Friday, April 17, 2015

INDY COUNT IN MAJORS UP TO 203 WITH CUNNIFF BUSY OUT OF BRAVES BULLPEN

Atlanta’s Brandon Cunniff has the distinction of being the first graduate of Independent Baseball to make his major league debut in this young season, and what a trial he is getting.

The 26-year-old right-handed reliever has made six appearances within a nine-day span since joining the Braves, and has yet to surrender any hits. He has been charged with four walks (five strikeouts) and one run in 5.2 innings (1.59), and has picked up one victory.

Cunniff was drafted by Miami, but only found work in 18 games before being released. The next two plus seasons (’11-’13) were spent in the Frontier League (River City and Southern Illinois).

Major League Count Up to 203

Records maintained exclusively by IndyBaseballChatter.com and the Independent Baseball Insider now show 203 players have made their way from Independent Baseball to the majors (1993-2015).

The 2015 major league count is down slightly this season with 15 players active and five others on disabled lists. The complete list, including major league affiliation and previous Independent team(s), with those who started in an Independent league identified with an asterisk:

Pitchers (11 + 4 on DL)—Craig Breslow, Boston (New Jersey, Northeast League); Brandon Cunniff, Atlanta (River City and Southern Illinois, Frontier League); *#Aaron Crow, Miami (Fort Worth, American Association); Luis Garcia, Philadelphia (Newark, Can-Am League); *#Luke Hochevar, Kansas City (Fort Worth); Scott Kazmir, Oakland (Sugar Land, Atlantic League); *Chris Martin, New York-AL (Grand Prairie, American Association); *James Paxton, Seattle (Grand Prairie); *Tanner Roark, Washington (Southern Illinois); *#Tanner Scheppers, Texas (St. Paul, American Association); *Max Scherzer, Washington (Fort Worth); *Joe Thatcher, Houston (River City); #Tom Wilhelmsen, Seattle (Tucson, Golden League); Jerome Williams, Philadelphia (Lancaster, Atlantic, and Long Beach, Golden); Brad Ziegler, Arizona (Schaumburg, Northern League).

Position Players (4 +1 on DL) –*2B Stephen Drew, New York-AL (Camden, Atlantic); OF-1B *Daniel Nava, Boston (Chico, Golden); David Peralta, Arizona (Amarillo and Wichita, American Association, and Rio Grande Valley, North American); #Antoan Richardson, Texas (Schaumburg); C Rene Rivera, Tampa Bay (Camden).

#Is on the disabled list.

Several Signed Before Season Starts

Major league organizations are not even waiting for Independent seasons to start to sign players off the non-affiliated rosters. We can count at least five of these cases, including 5-foot-8 lefty Jhonathan Ramos, whose contract was purchased from Wichita, KS (American Association) by Baltimore. The Venezuelan, 25, has pitched as high as Triple-A and started the year with a 29-18 career record for six seasons.

The first Independent Baseball action of ’15 comes next Thursday and Friday in the Atlantic League.

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

Friday, April 03, 2015

INSPIRATIONAL EDWARDS STORY INCLUDED AS ABOUT 18 INDY GRADS HEADED FOR OPENING DAY

Most of the decisions have been made regarding Opening Day major league rosters with the rest of them coming by Sunday afternoon, and, as usual, some surprises and disappointments have taken place since major league spring training camps opened in February.

The most pleasant news for the Independent Baseball crowd probably centers around three right-handed pitchers, all of whom made their big-league debut last season and now appear to have made the all-important 25-man rosters. It seems likely American Association (Grand Prairie, TX) product Chris Martin will be in the New York Yankees' bullpen, Frontier League (Rockford, IL) grad Drew Rucinski will be with the Los Angeles Angels and Jon Edwards will be part of the Texas Rangers' pen. The trio has only 28 combined major league appearances.

All have heart-warming stories, none better than that of Edwards, who emerged from the youth-oriented Pecos League (Alpine, TX) and the North American League (San Angelo, TX), which no longer exists.

Not only did Edwards move from the outfield to pitching to salvage his career, but he has overcome testicular cancer surgery when it was discovered a few days before Christmas and he has recently learned he will become a first-time father this fall.

"It was surprising how quickly the doctors wanted to move on it (the cancer) and the urgency of it (surgery) kind of showed the concern the doctor felt," Edwards' wife Katelyn told The Fort Worth Star-Telegram as part of a lengthy feature on the couple, who have a strong religious background.

Edwards has held opposing teams to only seven hits in 12.1 innings while striking out 18 in compiling a 2.92 earned run average this spring for the pitching-starved Rangers.

It appears as many as 22 former Independent players will be on Opening Day rosters although up to four of them may be on disabled lists including Aaron Crow, who is going to have Tommy John (with Tommy John (elbow) surgery and will miss the season. The players, with major league affiliation and previous Independent teams, with those who started in an Independent league identified with an asterisk:

Pitchers (17)—Craig Breslow, Boston (New Jersey, Northeast League); *#Aaron Crow, Miami (Fort Worth, American Association); Jon Edwards, Texas (St. Paul, American Association); San Angelo, North American League, and Alpine, Pecos League); Luis Garcia, Philadelphia (Newark, Can-Am League); *#Luke Hochevar, Kansas City (Fort Worth); Scott Kazmir, Oakland (Sugar Land, Atlantic League); *Chris Martin, New York-AL (Grand Prairie, American Association); Vidal Nuno, Arizona (Washington, Frontier League); *James Paxton, Seattle (Grand Prairie); *Tanner Roark, Washington (Southern Illinois, Frontier); Drew Rucinski, Los Angeles Angels (Rockford, Frontier); *#Tanner Scheppers, Texas (St. Paul, American Association); *Max Scherzer, Washington (Fort Worth); *Joe Thatcher, Houston (River City, Frontier); Tom Wilhelmsen, Seattle (Tucson, Golden League); Jerome Williams, Philadelphia (Lancaster, Atlantic, and Long Beach, Golden); Brad Ziegler, Arizona (Schaumburg, Northern League).

Position Players (5) –*2B Stephen Drew, New York-AL (Camden, Atlantic); OF-1B *Daniel Nava, Boston (Chico, Golden); David Peralta, Arizona (Amarillo and Wichita, American Association, and Rio Grande Valley, North American); #Antoan Richardson, Texas (Schaumburg, Northern); C Rene Rivera, Tampa Bay (Camden, Atlantic).

#Will be or likely to be on disabled list to start season.

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