5 Lookouts on Southern League all-star team
Five members of the Chattanooga Lookouts were named Tuesday afternoon to the North Division roster for the Southern League All-Star Game.
The league’s midseason extravaganza will take place June 20 in Pensacola, Fla.
Representing the Lookouts will be starting pitcher Fernando Romero, relief pitcher John Curtiss, shortstop Nick Gordon, right fielder Edgar Corcino and left fielder LaMonte Wade. The Tennessee Smokies have the most all-star selections in the North Division with seven, while Jackson has six and Montgomery has five.
Birmingham has just two representatives.
“All five obviously are deserving of the honor, and it’s nice recognition at the midpoint of the season to be named to the all-star team,” Lookouts manager Jake Mauer said. “As the manager, I feel like we had a couple other guys I thought would make it and just didn’t the nod. I thought Felix Jorge should have been named to it, because he’s been one of our more consistent starters. He’s 5-1, and I think he’s one of the better starters in the league.
“Mason Melotakis out of the bullpen had a chance to make that roster as well, but every allstar team regardless of the level has a guy or two who gets left off.”
The Lookouts on Tuesday night played the third of five games against Jackson, and the Generals won 4-2 in 14 innings. Gordon singled to center in the third inning to score T.J. White and singled to right in the fifth inning to score Ryan Walker.
Romero is 4-5 with a 3.51 earned run average and 57 strikeouts in 59 innings, while Curtiss is 1-0 with an 0.00 ERA in 18 appearances and has racked up 29 strikeouts in 20 innings. The perfect ERA by Curtiss is not a topic of discussion among the Lookouts, according to Mauer.
“It’s kind of gone unmentioned, but I’m sure some of his teammates know about it,” Mauer said. “He’s obviously been the most consistent guy out of that bullpen and has pitched some of our biggest innings.”
Gordon, who began this season as the top-rated prospect in the Minnesota Twins organization, entered Tuesday night hitting .294 with 29 RBIs.
“He is about where we anticipated offensively,” Mauer said. “He puts the ball in play hard, and now it’s more about refining his approach. We’re playing him every day at shortstop and we’re working to improve his game defensively.
“I feel we’re making progress there as well.”
Corcino entered Tuesday hitting .296 with 24 RBIs, while Wade was hitting .288 with 23.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423757-6524.