Indy Baseball Chatter: AFTER INDY BASEBALL, HOCHEVAR SHOULD DO WELL IN MIDWEST LEAGUE

Sunday, August 06, 2006

AFTER INDY BASEBALL, HOCHEVAR SHOULD DO WELL IN MIDWEST LEAGUE

Now that Kansas City has committed at least $5.25 million to the nation's No. 1 draft choice, Luke Hochevar, it is going to want the former University of Tennessee standout to do well when he starts his new life in their organization. You do not want your top young gun to stumble.

He was in Kansas City to sign his contract this weekend, reports to Arizona to train starting Monday, then heads off to Burlington, IA in the Midwest League to pitch. It stands to reason he should do well in Low A baseball after pitching effectively early this season in the American Association. He was 1-1 with a 2.38 earned run average in four Independent Baseball starts, pitching for Fort Worth, TX.

"Those hitters (American Association), they're older (than at Tennessee), they're experienced and they're a lot smarter," he said at the time, as we quoted in our June 8 Independent Baseball Insider column. He should find that the hitters, on average, were more advanced than those he will oppose in the Midwest League.

Hochevar also is ticketed for play this fall, including the prospect-loaded Arizona Fall League.

Meanwhile, the Royals have signed at least their third Atlantic League hurler of the season for their Triple-A Omaha farm club. Veteran major leaguer Pat Mahomes was taken off the Long Island, NY roster this week. Kansas City signed Brian Boehringer and Donovan Osborne from Bridgeport, CT earlier although Boehringer has moved on again. He now works for Detroit's top club at Toledo.

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Bob Wirz

Former chief spokesman for Major League Baseball Commissioners Bowie Kuhn and Peter Ueberroth. Six years as publicity director for the Kansas City Royals, and a background in newspaper, radio and television. Started Wirz & Associates, a sports PR and consulting firm, in 1985. Has written extensively on Independent Baseball since 2003.

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About 'My Nebraska'

It seems almost universally accepted that Nebraskans are friendly, hard-working people.

A native son, who eventually transitioned to the East Coast because it was the best avenue to follow his passion of continuing to work in major league baseball, has published a book to share a lifetime of memories of growing up in the Cornhusker state.

You may have guessed it when you saw the title: My Nebraska. Yes, Bob Wirz, now a youthful 85, is sharing his "rich memories of growing up in rural Nebraska" in the 1940s and 1950s in a delightful 136 pages in the book produced by Dorrance Publishing in Pittsburgh, PA.

Wirz, who got to live his passion of working at the highest levels of baseball and later developing his own sports public relations and marketing company, lovingly empties out his memories of everything from counting millions of tiny trees to playing grass-roots baseball where the age of teammates might run from the early teens to the 50s.

The colorful cover of My Nebraska, which features two paintings from Dunning, NE rancher/artist Laron McGinn that depict the beautiful landscape of rural Nebraska and the ranching lifestyle, sets the tone for the 5 x 8 book also filled with meaningful pictures.

It is "a wistful and endearing love letter to Nebraska filled with memories shared by generations raised in small towns throughout the Midwest", praises Shari Veil, who heads up the journalism and mass communications department at the University of Nebraska.

My Nebraska, a 5x8 paperback, is priced at $19.95 plus $4.00 for handling and shipping. Autographed copies may be ordered at www.WirzandAssociates.com