TRIO OF FORMER INDEPENDENT STARS IN WORLD SERIES; 'RECORD' 32 NON-AFFILIATED PLAYERS ON MLB ROSTERS

It is pretty neat to have three former Independent players who will be active for the World Series. The Red Sox have them all in regular shortstop Stephen Drew (Camden, NJ, Atlantic League), better-than-ever lefty reliever Craig Breslow (New Jersey Jackals, now in the Can-Am League) and clutch-hitting outfielder Daniel Nava (Chico, CA, Golden League), the latter getting surprisingly little postseason action after his sterling regular season campaign. Jonny Gomes has been getting most of the leftfield starts, presumably because of his overall experience, even against righties.

32 ON 40-MAN ROSTERS MOST LIKELY A RECORD

Until the New York Mets outrighted reliever Greg Burke to Triple-A recently, no less than 32 players with experience in the Independent leagues were on major league 40-man rosters. That is believed to be an all-time high so take a bow, Indy leagues. Some more shuffling can be expected shortly after the World Series although newcomers needing to be protected from the Rule 5 draft in December could keep pace with those sent to minor league teams to open up roster slots.

Eleven of the 32, including Burke, had played their very first professional games in an Independent league. Eight of the 11 are pitchers with the exception of Drew, Nava and Minnesota Twins first baseman-outfielder-designated hitter Chris Colabello (Worcester, MA, Can-Am League).

ATLANTIC LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE YEAR ALREADY IN WINTER BASEBALL

Jake Fox, whose amazing production included three consecutive walk-off hits shortly before he was signed by Arizona, is among the Indy stars already playing winter league baseball. The first baseman-catcher-third baseman, who was selected as Atlantic League Player of the Year even though he missed the last month and a half of the season and the playoffs, is in Mexico now. Fox had 25 homers and 82 RBI for the Somerset (NJ) Patriots to earn the prestigious Atlantic League honor.

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NICE DEBUTS IN ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE AND A POSSIBLE START (AGAIN) FOR NEW JERSEY STADIUM

Recent American Association pitchers Bo Schultz and Cody Satterwhite got off to a real nice start when the prospect-laden Arizona Fall League opened this week.

Schultz, a spring training invitee of the Arizona Diamondbacks in February who split the season between their top two farm clubs in Reno, NV and Mobile, AL, got the opening night start for Salt River and struck out six in three and a third innings while allowing two runs on three hits and the same number of walks. The onetime Northwestern University product had spent time with Grand Prairie, TX in the American Association.

Satterwhite was signed away from Sioux City, IA this season, and he picked up a save with a scoreless inning for Scottsdale. Satterwhite, also a right-hander, belongs to the New York Mets.

We anticipate having much more to say about the former Independent players in the AFL in next Thursday’s subscription-only Independent Baseball Insider column.

THIS BOO-BOO IS ON ME

When I wrote about Minnesota Twins rookie first baseman Chris Colabello, known for his persistence through seven seasons in the Can-Am League, explaining in this week’s Insider how a chat with a friend helped him through his struggles in shuttling between Triple-A and the majors this season, I said it was onetime major league pitcher Bob Tewksbury who gave the encouragement. In fact, it was Bob Tewksbary, a teammate at one point with the Worcester (MA) Tornadoes in the Can-Am. I knew the spelling of the friend’s last name was different but still believed it was the longtime major leaguer. I should have dug deeper.

SKYLANDS PARK SEEMS TO BE IN PLAY ONCE MORE

The on-again, off-again potential of an Independent team returning to Skylands Park in Augusta, NJ, where the Can-Am League had a team through 2010, seems to be a possibility one more time although not before 2015.

The 4,200-seat stadium and the 28 acres surrounding it were sold for the second time this year. Al Dorso, Sr., an established businessman, heads up the group that paid a reported $850,000. He told The Newark Star-Ledger “I’d love to bring baseball back to the stadium, but it’s harder said than done. It’s not in the picture for 2014, but I’m sure by 2015 we’ll be ready.” Frank Boulton’s proposed Diamond League likely would have an interest, and I would expect the Can-Am League would, as well.

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RYAN LANGERHANS HAS RETURNED TO BLUE JAYS A SECOND TIME THIS SEASON, THIS TIME WITH THE MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM

The relationship between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Sugar Land Skeeters (Atlantic League) seems to be something every Independent team would like to have with major league organizations.

Please follow this carefully: Toronto purchased Ryan Langerhans contract from the Atlantic League late this season when it promoted much of Triple-A Buffalo’s outfield to the American League team. Flash forward. When Sugar Land was in the final days of its record-shattering Atlantic League season who shows up in the Skeeters’ lineup but the former major league first baseman. “He was having fun here playing baseball,” Skeeters Manager Gary Gaetti said of the return. So far, the moves can be easily understood, with Langerhans supposedly granted his release from the Blue Jays. Then Sugar Land is ousted from the playoffs, and if you check today’s major league box scores there is the same Langerhans batting seventh, playing first base and going 0-for-4 in Toronto’s 3-2 loss at Baltimore.

“Ryan was the most game-ready of all of them (players considered by Toronto)”, General Manager Alex Anthopoulos told the media. “Lang has been around for a while,” added Manager John Gibbons. “It’s only four days, but he gets to finish the year in the big leagues and has some good service time in. He’s a good solid baseball player.”

Langerhans had years like 2005-06 with Atlanta when he played in a combined 259 games with 15 homers and 70 RBI, but it has been slim pickings in the major leagues for the 33-year-old lefty in recent years with two appearances for the Los Angeles Angels one year ago and 19 with Seattle in ’11. He went .287-5-28 for his 47 regular-season games with the Skeeters, but only hit .200 (2-for-10) in their three consecutive losses to Somerset, NJ in the first round of the playoffs. He was even limited to pinch-hitting duty in the finale.

LEW FORD COULD BE THE HERO

If Long Island, NY can win just one of three games at Somerset this weekend the Ducks will have pulled off a second consecutive shocker in the Atlantic League Championship Series.

The veteran bat of outfielder Lew Ford, who was with Baltimore one year ago and getting ready to face Texas and the New York Yankees in the playoffs, could be the difference. He belted a two-run, sixth inning homer Thursday night to erase a 2-0 deficit, and the Ducks tacked on another run for a 3-2 victory.




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TALKING ABOUT ANDY MARTE, VIDAL NUNO AND LEW FORD

Working on the theory one can never be too early, this corner projects corner infielder Andy Marte as a possibility to get a solid major league look from the Los Angeles Angels next spring.

Marte, 29, started this season by driving in 74 runs and hitting .301 (19 homers) for the York (PA) Revolution of the Atlantic League. He never let up once the Angels purchased his contract, hitting .362 (how does that make Atlantic League pitching look?) with six homers and 18 RBI in 26 regular-season games for Salt Lake City, then taking the hot bat into the Pacific Coast League playoffs before a separated shoulder took him out of a possible call to the American League team.

Marte, who has 302 major league games, mostly with Cleveland and all from 2005-10, had a heroic second game in the first round of the playoffs against Las Vegas (Mets) when he went 4-for-5 with a double, home run and two runs, and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth only to suffer the injury on that play. Marte’s injury seriously hampered the Bees’ offense, and they lost to Omaha (Royals) in the championship round.

The Dominican native hit only .218 in his six years in the majors, but seems to have come more into his own since that time.

FIRST INDEPENDENT INVITATION TO ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE

The first 2013 invitation to a player with Independent experience to play in the prospect-dominated Arizona Fall League has gone to left-hander Vidal Nuno, who had some memorable moments in spot opportunities pitching for the pitching-shallow New York Yankees early this season. Nuno is on the 60-man disabled list right now allowing the Yankees to add another player for the stretch run, but the former Frontier Leaguer (Washington, PA) obviously is expected to be healthy for the AFL.

Four Indy players were in the league last fall.

LEW FORD’S HOT BAT AT LONG ISLAND

Veteran major league outfielder Lew Ford (Minnesota and Baltimore) has wasted no time at all getting back into an offensive groove since being released by the Orioles and rejoining defending Atlantic League champion Long Island on August 28.

He has hit safely in 18 of 19 games he has played and had his third three-hit game Thursday to help the Ducks take a 2-0 lead over Southern Maryland in a best-of-five first-round playoff matchup. The game actually was decided by a wild pitch in the 10th inning.

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ADD 42 SAVES TO THOSE 106 WINS FOR ONETIME INDY STARS NOW IN MLB

As a postscript to yesterday’s story in our Independent Baseball Insider column about former Independent Baseball hurlers having an incredible 106 victories (and 72 losses) in major league games this season, we add the fact another 42 contests have been saved by this same group.

Seattle’s Tom Wilhelmsen (Tucson, AZ, Golden League) is the leader with 24 saves even though he has lost the closer’s role for now. Brad Ziegler (Schaumburg, IL, Northern League) is closing for Arizona and has 10 saves at this point.

NICE ACCOLADE FOR CRAIG BRESLOW

Lefty Craig Breslow, who has one of the good arms in the Boston bullpen, will be honored one week from now (September 20) as BoSox Club Man of the Year. The BoSox Club has been the official booster club of the Red Sox since that magical year of 1967. Breslow has turned out to have a very solid major league career after being released by Milwaukee without graduating above Class A in 2004 and signing with the New Jersey Jackals in the Northeast League (Jackals now in the Can-Am) that same summer. He was in the majors with San Diego the very next season, and has been there most ever since, while now enjoying major success with Boston.

EXCELLENT NUMBERS POSTED BY THOSE SOLD TO MLB SYSTEMS THIS SUMMER

Corner infielder Andy Marte (York, PA, Atlantic League) hit .362 with six homers and 18 batted in in 26 games for the Angels’ top farm club in Salt Lake City, which one would think would give him a solid chance in 2014.

Bridger Hunt, who was tearing up the Can-Am League with his bat while with the Newark (NJ) Bears, has kept it going after having his contract purchased by San Diego. The infielder hit .337 (two homers, 13 RBI) in 20 games for Lake Elsinore, CA.

David Peralta, one of those who started out in an Independent league and eventually had his contract sold (Arizona), hit .346 with 42 RBI in only 51 games for Visalia, CA. The infielder had time with both Amarillo, TX and Wichita, KS in the American Association as well as with Rio Grande Valley of the United League.

On the mound, Eddie McKiernan was sold to Arizona this summer by Lincoln, NE of the American Association and he won eight of 11 decisions (3.51 ERA) as a starter at Visalia. Mark Serrano, sold by Laredo, TX (American Association), was another Arizona farmhand who excelled. He was a combined 6-2, 3.02 between Classes AA and AAA.

Atlantic League hurlers Mitch Atkins (Somerset, NJ) and Michael Colla (Bridgeport, CT) were 5-2 and 6-2, respectively, and had ERAs well under 4.00. Atkins is in the Atlanta system and Colla is a minor leaguer for Tampa Bay.

AFTER A DECADE, PAXTON DUE TO BAT AGAIN

James Paxton (Grand Prairie, TX, American Association) is due to make his second major league start for Seattle on Saturday, this one an inter-league clash at St. Louis. That means he will be expected to bat. “I haven’t hit since I was 13 or 14 years old”, the southpaw hurler says. “They stopped me hitting as soon as I started playing competitive high school baseball. So that will be interesting.” So much for baseball’s variations of rules between major leagues.

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