AVON - The Lake Erie Crushers released All-Star outfielder Luke Hetherington near the end of their last road trip, and the team’s manager John Massarelli held a meeting before Thursday’s 15-4 win over the Florence Freedom to discuss that and other issues with the team.
The Crushers brought Hetherington, a former ninth-round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays, on board this season in an unofficial “player-coach” capacity to work with the younger players on the team during its inaugural season.
On the field Hetherington was solid, hitting .283 with eight home runs and 26 runs driven in. Off the field, however, he failed to reach expectations.
“Luke Hetherington, it was a violation of club policy … and it wasn’t the first time,” Crushers manager John Massarelli said of Hetherington‘s release. “It wasn’t like ‘one strike and you’re out,’ you get three strikes in baseball and that was basically it. I’m not going to elaborate more than that.
“It was an off-the-field issue, it had nothing to do with on the field stuff, and it was just something we felt for the betterment of the Crushers we needed to part ways.”
In 48 games this season Hetherington held down the No. 5 spot in the potent Lake Erie lineup. With his departure Tim Binkowski hit fifth Thursday while Arden McWilliams and Eddy Tisdale also moved up on the line-up. The trio responded by going a combined 7-for-13 with five runs scored in Thursday’s win.
Massarelli said the team is moving forward, and was pleased with the team’s response to the line-up shuffle.
“They’ve been great and I think that’s what happens,” he said. “We’ve taken care of some off-the-field issues. I think other leaders have evolved where it’s going to make us stronger, not weaker.”