STRONG CAN-AM SEASON AS CLOSER GIVES SANCHEZ NEW LIFE

Salvador Sanchez appears to be a really good test case to see how far one can advance in an affiliated league after converting from the outfield and getting one season of accelerated work as a closer in the Can-Am League.

The Miami Marlins have signed the 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander and placed him on their Triple-A New Orleans roster, based in great measure on a 25-save season with the New Jersey Jackals (Little Falls). Sanchez will pitch at 29 in 2015, but only the last four years of his first decade in pro baseball have come as a pitcher.

The New York City native hit as many as 16 home runs in a season and climbed to Class AA during his nine seasons in the Chicago White Sox organization. He only started pitching in the ’11 season, and did not get many innings until ’13 in the Double-A Southern League where he posted a 2.72 ERA in 27 appearances for Birmingham, AL.

New Jersey worked the right-hander hard last season, and he responded with a 4-2 record, 2.41 ERA and the 25 saves. His other numbers were good, too, with only 33 hits allowed in 41.1 innings during 42 appearances, and he fanned 46 and walked only 12. Sanchez logged another seven appearances, including two in the playoffs, for Somerset, NJ of the Atlantic League after the Can-Am season ended.

ANOTHER CONVERTED OUTFIELDER

Slender southpaw Leyson Septimo also converted from the outfield to the mound, but he did so much earlier in his career, eventually logging 21 major league appearances with the parent White Sox (0-2, 5.14) in 2012. He played briefly in the Atlantic League (Southern Maryland, Waldorf) last summer (0-0, 14.14 in eight relief outings), and now is getting a new start at age 29 with Atlanta’s top farm club in Gwinnett, GA.

NEW ADDRESSES FOR BURGAMY, MINICOZZI

Well-traveled Independent Baseball veterans Mark Minicozzi and Brian Burgamy, both borderline major leaguers, have new homes.

Minicozzi, mostly a first baseman these days, joined the Washington Nationals organization after being in the San Francisco farm system. He has played with Winnipeg and Kansas City, KS in the American Association, Worcester, MA in the Can-Am League and Camden, NJ in the Atlantic League.

Burgamy, known largely for his bat and listed now in the outfield, has joined the Los Angeles Dodgers system after playing in the minors for the New York Mets. He has made Atlantic League stops in York, PA, Camden and Sugar Land, TX as well as with St. Paul, MN in the American Association.

THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER will resume in March. Request a free sample column from December in order to be automatically reminded when the column starts for 2015.

Get the independent minor league baseball trivia question of the day by clicking this link: Independent Minor League Baseball Trivia Questions