By: Hubble Smith, Vegas Voice Sports Editor

Zach Walters made a splash when he homered in back-to-back games after being called up by the Washington Nationals in April, but didn’t stick with the Major League club in part because he strikes out too often and needs to improve his defense.

On Thursday, Washington traded him to the Cleveland Indians for shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and cash, one of a flurry of major trades made before the July 31 deadline.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor

Las Vegas 51s infielder Wilmer Flores is blasting the ball since being sent down from the New York Mets in June and was named Pacific Coast League Player of the Week for July 6.

Flores, 22, connected for six home runs in five games, the first Las Vegas player to accomplish the feat since Melvin Nieves in 1994. He recorded a league-high 13 hits, 12 runs and 16 RBIs during the week, hitting safely in eight games for a .382 average.

In a four-game series at Albuquerque, Flores went 7-for-14 and drove in 12 runs. In 41 games with Las Vegas this year, the 6-3, 205-pound righthander is batting .327 with 11 home runs.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor

Hard-hitting first baseman Allan Dykstra was selected Thursday as the lone representative from the first-place Las Vegas 51s to play in the Triple-A All-Star Game July 16 at Durham, N.C.

Dykstra is hitting .283 with 12 home runs and leads the 51s with 56 RBIs. He’ll be the Pacific Coast League’s designated hitter.

Originally from San Diego, Dykstra was selected by his hometown Padres in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2008 draft out of Wake Forest University, where he was seen as one of the top power hitters in college baseball. He’s a big guy at 6-5 and 215 pounds and plays solid defense at first base.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor

The program lists Memphis Redbirds outfielder Tommy Pham at 6-1 and 175 pounds, measurements most likely recorded during his physical exam when he was drafted in the 16th round by the St. Louis Cardinals from Durango High School in 2006.

The 26-year-old has added substantial bulk since then, judging by his chiseled upper body that looks befitting of a defensive back in football. Let’s go with 205. That’s more like it.

“They encouraged me to gain weight and muscle mass to stay healthy and make me more durable,” Pham said in the corridor outside the visitors’ locker room at Cashman Field.

By: Hubble Smith - Sports Editor

With soccer fans everywhere feeling World Cup fever, the Las Vegas Legends announced Monday the team would join the Major Arena Soccer League and play 10 home games at The Orleans Arena from October through February.

The Major Indoor Soccer League and Professional Arena Soccer League have merged to form one “super league” with 24 teams, Legends owner and coach Meir Cohen said at a press conference held at Las Vegas Indoor Sports Park. The Major Arena Soccer League will be divided into geographic divisions and play 20 regular season games, with each division sending three teams to the playoffs.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor

Chasen Bradford of Henderson made his Triple-A debut Monday for the Las Vegas 51s, pitching the eighth inning in an 11-5 loss to the Colorado Sky Sox at Colorado Springs, Colo. He gave up three runs on three hits and a walk with no strikeouts.

Bradford, 24, was called up from Double-A Binghamton to strengthen a 51s pitching staff that has been picked over by the parent New York Mets and beset with injuries in the first two months of the season.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor

The way Las Vegas product Kris Bryant is tearing up the Double-A Southern League, there’s a good possibility he could make his Major League debut with the parent Chicago Cubs by the end of the season.

Bryant, a 6-5, 215-pound third baseman from Bonanza High School and University of San Diego, was named Southern League Player of the Week on June 2, his second such honor this season. He smashed four home runs during the week and hit over .400 with 12 bombs during the month of May.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor

Former Cy Young Award winner Frank Viola will join the Las Vegas 51s as pitching coach next week after recovering from open-heart surgery in April, the team announced Friday.

Viola, 54, had been hired as the 51s pitching coach to open the season, but underwent surgery on April 2 after a spring-training physical detected an irregularity in his heartbeat. Tom Signore replaced Viola and will become pitching coach for the Brooklyn Cyclones in the New York-Penn League when play starts June 13.

Viola, who spent three years as N.Y. Mets Class A pitching coach, will be working with a depleted staff in Las Vegas. The Mets called up Jacob deGrom, Rafael Montero and Vic Black in May. Veteran Diasuke Matsuzaka was called up in April. Noah Syndergaard, who leads the team in wins and strikeouts, was placed on the disabled list with a strained muscle in his right forearm.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor

Centennial High School senior Will Loucks is one of those Las Vegas kids who year after year debunk national reports about Nevada’s public education system being so horrible. Loucks, a 6-foot-5-inch, 200-pound first baseman and pitcher for the Sunset Region champion Centennial Bulldogs, is headed for Massachusetts Institute of Technology on an academic scholarship. He’ll be studying to be a neurosurgeon. Nice to know student-athlete isn’t always an oxymoron.

Loucks carried a batting average around .400 and slammed three home runs for the Bulldogs. On the mound he was 4-3 with a 2.17 ERA and tallied 11 strikeouts in a playoff victory over Arbor View.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor
Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ryan Ludwick doesn’t generate nearly the media hype as Bryce Harper, who was labeled “The Chosen One” when he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 16 and was chosen No. 1 overall by the Washington Nationals in the 2010 Major League Baseball draft.

But it’s Ludwick, a graduate of Durango High School and standout at UNLV, who’s hitting .262 with two home runs and 15 RBIs in his 12th Major League season
and playing almost every day, while Harper is out until at least July after undergoing ligament surgery on his left thumb.

Ludwick, 35, missed much of last year after tearing cartilage in his shoulder on opening day. He seems to be playing the field with a little higher regard for his body this year, not laying out for balls as often as he did in St. Louis and San Diego.