Hagerstown's Keyes displaying power surge with mammoth home runs

Hagerstown Suns outfielder Kevin Keyes is displaying raw power in a surge the last few games at the plate. Keyes, a seventh-round selection in 2010 out of the University of Texas, has hit a home run in three consecutive games. The last two contests against the Lexington Legends, Keyes has crushed a three-run shot in his first at-bat. Wednesday, in support of Stephen Strasburg's third rehab assignment, Keyes erased a 5-3 Legends advantage with a monster home run with two on in the bottom of the second that gave the Suns a 6-5 lead. The blast prevented Strasburg from being tagged with a loss, and the Suns went on to win the game, 9-6. The 6-foot-3, 225-lb., Austin, TX., native has had at least one hit in six consecutive contests, going 12-for-23 (.522) with a double, a triple and three homers and 13 RBI since August 12. The last 10 games, Keyes has hit .361 (13-for-36) with an OPS of 1.119. Overall, he is now batting .276 in 69 games with 13 homers and 57 RBI, and has played right field for the Suns since Bryce Harper's promotion to Double-A Harrisburg Senators. This is very good news that Keyes may have found his stroke following a .175 rookie campaign for Vermont in 2010, a season in which he managed just three home runs in 39 games.