Baseball in Fort Wayne

Archive for the ‘Wizards Where R They?’ Category

When I researched and drafted up the mid-season report of Estranged Friars who are currently playing with different MLB organizations, I noticed that several had landed in the Seattle Mariners farm system. Travis Chick, Jared Wells (Wizards in 2004), Jon Huber (Wizard in 2003) are currently in that system. Chick is in West Tennessee (AA), while Wells and Huber are at Triple-A Tacoma with Shawn Garrett; another former Wizard. I missed on the original list, but after learning more, realize he makes for a great Wizards Where R They?

Garrett was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 29th round (890th overall) way back in 1997. He chose to spend one year at Olney Community College before beginning his pro ball days. His 1998 and 1999 seasons were spent in the Arizona and Pioneer Rookie Leagues before settling into the 2000 season in Fort Wayne. While with the Wizards, he appears in 123 games where he collected 119 hits (43 for extra bases), 10 home runs and 55 runs batted in over 438 at-bats. It was enough to post a respectable .272 average to go with a .341 on-base percentage.

The 2001 season saw Garrett build upon that success at Lake Elsinore, where he was batting 3.13 before being sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates along with RHP Shawn Camp in exchange for outfielder, Emil Brown. He hit .294 the rest of the 2001 campaign and spent all of 2002 and 2003 with Double-A Altoona and posted similar numbers; hovering right around .300 with quality at-bats that saw a rise in power and run production.

Before the start of the 2004 season, Garrett was traded to the Colorado Rockies and assigned to their Double-A squad in Tulsa. He again produced solid numbers and was promoted to their Triple-A level following an opening from the trade that sent Larry Walker to the Cardinals. In the thirty games that comprised his first Triple-A stint, Garrett posted a .371 batting average with 43 hits, 25 runs and 22 runs batted in to accompany his three home runs and .461 OBP.

Garrett became a free agent following the 2004 campaign and singed with Oakland, where he was assigned to their Triple-A Sacramento team. The 2005 season saw another good showing, falling just short of a .300 average, but producing a career high 82 runs batted in over 508 at-bats. His 111 strikeouts are also a career high.

“It was a consistent year. I was in the line-up every day. I thought (coming off this season) it was my best opportunity to make the big team” [source: Tacoma Weekly].

Garrett split the 2006 season between Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre and Triple A Memphis (St. Louis), but his numbers took a serious nosedive at both locales; barely hitting .220 at either stop. The 2007 season saw a rebound of sorts while playing with Double-A Trenton (Yankees) and Double-A Birmingham (ChiSox).

2008 saw Garrett start the year with another organization at Double-A West Tennessee (Mariners). After 23 games, he was promoted to Triple-A Tacoma where he continues to make his case for big league action. In 11 seasons, he’s played in 11 different MLB organizations. He was named an All-Star in 1998, 2000 (with the Wizards), 2002, 2003, and 2004 in addition to posting consistent solid numbers, the only exception being in 2006.

On the season, Garrett is hitting .276 through July 13. He’s slugged 6 home runs and drove in 43 runs while collecting 128 total bases in 304 at-bats. His on-base percentage is hovering right around .420 and hit safely in 6 of his last 10 games.

“My little window of prospect status has come and gone . . . Now I want to do whatever I can do to help myself be a good player, plus switch hitting should help me stay in the game for awhile longer.”

Update (February 18, 2009): It appears that Garrett’s career will fall just short of reaching the pros. According to this Bloomberg article, he has retired after eleven seasons as a pro.

See Also: Shawn Garrett Bio at Ford-Mobley.com | Cougar’s in the Pros | Shawn Garrett’s MiLB Profile

Sean Thompson was drafted by the Padres in 2002 out of Thunder Ridge High School in Littleton Colorado. By 2004, he was putting together a solid season in Fort Wayne where he went 9-6 with a 3.10 ERA over 27 games (all as a starter).

During that season, he struck out 157 and walked 57 in 148 innings pitched. In his first two seasons, his star potential increasingly looked to be a very rapidly rising one.

But then he hit Double-A ball in Mobile, where his plus curveball and quality changeup weren’t quite enough to combat the occasional missed fastball. A poor Spring training the next season saw him return to Double-A. He looked to be turning the corner, and then struggled in May and June. The Padres removed him from the 40-man roster as they traded for Milton Bradley.

Following his release, Thompson caught on with Colorado, and Kansas City. He made it as high as Triple-A for 1 inning over three games in that time (with the Royals in Omaha, where he ended the 2007 season).

As John Conniff reports for MadFriars, Thompson is currently has struggling in the Atlantic League with the Camden Riversharks. Among his teammates is another former Wizards player, outfielder LJ Biernbaum. He has a 1-4 record and a 5.85 ERA.

In his interview with John, Thompson discusses witnessing his first base coach getting killed by a line drive, his reluctance to “let go” with his pitches, injuries, indy league competition and his chances of returning to the farm team of a Major League club.

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).

Photo by Chad Gramling, 2004.

Brett Bonvechio was the “Player to Be Named Later” to complete a trade between the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres in 2004. He joined the Wizards that season and collected 304 while appearing in 82 games. He hit for a .237 average, which included 72 hits, 19 doubles, 1 triple and 9 home runs.

Mostly playing third, Bonvechio also saw time at first and a little at catcher. then, the left-handed hitting infielder had his best season in 2005 while with Lake Elsinore, where he hit .267/.385/.460.

Then, the injury bug virtually derailed his career and nearly ended it. The then 25-year-old found himself cut from the Padres system. To continue his career, he joined the legions of indy-ballers and continued to play simply because he loves to play.

Just days ago, Bonvechio was signed by the Chicago White Sox and assigned to Advanced-A Winston Salem Warthogs where he’ll set out to begin his ascent to the Majors anew. Let’s hope the injuries and bad luck are behind him.

John Conniff of MadFriars recently caught up with Bonvechio for an interview. Well worth a read.

Note: I have often blogged about former Wizards and where their career paths have taken them since their Fort Wayne stint(s). For instance, I blogged about Vince Faison and his return to college to play football a few days ago. Even today, one of the most popular search phrases that hits this site is “Where is Sean Burroughs?” and I routinely get similar hits for Matt Bush (BTW: If you want to know, Bush had Tommy John late last season and will only pitch in instructional league play if at all in 2008. Burroughs is out of baseball to my knowledge . . . please correct if I am wrong). So with this post, I begin a new post category called “Wizards Where R They?” I’ll go back to some old posts and add them to this category when I have time.

First up, Greg Sain.

Greg Sain was selected by San Diego Padres in 5th Round (150th overall) of the 2001 amateur entry draft. In 2002, the infielder reported to the Wizards and appeared in 105 games. Over 287 at-bats, he compiled a .245 average with 13 home runs and 57 RBI’s. He also drew 25 walks and scored 54 runs with 95 hits. The following year, he was promoted to high-A Lake Elsinore where he boosted his average to .274. The future for the prospect held much promised.

However, as MadFriars.com Senior Writer, John Conniff reported in 2007, the baseball gods offered few opportunities and cast injuries on the first/third baseman to the point where he was forced to make a difficult decision.

[A]after six long years of chasing the major league dream he finally had enough. “I could see that my opportunities were getting smaller as I got older. I had to decide if I want to keep playing baseball just because I love it or to move on with my life, and I chose to move on”

Sain played in the Padres organization for five years and made three all star teams, led two leagues in home runs. He was ranked in Baseball America’s Top 30 Prospects three times. Yet, he never had a single at bat with the Padres or with any major league club.

The unfortunate reality was that Sain never was in the right situation with the right club. There were either too many prospects ahead of him to block his development, or injuries and defensive difficulty eroded future big league aspirations.

In Spring Training of 2006, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, and was released. Before the year was up, he was released from the New York Yankees and spend time in independent baseball. Despite some non-roster invitations in 2007, Sain chose to return to school and pursue his degree.

“You can handle the low pay and the bus rides when you think something is at the end of the road, but when you can’t see it anymore its time to get off.”

Is there a former Wizards player you would like to know more about? Let me give it a try. Request a Wizards Where R They? by clicking here.

Note: while this would have made a good one, the following is no “April Fools” Joke.

Vince Faison was a first round pick (20th overall) of the Padres in 1999 and played in Fort Wayne late that year and all of 2000. In 2004, they traded him with RHP Kevin Jarvis, 1B Dave Hansen, and C Wiki Gonalez to the Mariners for 3B Jeff Cirillo RHP Brian Sweeney and cash. In 2006, Faison signed a minor league deal with the A’s.

Ultimately, he made it as high as AAA, but never even got a cup of coffee with a big league squad. Now, he’s trading in his batting helmet for a football helmet – and he’s going back to school. Before he singed with the Padres, he was a highly sought after high school defensive back.

He had the Padres include guarantees to pay for college in his first pro contract and will take advantage of that clause while trying to land a walk-on sport with the Tennessee Volunteers football team.

“I had always told my agent that I was going to give baseball everything I had until I was 25, and if it hadn’t worked out for me by then I was going to look at my options,” Faison said. “That time came after this summer when I played with the A’s organization, and after the season, I decided that I was going to give football a try and go back to get my education.”

He had his coach send out feelers to Georgia to gauge their interest, but he never heard back. So, he got in touch with coach Greg Adkins, who is Tennessee’s offensive line coach. Adkins had recruited Faison to Georgia before he began playing Minor League Baseball.

Faison reports that he’s now 6-foot-2, 205 pounds and faster than when he left high school. He expects to get a shot at safety in the spring, but is open to playing any position; offense or defense.

Read more here.

[tags]Fort Wayne Wizards, College Football, Vince Faison[/tags]