5 with two runs scored against Montgomery last Sunday, but he has gone 1-for-11 since, including a three strikeout game on Wednesday. He is batting .305 with two home runs and 11 RBI in Double-A since being called up, but more weeks like this one will just erode that progress.

Tony Campana

Campana has now played a dozen games for the Charlotte Knights and is batting just .194 with only two extra-base hits in 36 total at-bats. His combined slash line in Triple-A this season is just .218/.295/.231. A hot streak would do him some good.

Connor Walsh

After missing a month and a day, spending most of that time on the seven-day DL, Walsh finally returned to the diamond on Tuesday. It was a brilliant way to come back, as he struck out three batters in a scoreless inning of work. The reliever is 1-2 with a 2.48 ERA in 20 appearances  for the Single-A Advanced Winston-Salem Dash.

Ryan Atkinson

Atkinson remains on the active roster for the Missoula Osprey, but he has not made an appearance since July 9.