Gavin Lux led all affiliated batters in seven different offensive categories during his first 15 games at Triple-A. (Getty Images)

Augie Schmidt, a baseball lifer, sat alone in his home in Kenosha, Wisconsin last Thursday watching a Triple-A baseball game.

He was nearly brought to tears by what he saw.

The moment struck when Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop prospect Gavin Lux, Schmidt’s nephew and star pupil, parked a homer in the right field seats at Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa.

Schmidt, a former minor leaguer and the head baseball coach at Division III Carthage College since 1987, knew he was witnessing the culmination of the work started more than a decade ago.

Work that produced the best hitter on the planet for a 15-game stretch.

When Lux departed that afternoon for a near-550 mile, air-conditioner-less bus ride through America’s heartland back to Oklahoma City, he was the leader among all affiliated hitters in seven different offensive categories since being promoted to the Pacific Coast League 15 games prior.

He was league-best with a .531 batting average, 34 hits, 18 extra-base hits, 68 total bases, 25 runs, a 1.063 slugging percentage and a 1.640 OPS. At that point he had seven homers, two triples, nine doubles and 22 RBIs.

“People who played the game know how hard it is to do what he's done in the last couple weeks,” Schmidt said. “You go 3-for-6 and your average is going to go down. That's wrong, man.”

The middle infield prospect was promoted to Oklahoma City on June 26 after batting .313/.375/.521 with 24 extra-base hits and 37 RBIs in 64 games with Double-A Tulsa.

✅ - start in the All-Star Game

✅ - get called up to AAA



Congrats @TheRealGavinLux!#DrillVilleToTheShow pic.twitter.com/zp1zaD1ysb — Tulsa Drillers (@TulsaDrillers) June 26, 2019

He did his version of cooling off in the four games since returning home, going 7-for-21 (including two triples and a homer) to bring his Triple-A average to .482.

“You go on those stretches in baseball where the ball looks like a sunflower seed. And then sometimes, it looks like a beach ball,” Lux told Yahoo Sports. “When you feel like that, you feel almost invincible. It doesn't matter where the pitch is, or what pitch it is, it's like it's getting barreled no matter what.”

Oklahoma City manager Travis Barbary picked up where Schmidt — who claims he’s worked more in the shadows since Lux got to high school — left off after the MLB draft, working as a coordinator in the team’s player development staff. The organization liked what they saw when they drafted him 20th overall in 2016.

But even they’re a bit shocked by this particular offensive surge.

“Watching him right now, it's hard to explain,” Barbary said. “We are in awe of what he's doing.”

The I-Cubs broadcaster can't even help but laugh. Wow. https://t.co/XEY9KRSk88 — Gerard Gilberto (@Gerard_Gilberto) July 24, 2019

Gavin Lux the latest in a wave of Wisconsin players

Considering Lux’s roots in Wisconsin, even as he grew up under Schmidt’s tutelage while taking advantage of the indoor facilities at Carthage, the odds were stacked against a player from that part of the country even getting this far up the organizational ladder.

Those odds only served to fuel the fire.

“I think everyone from Wisconsin kind of plays with a chip on their shoulder,” Lux said. “It's cool to see how far it's come from even when I was younger.”

There have been as many Wisconsin high schoolers drafted within the first five rounds since 2016 as there were in 23 years prior.

The first was Lux (Kenosha), then Ben Rortvedt (Verona) went to the Minnesota Twins 36 picks later. The New York Mets made Waukesha-native Jarred Kelenic, who has since been traded to the Seattle Mariners, the highest-drafted Wisconsin high schooler with the No. 6 overall pick in 2018.

(The highest drafted Wisconsinite of all time? A shortstop from the University of New Orleans named Augie Schmidt. He went No. 2 overall in 1982, a pick behind Shawn Dunston and three ahead of Dwight Gooden.)

Not only did the trio draw its roots to the Badger State, but they also played travel ball under RJ Fergus at Hitters Baseball. Hitters has produced 70 MLB draft picks from the Milwaukee and Chicago area, including 20 alums currently playing affiliated ball.

In his first full professional season in 2017, Lux batted .244 with seven homers and 39 RBIs in 111 games with Class A Great Lakes.