The Windy City ThunderBolts had two players honored as postseason all-stars when the end of season awards were announced Thursday afternoon. Coco Johnson was named one of the league’s top three outfielders and Brian Loconsole was honored as the best relief pitcher.
Johnson is in his third season with the ThunderBolts and enjoying his most success. With four games remaining, he has set career highs in hits (107), runs (59), RBIs (47) and stolen bases (55). His 55 steals are just one away from the single season ThunderBolts record, set by Doug Schutt in 2006. Johnson has been caught stealing just six times. Entering play on Thursday, he is batting .299 with a .378 on-base percentage and seven home runs.
Loconsole was sidelined by a season-ending injury with 11 games remaining but still managed to set a single season franchise record with 27 saves, six more than anyone else in the league this year. The 27 saves are the most for a Frontier League pitcher since 2014 and the fourth highest total in league history. Loconsole finished the year 1-4 with a 2.23 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 44.1 innings. In his most dominant stretch, he did not allow an earned run between May 28 and July 9.
Johnson and Loconsole are the first ThunderBolts to be named to the Postseason All-Star team since Kyle Robinson received the honor as an outfielder in 2014. It is the first time that two ThunderBolts have been selected in the same season since 2012, when Chad Cregar and Mike Recchia were both on the team. Johnson and Loconsole are the 13th and 14th players in franchise history to be named postseason all-stars.
