Wednesday, February 22, 2012

LONGTIME ATLANTIC LEAGUE STAR VAL MAJEWSKI STARTS 2012 WELL AHEAD OF RECENT SEASONS

Longtime Atlantic League star Val Majewski has not yet gotten back to the major leagues, but the hard-hitting outfielder is well ahead of recent years.

There has been a pattern to Majewski's career every year since 2008, his first after five campaigns--and a brief major league experience--as a third round draft choice out of Rutgers with Baltimore. The New Brunswick, NJ native would start the season pounding the baseball in the Atlantic League, then have his contract purchased by a major league organization.

It was Newark (.368 for 50 games) in 2008, then Classes AA and AAA with Houston. The next season it was 28 games in Camden (.310), followed by Double-A play for the Los Angeles Angels. In 2010, it was 31 games in York (.328) followed by AA for Oakland. He had a longer stint, 71 games (.317) for York last season, and finished in a flourish with 33 runs batted in in only 35 games for Texas's top farm club in Round Rock, TX.

The Rangers could not help but like the .333 batting average and Majewski's .413 on-base percentage so they have signed him to a new contract for this season. If he keeps anything close to that pace in the American League champion's farm system it will almost certainly spell the end of the right-handed hitter's Atlantic League days and perhaps earn the opportunity to play for Texas.

Majewski, whose only major league experience was for nine games in 2004 (2-for-13), turns 31 on March 12, but what a billboard he will be should he turn his four seasons of Atlantic League play with a combined .331 average, .410 on-base percentage and 131 RBI in 180 games into a major league job.

MIKE O'CONNOR MAY HAVE GOTTEN AN EARLY BREAK

Since Mike O'Connor has become exclusively a left-handed specialist the last two seasons, it is entirely possible this onetime Southern Maryland Blue Crabs starter (2009) was handed an early break in his initial season as a non-roster invitee with the New York Yankees.

Veteran major league southpaw specialist Hideki Okajima was released after failing his physical so O'Connor, 31, has one less competitor as he bids to join Boone Logan as the lefties in the Yankees' bullpen. O'Connor was 0-1, 2.70 in nine games with the New York Mets last season and 5-5, 5.22 with Triple-A Buffalo.

Subscription to the Insider only $48 from now through December, 2012.

REQUEST A FREE SAMPLE COPY OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER

Friday, February 17, 2012

'THE KID' ALSO LEFT A MARK IN THE ATLANTIC LEAGUE

With all of the wonderful tributes to Gary Carter, the Hall of Fame catcher who passed away yesterday, it should not be overlooked that 'The Kid' also left a mark in the Atlantic League.

He managed the Long Island Ducks in 2009, and also was an Independent Baseball skipper the previous season when he led the Orange County Flyers in his hometown of Fullerton, CA in the Golden League.

He will be missed throughout baseball for a very long time.

GREG BURKE NOW WITH O'S

Atlantic City was Greg Burke's initial stepping stone (2005) when he came out of Duke and started to climb to the major leagues and 48 bullpen appearances for the San Diego Padres in '09. The 29-year-old righty finally changed organizations recently, signing as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles.

He is on the Triple-A Norfolk, VA roster, but it would not surprise at all to see him get a look from the parent Orioles during spring training.

MANAGERIAL, COACHING MOVES

Jeff Scott always seems to have a key position within the Atlantic League so it could hardly be a shock when he replaced Von Hayes as manager in Camden this week. He had been the Riversharks' pitching coach.

In another significant move, veteran major league and Atlantic League pitcher Bill Pulsipher has become pitching coach for Winnipeg (American Association). Pulsipher ended his 18-year professional career last summer with Somerset.


Subscription to the Insider only $48 from now through December, 2012.

REQUEST A FREE SAMPLE COPY OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER

Thursday, February 9, 2012

KEEPING UP WITH HOORELBEKE, CHRISTIAN AND YANKEES HOPEFUL MIKE O'CONNOR

A few notes from the world of baseball transactions today since this is an off week for the Independent Baseball Insider which returns next week with a complete rundown of the unusually large contingent of Atlantic League (and Independent) players headed to major league spring training camps.

Power-hitting Jesse Hoorelbeke is on the move.

Veteran Atlantic League fans cannot help but remember Hoorelbeke's three seasons in Bridgeport (2007-09) when the big first baseman hit 33, 28 and 23 home runs for the Bluefish and averaged just under 100 runs batted in per year.

He has been in the Independent ranks in Fargo, ND the last two summers, hitting another 44 round-trippers in a much shorter season. The homer total dropped to 15 one year ago, and now he has been dealt to a new team in the same league (American Association), going to Laredo, TX in a swap for pitching.

"It's never easy to move players who have been major contributors to our success," said Fargo Manaager Doug Simunic. "Jesse ws a great player for us and a great guy, but we felt we needed to upgrade our pitching" and "to get talent you have to give up talent." Hoorelbeke will be 34 throughout this season.

LEFTY MIKE O'CONNOR GETS LOOK FROM YANKEES

Veteran Mike O'Connor is the most recent pitcher to join the impressive list of Atlantic League grads with major league spring training invitations. O'Connor, 31, will try to grab one of the left-handed relief jobs in the New York Yankees bullpen.

He went 0-1, 2.70 in nine appearances for the New York Mets last season. O'Connor's Atlantic League time was with Southern Maryland. He also has been in the majors with Washington, logging some time in both '06 and '08.

PREDICTING THE FUTURE FOR BLUE CRABS' JUSTIN CHRISTIAN

Another onetime Blue Crabs player, Justin Christian, could not be blamed if he has a long face today.

Only days before spring training, San Francisco designated the 31-year-old outfielder for assignment when it signed major league vets Ryan Theriot and Guillermo Mota and needed 40-man roster space.

Christian, who played briefly at Southern Maryland at the start of 2010, is getting some nice support from certain Bay Area media because of the way he played the outfield and hit .255 in 18 games for the parent Giants late last season.

What could happen is that some other team will claim Christian (although 40-man space is pretty sparse right now) or the Giants could re-sign him if he clears waivers and bring him right back as a non-roster player. This would give the speedster, who pilfered 54 bases in 137 games between Double-A and Triple-A last season (and three more with the Giants), a renewed opportunity to be a spare outfielder in San Francisco. Christian also has had 24 games with the New York Yankees during his career.


Subscription to the Insider only $48 from now through December, 2012.

REQUEST A FREE SAMPLE COPY OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

IN CASE ANYONE HAS WONDERED, EDGARDO ALFONZO STILL SWINGING THE BAT

The biggest surprise among all players with at least 10 at-bats in the recently-completed Caribbean Series had to be veteran infielder Edgardo Alfonzo.

Playing for his native Venezuela, the longtime star major league infielder and later an Atlantic Leaguer, he had the fourth best average of .364 (4-for-11) in the pitching-dominated series.

Listed at 38, Alfonzo is not believed to have played baseball in the United States in the summer since 2008 except for 26 games and a .154 average (12-for-78) for Newark in 2010. After his major league days, he played briefly at Bridgeport in '06 and was in a combined 164 games for the Long Island Ducks in '07-08. Alfonzo hit.329with a surprising eight homers and 27 RBI in 59 games in that second season and played briefly in Japan the next year.

FORMER NEWARK OUTFIELDER HITS .421

Another significant tie to the Atlantic League in the Caribbean Series was that of Dominican outfielder Pablo Ozuna, who led all hitters in the six-game set with a .421average (8-for-19). He hit .294 in 119 at-bats for Newark in 2010, the Bears' last season in the league.

Venezula's Cesar Suarez, an outfielder who played for Lancaster in '09 and Camden the next season, hit .360 (9-for-25).

We identified 29 players with Independent playing time, much of it in the Atlantic League, on the four Caribbean Series rosters.


Subscription to the Insider only $48 from now through December, 2012.

REQUEST A FREE SAMPLE COPY OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER

Friday, February 3, 2012

AT LEAST 18 ATLANTIC LEAGUERS GIVE LEAGUE HEAVY IDENTITY IN CARIBBEAN SERIES

What a busy day, especially for the day after subscribers got this week's Independent Baseball Insider column, but that is the way it goes in this business. Take the news when it comes your way.

Anyone who cares about the Atlantic League will want to follow the Caribbean Series for the next few days (especially if they can see the games on ESPN Deportes or ESPN3)because we have counted 18 players so far who are on the four teams.

Pitchers Cesar Carillo of Lancaster, Randy Keisler of Southern Maryland and Long Island, Dan Serafini of Bridgeport, Yorman Bazardo of Camden and Jon Hunton of Lancaster, Somerset and Long Island all are part of the Mexican League pitching staff. Hurler Brian Sweeney of Somerset and Southern Maryland (see more on him below), infielder Edgardo Alfonzo of Long Island and Bridgeport and outfielders Jonel Pacheco of Camden and Cesar Suarez of Lancaster and Camden are part of the Venezuelan team.

Puerto Rico has pitchers Matt DeSalvo of Southern Maryland and York, Nelson Figueroa of Long Island (more below), Ben Grezlovski of Somerset, Long Island and Atlantic City, Juan Padilla of York and Bridgeport, Eddy Ramos of the Road Warriors, Newark and Bridgeport and Saul Rivera of the Road Warriors. Catcher Rene Rivera of Camden and infielder Danny Gonzalez of Lancaster and the Road Warriors are part of the same team.

Infielder Erick Almonte of Long Island is with the Dominican Republic.

THREE OF FOUR OPENING DAY STARTERS HAVE HAD INDEPENDENT TIES

In fact, three of the four opening day starting pitchers in what turned out to be pitching-dominated games have Indy ties. The latest after the Insider
was put to bed last night was southpaw Kris Johnson, who limited Mexico to three hits and an unearned run in five innings to get the host Dominicans off to a good start in a 2-1 win. Johnson pitched for the Kansas City (KS) T-Bones (American Association) much of last season after being released out of Triple-A with Boston. The 27-year-old has since signed with Pittsburgh, an organization that certainly can benefit from better pitching.

Nelson Figueroa, whose latest bid for fulltime major league duty will come with Toronto this spring, continued his exceptional work in the afternoon, winning for Puerto Rico at the expense of another former Indy hurler, Seth Etherton, who started for Venezuela. Figueroa spent a little Indy time with the Long Island Ducks while Etherton was with Long Beach, CA in what was then the Golden League.

I do not pretend to understand all of the roster qualifications, but Figueroa had pitched in the Dominican championship series for Escogido, that country's Caribbean Series representative. Figueroa has now won series games for three of the four countries. He had pitched for both the Dominican and Mexico in past years.

"I'm back here because I want the chance to keep pitching in the big leagues," the right-hander told MLB.com. "I could be sitting somewhere in an office and dealing with rush hour traffic, but instead the stadium is my office and I come to work and get to play and have fun."

NON-ROSTER COUNT UP TO 34

The Continental League is a thing of the past, but it cannot be forgotten because the latest Independent player to get a major league spring training invitation is left-hander Brandon Sisk, who started his pro career with Bay Area (Houston region) in that Texas-Louisiana-based circuit.

Sisk will be with Kansas City after the 26-year-old put up a combined 7-3 record and 2.52 ERA for 41 relief outings in Classes AA and AAA last season. He is the 22nd pitcher to get a non-roster invitation from a major league club. Twelve position players bring the overall count to an impressive 34.

PASCUCCI GETS METS INVITE

Valentino Pascucci, a power-hitting first baseman-designated hitter who got his first major league exposure in several years last September, will be back in major league camp with the New York Mets. Pascucci's Indy time was spent with Camden.

SWEENEY RE-JOINS SEATTLE SYSTEM

Veteran right-hander Brian Sweeney has signed as a free agent with one of his former teams, the Seattle Mariners. It does not appear he will be an official non-roster invitee although it is a pretty good guess he will get some major league exposure this spring.

Sweeney, 37, started his pro career in 1996 with Layayette, IN (Heartland League). He more recently trained with Southern Maryland and pitched one official game for Somerset, both times then signing with major league organizations. He has pitched in the majors for San Diego and Seattle


Subscription to the Insider only $48 from now through December, 2012.

REQUEST A FREE SAMPLE COPY OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER