Baseball in Fort Wayne

Archive for June, 2009

Let’s start by stating that IMHO, this will be former Fort Wayne Wizards skipper, Randy Ready’s last season as a Minor League Manager. He was in the running for the Mariner’s spot this past offseason, and the experts agree that Ready is ready for MLB.

But for now, he’ll enjoy managing the Triple-A All Stars for the Pacific Coast League when the Triple-A All-Star Game takes place in Portland Oregon on on July 15th.

The Pacific Coast League All-Star team will be managed by Portland Beavers manager Randy Ready. This is his second season leading the Beavers and his eighth season overall as a Minor League manager. The former infielder played all or part of 13 seasons in the Major Leagues with Milwaukee, San Diego, Philadelphia, Oakland and Montreal.

Ready played in 777 Major League games and hit .259 with 107 doubles, 21 triples, 40 home runs, 239 RBIs, and 312 runs in his career. He began his managerial career in the Detroit Tigers system and was named New York-Penn League Manager of the Year in 2002 after guiding Class A Oneonta to the playoffs. He joined the Padres organization in 2004 and spent the next three seasons as manager of Class A Fort Wayne and led them to two playoff berths.

In 2007, in his only season as manager of Double-A San Antonio, he led the team to a 73-66 record and a Texas League Championship and was the Padres’ Jack Krol Award winner in recognition of his contributions to player development in their system. The Beavers finished 70-74 in Ready’s first season and he was named PCL’s “Best Manager Prospect” by Baseball America.

If you follow this blog, you’ll know that I try to make MiLB All-Star Games. Unfortunately, Portland is a bit too far for me at this time.

Related BBIFW Posts:

• Familiar Face to Lead 2007 ‘Zards
• Former Wizards Skipper, Randy Ready Rises Through the Ranks
• Is Former Randy Ready Ready to Manage in MLB?
• September Callups Feature Former Wizards
• Former Wizards Skipper, Randy Ready has Shot at M’s Gig
• Former Wizards I’m Watching Heading into 2009

I was checking

out the Minor League transactions on Baseball America and was pretty much caught off gaurd when I got to the Padres section.

What I found is that catcher Colt Morton was traded to the Seattle Mariners in return for cuture considerations. Morton was hitting just .222 with a home run and five RBI’s in 11 games with High-A Lake Elsinore. He’s been assigned to the Mariners Double-A affiliate, the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. Morton played in one game with the San Diego Padres in 2007 and nine in 2008. His Major League tours of duty includes 16 at bats with one hit and one RBI.

 The Padres have also outrighted catcher Jose Lobaton to Triple-A Portland Tuesday, removing him from the 40-man roster.  Lobaton was hitting .225 with two home runs in 27 Triple-A games this season.

Related BBIFW Posts:

• Colt Morton Makes MLB Debut
• Colt Morton is Healthy and Making Most of His Spring
• Colt Morton Making His Case Known
• Barrett to DL; Colt Morton Joining Padres Roster
• Fill the Triple-A All-Star Game with Wizards
• Former Wizards Likely to Debut in 2009 – Part III

Fort Wayne TinCaps outfielder, Sawyer Carroll received Midwest League Hitter of the Week honors on Monday while right-hander, Anthony Bass snagged his second Pitcher of the Week award on the season. Both are MidWest League All-Stars and their performances are the latest headlines from an amazing run which has Fort Wayne on the verge of its first playoff berth since 2006.

“This team just continues to impress,” TinCaps president Mike Nutter said. “The players have more than lived up to the high expectations and we’re thrilled to be on the brink of making the postseason.”

Carroll, 23, went 12-for-25 during the past week (June 8-14). The University of Kentucky product ripped four doubles and a home run, scored eight runs and drove in six. In Sunday’s game at West Michigan, Carroll went 4-for-5 and finished a home run shy of the cycle. Last week he was selected to his second All-Star Team in as many seasons; he was a Northwest League All-Star for the Eugene Emeralds in 2008.
 
Bass, 21, won both of his starts last week, allowing two runs (one earned) in 12 innings of work to lower his ERA to 2.17, second-best in the Midwest League. This is his second time winning Pitcher of the Week honors; he was also selected on April 20th after delivering 12 scoreless innings to open the season.
 
It is the first time this season any team in the Midwest League has won both Pitcher and Hitter of the Week.

Related BBIFW Posts:

• Bass is First TinCap to Earn MWL Honors

You gotta think that if he had been there all year, Fort Wayne TinCaps’ outfielder Jaff Decker would have been on the Midwest League All STart team. Turns out, it didn’t take a whole season. In fact, Decker was added to the Midwest League Eastern Division All-Star team today, becoming the sixth TinCap on the squad.

South Bend Silver Hawks OF Brendan Duffy was promoted to Advanced-A Visalia, opening the roster spot. The move also pushed Fort Wayne OF Sawyer Carroll into the starting lineup for next Tuesday’s game in Clinton, Iowa.

Decker, 19, burst onto the scene this year, blasting a home run in his first at-bat with the TinCaps. He remains the only player to hit a home run onto the TreeTops Rooftop Party Area beyond the right-field wall at Parkview Field in a game. Decker was selected 42nd overall in last year’s draft and led all of Minor League Baseball with a .513 on-base percentage. He was the Arizona League MVP with the Peoria Padres. He is listed as the No. 3 prospect in the San Diego organization by Baseball America.

Decker, Carroll, INF James Darnell, RHPs Anthony Bass and Brad Brach along with LHP Zach Herr are on the All-Star roster for the Eastern Division

Tune in to Talkin’ Sports Saturday morning at 9:00 when our in-studio guests will be Purdue Boilermaker baseball players (and New Haven High School grads) Matt and Kyle Bischoff.

We’ll also check in with TinCaps President Mike Nutter for our weekly segment as the TinCaps finish a lengthy home stand at Parkview Field .

We’ll name our PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week in the 4th Quarter of the show.
Nominations for the PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week can be submitted to this e-mail address or: wkjg1380@yahoo.com.

Have an idea for a show topic or local guest? Let us know.

Tune in Saturday mornings at 9 for Talkin’ Sports on WKJG-ESPN Radio 1380. Phone lines are always open at 260-447-8500.

Talkin’ Sports is brought to you each week by: INdigital Telecom, Perfection Bakeries/Aunt Millie’s, Wise Insurance, PSI/One Eleven Design and Kraft Foods.

Talkin’ Sports. Local Guests. Local Topics. Local Opinion.

Former Angola High School standout and current Ball State University player/student, Zach Dygert was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 48th round (1,432nd overall) of the 2009 MLB Amateur Entry Draft today.

You might also be interested in the following:

• WANE TV story on Zach Dygert by Ross Kinsey
• MLB Scouting video on Zach Dygert

Taylor University and former Homestead standout, Taylor Kinzer was drafted by the Angels with the 741st pick, which was the final pick of round 24.

The ace of Taylor’s 2009 MCC Tournament championship team, Kinzer was a perfect 8-0 on the mound for the Trojans. This is the second time Kinzer has been selected in the MLB Draft.  In 2006 he was a 34th round pick of the Washington Nationals as an outfielder, but Kinzer chose to continue his education and he landed at Taylor in the fall of 2007.

“We are really excited for Taylor,” said Taylor head coach Kyle Gould. “This is a major accomplishment for him and a testament to the hard work that he put in over the past two years in becoming a great pitcher.  His efforts on the mound down the stretch were key to us winning a conference championship and advancing in the NAIA National tournament.  Taylor’s selection by the Angels demonstrates that playing baseball at Taylor can provide the opportunity and exposure to move on to professional baseball.”

Through two seasons at Taylor, Kinzer is 13-5 on the mound including his perfect record in 2009.  In 135 career innings pitched, he has walked only 28 batters while striking out 95. At the plate he has batted .316 each of the last two seasons to go along with 45 extra base hits in 351 at bats.

Major League Baseball allows draftees until August 17 to sign with their team. Kinzer would forego his final two years of eligibility at Taylor if he signs with the Angels.

Related BBIFW Posts:

• Kinzer Leads Taylor in Debut
• Local Ties: Area Standouts Lead Taylor University

Other Local Ties Notes:

St. Louis native, Josh Worrell - who is a student at Indiana Weslyan University – was selected by the Royals in the 30th round (902nd overall).

The TinCaps may soon have an almost local player. Carmel High School standout and current University of Michigan baseball player, Christopher Fetter was chosed by the Padres with the 264th overall pick in the 9th round.

Photo is courtesy of Taylor Univeristy and Don Rogers.

Kyler Burke was selected by the San Diego Padres in the supplemental first round of the 2006 First Year Player Draft (35th overall). As a senior at Ooltewah High School in Tennessee he batted .459 with 20 homers and 58 RBIs in 45 games. While in Fort Wayne with the Wizards in 2007, Burke hit .211 with 45 hits and 1 home run in 213 at-bats.
Then he was traded to the Chicago Cubs with Fort Wayne native, Rob Bowen, in return for Michael Barrett. Interestingly, Burke is the only one of the three to still be with the organization he was traded to as a result of that trade.

But the stay has not been easy for Burke.

The 21-year-old Burke endured a disappointing 2008 season that saw his confidence drop and his status with Baseball America ’s prospect ratings basically fall off.

“Every guy is different. How they learn and how they develop and the pace they learn is very unpredictable,” Chicago Cubs minor-league hitting coordinator Dave Keller said. “The things he went through, being in (the Hawaiian Winter League) and going through that and some of the adversity he went through the last couple of years, he’s learning from all that and applying it in a game” [PJStar.com]

Through his first 50 games with Peoria in 2009, Burke is hitting .282 with 50 hits, 27 runs and a league leaging 22 doubles. He’s hit 4 homers with 25 runs batted in and 5 stolen bases. It’s a perfomance that is good enough to earn him a Midwest League All-Star Selection.  

Photo: Kyler Burke during an at-bat at Memorial Stadium – by Chad Gramling

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

Work to raze the Memorial Stadium began in earnest Monday, but cranes and a wrecking ball won’t tear into the ballpark until next week.

 The demolition brings an end to the stadium’s 16-year life along Coliseum Boulevard and the St. Joseph River. The stadium helped bring minor league baseball to Fort Wayne but is no longer needed now that the TinCaps have moved into Parkview Field downtown.

Okay Fort Wayne faithful. Here is your mission: Let’s fill the Triple-A All-Star Game with former Fort Wayne Wizards. By my count, we could get 18 of them in the game. Padres bloggers should also feel free to join in the fun. Let’s do this!!!

Here’s the ballot I submitted today, and I suggest you do the same by clicking here:

International League:

• Starting Pitcher – E. Bonine (2004) and D. Pauley (2003)
• Relief Pitcher – J. Link (2006) and Dale Thayer (2003)
• First Base – P. McAnulty (2003)
• Second Base – J. Barfield (2002)
• Third Base – J. Furmaniak (2001)
• SS – No former Wizard available. I voted for R. Brignac
• C – No former Wizard available. I voted for E. Kratz
• OF – M. Restovich (1998), I also voted for D. Stubbs and J Van Every
• DH – No former Wizard available. I voted for J. Frazier

Pacific Coast League:

• Starting Pitcher - M. Buschmann (never a Wizard, but close enough) and W. LeBlanc (2006)
• Releif Pitcher – M. Ekstrom (2004/2005) and J. Ellis (2005)
• First Base – Kyle Blanks (2006)
• Second Base – M. Antonelli (2006)
• Third Base – B. Dowdy (2005)
• SS – S. Kazmar (2004/2005)
• C – J. Lobaton (2005/2006)
• OF – W. Venable (2006), D. Macias (2003/2004) and I also voted for R. Ambercrombie
• DH – No former Wizard available. I voted for J. Clement