August 3, 2020

By Steve Schuster

Winnipeg Goldeyes

WINNIPEG, MB – Winnipeg Goldeyes’ catcher John Nester has been named the American Association Batter of the Week for July 27th-August 2nd.

In six games last week (in which the Goldeyes were 4-2), Nester was 10-for-22 (.455) with six runs scored, four home runs, and 11 RBI. The Huntington, West Virginia native had at least one RBI in each of the six contests, and homered in three straight from July 28th-30th. Nester also made an emergency relief pitching appearance on Thursday at Chicago, recording a strikeout.

Over the weekend versus St. Paul, the 31-year-old Nester caught 26 innings of baseball in roughly 28 hours, leading Goldeyes’ pitchers in both ends of Saturday’s double header and again during Sunday afternoon’s 12-inning game.

Nester is hitting .306 for the season with five home runs and 20 RBI (tied for eighth in the American Association). The Clemson University alumnus leads the league with 18 games played at catcher. The opposition has attempted just five total stolen base attempts on Nester, and his 0.27 stolen base attempts allowed per game is the lowest figure in the American Association.

Nester was selected from the Cleburne Railroaders in the ninth round of the American Association Dispersal Draft on June 16th. Nester started the 2019 American Association All-Star Game for the South Division and was then voted the league’s Postseason All-Star at the position after hitting .277 with 16 home runs and 63 RBI in 85 games.

Nester becomes the third Goldeye to capture American Association honours this season, joining Mitchell Lambson (Pitcher of the Week July 3rd-12th) and Darnell Sweeney (Batter of the Month for July).

The Winnipeg Goldeyes open a three-game series against the Chicago Dogs at Newman Outdoor Field on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. The Goldeyes will serve as the home team. All the action can be heard locally on 93.7 FM CJNU and worldwide at www.cjnu.ca