CRUSHERS SIGN 2024 IBL MVP AND A FORMER MIAMI MARLINS FARMHAND
AVON, OH - The Lake Erie Crushers continue to bolster their 2025 roster with the signings of 2024 Intercounty Baseball League MVP Seth Strong and 23 year-old Venezuelan Derek Vegas, a former Miami Marlins farmhand.
Seth Strong, 28, has one of the more impressive resumes you’ll find in independent baseball. The corner infielder recently won the Intercounty Baseball League Most Valuable Player Award in 2024 with the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers. Strong slashed .344/.451/.725 in 42 games with 16 home runs and more walks drawn than strikeouts in his MVP campaign.
His power surge of home runs was the most in his career, but the consistency of Strong’s game is one of his most impressive attributes. Through several stops in the Pecos League from 2019-2023, Strong displayed excellent production at the plate.
As recently as 2022 with the Bakersfield Train Robbers, Strong slashed .451/.521/.693 in 37 games. It is hardly a small sample size, and he has repeated these video game-like numbers for the last four seasons.
Jared Lemieux has options on where to put the sweet-swinging lefty on the field in 2025. Strong has primarily played first and third base in his career while also having experience in the corner outfield and at catcher on emergency basis.
Derek Vegas is a right-handed hitting catcher out of Villa de Cura, Venezuela who spent three seasons with the Dominican Summer League Marlins, the rookie ball affiliate of the Miami Marlins. Vegas was signed just after turning 17 years-old and has shown good upside defensively behind the dish.
While it took a little time for Vegas to get going offensively, he put together a solid season in 2022 hitting .289 in 41 games with the DSL Marlins. He has also displayed the sneaky ability to drive in runs in a small sample size, logging 17 RBIs in 2021 in just 41 games. He has good bat-to-ball skills and takes his walks.
On the defensive side, Vegas is an excellent pitch framer and has consistently displayed 1.85-1.90 second pop times on throw downs to second base. His arm is one of his strongest assets defensively. It’s not only strong, but it is also very accurate. Last year Vegas was an Empire League All-Star and led the Tupper Lake River Pigs to a 2024 championship.
