JUSTIN HAMPSON IS LATEST TO MAKE CLIMB FROM INDY TO MAJORS WHILE TWO OTHERS ARE RELEASED

How nice to have still one more first-time major leaguer who has played in the Independent ranks. Southpaw Justin Hampson, now with the New York Mets, is the 168th player on this impressive list.

Hampson played for both York, PA and Long Island, NY of the Atlantic League in 2010.

He is the fourth player added to the list this season, joining infielder Mike Costanzo with Cincinnati and pitchers Stu Pomeranz with Baltimore and Tanner Scheppers with Texas. Costanzo is back in Triple-A and Pomeranz is on the disabled list.

THIS PAIR HANDED WALKING PAPERS

Pitchers Travis Schlichting and Clay Zavada, who made the climb from Independent Baseball to the majors, have been released in recent days.

Schlichting, who played for the Kansas City (KS) T-Bones and got to the majors with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was released out of Triple-A by Oakland. Zavada spent his Indy time in the Frontier League (Southern Illinois) and got to the majors with Arizona. His last stop was with St. Louis's top farm club in Memphis.

Both are young enough they could get more opportunities to pitch.

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