FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern baseball program has six former student-athletes currently competing on Major League Baseball-affiliated teams, with a handful excelling in the early part of the 2014 season.
Check out the table below to follow each former Shark:
The Sharks in the pros are led by three former major leaguers competing in AAA, all of which could be called back up to The Show at a moment's notice. Mike Fiers, who is still listed on the 40-man roster for the Milwaukee Brewers, has pitched lights out for the Nashville Sound. In two starts, Fiers has a 0.71 ERA and a 2-0 record over 12.2 innings pitched. Fiers has excelled at keeping runners off base, with a 14/1 strikeout to walk ratio, 9.95 K's per nine innings and an opposing batting average of .182. Overall, Fiers has struck out 30.4 percent of the batters he's faced. Another former Shark still listed on a 40-man roster is Mile Mikolas of the Texas Rangers organization. Mikolas has been rehabbing an injury to start the year and is expected to play for the AAA Round Rock Express soon.
Offensively, J.D. Martinez has been explosive since signing with the Detroit Tigers-affiliated Toledo Mud Hens. Martinez has been the Mud Hens' most productive hitter through 12 games, with a team-leading five home runs, 14 RBI and 11 runs scored. His team-best OPS sits at 1.055, with a slugging percentage of .702 and an on-base percentage of .353. Martinez's power has only increased as the season has progressed, with three of his five home runs coming in his last three games (as of April 15). The highlight of his season came on April 13, when he recorded six RBI on 3-for-5 hitting. As a result, Martinez's isolated power (slugging percentage minus batting average) sits at .404, .154 higher than he's hit at any level above rookie ball.
Down the line in Single-A ball, Carlos Asuaje continues to hit the ball the way Sharks' fans witnessed during his Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year run in 2012. Asuaje is starting at third base for the Greenville Drive of the Boston Red Sox farm system, and during a recent five-game winning streak, batted anywhere from leadoff to eighth. Regardless of his place in the lineup, Asuaje has been productive with a .343 batting average, eight RBI and four runs scored over nine games. Asuaje has made the leap early in his second season and has been statistically more aggressive at the plate. Although his walk rate has dropped since moving up to Greenville, his OPS has skyrocketed from .735 in rookie ball to .953, which ranks second on the team behind former SSC competitor Kevin Mager.
Up north at the AA Erie SeaWolves is Nick Avila, who enters his fourth year within the Detroit Tigers farm system. Avila is making his debut at the AA level, his fourth promotion in as many years in professional baseball. Avila has pitched in 4.2 innings over two games as a middle reliever. The sixth pro is Brett Clements, who jumped all the way up to AA in his first season within the Houston Astros in 2013. Clements competed in extended spring training for the Astros and has yet to receive his 2014 assignment.
Check back with NSUSharks.com throughout the summer for updates on your professional Sharks.
For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit
www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by
clicking here. For the latest news, be sure to sign up for the Shark Alert E-newsletter by
clicking here.
