Tyler Moore Makes Most of Syracuse Assignment

(photo provided by: syracusechiefs.com)

  By: Chelsea Brobst

Bryce Harper and Tyler Moore were both called up to the big leagues at the same time, April 2012. Since then, Harper has been making a name for himself with the Washington Nationals.

Moore’s career has taken a different route. In 2013 alone, he has gone back and forth between the Nationals and Syracuse Chiefs multiple times. He was first sent down to Syracuse on June 10^th and then returned to D.C. for a short period of time at the end of June. He once again returned to the Chiefs on July 8^th and since then, has found consistent hitting once again.

Moore was named the International League Batter of the Week (July 29-Aug 5). He went one for three at the plate Tuesday night, in a win at NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse, N.Y.

That game, which began at 7:15 P.M., was the second of the night for Moore and the Syracuse Chiefs. They had a two-inning wrap up of a previous game at 6 P.M. against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. The game was originally played on July 12^th at PNC Field in Moosic, P.A. before it was suspended in the 11^th inning.

Moore finished that two-part game with two hits and seven at-bats.

The RailRiders took the first game 7-6 in the 13^th inning, but the Chiefs came back to win the second with a final score of 3-2.

It was an odd night for the team. The Chiefs were the visiting team in their own locker room for the first game. They played two innings to complete that game before they played their regularly scheduled game. Even with the odd situation, Moore did not have any real problems adjusting to the different routine.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a funny day.” Moore said. “Just kind of go pitch-by-pitch, inning-by-inning.”

In the first game, Moore had one at-bat in the top of the 13^th, for a total of seven at-bats over the total game.

During his week as International League Batter of the Week, Moore hit .308 and had 13 RBI. In his three official at-bats for the second game of the night, Moore ended with a .305 and added an RBI.

It may not be the Majors, but Moore is benefitting from playing in Syracuse. He is playing every day, has a higher batting percentage and is getting more experience at playing multiple positions.

While many players are itching to get to the Majors, especially once they’ve had a taste, Moore says he is not concerned about that and seems to be patiently waiting his turn for his next call up. 

“I’m just really not focused on that at all.” Moore said. “Just kind of doing what we are doing here and the trouble with that is you can’t control it. “

While he admits he struggled last year with changing positions, Moore says he has gotten better about going back and forth between playing outfield and first base.

“Last year was pretty tough, but this year I kind of got the hang of it a little bit.” Moore said. “The more I play outfield, the better I get.”

The smooth transition was seen Tuesday night, as he played outfield in the first game and first base in the second game. 

Moore will keep playing and waiting patiently until he is called back up to Washington, which according to some sources, could happen someday soon.