BOSOX GET 10TH HOMER FROM FORMER GOLDEN LEAGUER; CANSECO'S PRODUCTION LIMITED

Onetime Yuma, AZ (Golden League) first baseman Reynaldo Rodriguez hit his 10th home run Thursday night for Boston's Double-A Portland, ME club. The 26-year-old also has a dozen doubles and has driven in 25 runs while hitting .256.

Checking up on a few other former Independent players after getting the Independent Baseball Insider column out for the week:

--Brandon Kintzler is finally back to regular work in the Milwaukee system after battling injuries for quite a spell. The St. Paul, MN (American Association) and Winnipeg, Canada (then in the Northern League) right-hander is working his way back toward the majors with six outings at Class A Brevard (FL) County (3.00 ERA) and three appearances in five days for Double-A Huntsville, AL (0.00 in 2.2 innings).

--Greg Smith (Grand Prairie, TX, American Association) has gone 0-2, 4.34 in 18.2 innings for the Angels' top club in Salt Lake City after a 2-1, 4.37 start with Double-A Arkansas.

--Clay Zavada, the lefty released earlier this year by Cincinnati, has worked two scoreless innings (two games) since St. Louis signed him to play at Memphis. Still only 27, Zavada pitched in the Frontier League (Southern Illinois) in 2008 and rapidly climbed to the parent Arizona Diamondbacks a year later with a 3-3 record and 3.35 ERA in 49 relief appearances.

CANSECO'S PRODUCTION LIMITED

Jose Canseco's first five games for Worcester, MA (Can-Am League) have produced only four hits in 20 at-bats (.200) with one run batted in. He has struck out seven times.

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SAVAGE AND PARISI AMONG PITCHING LEADERS; CHRISTIAN, RODRIGUEZ AMONG BEST ON OFFENSE

With the start of a new week, I checked up on some of the former Independent players who have been among league leaders in Class AA and AAA leagues:

Will Savage (Wichita, KS, American Association, and Lancaster, PA, Atlantic League) continues to share the Pacific Coast League lead with seven wins after taking a no-decision Saturday. Savage has been in 11 games for the Dodgers' Albuquerque farm club, starting six of them, and is 7-0 with a 3.40 earned run average.

Teammate Mike Parisi (Long Island, NY, Atlantic) has moved up to second in the PCL earned run average race. He is at 2.61 and has 32 strikeouts in 38 innings.

On the offensive side, outfielder Justin Christian, who started in Indy baseball (River City, Frontier League) and also has played for Southern Maryland (Atlantic), is still in second place in the PCL in hitting (.373) with four home runs and 23 RBI plus seven stolen bases. He is with San Francisco's Fresno farm club.

First baseman Reynaldo Rodriguez (Yuma, AZ, Golden League) is tied for second in home runs with nine in the Double-A Eastern League and is hitting .257 with 23 ribbies for Portland, ME, a Boston farm club.

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FORGET SEINFELD'S COSTANZA, IT WAS MIKE COSTANZO WHO GOT HIS FIRST MAJOR LEAGUE HIT TODAY

What fun it had to be for onetime Atlantic League (Camden, NJ, 2010) infielder Mike Costanzo to get his first major league hit this afternoon (Saturday), and to do it at Yankee Stadium during a 6-5 victory for his Cincinnati Reds because he predicted ahead of the series he was likely to hear a great deal of razzing through the similarity of his name and that of Seinfeld television character George Costanza.

Costanzo benefitted from interleague play because it allowed him to get his first major league start as the designated hitter. The 28-year-old, primarily a third baseman and first baseman, went 1-for-3 with his second sacrifice fly since joining the Reds. He is now 1-for-7 at the plate with the other appearances in pinch-hitting roles.

Of the expectation of being called 'Lord of the Idiots' as the sitcom star sometimes was known, Costanzo told FoxSportsOhio.com in advance of a five-game invasion of New York City (Cincinnati played two games against the Mets before moving to Yankee Stadium) "I hear it all the time and I know I'll hear it a lot in New York".

It certainly helps that he now has a major league batting average, even if it is only .143.

DAZZLING ATTENDANCE

The American Association has gotten off to a terrific start at the gate, joining the Atlantic League in that fashion.

El Paso, TX and Kansas City, KS have both had a 7,000 gate in the first two days of play with the Diablos drawing 7,823 Friday night for a two-day total of 12,042. The T-Bones had 7,026 fans show up for their opener, which also started interleague play with the Can-Am League. Amarillo, TX drew 6,518 for its opener Friday, and Laredo, TX, debuted in the league and opened a new ballpark with crowds of 5,923 and 5,116 in successive games. The league drew 62,992 the first two nights, according to figures compiled by Pointstreak, the American Association's official statistical house.

Meanwhile, the Atlantic League has already drawn 356,262 fans, an average of 4,345 for 82 openings with the new Sugar Land (TX) Skeeters leading the way with an average of 6,921 for 10 home games.

AMERICAN WEST LEAGUE CHECKS IN

It was nice to pick up the phone Friday afternoon, and hear from Michael Cummings, the CEO of Godfather Media and the man behind the American West League which expects to start next season.

Godfather Media owns the Yuma, AZ franchise formerly in the North American League, and Cummings told us he hopes to have at least six teams committed by mid-summer for a 2013 startup. He also confirmed players will be paid, which is a pleasant departure from at least one other league playing as an Independent but without paying all of its players. We will have more of what Cummings had to say in next Thursday's subscriber-driven Independent Baseball Insider column.

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WHAT A WEEK WITH FOUR MORE INDEPENDENT PLAYERS IN MAJORS

It has been quite a week for former Independent players in the major leagues starting with Stu Pomeranz's call-up and two shutout appearances for Baltimore, then followed quickly by another impressive Daniel Nava start with Boston, lefty reliever Raul Valdes joining the Phillies and third baseman Mike Costanzo getting his first call to The Show with Cincinnati. (Comment: We featured Pomeranz in this week's subscriber-only Independent Baseball Insider.)

The action lifts the current total of onetime Indy players in the major to 17, including three who are disabled.

Nava, whose Independent time was for 72 games (12-59-.371) with Chico, CA of the then Golden League in 2008, will forever be remembered in Boston for the grand slam he hit on his very first time at bat in the majors (2010). It was his only round-tripper in the 60 games he played for the Red Sox that season.

The 5-foot-10 lefty-hitting outfielder appears to be a more mature player overall now at 29, hitting .316 with three homers and 17 runs batted in for his 27 games at Triple-A Pawtucket before arriving for his second stint at Fenway Park. He has played three consecutive games since joining the Red Sox, and in addition to a couple of sparkling defensive plays has been on base twice for every three times at the plate. Nava is 4-for-8 with two doubles, two runs, an RBI and four walks.

When Valdes steps on the mound for the first time the Cuban native will be appearing with his fourth major league team in three seasons, adding the Phillies to a list that already includes both New York teams and the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals for whom he made seven appearances. He was 9-4 in 21 appearances (16 starts) in the Can-Am League in 2006, mostly with the New Jersey Jackals, who also had Pomeranz for a season.

While Costanzo was a second round draft choice by Philadelphia (2005), he topped out at Class AAA with both the Phillies and Baltimore, and needed a fresh start in the Atlantic League (Camden, NJ) before Cincinnati signed him. He hit .278 in 16 games with the 2010 RiverSharks with four homers and 10 RBI. Now 28, the onetime Coastal Carolina University slugger was at 6-24-.303 in 34 games for Louisville, KY when he got his major league call as veteran third baseman Scott Rolen went on the disabled list. If he debuts Sunday it will come against Washington.

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LOOK FOR ONETIME CAN-AM LEAGUER IN BALTIMORE BULLPEN TONIGHT

It is being widely reported today that onetime Can-Am League starter Stuart Pomeranz will be active in the hot Baltimore Orioles bullpen tonight when they entertain Texas.

The 27-year-old right-hander has been awesome all spring, as we have been reporting in the Independent Baseball Insider.

Pomeranz, who is not easy to overlook anyway because of his 6-foot-7 frame, only signed with the Birds February 9 after an 18-save season (1-6, 3.67) for Colorado’s Double-A farm club in Tulsa when he had just over a strikeout per inning (53 K’s in 49 innings). Baltimore gave him frequent looks during spring training even though the 2003 St. Louis Cardinals draftee was not an official non-roster invitee. He started the year back in Double-A (Bowie, MD), but after 20 strikeouts against seven hits and a walk in 13.1 innings without giving up an earned run it was on to Triple-A Norfolk.

Pomeranz whiffed 12 hitters without allowing any hits in 5.2 innings (one walk) spread over three appearances for the International League team, the latest a two-inning stint against Indianapolis three days ago.

After a year off in 2008, Pomeranz put up so-so numbers for the New Jersey Jackals in the Can-Am League, winning five of 11 decisions to go along with a 6.50 ERA for 16 games, 14 of which were starts.

Presuming the promotion becomes fact, Pomeranz will become the first former Independent player to get his initial call to the major leagues in 2012. Nine players got a similar thrill last season.

ANOTHER CAN-AM GRAD PART OF MAJOR LEAGUE ONE-HITTER

Another ’09 Can-Am product, Steve Delabar, got to finish up on a combined one-hitter with Felix Hernandez Saturday. Delabar, who was at Brockton, MA in both ’08 and ’09 and pitched briefly in Independent Baseball for Florence, KY of the Frontier League, finished off the Minnesota Twins with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Delabar has limited American League hitters to a .185 average for his first 15 appearances of the season, striking out 18 in 15 innings and posting a 4.20 ERA.

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