Indy Baseball Chatter: SOME ODD 'N ENDS STARTING WITH HOT SEATTLE MINOR LEAGUE HURLER

Friday, June 03, 2011

SOME ODD 'N ENDS STARTING WITH HOT SEATTLE MINOR LEAGUE HURLER

I would mark Steve Delabar down as a former Independent player possibly on a fast track toward the major leagues.

While the 27-year-old righty has been pitching professionally since 2004, he was only signed by Seattle in the third week of April and now the Mariners have promoted the 6-foot-5 hurler from Class A High Desert in the California League to Double-A Jackson, MS.

We wrote about Delabar earlier this season in the Independent Baseball Insider because he is coming back after what appeared to be a career-ending broken right elbow. He worked at Florence, KY of the Frontier League and for quite a while with Brockton, MA in the Can-Am League before Seattle bought his contract.

Delabar has struck out 29 hitters in 20.1 minor league innings so far with five saves, a 2-1 record and a 2.66 earned run average. He has been virtually perfect in the Southern League, and we will keep a lookout for more progress.

ODDS 'N ENDS HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND: The New York Mets have sent lefty Mike O'Connor (Southern Maryland, Atlantic League) back to Triple-A Buffalo even though he had a 2.70 ERA for nine appearances. He took one loss, but also fanned eight in 6.2 innings and gave up only five hits...Milwaukee has Erick Almonte (Long Island, NY, Atlantic League) out on a rehab assignment at Nashville. He was perhaps the major surprise among former Indy players during spring training when he came from nowhere to make the Brewers' Opening Day roster as a utilityman and pinch hitter...It may not be the end, but Detroit has released former major league hurler Chris Oxspring, whose Indy time was at Cook County (Crestwood, IL) of the Frontier League...Corey Smith (Newark, NJ, Atlantic) is back at Double-A Chattanooga, TN after the Dodgers had moved the hot-hitting third baseman up to Albuquerque for a time. It still would not surprise this corner if he got a major league opportunity because of his bat...the pace of player sales from Indy teams to major league organizations has really picked up in recent days.

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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