best in show

Under the category of Best 2015 Season by a Former Mississippi Braves Hitter, there are quite a few viable candidates. Yunel Escobar is batting .318 with nine homers and 56 RBIs and has played a good third base for Washington. Once viewed as troublesome, Escobar may be the least of the Nationals’ worries. Jason Heyward has been a linchpin for playoff-bound St. Louis, hitting .289 with 12 homers and 56 RBIs and playing Gold Glove-caliber right field. In Miami, Martin Prado is at .289 with nine homers and 61 RBIs. Freddie Freeman, one of only two ex-M-Braves playing regularly in Atlanta, is hitting .280 with 18 homers and 66 RBIs, and Andrelton Simmons, the defensive whiz, checks in at .261. Evan Gattis has 27 homers and 87 RBIs for Houston, which is battling for a postseason berth, and Brian McCann has 26 bombs and 92 RBIs for the New York Yankees, who are doing the same. Gregor Blanco, not a regular in San Francisco, has hit .291 with five homers and 13 steals. And Jeff Francoeur (.260, 13 homers, 45 RBIs) and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (.247, eight, 21 in 66 games) have had nice bounce-back years in Philadelphia and Arizona. P.S. Jorge Lopez, a 12-game winner for Biloxi this season, is slated to make his big league debut tonight for Milwaukee at San Diego. He will be the last of the six Shuckers called up this month to get in a game. (For the record, Tyler Wagner was the first to appear, back in May.) Lopez is the Brewers’ No. 8 prospect (by mlb.com) and was the organization’s pitcher of the year. … Shuckers shortstop Orlando Arcia, not in The Show yet, has been awarded a Rawlings Gold Glove for defensive excellence in the minors this season. Only nine Gold Gloves are given out each year for all the minor leagues. Arcia recorded a .978 fielding percentage and turned 82 double plays in 123 games for the Shuckers. And he can hit, too.