August 18, 2009 at 11:59 PM
Players of the Week, August 10-16: Daniel Nava & Derrick Loop
This week's polling hilighted an unlikely pair of SoxProspects.com Player of the Week winners, Portland's Daniel Nava and Salem's Derrick Loop both of whom were independent league signees and were teammates on the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League at this time in 2007. Nava batted .381/.500/.762 in 26 plate-appearances over 6 games last week with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, 8 runs scored, 4 RBI and took 5 walks without a single strikeout. Loop worked three perfect innings last week in three appearances, 1 inning-pitched each time, and struck out 5 opposing batters. On the season Nava, age 26, is hitting .354/.463/.569 with 4 home runs, 15 doubles, 2 triples and 23 RBI 144 at-bats over 40 games between Portland and Salem, with the majority (109 at-bats) coming at Salem. Loop, age 25, owns a 3-3 record with 15 saves in 62.2 innings-pitches over 43 appearances (1 start) with Salem in 2009, allowing 12 earned runs on 49 hits for a 1.72 ERA and holding opposing batters to a .223 average ... Salem's Mike Jones was named Carolina League Player of the Week for the same period.