ALLENTOWN - Andrew Knapp has logged a productive July so far, pulling himself out of an offensive slump that plagued his play in late June. He entered Friday batting .368 with a .952 OPS in his last five games.
While there is still plenty of baseball left this season, Knapp said he is encouraged by his recent progress, which has brought his average to .266.
The starting catcher for triple-A Lehigh Valley began trending downward last month. From June 19 to 29, he had only seven hits, all singles, in 37 at-bats (.189) with one RBI.
Self-aware and focused on his end goal - becoming an everyday catcher in the big leagues - Knapp diagnosed the problem: poor pitch selection.