CBN Player of the Week - Edouard Julien
Edouard Julien (Ancienne-Lorette, Que.) hit .421 for the Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels to win CBN minor league Player of the Week honours.
June 11, 2021
By George Farelli
Canadian Baseball Network
The saying is a pro scout or a college recruiter only needs to see six pitches in a bullpen to go thumbs up or thumbs down on a young arm.
The Minnesota Twins only needed to see Edouard Julien play six games for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks in the Cape Cod League. Julien (Ancienne-Lorette, Que.) hit .348 with five RBIs and a .988 OPS.
And last week with the class-A Ft. Myers, Julien hit .421 (8-for-19) with a home run and three RBIs.
On June 24, 2019, Julien declared he would return to play for the Auburn Tigers but a few days later the Twins stepped up with a life-changing signing bonus of $493,000 US. Jack Powell and Walt Burrows (Brentwood Bay, BC) were the signing scouts.
Julien was coming off a 2019 spring which saw him hit .258 with 10 home runs and 57 RBIs and an .843 OPS. He was 4-for-6 in the 2019 College World Series and tied a TD Ameritrade Park Omaha record with a 426-foot homer, or “almost nine miles,” as one scout said.
He really made his reputation the year before when he hit .275/.398/.556 with 17 homers and 69 RBIs in 62 games with a .954 OPS. He broke Hall of Famer Frank Thomas’s Auburn freshman record for RBIs. Only one freshman in NCAA Division I had more home runs and he earned Canadian Baseball Network All-Canadian college player of the year honors.
How the week that was went for Julien:
_ Leading off and playing third base, he went 3-for-5, including his eighth double, in an 8-4 win over the St. Lucie Mets at Hammond Stadium in front of 913 fans. He singled to left in the third, singled on a line drive to right in the fifth and doubled to centre in the sixth.
_ Leading off and DHing, Julien singled in a 7-0 win against St. Lucie in front of 1,167 fans. Julien singled to centre in the bottom of the first.
_ Playing left field and batting lead off he went 2-for-3 with a homer and drove in a pair as Ft. Meyers edged St. Lucie 3-2 before 2,018 fans. Julien hit a 2-1 pitch to right field in the first inning, his second homer, and singled to shortstop knocking in the winning run.
_ Leading off and playing left field Julien was hitless but knocked in a run in a 9-4 triumph against St. Lucie in front of 1,767 fans. He hit a run-scoring fly ball in the fourth to break the 3-3 tie.
_ Playing left and leading off Julien singled in a 2-0 loss to St. Lucie before 911 fans. He singled to right in the fourth.
_ Leading off and DHing he singled as the Mussells beat the Jupiter Hammerheads at Roger Dean Stadium. Julien singled to right in the fifth.
Best Offensive Performance
Player/Class/Team AB R H HR RBI AVG
Edouard Julien – Low A Ft. Myers 19 5 8 1 3 .421
Tanner Kirwer – High A Vancouver 20 9 8 - 1 .400
Dalton Pompey – Dbl A Rocket City 15 4 6 2 3 .400
Tristan Pompey – Dbl A Pensacola 10 1 4 - 3 .400
Ben Pelletier – Low A Clearwater 13 4 5 1 3 .385
Otto Lopez – Dbl A New Hampshire 24 4 9 - 4 .375
Abraham Toro – Triple A Sugar Land 15 1 5 1 6 .333
Myles Miller - IND Boise 21 6 10 1 4 .476
Jake MacDonald – FGN Solingen 17 2 6 - 2 .353
Greg Carrington – IND Roswell 31 7 10 - 4 .323
Jamie Romak – FGN SS Landers 20 5 6 4 7 .300
(Minimum 10 ABs)
Best Pitching Performance
Logan Hofmann RHP - Low A Bradenton Marauders
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
1 4.0 - - - 1 3 1-0 - 0.25 0.00
In his first season in ball, Logan Hofmann was a fifth-round selection by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the draft, and the 21-year-old Muenster, Sask., native is enjoying some early success. On June, he made an excellent relief appearance for the Marauders in 9-7 victory over Dunedin Blue Jays when he threw four scoreless innings, surrendered zero hits while striking out three to pick up his second win of the season. His current record with class-A Bradenton in seven appearances, is now 2-0 with a neat 1.56 ERA.
Matt Brash RHP - High A Everett Aquasox
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
1 5.2 4 1 1 2 7 1-0 - 1.15 1.73
Matt Brash was selected in fourth round of the 2019 draft by the Padres, and the 21-year-old Kingston, Ont. native was traded to Seattle Mariners prior to the 2021 season. This week he made an excellent start, on June 1 in a 16-2 win over the Hillsboro Hops when he pitched 5 2/3 innings, gave up four base hits and one earned run while striking out seven Hillsboro batters, to earn his first win of the season. His overall record at class-A Everett in five appearances, now stands at 1-1 with one save and a very good 2.11 ERA.
* * *
Players active with Team Canada at the recently concluded WSBC Olympic Qualifier, are returning to their regular teams.
Eight additions in Week Five:
Affiliated (2): Jordan Balazovic (Twins) and Alex Nolan (Blue Jays).
Foreign (4): Parker Burns (Austria - ASAK), Callum Murphy and Zach Johnson (Germany - Berlin Flamingos) and Sam Belisle-Springer ( Germany - Solingen).
Independent (2): Greg Carrington (Pecos League) and Jesse Hodges (Frontier League).
Matt Warkentin had his contract with Missoula IND Pioneer League purchased by the Chicago Cubs. He has not been assigned to a Cubs affiliate yet. Once he’s activated he will be added to the affiliated players.
Canadian Baseball Network
Player of the Week
Week I _ Noah Skirrow (Stoney Creek, Ont.) Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Phillies).
Week III _ Andrew Yerzy (Toronto, Ont.) class-A Hillsboro Hops/class-A Visailia Oaks (Diamondbacks)
Week IV _ Indigo Diaz (North Vancouver, BC) class-A Rome Braves (Braves)
Week V _ Edouard Julien (Ancienne-Lorette, Que.) class-A Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels (Twins).