Rule-5 Draft, Spring Training invites highlight indy baseball week

This Week in Independent Baseball

Four Taken in Rule 5 Draft--Continuing to show their value to major league organizations, four players with Independent Baseball experience were selected by new teams in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft during the Winter Meetings in Orlando.  The first person to go was catcher Yermin Mercedes, who came out of the Pecos League (Douglas and White Sands) and who chosen away from Baltimore by the Chicago White Sox.  He was the No. 2 pick in the entire Triple-A portion.  Eight spots later the outfielder converted to pitching, Andrew Muren (Fargo, Sioux Falls and Gary, all in the American Association) went from San Francisco to Toronto.  Lefty Chris Nunn (Evansville, Frontier League) was chosen by Houston from the Chicago Cubs.  Another southpaw, Carlos Diaz (Gary) was a Round 2 choice from Miami to Oakland.

Major League Spring Training Invitations--Somewhere around 25 former Independent players will become non-roster invitees to major league camps, presuming the level of recent years holds.  Three pitchers were added in recent days joining Boston outfielder Jeremy Barfield (Sugar Land and Camden, Atlantic League).  They are RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx of Texas (Lancaster, Atlantic League, and Victoria, Golden League); and the Tampa Bay pair of RHP Cody Hall (Lancaster) and LHP Vidal Nuno (Washington, Frontier League).

New to 40-Man Roster--The biggest addition to a major league camp probably is RHP Chris Martin of Texas (Grand Prairie, American Association), who returns to the majors after two outstanding seasons in Japan.  Martin got his professional start in Grand Prairie.


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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

Although Different, Hernandez And Runzler Both Headed To MLB Camps

Ariel Hernandez and Dan Runzler could not be much different except that both are pitchers.

Hernandez is only 24, born in the Dominican Republic and is a right-hander who has not pitched above Class A, but is considered a major league prospect since he has averaged well over one strikeout per inning since his professional debut as an 18-year-old.

Runzler is 31, a California-born southpaw, who is trying to re-kindle a major league career that started back in '09.

Oh, both have spent a majority of their career in the San Francisco organization although neither is with the Giants now.  And, of course, they have relied on Independent Baseball for some of their recent opportunities.

What brings them together, in a sense, is that both will be in major league spring training camps thanks to recent developments.  Hernandez was promoted to Cincinnati's 40-man winter roster, the only former Indy player to earn this new distinction since the season ended.  Runzler is the first of an eventual 20 or so recent Independent players that we have identified to be a non-roster invitee to spring training, this time with Pittsburgh.

Runzler has been one of the most highly discussed potential major leaguers in any Indy league the last two seasons because of some dazzling bullpen efforts while with the Sugar Land (TX) Skeeters of the Atlantic League.  He had 0.52 and 1.95 earned run averages in these two seasons for Gary Gaetti's Skeeters, with some time at Triple-A for Arizona and Minnesota, respectively, in '15 and '16 without being able to duplicate the tiny ERAs.  The Pirates hope he might help their bullpen, at least matcting the 3.86 ERA he compiled in 89 games spread over four seasons for San Francisco, the last of which was four years ago.

Hernandez's time in the Frontier League was very brief (two relief appearances for the Frontier Greys in the '15 season), although it is not uncommon for these stints to pay off for a player who needs a change of scenery before moving to a new major league organization.  He did strike out five of the eight batters he faced early that season before Arizona picked him up.  He moved on to Cincinnati's farm system this season and after 74 strikeouts and only 29 hits in 62 innings during 43 appearances with two Class A teams the Reds had seen enough to know he needed to be protected at the highest level.  A combined 2.18 ERA appears to be only part of the impressive story.


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Frontier League's Smoker 'Won't Forget' His Innings In Majors

One can only hope that Josh Smoker will not become the latest Independent Baseball grad to spend a brief (usually one day) time on a major league roster and never get into a game. But even if it turns out that way, the 27-year-old southpaw pitcher admitted to MLB.com it is "one I won't forget."

Smoker, who spent 2014 with Rockford, IL in the Frontier League before getting a second affiliated opportunity in the New York Mets organization, was added to the roster as the 26th man for the second game of their doubleheader against St. Louis Tuesday, and arrived in the sixth inning after flying with his Las Vegas 51s teammates to Fresno, CA, where he was told to fly to New York.
"That was a good wakeup call, definitely a good wakeup call," Smoker told MLB.com after watching the final three innings of the 3-1 Mets win from the bullpen.

Chances are the Georgia native, who was Washington's first round draft choice nine years ago, will get more opportunities in the majors since he already was on New York's 40-man roster and had gotten 4.2 innings of experience during spring training. He had impressed Mets brass with 15 strikeouts and a 0.90 earned run average in his last 10 Pacific Coast League innings. He has an overall 4.73 ERA for 43 appearances this season.

IndyBaseballChatter.com maintains a list of Independent players who have gone on to reach the major leagues (Smoker is No. 218) with pitchers Tim Bausher (Boston), Tom Cochran (Cincinnati), Julio DePaula (Baltimore) and Brian Mazone (Philadelphia) and catcher Jose Yepez (Seattle) the only others never to appear in a big-league contest.

(The entire list of 218 is available for a fee, with details available on this blog.)

JEROME WILLIAMS RETURNS

Righty Jerome Williams, whose lengthy resume includes Independent stops with Long Beach, CA in the Golden League and Lancaster, PA in the Atlantic League, has joined the St. Louis Cardinals after making nine starts (5-3, 4.89) with Triple-A Memphis.  The 34-year-old averaged more than six innings each time out.

CATCHING UP WITH COLABELLO, BRESLOW AND THATCHER

First baseman-outfielder Chris Colabello, whose climb to the major leagues after seven seasons in the Can-Am League has been well documented, is back in action with Toronto's top farm club in Buffalo after sitting out his lengthy suspension, but one cannot help wondering if his path back to the majors this season became more difficult when the Blue Jays obtained another right-handed bat in veteran outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. from San Diego.

Like Colabello, Joe Thatcher started his professional career in Independent play (Frontier League). The veteran left-handed reliever came off the free agent list recently when American League Central leader Cleveland signed him. One more longtime major league southpaw, Craig Breslow (New Jersey Jackals), also has a new home, signing with Texas after Miami released him.


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Along with Ziegler, York and Guerra Earn High Marks

Brad Ziegler's numbers are getting insane with a 0.61 ERA in save situations this season and 43 consecutive saves overall, but I also tip my hat very high among the new products out of the Independent leagues; Washington's Tanner Roark (Southern Illinois Miners, Frontier League) and Junior Guerra (Wichita Wingnuts, American Association) of Milwaukee.

Ziegler (Schaumburg, then in the Northern League) has been around for a while, in fact long enough that the Arizona side-armer's 564 career appearances are the most in the majors since 2008.

The Washington Post credits Roark's improved command of his two-seam fastball as the biggest reason the right-hander now owns one of the lowest earned run averages (3.14) on the potent Nationals' starting rotation and is now striking out nearly 8.1 hitters every nine innings.  He has a 6-4 record for 14 starts this season.

Guerra, the onetime catcher who really started getting pitching notice when he went 18-7 while working for Wichita in 2011 and 2013, had only three major league appearances--a non-descript four innings in relief for the Chicago White Sox last season--until the Brewers called him up from Triple-A Colorado Springs the first week of May.

The 31-year-old seems to have become a steady starter for Milwaukee with a 3-1 record and a 3.81 ERA for nine outings.  He has allowed only 46 hits in 54.1 innings and has 45 punchouts.

"He's certainly done his job," manager Craig Counsell told FoxSports.com.  "He's (gotten better as the game goes on) in a bunch of his starts.  He's getting to 90-100 pitches and still going strong, still going really good."

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