As part of a weekly look-in at the many independent baseball leagues across the country covered and streamed on its platforms, FloBaseball’s Player of the Week series highlights the best of the best from indy ball over the week that was.

Edwin Mateo, an outfielder for the Sussex County Miners of the Frontier League, is this week’s nominee.

Here’s a look at Mateo’s week, along with his background and a peek into his independent league season to date:

Career Look-Back

Hailing from the Dominican Republic, the 24-year-old Mateo still has a lot of career left ahead of him. He’s spent a sizable chunk of the time that he has been a professional ballplayer in the indy ball scene. Signed at the age of just 17 in 2016 by the Los Angeles Dodgers organization on a minor-league deal, he spent three years in the Rookie leagues before being assigned to Low-A Rancho Cucamonga in 2021.

He impressed enough to earn a spot in High-A for 2022 with the Great Lakes Loons. Released that August after 60 games, he was quickly signed on by Sussex County that same month and made his indy ball debut for the squad in time for the Miners’ attempted playoff push in the East Division, in which they finished just a place short in the standings of the postseason. 

His 2022 campaign (.206 average, .263 on-base percentage, seven RBIs) wasn’t anything to write home about, but his 2023 season as the Miners primary leadoff hitter is. Mateo is among the Frontier League’s leaders in stolen bases as of Thursday night with 32 on the year and is batting a career best .319 with 104 total hits following Thursday’s games, a mark which ranks fourth in the league. Fifteen doubles and 37 RBIs on the year thus far are also approaching his career-best tallies for a single season.

Standout Performances

Mateo has provided plenty of offense all year, but that’s been especially true in every Miners game since Sunday. He is one of the key components behind Sussex County’s ongoing three-game winning streak (following Thursday’s games) as it tries to creep into the East’s playoff slots late in the regular season. 

Against the Empire State Greys on Sunday, Mateo went 1 for 3 at the plate with a pair of runs, a RBI and a stolen base as he did what he could, but the Miners weren’t able to sweep the Greys as the hosts lost 7-6. But the Miners did sweep the Trois-Rivieres Aigles on the road this week in Canada and Mateo played a major role in making that happen. 

In the series opener Tuesday, he had a monster day by going 4 for 6 with four runs — including his first home run since June 25, paired with three RBIs — as the Miners blasted the Aigles in a 14-4 rout, then kept the mojo going Wednesday when he went 2 for 4 with a RBI in Sussex County’s 6-4 victory. And to cap the hot streak off, Mateo extended his RBI streak to four games by recording three of them in a 14-2 win over Trois-Rivieres on Thursday to help the Miners earn the sweep, reaching home himself three times and recording his second homer in three games in the process, too — the first time all year that he’s managed two home runs in the same series.