Sarasota Sailors Baseball

LOWELL, Ma. – When it comes to baseball lingo there is a ballpark dialect that consists exclusively of mathematics.

 

Lowell Spinners' outfielder Danny Mars, whom the Boston Red Sox drafted in the sixth round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Chipola College in Florida, came out swinging to start the season and hasn't slowed down. The arithmetic produced by Mars this summer adds up to some mighty impressive statistics.

 

Mars had two hits in the Spinners' 7-0 loss to the State College Spikes before 3,466 fans at LeLacheur Park on Wednesday night to raise his batting average to .363 (49-for-135).

 

"I keep the same approach every game," said Mars. "I try not to think too much. I take the same swings that I take in the batting cage in the game, and try and make contact."

 

Mars has been making plenty of contact, emerging as a force in the leadoff spot. He has two homers, two triples, eight doubles, 16 RBI and a .419 on-base-percentage.

 

He has had multi-hits in each of the last five games, going 11-for-21 (.524) over that span. Mars, a switch hitter who stands 6 feet and weighs 195 pounds, entered Wednesday as the second leading hitter in the New York-Penn League, trailing only State College's Rowan Wick (.378 BA, 45-for-119), who was promoted to a higher level in late July.

 

"He's a scrapper," said Spinners' hitting coach Noah Hall. "He finds a way, and it's not always pretty. He just shows a good ability to make contact and hit the ball hard somewhere. He just finds holes and drives the ball into the gaps. He's short to the ball. When he makes contact, it's pretty solid. Today he even had a bloop hit, and that happens when you are going good."

 

Chipola is a junior college and Mars was committed to play at Florida State University before being drafted by the Red Sox. Mars batted .380 with four homers, 35 RBI and 22 stolen bases at Chipola.

 

"Obviously, my dream was to go to Florida State, but you can't turn down the Red Sox," said Mars, 20, who was born in Sarasota, Fla. "I've been leading off lately, and I really like it. It's fun. Anywhere I bat in the order I take the same approach, get on base and score runs."

 

Mars has good plate discipline. He has a good sense of the strike zone, as evidenced by his 11 walks.

 

"He's doing a good job batting leadoff," said Hall. "He's not a guy who's going to walk a ton. He gets up there and swings it. But he's not afraid to take a strike, which is a key to being a top of the order hitter."

 

Mauricio Dubon, Cisco Tellez, Nick Moore and Alixon Suarez had the other Lowell (23-28) hits. The loss dropped Spinners' record at home to 9-19.

 

It was Boston Bruins Night at LeLacheur Park. Bruins forward Gregory Campbell threw out one of the ceremonial first pitches. Long-time Bruins' vocalist Rene Rancourt sang the national anthem.

 

 

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