Friday, November 16, 2012

ANOTHER TRIO GET OPPORTUNITIES WITH MAJOR LEAGUE ORGANIZATIONS

It always is nice to see another Independent player get picked up by a major league organization, but it was doubly impressive that the World Champion San Francisco Giants elected to place Omar Javier on their Triple-A (Fresno) roster.

The 25-year-old Dominican native had only pitched at the rookie level with St. Louis in 2007-09 before he joined the Indy ranks. The 6-foot-3 right-hander spent some time with the Atlantic League's Road Warriors in 2011, then was at York, PA in that league this season (1-6, 5.67 in 22 games, including nine starts) before joining the Newark (NJ) Bears of the Can-Am League for the final month. Javier won twice and lost twice for the Bears, posting a 3.74 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 33.2 innings over six starts.

Newark's release says Javier will be given a chance to make the Double-A farm club, and even that would be a nice jump from his St. Louis days.

MORE NEW AFFILIATED OPPORTUNITIES

The happy news of significant opportunities with major league organizations for those who have been in Independent leagues continues to stream in.

Onetime outfielder Anthony Iapoce has become special assistant to the general manager and minor league hitting coordinator for the Chicago Cubs. He played for Gary, IN in 2004-05 when the current American Association team was in the Northern League.

And Southern Illinois continues to churn out pitching coaches. The latest is Justin Lord, who helped the Miners win the Frontier League title this year before being hired by Baltimore to serve in a similar capacity with their South Atlantic League farm club in Salisbury, MD (Delmarva ShoreBirds). Brad Hall had previously been hired by Washington and Brendan Sagara by Miami after handling pitching coach duties for the Miners.

"Coaches, just like players come to the Miners with hopes of showcasting their skills and talents so that a major league organization will give them an opportunity to reach the big leagues," said Southern Illinois Manager Mike Pinto.

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