Baseball in Fort Wayne

Archive for January, 2009

When I started taking photos of Midwest League Players back in 2003, one of the first players I sought out was Felix Pie, of the Lansing Lugnuts.

The Lugnuts have since changed their affiliation from the Chicago Cubs to the Toronto Blue Jays. Meanwhile, Pie had worked his way through the minor league system with the Cubs and had played in several games at the Major League Level.

However, the once heralded and supposed five-tool prospect that was once “untouchable” has been traded to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for a couple middle releivers -hander Garrett Olson and Class-A right-hander Henry Williamson.

That’s quite a fall from grace. Seems to be the exact same path that Corey Patterson took to go from uber-prospect to big league bust.

These photos were taken early on in the game, probably his first at-bat of the game. If I recall correctly, he stole second pretty easily after reaching first base. The Wizards Catcher (above) is Andres Pagan. The Wizards player on first (right) is Paul McAnulty (who recently signed with Boston).

As a Cubs fan, I had looked forward to the day i would get to see Pie roam the outfield at Wrigley and become the next great Cubs player.

But unfortunately, like most other Cubs fans, I’ve come to realize that Pie will never prosper with the Cubs. If he has any chance at a big-league career, it has to be with another organization. It needs to be an organization where there is not so built to win now. Baltimore fits that bill.

Best of luck to you Felix.

Note: Thanks to BK, a reader who noted some innacurracies and provided additional information (see comments).

Former Wizards pitcher, LaTroy Hawkins will be in attendance with Barack Obama is installed as our news President of the United States of America:

“Jackie Robinson showed my grandfather and my uncles and my father that anything is possible,” Hawkins said. “You can do it. Obama is showing my kids — my kids who have seen that their dad has been successful — that you can do anything. In my household, it’s important, because it shows you can be successful in something other than sports.

Tune in to Talkin’ Sports Saturday morning at 11:00 when we’ll be talking with “The Judge” Phil Houk about the Eric Wedge Baseball Camp to be held Saturday January 24th at the ASH Centre in Fort Wayne. We’ll also discuss the Eric Wedge Banquet that will take place Thursday January 29th at Ceruti’s, with featured speaker, Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry.

Also on the program Saturday will be Homestead High School Athletic Director Joe Updegrove, discussing the criteria, protocol and procedure for cancellations, postponements and rescheduling challenges facing  high school AD’s during severe winter weather.

We’ll also have scores, highlights and previews and reviews of local sports.

We’re Talkin’ Sports, Saturday from 11:00 to noon on FM100 Talks!  WNUY-100.1FM.

January 14 at 11:27 pm – Baseball America is reporting that Jack Cassel has signed a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians (h/t MLBTraderumors). I have not yet seen this reported anywhere else, but I trust BA. Hopefully we’ll hear a little more ove rthe next couple days.

Update: January 16 – The Indians’ website has finally confirmed Cassel’s signing:

Two more invitees were announced on Friday, as right-handers Matt Herges and Jack Cassel have been signed to Minor League contracts. As previously reported, right-handed reliever Vinnie Chulk was signed to a Minor League deal with an invite to big league camp on Thursday, though that deal hasn’t been officially announced by the club yet.

Best of luck with the Tribe Jack.

The Seattle Mariners have invited Freddy Guzman to Spring Training.

Luis Cruz is not at the Pitsburgh Pirate’s voluntary mini-camp because of his commitment to take part in the Rookie Career Development Program.

Eddie Bonine will particiapte in the Detroit Tigers’ Winter Caravan next week.

David Freese is in Illinois tomorrow for autograph signings:

12:30pm – Round Barn Banquet Centre, 1900 Round Barn Rd, Champaign, Illinois

6:00pm – Decatur Conference Center & Hotel, 4191 US Hwy 36 West, Decatur, Illinois

I know what you are wondering. The same thing I have been wondering: Did the last World Baseball Classic impact the player’s performance in 2006? Will it impact them this year? The answer: I don’t know.

I looked around a few sites to see if anyone had done any sort of analysis, but to my surprise, I found nothing. There’s probably a reosurce out there for a price, but I don’t need a ton of analysis that I don’t understand and that contradicts itself. I just want a quick sample. So I did the research (via MLB.com and Baseball-Reference) on a random sampling of hitters and pitchers.

I’m not going to offer you any analysis, but you are welcome to my research. It’s a very basic sampling of less than ten players.eight hitters and seven pitchers. For each, I detail their three-year averages before 2006, then I detail their 2006 season performance as well first and second half splits for 2006.

So, without further ado, here’s my research: Click to Download the Spreadsheet.

Also, if you are interested in joining a keeper league and can be in Fort Wayne for a live-draft, please contact me. I’d be happy to share the details of a somewhat mature league that includes very active and competitive managers who aren’t buttholes.

The Journal Gazette’s Ben Smith recently posted a great article about Eric Wedge and his baseball camp. In addition to telling the when and where, he frames the article around Wedges experiences of a rough 2008 season that turned around just a little too late:

Eric Wedge likes to draw on his own experience when he comes back to Fort Wayne in the dead of winter to teach baseball. And so this year, the lesson will be, among other things, perseverance.

Perseverance, after all, took Wedge’s Cleveland Indians from last place at the All-Star break in 2008 to within 7 1/2 games of first by the time the leaves fell and the ballparks went quiet.

 

“You talk about perseverance and not giving in. … We ended up having the best record in the second half. That’s what it’s all about,” Wedge said from his home in Cleveland last week.

“I think that’s a great example. You go out there and you play for the right reasons. Even if you don’t have a chance to win a championship, that doesn’t mean you don’t go out there and play as if you did. I think there’s a serious lesson involved in that.”

Expect it to be imparted on Jan. 24 at the Eric Wedge Baseball Camps, which will again be conducted at the ASH Centre with Wedge, former major leaguer and New Haven High School standout Dave Doster and a host of other area college and international coaches and players presiding.

Eric Wedge Baseball Camps
When: Jan. 24
Where: ASH Centre, 1701 Freeman St.
Cost: $65 a participant for morning session; $90 a participant for afternoon session
Information: 436-1507, www.ericwedgebaseballcamp.com

Fort Wayne Sports Corp. Banquet
When: 6 p.m. Jan. 29
Where: Ceruti’s Summit Park Reception Hall
Cost: $75 a person for FWSC members; $85 non-members
Information: 420-1305, http://www.ericwedgebaseballcamp.com/

Over the last couple days, I have taken note of an increase in visits to the Wizards Where R They? segment I did on Sean Thompson last summer. As is usually the case when something like this happens, Thompson’s named poped up in one of my news feeds. As a result, the following addendum has been added:

Update (01/10/2009): Thompson is coming back to Indiana in 2009. The Evansville Otters of the Frontier League have announced that the lefty has signed with the team (hat tip to Friar John).

Might be a fun road trip for 2009 to go down and catch some Indy-League ball and catchup with the former Wizard hurler.

Josh Barfield’s younger brother, Jeremy, was a eighth round selection of the Oakland’s A’s last season. In all likelihood, he’ll end up playing 2009 in the Midwest League with the Kane County Cougars. OaklandClubhouse.com recently caught up with the younger Barfield and asked him about his thoughts on the League, which is generally not known as a hitter friendly league.

Yeah. My brother [Josh Barfield] actually played for Fort Wayne when he was in the Padres organization. I’ve heard that it is a tough place to hit during the first few months of the season, but anything is better hitting-wise than Vancouver, honestly. It’s just that tough to hit there. But you just have to get used to hitting in cold weather and playing in cold weather in general for the first month or two of the season, which really isn’t all too bad because there is nothing you can do about it. Why fight it? Once again, it will be a lot different experiencing it for myself, but since my brother played a whole season in that league, it helps.

Read the full interview here (subscription required)

Updating a previous post, former Wizards pitcher Travis Chick has signed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers and has scored and opportunity with the club during Spring Training. Chick performed fairly well during his stint at Triple-A while in the Seattle organization last season, so this is one story we’ll be watching. DodgerTalk says:

…a Texas native selected by the Marlins in the 14th round of the 2002 draft, is 40-38 with a 4.26 ERA in 166 minor league games (121 starts). He spent the majority of the 2008 season with Seattle’s Double-A West Tennessee club, and ended the season with Triple-A Tacoma, where he went 3-1 with a 1.91 ERA in five starts. The 24-year-old appeared in three games with the Mariners in 2006 for his lone Major League experience.

The Rangers Report recently did their write-up on the Chicago Cubs top prospects. Somewhat surprisingly, they have included Kyler Burke, whom I thought had dropped off most radars. Anothe rstory I will be passively watching as the season unfolds. It’s probably a make or break year for Burke.

The Cubs’ bounty for Michael Barrett, Burke is a slugging corner outfield with a solid arm and huge power potential.  However, he has trouble against breaking balls and swings and misses way too often.  That results in his impressive power becoming negated.  However, he is a terrific athlete that has the ability to develop into a superstar, if only everything comes together. 

Former Wizards Pitcher, Jon Link put together an outstanding season in 2008, when he recorded a Souther League best 35 saves last summer while pitching with the Double-A Birmingham Barons. He was recently added to the Chicago White Sox 40-man roster and some suspect he’s being groomed to be the club’s closer in the near future. Another player on my 2009 watch list. He recently conducted a couple youth baseball camps out in Virginia.

Conducting two youth baseball clinics last Saturday at Frozen Ropes Training Center in Chantilly, Link lectured on everything from basic mechanics and pickoff moves to arm and body care and how to field the position. He closed the session with a 15-pitch bullpen session to his high school catcher, Billy Cushman.

 (See also: Wizards Where R They? Travis Chick).