Friday, June 07, 2013

'NEARLY UNHITTABLE' NIX LEAVES SUGAR LAND FOR TRIPLE-A WHITE SOX OPPORTUNITY

 

So often we hear of pitchers having their career rescued when they move from starting to the bullpen and throw at a considerably faster speed.

It appears Michael Nix’s move the other direction to starting has given him a new lease to the point the Chicago White Sox just signed the 30-year-old right-hander from Sugar Land, TX (Atlantic League) and are sending him to Triple-A Charlotte.

York, PA Manager Mark Mason, who had Nix as closer with the Revolution two years ago, had told me a few days ago that Nix had “great fastball command” this season and that his “secondary pitches now are almost unhittable”. Nix had been used exclusively in relief at Auburn, for four years in the Atlanta Braves farm system plus Atlantic League stints at Newark and York until Sugar Land moved him into the rotation part way into last year.

Nix went 5-1 with an Atlantic League-best 1.81 earned run average in eight outings (seven starts) this season for Sugar Land, which could use his services for this weekend’s first place showdown at Somerset, NJ. He is the fourth Skeeters player signed by a major league organization in recent weeks.

NCAA SOFTBALL AND BASEBALL, NOW TIME OFF FOR ADAM AMIN

Talented broadcaster Adam Amin left the Somerset (NJ) Patriots for an ESPN job after doing Atlantic League games in 2010 and 2011, but he mentioned various Independent Baseball tie-ins when we chatted this week that have occurred since in his travels to broadcast college football and basketball as well as recent NCAA softball and baseball regional tournaments.

His partner last weekend for the baseball tournament in Tallahassee, FL was longtime Tennessee coach Rod Delmonico, whose son Tony is with Schaumburg, IL in the Frontier League although currently on the disabled list. Amin plans to do a few Boomers games on radio this summer to stay sharp while off from his ESPN duties. It so happens that friend Andy Viano is the team’s president and Schaumburg is an easy drive from his home in Chicago.

Amin was paired with Indy superscout Nick Belmonte in the Tallahassee regional last year, and a fellow ESPN voice is that of onetime quarterback Danny Kanell, who reminded Adam that he played in the Atlantic League at one time for Newark, NJ.

CROSSING PATHS

My week, as anyone who read Thursday’s Independent Baseball Insider knows, included a trip from Connecticut across the New York border to see the interleague skirmish between the host Rockland Boulders (Can-Am League) and the American Association’s St. Paul (MN) Saints. I ran into a trim and fit looking Marv Goldklang, the Saints’ chairman. He had back surgery a year or so ago, but said he is now back to running.

Another familiar face at the game was Kevin Winn, who supervises umpires in both of those leagues. He has had a busy past three weeks checking out his crews.

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