Baseball in Fort Wayne

Archive for February, 2008

Colt Morton made his Major League debut last September in the bottom of the 14th inning. He popped out to end the game. A very quiet way to enter the big leagues, but Morton plans to have more than a little cup of coffee.

Last year at this time, Morton was nursing a bum shoulder and was unable to take part in Spring Training. There’s an article at MLB.com that talks about the 25-year-old catcher and his pursuit of becoming an every-day big leaguer.

If you’re like me, and you were hoping that Michael Barrett would sign elsewhere to possibly give Colt more of a shot this year, this is good news. Morton spent last spring in recovery mode and in Peoria before made his season debut in July for the Padres’ Arizona League squad.

The catcher hit .290 in 11 games before moving onto Class A Lake Elsinore of the California League. He made the most of hs 24 at bats, hitting .500 before promotion to Double-A San Antonio, where he hit .266 in 29 games with six home runs and 19 RBIs and later making the aforementioned MLB debut during September call-ups. Barring injury or something out of the ordinary, Morton will probably start the season with Triple-A Portland.

But hopefully we’ll see the slugger at Petco sometime in 2008.

Photo by Chad Gramling. More about Colt Morton’s seasons with the Fort Wayne Wizards can be found on page 68 of Baseball in Fort Wayne.

[tags]Colt Morton, Padres, MLB, Major Leagues, Spring Training[/tags]

Tune in Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. to Talkin’ Sports on Y-100 (WNUY-100.1FM) and find out how the nationally ranked Turnstone Flyers Wheelchair basketball team, under the direction of coach Kevin Hughes fared in a tournament in Atlanta Georgia last weekend. Coach Hughes will join us and give us all the details. We’ll also be joined by Homestead High School hockey Coach Jim Glick, fresh off a City Championship victory over North Side Wednesday at McMillen Ice Arena and claiming the coveted Komet Kup for the Spartans.

It’s Hoosier Hysteria time in Indiana with boys basketball Sectionals all over the State, and we’ll check in with Indiana High School sports broadcasting legend Dick Stimpson and get his take on who has the best shot at taking sectional titles Saturday evening. Dick has been broadcasting high school sports in Northeast Indiana for over 40 years.

We’ll also be taking your calls so you can weigh in on sports of all sorts.

This week’s Poll Question: Should Indiana do away with Class Basketball and return to a 1-Class basketball tournament system format?
Call in Saturday with your opinion at 1-800-946-9689 or simply e-mail your response to this e-mail address or talkinsports@wnuy.com, Please indicate Poll Question in the subject line.

We’ll be featuring our Talkin’ Sports Top 5 High School Athletes of the Week. If you know of a high school athlete who had an outstanding week, detail the accomplishments and nominate them at talkinsports@wnuy.com.

If you have any guest suggestions or an upcoming local sports event that needs publicized, let me know at this e-mail or talkinsports@wnuy.com.

Tune in Saturday morning at 10:00 A.M, we’re Talkin’ Sports on Y-100, WNUY 100.1 FM.

[tags]Talkin Sports, Fort Wayne, Ft. Wayne, Jim Shovlin[/tags]

I have a few spots available in my Yahoo fantasy baseball league. Live online draft takes place tomorrow at 9:15 EST. Feel free to click here if you are interested in joining up.

MiLB.com has an interview with former Fort Wayne Wizards skipper, Randy Ready, who managed the team from 2004-2006 where he obtained a 208-209 record and reached the playoffs each season. He managed the Double-A San Antonio Missions to a 73-66 record and the Texas League championship in 2007. In 2008, he will manage the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate, the Portland Beavers.

Ready discusses his memories as a player, his favorite parks, his bobbleheads and more.

Image lifted from MiLb.com (credit to Emily Smith/MLB.com)

[tags]Rand Ready, Baseball in Fort Wayne, bobbleheads, minor league baseball[/tags]

Taylor Kinzer (Homestead) hit his second long ball of the season and also drove in three runs in route to an 8-3 victory over Bryan College. He also pitched four and one-third innings and struck out six batters to earn his first win (1-0) of the season.

Chris Howell (Bishop Dwenger) notched his second win in as many starts as the Trojans recorded a 9-2 win during the nightcap of the doubleheader. The freshman struck out six and allowed just four hits and two runs in four innings. During the third inning of that game, Nathan Hillery (North Side) crushed a two-out grand slam.

[source: Taylor University]

[tags]baseball in fort wayne, ft. wayne, Taylor University, Chris Howell, Nathan Hillery, Taylor Kinzer, college baseball[/tags]

As a rookie, second generation Major Leaguer, Josh Barfield won the San Diego padres starting gig at second base during Spring Training in 2006. During Spring Training, he batted .433 with 20 runs and 18 RBIs over 21 games. After that season, his performance had him on many folk’s short list for National League Rookie of the Year. While hid didn’t win, he posted a solid .280 average with 13 dingers, 58 runs batted in and 21 stolen bases.

He was traded to the Cleveland Indians during that offseason for Kevin Kouzmanoff to shore third base after slotting many failures in that spot.

But the new surroundings didn’t treat Josh Barfield that well. A heavy slump and the strong play of his replacement, Asdrubal Cabrera, over the final six weeks of last season left him without a job. And now he is fighting to regain his place on the roster.

“I’m not here to make the Buffalo team,” he said. “I can’t worry about things that are out of my hands. I’m here to make this team.” [source: SI.com]

The 22-year-old Cabrera was a big factor in the Indians’ charge to the AL Central title last season and seems to have a lock on the job. Though his natural position is shortstop, it’s unlikely he’ll make the shift over there given that Jhonny Peralta has pretty much established that as his domain.

Josh Barfield was selected in the fourth round of the 2001 draft. After a brief stint in Idaho Falls, he joined the Fort Wayne Wizards in 2002 and quickly profiled his skills. During that season, he compiled a .306 average while producing 164 hits, 73 runs and 57 runs batted in. Read more about Josh Barfield and see more pictures of on pages 116 and 117 of Baseball in Fort Wayne.

Photo courtesy of the Fort Wayne Wizards.

Update: Several Cleveland bloggers have weighed in on the Barfield discussion at Baseball Digest Daily.

[tags]Josh Barfield, trades, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, baseball in fort wayne, ft. wayne[/tags]

Gleamed from MLB.com:

TUCSON, Ariz. — Jarrod Parker’s stay in big league camp was brief, but the impression that he made will last for a while.

The D-backs sent their No. 1 pick from last year’s First-Year Player Draft to Minor League camp Friday morning, a move designed to let him get more work on fundamentals before he starts his first professional season.

“He had an opportunity to see what big league camp is all about,” farm director A.J. Hinch said. “He’s going to need to be protected throughout the season, so before it got really hot and heavy here in big league camp, it’s kind of a nice time to get him assigned to Minor League camp.”

Parker, who pitched for Norwell (Ind.) High School last year, signed just before the Aug. 15 deadline and got his first taste of professional action in last fall’s instructional league, during which he hit 98 mph on the radar guns.

As with any young pitcher who is not used to pitching every five days, the D-backs will take it easy on him innings-wise this year. He will likely start out with Class A South Bend and throw somewhere in the neighborhood of 115-125 innings.

“For a kid right out of high school he wasn’t overmatched by anything here,” D-backs manager Bob Melvin said. “I told him that he should take a lot of confidence out of this experience.”

[tags]Number 1 picks, prospects, Jarrod Parker, Diamondbacks[/tags]

The emerging former Wizards are making the most of their Spring Training opportunities:

• Matt Antonelli was drafted as a third baseman in the first round of the 2006 draft out of Wake Forrest. That year, he appeared in 5 games with the Wizards before a rise through the Padre’s ranks, ending the AA campaign with a respectable .294 batting average. Since his stay in Fort Wayne, he has been asked to switch to second base and has been considered for conversion to outfield. However, for now at least, the club plans to let him focus on 2B.
• Paul McAnulty: As I mentioned previously, McAnulty has been considered as trade bait. This Spring Training may be his last chance with the Padres since he is out of minor league options. He has appeared in 58 games with the parent club, but hasn’t found that staying factor just yet. A knee injury inhibited his 2007 campaign, but he is now healthy and looks to make the most of 2008. McAnulty came to Peoria early to continue an offseason conditioning program that dropped 20 pounds. The career .301 minor leagues hitter will undoubtedly get his shot somewhere (IMHO).
• Wade LeBlanc is now being mentioned as a candidate to take the fifth spot in the Padres rotation. LeBlanc is likely to return to the minors where he possesses a 18-9 record and 2.97 earned run average, but look for him sometime in 2008 (again, IMHO).
• Nick Schmidt was the club’s first round pick last year and appeared in three games in Fort Wayne before being shut down due to injury. He had reconstructive surgery on his right elbow in October and will likely miss all of 2008. The surgery is simlar to that of another top pick that saw action in Fort Wayne, Matt Bush.

Read more about these news items at MLB.com.

[tags]Wade LeBlanc, Matt Antonelli, Matt Bush, Nick Schmidt, Paul McAnulty, Fort Wayne Wizards, baseball in Fort Wayne, Ft. Wayne[/tags]

Tami Tolley has a great entry over at the Palm Beach Post about June “Pep” Peppas. Tomorrow, the 79-year-old former Fort Wayne Daisies player will throw out the first pitch of Treasure Coast Hospice 3rd Annual Celebrity Softball fundraiser.

Peppas played in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) from 1948 to 1954 and stared as a pitcher before moving to first base. She is tied for 10th on the league’s all-time batting average with a .273 average.

Peppas was also honored with induction to the Northeast Indiana Baseball (NEIBA) Hall of Fame; class of 2007.

UPDATE: The TCPalm website has a related article and some great photos of Peppas.

[tags]AAGPBL, Baseball in Fort Wayne, Daisies, NEIBA, June Peppas[/tags]

Thought I would pass this along. At Home in The Fort is a Fort Wayne Real Estate blog. Occasionally, there are posts about downtown developments relating to the Harrison Square and ballpark projects. There are many other Fort Wayne related resources as well.

[tags]Fort Wayne, Real Estate, Harrison Square[/tags]