Wehiwa Aloy (Arkansas) strode to the plate not thinking about conquering the incredible baseball accomplishment that would occur moments later. He was simply looking to drive the ball the other way and spark an eighth-inning rally.
Aloy got a hanging slider and flied the hips through the zone, turning on the ball, and watched as it sailed over the left field fence. Aloy flipped his bat and admired his work before he slowly jogged toward first. His grin grew as he rounded the bases and touched home for his third home run of the game; something he’s never done in his acclaimed baseball career.
The standout shortstop began his home run barrage in the fourth inning for his first of two opposite field blasts as he roped a 1-2 pitch off the scoreboard in right field. His second long ball came in the sixth amid the sounds of the booming fireworks in the Hyannis Harbor when he generated his own Fourth of July fireworks and muscled a two-strike fastball over the right-center field wall.
Aloy recorded the most home runs in a Cape League game since 2021 and has five homers in the last three games. He regained the league lead with seven home runs on the season and is in first place in both RBI and total bases with 18 and 42, respectively.
“I’m just swinging at my pitches,” Aloy said. “I’m getting good pitches to hit and just barrelling them up and it found a hole or went over the fence.”
All three of Aloy’s homers came on pitches in the lower third of the zone as he displayed his professional level power in three consecutive at-bats. Aloy finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBI, elevated his batting average to .322 and a 1.081 OPS.
Aloy said he didn’t expect to hit the final home run but recognized it as a “very special” day at McKeon Park. Aloy’s approach at the plate mirrors his personality and he described the former as “staying loose and relaxed.”
Gavin Gallaher (North Carolina) spent the first week of the Cape League season with the Tar Heels in Omaha for the College World Series but has made an immediate impact with the help of his roommate Aloy.
Gallaher hit his first Cape League home run 409-feet on Thursday and was one of the several Red Sox players standing outside the dugout to greet Aloy after the third and final home run. It was a blast that everyone wearing red anticipated.
“I don't know if anybody will believe me, but I called the slider, I called he was gonna pull it, so I called his third, but I think everybody in the building was calling his third,” Gallaher said.
Aloy was a 2024 All-SEC second team selection after being a consensus freshman All-American in 2023. Hitting home runs is nothing new for the Wailuku, Hawaii, product as he broke the Sacramento State freshman home run record and led the Razorbacks in homers this spring.
Aloy has been a mainstay in the Red Sox lineup and has been an integral piece in the 11-5 start by playing in all 16 games. Aloy didn’t record an extra-base hit until the fifth game of the season but has a hit in 11 of his last 12 contests, which featured a seven-game hitting streak.
Y-D head coach Scott Pickler praised Aloy for taking the initiative to improve as the pair have spent extensive time in the batting cages. The powerful gap-to-gap hitter said he’s improved in his pitch selection and being able to find the barrel while Pickler said Aloy has simplified his approach and lessened his “big swing.”
Pickler said Aloy is “not trying to lift the ball, he’s trying to get through the ball right now.” Aloy’s dominance in the Cape League has given scouts a glimpse of the damage he can do against some of the best pitching in the country. What’s not measurable is the impact he’s had on the Red Sox with his infectious energy and palpable passion for the game.
“He plays hard, he likes to play, he smiles all the time whether he has three home runs or he's 0-for-4,” Pickler said. “He's got the right attitude, it becomes a game for him. He wants to get better, he wanted to make some adjustments, and he's a great kid.”
