Baseball in Fort Wayne

Archive for February, 2008

Catcher Jeremy Brown, a first-round pick in 2002, who was the central figure in Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, has retired due to what the Oakland A’s say are “personal reasons.” Moving quickly after the surprising decision, the A’s signed former Wizards catcher, Matt LeCroy to a minor league contract.

The 32-year-old LeCroy, has a career .260 batting average and 60 home runs to his credit and has appeared in 476 Major League games. LeCroy spent most of 2007 at Triple-A Rochester in the Minnesota Twins organization where he batted .194 with three home runs and 25 RBI in 80 games. He was was called up to the Twins in September and went 3 for 20 in seven games

He was selected in the first round (50th overall) by the Minnesota Twins of the 1997 draft. While a member of the Wizards in 1998, he appeared in 64 games. He hit .276 with 9 home runs and 40 runs batted in and drawing 34 walks over 225 at-bats. LeCroy made his big league debut with the Twins in 2000 and played them until signing with Washington as a free agent prior to the 2006 season.

He joins a team that has a catchers corps that also includes Fort Wayne native, Rob Bowen.

You can read more about Matt LeCroy in Baseball in Fort Wayne on page 110. Photograph courtesy of the Fort Wayne Wizards.

In other Wizards alumni news, The Padres may be planning to trade Paul McAnulty.

UPDATE 2/16/2008 – 9:00PM: MLB.com posted “LeCroy Jumps at Opportunity

LeCroy said he knows he’s a long shot to make the A’s roster, but he has seen stranger things happen due to trades, injuries or performance, and he’s willing to play in the Minor Leagues.

[tags]Matt LeCroy, Fort Wayne, Baseball, Minor Leagues, Oakland A’s, Rob Bowen, Jeremy Brown, Moneyball, Minnesota Twins[/tags]

From Jim Shovlin:

Tune in Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m to Talkin’ Sports on Y-100 (100.1 FM) and find out how you could win a $5,000 first prize in the Greater Fort Wayne Putting Championship at River City Links later this Spring. Stephanie Jentgen, Communications Director for SCAN will join us and fill us in on all the details for this first-time event benefiting SCAN (Stop Child Abuse And Neglect).

Homestead High School football coach Chad Zolman will also be joining us Saturday morning to talk about the newly created Northeast Indiana Skills Camp, an evaluation program for high school football players entering grades 10 through 12 in ’08. College football coaches from all over the Midwest have been invited to the college showcase Day at the conclusion of camp.

We’ll also be unveiling our first “Top 5 High School Athletes of the Week” as well as giving you all the IHSAA Girls Regional matchups, area scores from Friday night and upcoming sporting events important to those in Northeast Indiana.

This week’s Poll Question: Of these 4 Indiana NCAA basketball teams, IU, Purdue, Notre Dame or Butler, which team would be most likely to be snubbed for an at-large bid by the NCAA basketball tournament selection committee?

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.

Remember Saturday at 10 a.m, we’re Talkin’ Sports!

[tags]Talkin Sports, Jim Sovlin, Radio, Talk Radio, Fort Wayne, Chad Zolman, SCAN, Stephanie Jentgen, Y-100[/tags]

Individual game tickets for the upcoming 2008 Fort Wayne Wizards season will be on sale starting at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 15.

The home opener for the 16th and final season of Wizards baseball at Memorial Stadium will be at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 3 when the Wizards host the Lansing Lugnuts, the Midwest League affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Tickets will be available for purchase at the Wizards front offices located at Memorial Stadium, all TicketMaster locations and at the Memorial Coliseum Ticket Office. Tickets can also be purchased by calling the Wizards front office at 260-482-6400.

The 2008 season will feature 12 post-game fireworks shows, starting on Friday, May 30 when the Dayton Dragons, the Midwest League affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds visit Memorial Stadium starting at 7:00 p.m.

In addition, the Wizards will be having several theme nights for the fast-approaching season. The front office is working on Halfway to Halloween (Friday, May 2nd); Cinco De Mayo (Monday, May 5th), Jimmy Buffett Night (Friday, June 27th); Christmas in July (Friday, July 25th); a 70′s night (Saturday, August 16th) and an 80′s night (Saturday, August 23rd).

Individual game ticket prices will remain the same for the 2008 season. Tickets start at $6.50 for reserved Bleacher Seats, $8.00 for reserved Grandstand Seats and $9.00 for reserved Box Seats. Ticket discounts are available for groups of 20 or more people.

The Wizards also offer several flexible multi-game ticket packages, starting with three different 10-game options, a 35-game weekender ticket package and the full-season, 70-game ticket package.

Other scheduled events for the 2008 season include the 9th annual Girl Scout Overnight (Friday, May 30th) and 9th annual Boy Scout Overnight (Saturday, May 31st), the third annual Peanut Free Night (Wednesday, July 9th) and the 9th annual Christian Concert, featuring the return of Hawk Nelson in a pre-game show on Thursday, July 24th.

For additional information on the upcoming season, visit fortwaynewizards.com or call the Wizards front office at (260) 482-6400.

[tags]Fort Wayne Wizards, Memorial Stadium, Midwest League[/tags]

Over at Project Prospect, they’ve rated Jarrod Parker as the #1 prospect in the Diamondbacks organization. They report:

Arizona selected Parker with the 9th overall selection in the 2007 Draft and have not looked back. Though short for a pitcher (6-foot-1), Parker has drawn comparisons to undersized right-hander Roy Oswalt for his amazing arm speed – Parker controls a 93-94 mph fastball (tops out at 97) to both sides of the plate with late life and has two pitches with above average potential. The Indiana prep product signed late and did not play in 2007. He will probably start the season at Low-A South Bend and has a chance of reaching High-A by the end of the season. With a little more polish to his breaking stuff Parker could become a top-of-the-rotation starter in Arizona. We like his potential of reaching that kind of ceiling as much as any pitcher from his draft class besides Rick Porcello.

Hat tip to Baseball Digest Daily for the link.

[tags]Jarrod Parker, prospects, Diamondbacks[/tags]

From the desk of Jim Shovlin…

Tune in Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m to Talkin’ Sports on Y-100 (100.1 FM) as University of St. Francis Athletic Director Mark Pope will talk about USF Cougar sports and his transition from IPFW to USF.

“The Judge” Phil Houk of the Fort Wayne Sports Corp will also check in and give us a recap on the 2008 edition of the Eric Wedge Baseball Camp held recently at the ASH Centre in Fort Wayne. The Camp and Saturday evening banquet raised funds earmarked for the Ft. Wayne Sports Heritage kiosks around the Fort Wayne area.

Phil is also a local authority on Notre Dame football and will perhaps give us an overview of the highly acclaimed recruiting class heading to South Bend this fall.

I’ll also be recapping Friday night’s games, previewing Saturday’s games and taking your calls on sports of all sorts. Call #100 on a Centennial wireless connection, *1001 on a Verizon phone, or 1-800-946-9689 with comments, questions, rants or to highlight a local athlete or league. This is your opportunity to make your comments and opinions heard. Don’t feel like talking on the radio? No problem. E-mail your comments and we’ll read it on the air. Either way, let’s hear from you Saturday mornings at 10:00, we’re Talkin’ Sports on Y-100, WNUY (100.1FM).

[tags]Talkin’ Sports, Y-100, Jim Shovlin[/tags]

A couple Wizards Alumni news items:

• Braves Interested in Bush?!?!: The Matt Bush Story; hometown #1 overall pick by the Padres despite other high-priced “sure things” available – Mediocre first year – Injury prone second year – Converted to pitcher – Tommy John Surgery and likely to miss all of 2008. Yet, the Braves may be interested.
• Honor makes players want more [RecordNet.com]: Former Wizard and likely 2008 Wizard, Justin Baum joined another current MLB prospect, Dallas Braden (Oakland A’s) as they were “honored as the amateur and professional baseball players of the year, respectively, at Pacific’s Community Baseball Night at Brookside Country Club.”

[tags]Justin Baum, Matt Bush, Fort Wayne Wizards[/tags]

A few more local ties and Wizards Watch links to send along:

• Introducing Baseball to the PBC: Peace Corps volunteers and Fort Wayne residents, Brandon and Rachel Johnson are teaching the game of baseball to the Palala Boys Club in Africa. In the post, Brandon describes his best moment of the day:
  

  The best part of this day was the opportunity to present each of the boys (and leaders) with their own t-shirt and baseball hat. Wildcat Baseball League (Fort Wayne, IN), with whom my dad is the Director at Northside Park during the summer months, made a wonderful donation of these items. Before the meeting officially began, my leaders had the boys change into their new outfits for the remainder of club. It was great to see the red, white and blue hats that I recall so fondly from my childhood as a Wildcat ballplayer.

  Thanks to Scott at DFWB for alerting me to this post; kudos to FWOb for blogging it first.

• Hunter on a mission to revive interest: I’ve long been intrigued and impressed by the Torii Hunter Project and his attitude toward giving back and encouraging the rebuilding of ball diamonds in inner cities probably makes him among my top five favorite former Wizards (maybe he’s number one, but I’ve never really ranked them). In this article, he describes his ultimate vision for the project:
  

  “I don’t want it to be the Torii Hunter Project,” he said. “I want it to be us, a group of us, doing what we can to get these kids playing the game again, going out in the community and inspiring kids. They need to know what baseball has to offer.”

• Oliver Perez Plans To Reach Free Agency: Tim at MLBTradeRumors.com posits that the former Fort Wayne Wizards and current New York Mets pitcher appears set to take full advantage of the Scott Boras client priveliges and try out free agency after this season. It could make for a big payday given his age and some of the recent signings. Lots of comments on this one!

[tags]Oliver Perez, Wildcat Baseball, Torii Hunter[/tags]

Here’s a few items that I thought I would pass on:

• Hunter set to thrive on, off field (MLB.com): Former Wizards outfielder, Torii Hunter brings his game and community outreach to Aneheim. Given the stacked outfield that the Angels have, Hunter appears primed for another great season.


• Koskie’s career stuck in limbo due to post-concussion syndrome (ESPN.com): Former Wizard, Corey Koskie continues to struggle with the effects of PCS, but hasn’t given up hope he’ll play again. His medical case is one of a handful that are raising the awareness of concussions in and around the game.


• General Sports Announces Acquisition of Derby County Football Club (credit to Midwest League Rumors & News): The former owners of the Fort Wayne Wizards have purchased a soccer team that is based at Pride Park Stadium in Derby, England. (read the press release here).

[tags]Torii Hunter, Corey Koskie, General Sports, Fort Wayne Wizards[/tags]

The other day, I blogged about local ties and Wizards alumni on Keith Law’s top prospects list. That list saw Fort Wayne native and Diamondbacks farmhand, Jarrod Parker listed at number 36. Today, I see Kevin Goldstein’s list; where Parker lands at number 20.

Wizards alumni showing up on the list are; Chase Headley (23) and Matt Antonelli (39).
Another San Diego prospect showing on the list is Matt Latos (61), who appeared in 16 games for low-A Eugene. Perhaps we will see him in a Wizards uni in 2008.

[tags]Padres, Matt Latos, Chase Headley, Matt Antonelli, Fort Wayne, Ft. Wayne, Wizards, Jarrod Parker[/tags]