Stetson Allie, Josh Bell & The Home Run Prowess of West Virginia Power

The big name for the West Virginia Power this year has been Stetson Allie. After two more home runs last night, his third multi-homer game of the season, the Ohio native is tied for fourth in all of minor league baseball.   But it’s not only Allie who is slugging bombs for the Power who have hit 35 bombs as a team–still far behind the Hickory ballclub that has crushed an impressive 69 homers in 44 games.

The Ohio slugger leads the South Atlantic League in runs batted in with 38, has crushed twelve bombs, has 54 hits and a slugging percentage of .622–all of his accomplishments are good enough for second place in the SAL.

We showed you some of Allie’s work in this post recently, but we added a few more for you to admire below.  [We will add Allie’s bomb show at the end for you in case you missed it.]

Umm…watch this bomb which is absolutely crusched by Josh Bell.  It put the Power in the lead in the seventh inning on May 11.

On Mother’s Day West Virginia’s Dilson Herrera hit a two-run homer in Power’s 6-2 win over Lexington

A couple days earlier Herrera hit a solo shot in a 2-1 loss to the Lexington Legends

Allie has those 12 bombs, Josh Bell has six and Herrera has five.

Stetson Allie Slugging Homers:  [posted at the beginning of May]

Stetson Allie is approaching 100 at-bats. The numbers are amazing.

Allie has been converted from a hitter to a pitcher and back again. In 97 at-bats, the Pirates slugger has 34 hits – including two doubles and eight bombs with 26 runs batted in to send his numbers through the roof–a .351 batting average, .600 slugging, and an OPS of 1.069.

The high school third baseman turned pitcher has been crushing opposite-field home runs, as directed by West Virginia Power coach Orlando Merced. The homers have been exciting to read about, but even more thrilling to see on video.

A video from Mike Newman takes a close look at Allie’s swing. The breaking balls seem to be a battle in a few of these clips and have likely led to the 33 strikeouts for the slugging first-baseman / DH.

This is the homer Allie hit on April 16, and it reveals what Allie must have known all along. He has to feel confident at the plate, a confidence he was never able to find while on the mound.

The Bucs picked Allie back in the second round of the 2010 Draft. The Ohio native received a $2.25 million signing bonus, but it was with the thought that he would be a pitcher.

After making seven starts and 15 appearances for the short season State College Spikes, it was evident he was unable to harness his electric stuff. We remember watching him easily strikeout everyone in sight, but he always struggled with control, putting up 29 walks and 28 strikeouts over 26 innings.

Without a powerful first baseman in the Pirates system, it’s great seeing him have success as a hitter.