Jett Bandy has been complimented on his defense in each of the two seasons he's spent with the Arkansas Travelers, but the catcher has added an offensive element over the past eight weeks that could accelerate his career faster than anything else.
Bandy drove a first-pitch fastball from Eddie Butler down the left-field line for his team-high 12th home run Friday night as the Travs beat the Tulsa Drillers 4-1 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
An announced crowd of 7,569 watched as the Travs won their second consecutive game to stay five games ahead of the Springfield Cardinals in the Texas League North Division with 11 games remaining. They also saw Bandy continue his offensive resurgence that began in June.
"Just been working on things that I've been hearing all year, and it just started clicking," Bandy said.
Bandy, 24, added a one-out single in the sixth for his second two-hit game in the four-game series to raise his batting average to .253 for the season. Since the start of the second-half June 17, Bandy is hitting .294 with 8 home runs -- third among Class AA catchers -- and 20 of his 39 RBI on the season have come in the second half. His .500 slugging percentage is third among Class AA catchers in the second half.
Bandy said the improvement has come from simplifying a swing that had been affected by the fatigue that comes with catching 86 games.
"It's funny, ever since I've been young -- high school and college -- I've always been an offensive guy," Bandy said. "Pro ball has a big emphasis on defense and dealing with a pitcher, and now it's nobody thinks I can hit.
"I always knew I can hit. It's just starting to click."
Arkansas Manager Phillip Wellman credits Bandy's improvement to being more selective, shying away from pitches thrown in the dirt or on the inside half of the plate. Wellman also isn't shy about what effects he feels a more lively bat can have on Bandy's career.
"It's the difference between him being a starter in the big leagues and being a backup," he said. "He's going to play in the big leagues. His bat is going to determine what role he's going to play in the big leagues, because he can catch and throw in the big leagues right now."
Bandy hasn't let his defense suffer at the expense of his hitting, either. His 86 games caught this season are second-most in the Texas League, and his .996 fielding percentage leads all Texas League catchers. He has thrown out 48 base runners and caught 41 percent of potential base stealers.
He didn't need to throw out any Tulsa runners Friday, considering Kramer Sneed and two relievers let few runners on base.
Sneed (8-10) scattered 7 hits over 6 innings while striking out 4, and he didn't walk a batter. The only mistake he made came in the fourth when Trevor Story hit his eighth home run of the season to left field to make it 4-1. But Sneed got Jayson Langfels to ground out to end the inning, then pitched around a single in the fifth and a double in the sixth to earn the victory.
"Kramer pounded the zone the best I've ever seen him," Wellman said. "He just made up his mind that he was going to throw the ball over the plate and whatever happened happened, and he got positive results."
Sports on 08/23/2014