Baseball in Fort Wayne

Archive for August, 2009

The New York Yankees have obtain former Fort Wayne Wizard, Freddy Guzman, from the Baltimore Orioles for a player to be named later or cash.

Guzman started the year in the Mariners’ organization, but lost his chance with the team after breaking a bone in his hand. He signed a Minor League contract with Baltimore after being released from Seattle and has played 95 games for Triple-A Tacoma, Pawtucket and Norfolk this season. He batted .218 with two homers, 16 RBIs and 38 stolen bases.

He was a highly regarded prospect when he first began his professional career. Baseball America lauded his game-changing speed as he came up in the Padres system. While playing in Fort Wayne during 2002, he hit .279 with 53 hits and 39 stolen bases over 190 at-bats. He was San Diego’s #3 ranked prospect in 2004 and #2 in 2005. But he missed that season with an elbow injury and his prospect status dimmed.

The Padres brought him back on a one-year contract in 2006, but traded him to the Texas Rangers along with Cesar Rojas that May for Vince Sinisi and John Hudgins. A year later, the Tigers traded Chris Shelton to the Texas Rangers for Freddy. Last year with Detroit, he stole 71 bases while splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A.

Wilton Lopez became the 84th former Fort Wayne Wizard/TinCap to ascend to the Big Leagues on August 29th when he entered the game slated for long relief of starter Yorman Bazardo in the third inning for the Houston Astros. 

Probably a day he’ll always remember, but one that he may want to forget. He entered his first Major League appearance with an inherited runner on second and no outs. The Diamondback’s Brandon Allen singled, moving the runner to third before Alex Romero hit a three-run homer. Lopez also yielded a solo shot to Miguel Montero and rookie John Hester, which was his first Major League hit.

Overall, Lopez was tagged for six runs on eight hits, giving up three homers in four innings of work.

“I thought the kid did pretty well, considering the circumstances,” [Astro's manager Cecil] Cooper said. “It was a tough situation to put him in, but I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. He has a chance to be pretty good in the Major Leagues.”

Lopez is the eighth former Wizard/TinCap to debut in the MLB this year. He is the first from the 2007 squad.

Former Fort Wayne Wizards pitcher, Wilton Lopez was claimed off waivers from the San Diego Padres on April 10th this season. Today, he got called up from Double-A Corpus Christi and appears set to make his Major League debut. The 26-year-old righty is 4-5 with a 4.73 ERA in 29 games, including 15 starts on the season. Five of those starts came during August, where he boasts a 1.23 ERA and a 2-2 record.

Lopez is headed to the majors after a Class AA season which he started getting shelled in the bullpen after being claimed from San Diego. But since late June, he has been arguably the Hooks’ best starter, with 10 quality starts since June 23.

The move comes as the result of Astros reliever Alberto Arias being placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring. He’s set to join the team in Arizona as they begin a series with the Diamondbacks. 

With the Wizards in 2007, Lopez was 1-0 with a 3.30 earned run average. He appeared in 22 games, striking out 17 and walking two.  He was signed by the New York Yankees as a non-drafted free agent in 2002.

He is set to become the 84th alumnus of the Fort Wayne Wizards/TinCaps to make their way into a Major League Baseball game; the eighth of this season.

Tune in Saturday morning at 9 for Talkin’ Sports, as we’ll be talking with University of St. Francis head mens soccer coach Mitch Ellisen.

We’ll also talk with TinCaps President Mike Nutter in our weekly segment as the TinCaps regular season winds down..

We’ll have Week 2 scores and recaps from high school football games around the area.

We’ll be naming our PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week in the 4th Quarter of the show.

Any athlete (youth, adult, high school, collegiate, neighbor) can be a PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week. Nominations for the PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week can be submitted to this e-mail address or: jim@wowo.com.

We’re also asking for those attending high school football scrimmages tonight to call in and give us your thoughts.

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.

The Fort Wayne TinCaps’ pitcher Brad Brach and manager Doug Dascenzo were named to the Midwest League’s Post Season All-Star Team on Tuesday. Brach, was also a mid-season All- Star and leads the league in saves. Dascenzo has led the TinCaps to the best record in full-season Minor League Baseball in his third season at the helm in Fort Wayne.

Brach, 23, was voted the best right-handed reliever on the circuit by Midwest League managers. He has dominated this season, going 3-3 with a 1.36 ERA and a league-best 31 saves. A 42nd – round pick in the 2008 draft, Brach was a starter at Monmouth University for four seasons before converting to a reliever last year. His 31 saves are tied for the second-most in the minor leagues.

Dascenzo was named the league’s Co-Manager of the Year along with Peoria’s Marty Pevey. He became the winningest manager in Fort Wayne franchise history last week. Under Dascenzo’s guidance, Fort Wayne set a franchise record with 45 wins in the first half and won its first division championship since 2003. Dascenzo was also recently named the Midwest League’s Best Manager Prospect by Baseball America.

The honors were awarded in the same week that Fort Wayne swept Midwest League weekly player honors when Simon Castro took Pitcher of the Week honors and Allen Dykstra was named Hitter of the Week.

Former Fort Wayne Wizard, Kyler Burke, who is now playing with Peoria in the Chicago Cubs organization also made the team.

Daniel Hausmann has an interesting tidbit about former Frederick Mayerson, who brought the Kenosha Twins to Fort Wayne and renamed them the Fort Wayne Wizards.

Flat Out Crazy LLC is the new name of the holding company created by the merger of Asian-food concept chains Stir Crazy Restaurants and FlatTop Grill. The combination is backed by private equity firm Walnut Group.

Kudos to the Spaulding brothers, who are linked in the post.

In other news, Fort Wayne is no longer the top minor league sports market in the country according to Street and Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal. Seeks that not even the Komets repeat as Turner Cup Champions, nor the TinCaps historic innagural season at Parkview field couldn’t keep Hershy-Harrisburg, Pennsylvania from pushing Fort Wayne down to number two.

One Fort Wayne Wizard player that I loved to watch when he was here was Kyle Blanks. I’ve also enjoyed watching him progress through the system since that time. And now, the rest of the baseball world is finally getting to see this guy in action. Methinks that next year, we’ll be seeign the Kyle Blanks coming out party at the 2010 All-Star Game and Home Run Derby much like we did with Josh Hamilton last year.

Here’s a brief look at some recent Kyle Blanks headlines:

• Tae-Bo power! Padres’ Blanks delivers knockout punch to Cubs (Big League Stew)
• Hacksaw: Padres new ownership hitting home runs (SDNN.com)
•  Kyle Blanks Named as Next 2009 Topps Finest Rookie Redemption Subject (The Cardboard Connection)
• Fantasy Baseball: Kyle Blanks-Future 30 HR Hitter? (Fake Teams)

Here’s a brief look at some previous Kyle Blanks BBIFW posts:

• Kyle Blanks MLB Debut
• Kyle Blanks Promoted to MLB
• Former Wizards I’m Watching Heading into 2009
• 2009 Spring Training Update from Fort Wayne II
• Former Wizards Getting Early Spring Work
• Baseball America’s Top Padres Prospects
• Topps Honors Include Former Wizards
• Former Wizard, Possible Future T’Caps Earn Honors
• Kyle Blanks the Hottest Prospect in Baseball
• Several Former Wizards Selected as Double-A All-Stars
• Padres Heading to China Filled with Wizards
• Plenty of Wizards in MadFriars’s Top 20
• Wizards Watch: Former Wizards Contribute to 30-0 Rout

Note: You can read more about Kyle Blanks and other former/current Fort Wayne (and Northeast Indiana) stars in my book, Baseball in Fort Wayne (pages 75 & 76). Order now at a discounted price and I’ll sign it for you! A portion of the proceeds will go to the Northeast Indiana Baseball Assocation.

In a season where the record books have been pretty much re-written, TinCaps skipper, Doug Dascenzo claimed one of his own thanks in no small part to the teams he’s led on the field while in Fort Wayne. Last night’s 8-6 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts was Dascenzo’s 210th victory while managing in Fort Wayne.

The win puts him at the top of the list, passing the Padres current hitting coach Randy Ready for the franchise record. The TinCaps put their record at 84-40 on the season and 39-15 in the second half.

Congratz Doug!

Tune in Saturday morning at 9 for Talkin’ Sports, we’ll be talking with Juanita Goodwell, new head girls basketball coach of the South Side lady Archers in addition to her duties as the school’s softball coach.

We’ll also talk with TinCaps President Mike Nutter in our weekly segment as the TinCaps amazing season continues.
High school football starts tonight and we’ll have Week 1 scores and recaps too.

We’ll be naming our PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week in the 4th Quarter of the show.

Any athlete (youth, adult, high school, collegiate, neighbor) can be a PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week. Nominations for the PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week can be submitted to this e-mail address or: jim@wowo.com.

We’re also asking for those attending high school football scrimmages tonight to call in and give us your thoughts.

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.

Soon, baseball and softball players in and around northeast Indiana will have the opportunity to take part in the world’s largest baseball/softball scouting service. Last summer, Rich Dunno, the owner of the Strike Zone baseball/softball training facility and Les Edgerton traveled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to meet with the president and founder of Perfect Game USA, Jerry Ford.

Edgerton was finalizing interviews for his book on the history of the organization, Perfect Game USA and the Future of Baseball: How the Remaking of Youth Scouting Affects the National Pastime (McFarland Publishing, Spring 2009) while Dunno met with Ford to interview for a scouting position.

But Dunno left that session with more than a job. Rather, Ford offered Dunno the opportunity to develop five states — Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and western Pennsylvania — for the Perfect Game organization.

Since that meeting, Dunno and Edgerton and several other key players — Brian Kreager, Steed Williams, Brad Burlew, Dean Ehle and Colleen McNutt — have worked tirelessly to plan the initial showcases and tournaments in the five-state area. Six showcases and tournaments are currently being planned for 2010.

Dunno has since begun training with Perfect Game, working on several events as Field Director and Scout, including the recent week-long 17U tournament in East Cobb, GA; which featured 189 of the top travel teams in the nation and close to 300 pro and college scouts in attendance.

Perfect Game is the largest youth baseball and softball scouting service in the world. 1,191 players out of 1,504 taken in the most recent June amateur draft have attended Perfect Game Showcases.

Dunno will head the baseball operations, assisted by Kreager, Williams and Burlew. Edgerton, Ehle and McNutt will create the softball showcases and tournaments. Tentative talks have been held with the Fort Wayne TinCaps, with at least one forthcoming event to be held at Parkview Field in downtown Fort Wayne.

Meanwhile, Dunno continues to operate Strike Zone. He and the other members of his management team are hosting a Juco Baseball Showcase at the Glen Oaks Community College diamond on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009.  It is open to high school ballplayers who are graduating in 2010 and 2011 as well as other players who have not yet secured a baseball scholarship. At least a dozen college coaches and scouts will be in attendance.

For directions, costs, participating institutions and other particulars, or to sign up for one of the few remaining spots, visit the Strike Zone website at strikezonespiders.com or phone Rich Dunno at 260-705-7424. For information on Perfect Game USA, visit their website at perfectgame.org.

Photo contributed by Rich Dunno