2013: Back to the Postseason
March 26 was Opening Day for the 2020 MLB season… or at least it would have been, if not for the COVID-19 outbreak that has put our entire world, and basically all sports, on an indefinite hold. However, without the coronavirus, today would have been 7 days until MiLB Opening Day. With 15 seasons in the books for the West Virginia Power, it’s to turn back the calendar and revisit each of the first 15 Opening Days in Power history.
We opened the first chapter of the West Virginia Power with the 2005 Opening Day game in Hagerstown. Friday, we looked back at the first home opener in team history in 2006. The winning streak continued Saturday with the 2007 opener, and then we dredged through the rain-soaked 2008 debut. We relived the excitement from the 2009 All-Star season, moved on to the 2010 campaign, and dove into the 2011 opener. We broke down one of the heaviest MLB-laden teams in the 2012 season, and now we see a return trip to the postseason in 2013.
The 2013 season would bring some light to the Power after a few dismal years. Following a four-year hiatus, the team put all the pieces together once again, working their way into the postseason for the first time since 2008 after claiming the second-half Northern crown (they would lose in the Divisional Series, 2 games to 1, to the Hagerstown Suns). New manager Michael Ryan guided West Virginia to an 82–58 record, tied for the second-most wins in a single season in Power history, and the team’s first winning mark since that 2008 campaign. Ryan certainly inherited quite the crop of talent from the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system in 2013, including seven future big-leaguers and several players who just had tremendous halves and/or seasons in Charleston that year.
Opening Day, however, was another disappointing performance. For the first and only time in team history, the Power faced off with the Asheville Tourists in their opening game, and Asheville promptly blanked West Virginia, 3–0, at Appalachian Power Park. The first three games of the inaugural series were ones to forget, as the Tourists outscored the Power 22–7, including a 15–6 bashing in game two (West Virginia would salvage the series finale, 6–5, in 11 innings).
The Power was held to two hits, the same number of knocks they had in their lone other shutout loss on Opening Day (2011 vs. Savannah, 8–0). Josh Bell and Walker Gourley were the only players with a base hit in the opener, while the rest of the lineup went 0-for-27 with 11 strikeouts, including four from future Midseason All-Star Stetson Allie. Opening Day starter Joely Rodriguez, one of four members in that Power lineup that would make the big leagues, pitched rather well, hurling five innings and ceding just two runs while striking out a season-best eight batters. Bell, Dilson Herrera and Max Moroff were the three others from that starting nine to crack the show (Tyler Glasnow, Clay Holmes and Josh Smith are the remaining trio from the 2013 team to get to the bigs).
Let’s delve into Allie first.
Allie only spent one half of a season with West Virginia, and he absolutely destroyed the South Atlantic League. In just 66 games, Allie mashed 17 bombs, the fifth-best mark in Power history, and collected 61 RBI while accumulating a .324 average. That was in just 66 games! I mean, c’mon…. that’s ridiculous. Also, he won two SAL Player of the Week awards, snag a Midseason All-Star nod and earn Organizational All-Star honors at the end of the year. Look at the current records in Charleston, WV SAL history for homers and RBI: 24 homers (Stephen Chapman in 2007) and 102 RBI (Jason Parsons in 1997). I’m not a fortune teller, but I can say with relative confidence that Allie would have crumbled those marks with relative ease had he spent the entire year in The Capital City. Using an online on-pace-for calculator, Allie was predicted to total 36 homers and 129 RBI if he continued his tenure in Charleston through September 2013. Those marks are a bit exaggerated, but like I said, he’d have broken the records. Ah, what could have been….
Ok, now let’s get into Bell and Glasnow, the team’s two Postseason All-Stars. A quick note before that: West Virginia had six Midseason All-Stars (Allie, Bell, Orlando Castro, Glasnow, Gourley and Herrera), the second-most All-Stars in team history (8 in 2007). Anyways, on to Bell and Glasnow.
After making his pro debut with West Virginia in 2012 and being limited to only 15 games due to injury, Bell returned to the Power in 2013 and put together a tremendous season. In 2013, the Irving, Texas, native boasted a .279 clip with 13 homers and 76 RBI in 119 games, along with 37 doubles, tied for the fourth-best mark in Charleston, WV SAL history. That season ignited his meteoric rise to the Major Leagues, as he debuted with the Pirates in 2016. On his way up the ladder, he was a Midseason All-Star from 2013–2016, an Organizational All-Star from 2014–16, a Postseason All-Star in 2013, 2014 and 2016, a Florida State League MVP, a two-time Futures Game selection and a Baseball America High-A All Star. Yeah, talk about a resume, and most of that came after his time in West Virginia. Oh, and he didn’t hit below .295 in his remaining three years in the Minors.
As for Glasnow, his full-season debut year was remarkable as well, as he went 9–3 with a 2.18 ERA in 24 games, hurling 111.1 innings and punching out 164 men, which was the Power record for strikeouts in a single season at that point (Luis Escobar would break it in 2017 with 168 Ks). He also held batters to a .142 clip against him. You just don’t see numbers like that anymore in the Minor Leagues with the constant state of flux most rosters are in. Glasnow had a similar accelerated surge to Pittsburgh in 2016, so let’s break down his accolades as well.
- 2013: Midseason All-Star, Postseason-All-Star, MiLB.com Organizational All-Star, Topps Class A All-Star
- 2014: Baseball America Minor League and High-A All-Star, Florida State League Most Valuable Pitcher, MiLB.com Staff Choice for Best Starting Pitcher, MLBPipeline.com Pitcher of the Year, Postseason-All-Star, MiLB.com Organizational All-Star
- 2015: MiLB.com Organizational All-Star
- 2016: Baseball America Triple-A All-Star, MLBPipeline.com Pitcher of the Year, Midseason All-Star, MiLB.com Organizational All-Star
Some of the reasons he garnered all of these honors: Glasnow pitched at least 100 innings, posted sub-2.50 ERAs, struck out at least 130 men and held batters under a .200 average against him each season from 2013–2016.
One other player to note from the 2013 roster is the team’s closer, Jhondaniel Medina, who was a perfect 13-for-13 in saves that season, tied for the 4th-most saves in a season in Power history. His other numbers: 2–2 with a 1.78 ERA in 28 games and a .164 average against him.
The 2013 season was certainly one to remember in the Kanawha Valley. Let’s see what the 2014 campaign had in store tomorrow!
