Baseball in Fort Wayne

Archive for September, 2007

Last night, September 29, Drew Macias entered the Padres/Brewers game as a pinch-runner during the seventh inning. Though he scored a run, the Padres lost the game and Macias did not get an a-bat.

By my count, Macias now becomes the 62 former Wizards player to see MLB action. For more on Macias’s stint with the Wizards and his career, please see my earlier post.

[tags]Drew Macias, Padres, MLB Debuts, Fort Wayne Wizards[/tags]

I was updating my Wizards spreadsheet today and discovered Cory Doyne. The pitcher played for the Wizards in 2003 and has journeyed through the minor league organizations of the Cardinals and Orioles after being released by the Padres in 2004.

In 2007, he produced solid numbers at Triple-A Norfolk (Tides) and made his Major League Debut on July 16th. He appeared in five games for the Orioles this season.

An appearance by Doyne is anything but boring. His fastball has been clocked at 98 mph this season. And when he follows that with an 83 mph breaking ball, batters can look foolish.

Here is a great article about Doyne on HamptonRoads.com.

[tags]Cory Doyne, Norfolk Tides[/tags]

I found a couple links about former Wizards through Geoff at Ducksnorts. Thought I would share:

• “Venable, 24, a venerable prospect” [SignOnSanDiego.com] – Venable will be playing in the Arizon Fall League to fine tune his center field skills, which many believe will make him a bigger success and faster.
  

  …in his first full season in the baseball minors, he compiled a stellar .389 slugging percentage with low-Single-A Fort Wayne. Fuson challenged him last year, moving him to Double-A without a stop at advanced-Single-A Lake Elsinore. One of several prospects for a San Antonio club that won the Texas League championship, Venable batted .278 with 19 doubles, eight home runs and 68 RBI to go with 21 stolen bases in 23 attempts.

  While his age, 25, is a bit older for any prospect below triple-A, his years at Princeton where he focused mainly on basketball instead of baseball, as well as his natural instincts, are reasons Venable is very high on many folk’s watch list.

  Venable will be joined in Peoria, Ariz., by Double-A teammates such as second baseman Matt Antonelli and catcher Nick Hundley. Both of them are former Wizards too.

• “Case Study: Sean Burroughs” [MinorLeagueBall.com] – John Sickels takes a look at the career of former Wizards third baseman, Sean Burroughs, and tries to explain what exactly happened. Among the reasons identified are the false hopes that power would “just develop” following a pretty good stop in Fort Wayne, the similar early peak in the career of his father Jeff Burroughs, injuries and lack of development to continually improve.

[tags]Will Veneble, Sean Burroughs, Fort Wayne Wizards[/tags]

There is a nice article over at MiLB.com about the Arizona Instructional League. If focuses on Norwell standout and first round selection Jarrod Parker.

With Parker scheduled to make his professional debut, the team appears to be very excited with their new hurler who chose the professional route over playing for Georgia Tech. It will be his first professional work.

From the article:

“It’s his first true professional action, so that’s probably the most exciting story for us,” Arizona’s director of player development A.J. Hinch said. “He signed late and didn’t play at all over the summer, so just to get him on the field, at 18, pitching against wood bats, playing and throwing every day is exciting.

“It’s so different from what he did in high school. With his caliber of talent, it’s always fun to deal with for a man in my position and my staff because he brings a lot to the table. He’s got a hunger to improve and get better and be a professional. And this is a good first step. It’s a controlled environment, and it’s laid back as opposed to being in the thick of things next year when everything is going 100 miles an hour.”

There is no preset plan for where he’ll begin next season but the natural assumption is that Parker would begin in a Short-Season league.

“He’s got every opportunity to make the South Bend (Class A Midwest League) team,” Hinch said. “It depends on how quickly he adapts to the pro game. I would anticipate giving him an opportunity to make the South Bend team and see where that takes him. If he can match up in readiness and terms of talent, we’ll give him the opportunity.”

If Parker were to join the South Bend squad, that would position him to face the Wizards, who are Midwest League rivals. [note: Photo shamelessly lifted from the MiLB website - Linda Woodward/Journal Gazette]

[tags]Jarod Parker, Arizona Instructional League[/tags]

Milton Bradley’s latest on-field issue may have opened an opportunity for a former Fort Wayne Wizards player. Following Bradley’s move to the disabled list, the Padres made a few moves to fill the outfield void that was created. One move was adding Drew Macias to the 40-man roster.

Macias was selected by San Diego Padres in 22nd Round (660th overall) of 2001 amateur entry draft. He didn’t sign and they drafted him again in 35th Round (1045th overall) of 2002 amateur entry draft – finally singing him. After spending 61 games in Idaho Falls in 203, he joined the Wizards for one game where he went hitless in 2 at-bats. He returned for 129 games in 2004 and had 127 hits in 478 at-bats. He hit 8 home runs and collected 55 RBI’s while posting a .266 average and 3.340 on-base percentage.

In 2007, Macias split time between Portland (AAA) and San Antonio (AA) where he hit a combined .259 over 441 at-bats.

If he gets the chance to play with the parent club, he’ll become the 61st former Wizards player to appear in an MLB game.

[tags]Drew Macias[/tags]

If you haven’t heard, the final schedule in Memorial Stadium History, that the Wizards will play anyway, has been released. The 16th and final opening day will occur on Thursday, April 3rd when the Lansing Lugnuts come to town (weather permitting of course).

The Wizards final home game of the regular season be on Thursday, August 28. The team will then look forward to moving into their downtown ballpark to start the 2009 season. I’d love nothing more than to see the Wizards make the playoffs and win their first Midwest League Championship to send the park out in style.

Read More at:
Wizardsbaseball.com | The Raw Feed | DFWB

[tags]Memorial Stadium, Harrison Square, Fort Wayne Wizards, Baseball in Fort Wayne[/tags]

You may have noticed that I have removed the page for the Northeast Indiana Baseball Association (NEIBA) and NEIBA contact info. When this site was designed, the primary goal was to be a marketing tool for my book, Baseball in Fort Wayne. The secondary purpose was to become an archive for Northeast Indiana baseball related news, events and heritage.

At the time, NEIBA did not have a website of their own, and I chose to include NEIBA on this site to make sure the organization has some sort of web presence. However, NEIBA now has a site of its own and can be found at www.NEIBAseball.org. I have also added that link to my blogroll. Please check it out.

[tags]NEIBA, Northeast Indiana Baseball Association[/tags]

Updating an earlier post, Padres catcher Colt Morton made his Major League Baseball debut last night in the bottom of the 14th inning. The Friars were down by one with two outs when Morton came on to pinch hit. He popped out to short to end the game.

Morton played in Fort Wayne with the Wizards in parts of three different seasons (2003, 2004, 2005). He marks the 60th Fort Wayne Wizards player to appear in a big league game.

Morton is featured on page 68 of Baseball in Fort Wayne.

[tags]Colt Morton, Major League Debuts, Fort Wayne Wizards, Padres[/tags]

Jean Havlish will be inducted into the St. Bernard’s Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday. Havlish, 72, who two weeks ago rolled a 699 series (220-222-257) series at Maplewood Bowl, played in the 1950s for the Fort Wayne Daisies in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the inspiration for the movie “A League of Their Own.”

As for her bowling prowess, Havlish is a member of the Women’s International Bowling Congress Hall of Fame and the Minnesota Women’s Bowling Association Hall of Fame and is the only bowler in the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame. She also was among the “50 Greatest Minnesota Sports Figures” listed by Sports Illustrated for its 50th anniversary edition [source: TwinCities.com].

Note: Emphasis added to quoted text by blogger.

[tags]Daisies, Jean Havlish, Baseball in Fort Wayne[/tags]

Back in August, former Wizards pitcher Jack Cassel made his debut. On Monday night, he picked up his first Major League win. He was spot starting for another former Wizards pitcher, Justin Germano.

Cassel had just pitched one scoreless inning of relief on Thursday against the Dodgers. “He mixed a sinking fastball, changeup and slider in the series opener for six scoreless innings to help San Diego shut out the visiting Pirates, 3-0″ [source: MLB.com].

In other former Wizards news, three-time ‘zards catcher Colt Morton is on the 40-man roster. Maybe we’ll get to see some playing time for Colt after an odd rise to the parent club. He started the year at rookie level in Arizona and also played at high-A in Lake Elsinore before being moved up to double-A San Antonio. Morton hit .256 with six home runs and 19 RBIs for the Missions. With Lake Elsinore, Morton hit .500 with 12 hits in 24 at bats. In six games he had seven doubles, three RBIs and seven runs scored.

By my count, when Morton debuts (unless another former Wizards player beats him to it), Morton will be the 60th Wizards player to reach the Major League Level.

Good Luck to you Jack and Colt!

[tags]Wizards, Baseball in Fort Wayne, Major League debuts, Colt Morton, Jack Cassel[/tags]