BY DAN GLICKMAN
Rochester Red Wings slugger Travis Blankenhorn won this week’s International League Player of the Week, the first Red Wing to win the award since Luis Garcia in April 2022.
The 27-year-old infielder, who had a chance to go elsewhere last offseason but decided to stay in the Nationals organization, put up a .476 (10-for-21) batting average in last week’s six-game series with Toledo. Along the way, he knocked five home runs, two doubles, a triple, and eight RBI against a pitching staff that had allowed the second-fewest home runs in the league heading into the series.
Blankenhorn, who has played all 18 games for the Wings this season, leads the team in batting average (.328), home runs (6) and RBI (17). He led last year’s team with 23 home runs, the most for a left-handed Red Wing since Garrett Jones in 2008.
The Red Wings begin their next series on Tuesday at St. Paul, with the series opener at 7:37 p.m. eastern.
He has been a welcome addition again to the Wings lineup. The team can certainly score runs, but the pitching continues to be the problem in preventing this squad from being a contender.
And there is something about St.Paul that brings out the worst in the Red Wings for some reason. They aren’t very good this season but when your guys score 9 runs and still lose by 6, something is very wrong. Last time we visited the Twin Cities, we came away completely empty.