“Hetmyer looks exhausted. Does he have one more big swing in him?” I asked halfway through Seattle’s 19th over on Tuesday night.
The Orcas were trying to chase down a target of 169 against San Francisco - the same score that Washington posted in a win over the Unicorns over the weekend. Shimron Hetmyer, who had almost singlehandedly been the team’s batting lineup for the better part of a week, was at the crease on 68 runs alongside Gerald Coetzee after Aaron Jones lined a well-hit pull shot to the rope just above the head of Karima Gore, who made an athletic catch with sure hands* to put the Orcas six wickets down.
The sweat was pouring off Hetmyer in Florida’s 84% humidity that sapped his strength a little faster than in Texas, where his late-game heroics had taken the Orcas to their first two wins this season. He looped the first ball of the 19th over high in the air toward long on, but with Jake Fraser-McGurk on the rope at the cavernous Lauderhill outfield, he couldn’t get there and it fell in for a single. He hit the third ball of the over for four then looped another enticing one toward midwicket, but Sanjay Krishnamurthi was in the same predicament as Fraser-McGurk. Hetmyer survived yet again.
On the final ball of the over, the Unicorns had their moment: Hetmyer went after a ball well wide of off stump and didn’t get all of it. It hung in the air for what felt like an hour as it drifted out toward cover point, and the ultra-reliable Gore, who got to the ball in a dead sprint, had it slip off the tops of his index fingers to the ground. Bowler Xavier Bartlett got what his team needed on his final ball of the night, and the team didn’t cash in. The stump mics caught his one-word reaction loud and clear.
Not only did the Orcas get a single on that dropped catch, but Hetmyer kept the strike to start the 20th over because of it. With a 337 foot moonshot off Romario Shepherd, he punctuated an epic four-wicket win for Seattle that put them in control of their destiny for the final playoff spot in 2025.
He did, in fact, have one more big swing in him. One of many that have raised his profile in MLC right alongside the Orcas’ playoff chances.
If a team was looking for an iconic player to build its new brand around, that player might look a lot like the white-ball slugger from Guyana. He plays the game with power but also with control and balance. He has a very expressive face that is all the more impactful in marketing because he takes his helmet off when he plays spin, which, if you’re blasting the ball around, looks completely badass in the vein of old school hockey players. To top it all off, he’s a humble and eloquent interview who usually starts off talking about how important prayer is to helping him lock in mentally before games. He’s one #AGTG from playing football at Clemson. Dabo Swinney would love this guy.
Most people seem to. Fans in Grand Prairie were all about Hetmyer; he was easily the most in-demand autograph during my three days attending games in-person, and he made multiple trips over the rope to sign stuff for kids during the Orcas’ game against Los Angeles. Now he has the form to match his exciting style and personality after rattling off three straight unbeaten half-centuries. He is Cricinfo’s most impactful MLC bat for the season to date after his 238* runs over the last three games, with a strike rate just north of 200 this season and an average now above 100.
MLC is searching for iconic players in these early years in a way that feels like an expansion team in other sports. It’s a total blank slate, and while a team may have a feel for who is good and who to promote, the fans will ultimately pick their own heroes. Tomas Vokoun springs to mind from my own experience with the Nashville Predators, a cast-off from Montreal’s farm system that ended up being an All-Star, a Czech Olympian, and a beloved figure who gave some really bad teams a chance to win every night. He wasn’t even supposed to be the starting goaltender - Mike Dunham was. Dunham was good enough to at least platoon, but he wasn’t as beloved as Vokoun. The fans chose Vokoun long before the franchise did.
American cricket as a whole is in its expansion era, searching for icons to latch onto and having to take the word of outsiders on how good certain players are (or used to be). Part of what makes Hetmyer’s tear so important is that it’s happening right in front of us. American society is intensely ethnocentric, and that’s especially true in sports. We need “our guys” - players who might not necessarily be American themselves, but who put on for our teams and our cities. MLC has no shortage of Mike Dunhams or Denílsons but it needs its Jaime Morenos or Tomas Vokouns, players who emerge as organic stars who draw eyeballs, move merch, and, eventually, sell tickets.
Over the last week, we have witnessed the genesis of Shimron Hetmyer’s cult figure status in the US cricket landscape, something that will likely continue to grow and could last a while. He’s now someone who people newly exposed to the sport will recognize, watch, and cheer for. There is something in his game and personality for everyone: he says all the right things and takes all the big swings. The Orcas needed something to go right this season, and what Hetmyer has given them is better than they could have asked for after an 0-5 start: not just hope, but an icon that is ready-made for a passionate sports town like Seattle.
Thanks for reading Stumps & Stripes! I’m having a blast putting these pieces together. If you’re enjoying my work, a free email subscription goes a long way to helping me out. I’m out of town with family for the Fourth of July weekend, but I’ll be back Monday with Week 4 power rankings to kick off the home stretch of MLC 2025. Stay tuned!