Hip Hip, Jorge! Kernels' infielder raises average

CEDAR RAPIDS - Hip Hip Jorge!!

Just so you know, Cedar Rapids Kernels infielder Jorge Polanco does understand the chant the crowd at Veterans Memorial Stadium gives him for each at-bat. It's something on-field host and local television personality Jared Aarons began earlier this season and has taken off to the point where almost everyone is doing it now.

Hip Hip Jorge!!

"It pumps me up," Polanco said, after the Kernels' 8-3 loss Thursday night to Peoria. "I like that."

Just like the Minnesota Twins have got to like - make that love - what they have in Polanco. The 19-year-old switch-hitter from the Dominican Republic raised his average to .315 with a 3-for-5 game.

He drove in a run to increase his RBI total to 72, which is top five in the Midwest League and a pretty amazing total for a guy who has hit in the two hole much of the season. He's tied with South Bend's Brandon Drury for most hits in the league.

Throw in being a solid middle infielder defensively, and you've got something in Polanco, who signed for a $700,000 bonus with the Twins as a 16-year-old international free agent in 2009.

"It has been a good season," Polanco said. "I'm most happy about being able to do the little things in the game. Doing the job when I've had the chance to drive in runs."

"He can hit. He can flat-out hit," said Kernels Manager Jake Mauer. "He's really good right-handed, but he's good left-handed, too ... He does it quietly. He's not going to hit a ball over the fence, he's going to hit a ball in the gap. I do think as he matures, he'll hit some balls over the fence. Not like a (Adam Brett) Walker or a (D.J.) Hicks or anything. He takes good at-bats in offensive situations. He's benefitted from some of the guys he's hit behind this year. But he's also got to be able to drive those guys in, and he has."

Polanco came into Thursday night's game hitting .350 right handed and .301 lefty. He said a coach back home taught him how to hit from both sides of the plate when he was a kid.

He's played 40 games at shortstop, though he's a better second baseman. Mauer believes he has the potential to be an above-average defender at that position in the big leagues.

There are zero questions about his bat. Hip Hip Jorge!!

"He's a very serious guy," Mauer said. "But I think he gets a kick out of that."

Jacob Wilson hit a two-out, three-run home run to left field in the seventh inning to give Peoria its first lead, 5-3. It came on an 0-2 pitch from Kernels starting pitcher Josue Montanez (4-3), who took the loss despite going a career-long seven innings.

The Chiefs added two runs in the eighth against reliever Dallas Gallant and an unearned run in the ninth to beat the Kernels for seventh time in 11 games. The teams conclude their three-game series Friday night at 6:35, with former Twins great Tony Oliva making an appearance.

"You can't throw an 0-2 pitch down the middle," Mauer said. "You've got to bury it."

Mauer said shortstop Niko Goodrum should return to the lineup Friday. He's been out for a couple of games with injury.

The club has been short-handed from a position-player standpoint with Goodrum hurt and catcher Jairo Rodriguez filling in temporarily at Triple-A Rochester. Blame Mauer's younger brother, Joe, for that latter thing, since he is on the MLB "Paternity List" after his wife gave birth to twin daughters early Wednesday morning. The Twins called up Drew Butera from Triple-A to replace him, necessitating Rodriguez' move.

By the way, that makes Jake Mauer "Uncle Jake" a fifth time, considering older brother, Billy, and his wife have two boys and a girl.

Here is the game boxscore: