Salt Lake Bees 2022 in Review
October 12, 2022 – Pacific Coast League (PCL) – Salt Lake Bees News Release
The Salt Lake Bees finished their 28th season with a 70-80 record, finishing fourth in the Pacific Coast League’s western division. The 150 game season was the longest schedule for a Salt Lake City based baseball team since the 1964 Salt Lake City Bees finished with a 58-98 record.
It was the year of the pitcher for the Bees as the team led the PCL in earned run average for the first time in franchise history. Bees pitchers had seven shutouts during the season and set a franchise record by striking out 1,269 batters during the year. Cesar Valdez and Jake Kalish tied for the league lead with 10 wins each with Valdez taking home the league ERA title with a 3.94 mark, best among qualified pitchers.
Change was a constant on offense as only three players (Kean Wong, Jake Gatewood and Dillon Thomas) appeared in more than 100 games for the Bees. Wong set a franchise record with 41 stolen bases during the season, finishing third in the league. Gatewood led the team with 22 home runs, while Thomas finished tops on the club with 77 RBIs.
Over the course of the season 29 different players were called up from the Bees to the Angels. Six players – Brendon Davis, David MacKinnon, Gerardo Reyes, Kenny Rosenberg, Michael Stefanic and Nash Walters – made their Major League debuts this season after playing for Salt Lake. The Bees also hosted injury rehab assignments from Angels stars Michael Lorenzen, Archie Bradley, Matt Duffy, David Fletcher and Mickey Moniak.
Awards were frequent for the Bees this year as the team took home a franchise record eight player of the week nods during the season. Four different Bees batters (David MacKinnon, Jose Rojas, Orlando Martinez and Michael Stefanic) won the award, breaking a streak of nearly eight years since the last Bees hitter to win the award. On the mound Cesar Valdez, Jhonathan Diaz and Davis Daniel won the pitcher of the week honor with Daniel winning the award twice in September. David MacKinnon took home the batter of the month award in May while Jake Kalish and Daniel each won pitcher of the month in May and September respectively.
At the gate Smith’s Ballpark hosted 434,616 fans during the season, the fourth-highest attendance in the Pacific Coast League. The Bees July 4th game sold out with 14,354 fans in attendance, marking the first full sell out of the ballpark since 2018. Theme nights at the ballpark included a salute to the Salt Lake Trappers on the 35th anniversary of their baseball record 29-game winning streak. The team’s annual Go Gold Night to raise money for Huntsman Cancer Foundation collected $35,000 for childhood cancer research.
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