DAVENPORT. Iowa – Second baseman Brooks Marlow has been named the Quad Cities River Bandits Player of the Month for April while right-handed reliever Ryan Deemes is the team’s Pitcher of the Month, announced by the Houston Astros Thursday.
The Houston Astros Player Development Department names a monthly pitcher and position player from each of their four full-season affiliates. The field staff from each team is in charge of nominating the honorees. Both Marlow and Deemes are in their first season with the River Bandits and helped the team finish strong in April, winning eight of their last ten games of the season’s first month.
Marlow, Houston’s 29th-round pick in the 2015 draft out of the University of Texas, hit safely in six of his last seven games of April, including a five-for-five performance against South Bend on April 26. In 16 games, Marlow hit .295 (18-for-61), good for the second-highest average on the team, had an on-base percentage of .348 – which ranked third – and had five extra-base hits to go along with four RBIs. The Giddings, Texas native also struck out just ten times in 61 at-bats while committing zero errors in eleven games at second base.
Deemes, the Astros’ 36th-round pick in the 2015 draft out of Nicholls State University (LA), allowed just one run in seven relief appearances for a 0.64 ERA in April. In 14 innings of work, the Chalmette, Louisiana native surrendered ten hits and three walks while striking out 12 opponents. The lone run he surrendered was a solo home run. Deemes had the only two holds by River Bandits relievers in the month of April, posting a 0.93 WHIP and holding opponents to a .208 batting average against.
Four River Bandits from just last season were named their respective 2016 club’s player or pitcher of the month. Shortstop Alex Bregman) was named Double-A Corpus Christi’s Player of the Month and Joe Musgrove (2015) was the Pitcher of the Month for the Hooks. For Advanced-A Lancaster, infielder Nick Tanielu (2015) was Player of the Month and Brock Dykxhoorn was Pitcher of the Month for the JetHawks.
Last season, every Astros Minor League affiliate except the GCL Astros reached their respective post-seasons. The Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies and rookie-level Greeneville Astros each won their league, marking the sixth consecutive year at least one Astros affiliate has been a league champion. The River Bandits led all of Minor League Baseball in wins with 88 in 2015.
UP NEXT: The River Bandits return home for a three-game home stand on Monday, May 9, when they host the Burlington Bees in a special 11 a.m. central time start. It is the second book buddies reading day of the season; local elementary schools will come out as a reward for completing the River Bandits reading program, which reached over 15,000 Quad Cities Area children. Tickets for Monday, as well as Tuesday and Wednesday’s regular 7 p.m. games, are available by calling (563) 324-3000, visiting riverbandits.com or at the Modern Woodmen Park box office.
ABOUT THE BANDITS: The 2016 season marks the River Bandits’ fourth year as the Astros’ Class-A affiliate and the ninth season since regaining the River Bandits moniker, which was voted a top-8 nickname in all of Minor League Baseball in 2015. Also in 2015, Sports Business Journal named Quad Cities the number one minor league sports market in the country. In recognition for giving back to the Quad Cities community, the River Bandits were the 2015 recipient of the Ballpark Digest Best Charity Event or Campaign in Baseball award. For more information on the Quad Cities River Bandits, visit www.riverbandits.com or contact Jake Levy at (563) 333-2727.
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