Dash All-Star Promotion

A new month brings another promotion. This call up will be a tough one to stomach though for Dash fans. Carolina League All-Star Brady Shoemaker moves up to Double-A Birmingham for the first time in his career. It is an inevitable part of minor league baseball when a player does well at a lower level he moves up through the system. It is great to see  Shoemaker get rewarded for a spectacular season, but the Dash will have to find a way to replicate the solid offense he brought to the team.

In a corresponding roster move Ross Wilson was recalled from Kannapolis. Wilson started the season with the Dash and played eight games in the infield, hitting just .167 before being sent down. However, in Kannapolis he prospered while developing into a multi-faceted infield and outfield player.

Wilson also found his power in Kannapolis. In his eighth game with the Intimidators Wilson drove in a career-high eight runs and slugged three home runs. He played in 64 games, finishing with a .277 average, seven HR and 33 RBI.

Brady Shoemaker leaves Winston-Salem after playing in 78 games with the Dash, compiling a .331 batting average, 13 HR and 59 RBI. He departs the Carolina League as the league leader in batting average, RBI, runs (61) and total bases (156). Shoemaker was also in the top five in a number of offensive categories, including home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and extra-base hits.

Brady Shoemaker moves up to Double-A for the first time after hitting .331with 13 HR and 59 RBI for the Dash (Steve Orcutt/W-S Dash).

Shoemaker was named to an All-Star team for the second straight season after being named to the South Atlantic All-Star team in 2011. This year, Shoemaker represented the hometown Dash in the All-Star Game at BB&T Ballpark and won the Home Run Derby, beating former Winston-Salem Warthog C.J. Retherford in the final round.

The Dash will miss and possibly struggle to replace the offensive output Shoemaker contributed to the team, but what will be impossible to duplicate is his presence in the clubhouse. Shoemaker was well-respected by everyone on the team and essentially a de facto leader on the field. Shoemaker played in left field for 68 of his 78 games with the Dash. That stability and consistent production can be hard to find in the minors.

Shoemaker joins fellow position players Daniel Wagner and Jake Oester in Birmingham. Kyle Bellamy, Andre Rienzo, Spencer Arroyo, Nick McCully and Jon Bachanov comprise the Dash pitching that was promoted to the Double-A level during June.

A new month kicks off with more changes,  and the Dash will move forward with a new look in left field.

-Mike