Kinston Indians 2006
It was the most record breaking, award winning and talent laden teams ever to play ball in Kinston and that’s not just the opinion of a biased broadcaster. The Kinston Indian’s 2006 season started with a record breaking first half and ended with an eight game winning streak, as Kinston swept their way to their second Carolina League Title in the last three years.
After a season opening loss, Kinston won six games in a row and never looked back. The K-Tribe set a franchise record for wins in a half, compiling a 47-23 record and winning the first half title by nine and a half games. Five K-Tribers were chosen to the mid-season All-Star Game, the most of any team in the Carolina League. Three of Kinston’s five starting pitchers made the All-Star roster, a testament to how great the K-Tribe’s pitching was.
Kinston pitching started hot and never looked back as K-Tribe hurlers had a combined ERA of 2.53 in April and kept their ERA around three for the rest of the first half. 20-year-old hurler Chuck Lofgren picked up two Carolina League Pitcher of the Week awards and his partner in crime Scott Lewis racked up one in the month of April.
Kinston pitching was backed up by some hot hitting in the early summer months. The K-Tribe hit .291 as a team in the month of May, lead by Ryan Goleski who notched two Carolina League Hitter of the Week Awards during the month. Goleski hit .426 with eight home runs and 37 RBI’s in May, including a three home run game at Frederick on May 21 st. The month also saw the continuation of a hot streak from outfielder Brian Barton. The Los Angeles native had a 22 game consecutive hit streak from April 18 th to May 14 th. It was the longest hitting streak in the Carolina League in 2006. Just like Barton the K-Tribe was the pillar of consistency in the first half, losing consecutive games just three times in their first 70 games of the season.
In the second half of the season many of the K-Tribe’s plentiful prospects were called up to Double A Akron. Ryan Goleski, Trevor Crowe and Wyatt Toregas were among the big names to move up and leave others to step up in their place. First half role players Rodney Choy Foo, Micah Schilling and Brandon Pinckney started to play everyday and play very well to fill the void. Jose Constanza, who was called up from Low A Lake County in May, blossomed into a deadly leadoff man; ending the year with a .327 batting average and 20 stolen bases. These bats were anchored by the red hot bat of Jordan Brown. The K-Tribe’s leftfielder hit .347 with 26 RBI’s in August. Brown ended the year with a .290 batting average and a league leading 87 RBI’s; numbers that lead him to capture the Carolina League’s Most Valuable Player award.
The K-Tribe’s pitching stayed at their high level, with Chuck Lofgren picking up the Carolina Leagues Pitcher of the Year award. It was the first time the Kinston Indians had swept the leagues top two awards since Richie Sexson and Bartolo Colon did it in 1995. The award winning Lofgren took home some more trophy’s before the year was out, including Baseball America’s High Class A Player of the Year and a spot on Minor League Baseball’s High A All Star Team. Lofgren set a Kinston Indians modern day record by racking up 17 wins, tied for the most in all of Minor League Baseball in 2006. Not to be outdone, fellow starter Scott Lewis made his mark with a miniscule 1.48 ERA in 115 innings; the lowest ERA in all of Minor League Baseball and also a Kinston franchise record.
Some late inning losses and a red hot Salem team kept Kinston from a second half title. The K-Tribe put up the second best record in the Carolina League at 38-31 in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with Salem; as the Avalanche won 14 in a row in the month of August. In fact, during Salem’s incredible streak, Kinston hit their roughest patch of the season. The K-Tribe lost seven of ten games in August, including a season high four game losing streak. But the two teams’ fortunes changed during the last weekend of the regular season. Kinston won three in a row at Myrtle Beach to tune up for the playoffs, as Salem came off their 14 game winning streak and hit a three game losing skid. The momentum turned and Kinston swept their two game division series with Salem behind wins from Chuck Lofgren and Scott Lewis. Kinston then rolled into the Carolina League Championship Series for the third straight year and rolled right over Frederick. The K-Tribe swept the Frederick Keys in three games, winning the Mills Cup for the second time in three years. Kinston had saved the best for last, ending the year on an eight game winning streak; their longest win streak of the season.
At the end of the season, the hardware kept arriving at Grainger Stadium as Brian Barton, Chuck Lofgren, Jordan Brown and Scott Lewis were a mainstay on season ending All-Star teams. The team as a whole was also honored getting the Advanced Class A Team of the Year Award from both Minor League Baseball and Baseball America.