20 Indy League Vets In Majors

It is always nice to see the Independent leagues getting more players to the major leagues.

Sixteen onetime Indy players were active rosters on Opening Day last season with three more on disabled lists.  That number climbed to 20 in 2017, and still stands at that count with two players added recently although the DL list has grown to four and one health-challenged player recently was outrighted to Triple-A.

A record 45 players with Independent experience were in the majors at some time last season.

The roster at the start of this week including both the major league and Independent affiliations:

            Pitchers (14 + 3 on DL)--Tim Adleman, Cincinnati (New Jersey, Can-Am League, and Lincoln and El Paso, American Association); Craig Breslow, Minnesota (New Jersey, Northeast League); Luis Garcia, Philadelphia (Newark, Can-Am);  #Junior Guerra, Milwaukee (Wichita, American Association); Rich Hill, Los Angeles-NL (Long Island, Atlantic League); #Scott Kazmir, Los Angeles-NL (Sugar Land, Atlantic); Brandon Kintzler, Minnesota (St. Paul, American Association, and Winnipeg, Northern League); Vidal Nuno, Baltimore (Washington, Frontier League); *James Paxton, Seattle (Grand Prairie, American Association); *Tanner Roark, Washington (Southern Illinois, Frontier); Chaz Roe, Atlanta (Laredo, American Association); *Max Scherzer, Washington (Fort Worth, American Association);  #Bo Schultz, Toronto (Grand Prairie); *Robby Scott, Boston (Yuma, North American League); Josh Smoker, New York-NL (Rockford, Frontier); Tom Wilhelmsen, Arizona (Tucson, Golden League); Brad Ziegler, Miami (Schaumburg, Northern).

            Position Players (6+1 on DL)--OF-1B-Stephen Cardullo, Colorado (Rockland, Can-Am); #INF-Stephen Drew, Washington (Camden, Atlantic);   OF-Chris Marrero, San Francisco (Somerset, Atlantic); OF-Jose Martinez, St. Louis (Rockford); OF-1B*-Daniel Nava, Philadelphia (Chico, Golden); OF-David Peralta, Arizona (Amarillo and Wichita, American Association, and Rio Grande Valley, North American); C-Rene Rivera, New York-NL (Camden).

            *First professional game was in an Independent League

            #Is on disabled list

             Notes:  Adleman and Garcia have been added since Opening Day.  Breslow, Cardullo, Marrero, Nava and Wilhelmsen were non-roster invitees when spring training started.  Tanner Scheppers, Texas (St. Paul, American Association) was on the disabled list when the season started but has been sent outright to Triple-A.

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

Recent Indy Grads Impressing In MiLB

One constant in writing about Independent Baseball is the never-ending-opportunity to shed the spotlight on players who have not yet reached the major leagues, but are showing impressive strides after being signed out of the non-affiliated leagues and playing in the affiliated minors.

Today's stories are absolutely juicy.

One year ago Stephen Cardullo was an all-star outfielder in the Can-Am League, hitting .331 for the Rockland Boulders (Pomona, NY). Today, the soon-to-be 29-year-old can boast of hitting .308 with 26 doubles, 5 triples, 17 homers and 72 RBI for the Los Angeles Dodgers' top farm club in Albuquerque.

Omar Bencomo, a 27-year-old who had to fight his way back after gunshot wounds in his native Venezuela that kept him off the diamond for two years, rebounded through Italy and the American Association (Laredo, TX and Wichita, KS), and the right-hander has recently been promoted by Minnesota to the Twins' Triple-A club in Rochester, NY. He has split his first two starts for the Red Wings.   "I'm so proud to be here," he told The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.  "A lot of things happened to me to get here.  I took a long time to get 100 per cent but I'm here."

Mike Zouzalik was a strikeout-per-inning reliever for the St. Paul (MN) Saints of the American Association last season (4-1, 2.06 in 39 appearances) before his contract was purchased by Baltimore.  He had split this season between Class A Frederick, MD and Double-A Bowie, MD until recently when he was promoted to Norfolk, VA.  In  his first appearance in Triple-A, the righty escaped one bases loaded jam and worked three scoreless innings.  "When I got released (Texas in 2014), I was really kind of relieved," he told The Norfolk Pilot.  "I was throwing, and I had no idea where it was going...I just wasn't really having fun.  When I played with Wichita (his first American Association team later that year) and we won the championship, that reminded me how much fun this game is.  That was huge for me."

Ross Vance got his initial professional opportunity this season in the first-year United Shore League (Utica, MI), but St. Louis came along early on and purchased the 24-year-old lefty.  He already has 47 strikeouts in a mere 34 innings for Johnson City, TN of the Appalachian League, winning all three of his decisions and posting a 2.38 earned run average in 13 appearances (two starts).


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

With Success of Cuban Visit CanAm League May Do Again

Buoyed by the success of the three-week visit by the Cuban National Team to all of its six stadiums, the Can-Am League is hoping the experience can be repeated next year.

The league saw a “pretty significant” attendance increase everywhere, commissioner Miles Wolff pointed out. “We are talking about trying to do it again next year”, he added, while admitting a considerable amount of work goes into such an undertaking, including the obtaining of visas.

Rockland (Pomona, NY) had the largest single crowd for a game against the Cubans, Wolff said, and he used Ottawa as an example of the attendance jump with three consecutive crowds of more than 5,000 (a total of 16,386) compared to the Champions’ season average up to now of less than half that amount (2,483).

The Cuban team started slowly when it won only three of 10 games in the league’s three Canadian cities, but reeled off eight consecutive wins during its games in the three United States stadiums to finish 11-9 overall. (Shikoku Island from Japan went 8-12 at the same time.)

Speculation about the reason for the Cuban turnaround included the need to get accustomed to playing most every day as compared to only a few games a week when on its home island.

AARON WILKERSON COULD BECOME NEXT WITH BREWERS

Aaron Hill drew most of the immediate attention in the recent Boston-Milwaukee trade because of how the veteran infielder could improve the Red Sox’s postseason hopes, but another Aaron in the deal also may benefit.

Right-hander Aaron Wilkerson had been picking up support for his first major league opportunity since the Independent Baseball grad had a combined 6-3, 2.14 record this season between Boston’s top two farm clubs in Portland, ME and Pawtucket, RI. In fact, the 27-year-old had gone 22-7 with a 2.52 ERA in 54 appearances (44 starts) since Boston purchased his contract from the American Association (Grand Prairie, TX) in 2014.

“In Aaron Wilkerson, we are adding a starting pitcher who has had tremendous success in the minor leagues and could be an asset to the major league team in the near future,” Brewers general manager David Stearns told FoxSports.com. “He’s just never given up (after Tommy John surgery in 2011), Stearns added to MLB.com. “The Red Sox did a good job of finding him and he’s really flown through that system since he signed.”

Wilkerson, who also pitched for Florence, KY in the Frontier League and Fort Worth in the United League, did not hurt his chances of getting called up in his first start for Triple-A Colorado Springs Sunday. He blanked Iowa (Cubs) on two hits and a walk in a four-inning stint.

It also may help that Milwaukee has seen recent success from another American Association grad, Junior Guerra. The onetime Wichita hurler has won six of eight decisions and posted a 3.06 ERA in 13 starts for the team that is 11 games under .500.

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