Bradley clubs two homers, reaches 100 RBIs

The Lynchburg Hillcats already are ticketed for the Carolina League playoffs and eyeing a sweep of the Northern Division first- and second-half titles. If they get there down the stretch, Bobby Bradley's month of August will have played a huge factor.

The Indians' third-ranked prospect bashed two homers and drove in three runs to become the first Class A Advanced hitter this season to crack the 100-RBI plateau as Lynchburg beat visiting Wilmington, 8-4.

Bradley was on the way to one of his best power seasons by the end of July, having homered 19 times and driven in 77 runs. But the 20-year-old has found the barrel to a different degree this month. Against the Blue Rocks, he mashed a two-run shot to right-center field in the first inning and led off the third with another blast, this one to left-center.

"That's something he and [hitting coach Larry Day] have been focusing on a lot, so it's good to see him doing it," Hillcats manager Mark Budzinski noted of Bradley's approach to the Lynchburg News & Advance.

Bradley's second blast gave him 28 for the season, a new career high. In August, MLB.com's No. 75 overall prospect has bashed nine homers, more than his previous two months combined, and driven in 23 runs, matching April for his most productive month of the year.

"When our hitting coordinator got in town, we all sat down and had video to look at and talked about what I am doing, what I can be doing better and what are the things I need to work on," Bradley told MiLB.com last month. "We had that talk and me and our hitting coach got showed a couple of drills by our hitting coordinator. I think that's going to help moving forward -- me and [Day] are going to work in the cages every day at that."

Bradley's fifth multi-hit game in August helped propel Lynchburg to its fourth win in six games, keeping the Hillcats tied atop the second-half standings with Potomac.

Behind Bradley, Indians No. 10 prospect Yu-Cheng Chang belted a solo homer to right-center in the fifth in his first game off the disabled list, while No. 4 prospect Francisco Mejia went 3-for-4 with a solo homer and three RBIs.