The South Atlantic League announced its End-of-the-Year All-Star Team this morning and two members of the Asheville Tourists, Terrin Vavra and Willie MacIver , were named the best in the league at their respective positions. Vavra was also named the South Atlantic League’s Most Valuable Player.
In addition to the MVP, Vavra was named the league’s top shortstop. Terrin split time this season between both middle infield positions and was the starting shortstop in the SAL All-Star game for the Southern division.
Vavra hit .318 with a league best .409 on-base percentage in 102 games played. Terrin scored 79 runs and drove in 52. Ten of his 43 extra-base hits on the season were Home Runs. Vavra recorded a pair of multi-Home Run games this season and also had two games where he drove in six.
MacIver was voted the league’s best catcher. In 112 games played, Willie hit .244 with 11 Home Runs and 57 RBI. Two of MacIver’s 11 round-trippers this season were walk-off Home Runs. Willie’s 26 doubles are tied for the 11th most in the league and his 40 extra-base hits rank 11th as well.
MacIver has also been very difficult to run against this season; the Tourists backstop has thrown out runners attempting to steal at a 40% clip. He also sports the number one fielding percentage among all catchers in the league.
The Tourists have featured three of the past four league MVP’s. Brian Mundell won the award in 2016 when he set the all-time Minor League doubles record with 59. Casey Golden paced the SAL with 34 Home Runs and took home the MVP award in 2018.
The original article written by Doug Maurer can be found here:
https://www.milb.com/asheville/news/vavra-voted-most-valuable-player-maciver-top-catcher/c-310331298?tcid=tw_article_310331298