'Hitting is contagious': Amador's trio of homers paces High-A Spokane
Adael Amador cannot be stopped.
The No. 2 Rockies prospect put on a show Saturday, hitting three home runs in five at-bats in a 13-5 Spokane victory over Everett. These home runs -- his sixth, seventh and eighth of the season -- came on the heels of a two-hit night, which featured yet another home run.
There’s clearly something in the water as the 20-year-old shortstop (MLB’s No. 53 prospect) was joined by three teammates in the long ball column. No. 9 prospect Jordan Beck followed Amador’s leadoff blast with one of his own. Yanquiel Fernandez, the 10th-ranked Rockies’ prospect, rounded out the first inning with his eighth dinger of the season. Braxton Fulford joined the party in the top of the third.
Amador upped the ante in the fourth inning with his second roundtripper of the night. Fernandez followed suit in the fifth inning. Not to be outdone, Amador tallied his third in the sixth for the first three-home run game of his young career.
Prior to this offensive deluge, Amador was slugging .405 with just four home runs -- he raised that mark 116 points in one fell swoop. According to hitting coach Zach Osborne, the newfound success is thanks in part to a streamlined approach:
“Honestly, I think he is simplifying things, just trying to slow the game down.”
Building off of this simplified approach, the Indians posted 13 hits. This season, they lead the Northwest League in multiple team offensive categories -- home runs (53), average (.289), on-base percentage (.377) and slugging percentage (.499) among them.
“They were completely locked in, ready to hit the fastball," Osborne said. "This team really feeds off each other. You always hear hitting is contagious, and that’s kind of what it was tonight.”