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Badge of Honor: Kirk Merchel

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New tick, new threat?

<p>Ryan McBroom, who was acquired in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays in July 2017, is in his first season with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. The first baseman is batting .304 with 14 doubles, a triple, nine home runs and 35 RBI in 80 games with the RailRiders this season, heading into the weekend series in Durham. The 26-year-old leads the RailRiders in batting average (for players that have played in at least 50 games) and ranks second on the team in both doubles and RBI.</p><p>Here&#8217;s five things you might not know about the RailRiders first baseman:</p><p>1. I&#8217;m a college graduate and played collegiately at West Virginia.</p><p>2. I&#8217;ve lived in three different countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States.</p><p>3. I&#8217;m over 70 percent Italian, yet I hate spaghetti.</p><p>4. I almost went to college for football as a quarterback. I received offers from Division II Concord University and Shepherd University.</p><p>5. I love collecting sneakers.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders first baseman fields a ball during Thursday's game against the Rochester Red Wings at Frontier Field in Rochester. Joe Territo | Rochester Red Wings</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_Ryan-McBroom-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders first baseman fields a ball during Thursday's game against the Rochester Red Wings at Frontier Field in Rochester. Joe Territo | Rochester Red Wings</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

RailRiders first baseman Ryan McBroom: 5 things you might not know about me