Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Allan Dykstra’

Pitchers hold Lansing to just two hits in 9-0 shutout

The Fort Wayne TinCaps took a 9-0 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts Saturday to finish a three-game series sweep. It was Fort Wayne’s second shutout of the series in a combined two-hitter while the offense pounded out seven extra-base hits.

Drew Cumberland continued to lead the offensive onslaught, going 3-for-4 with a walk and finishing a home run shy of the cycle. Daniel Robertson went 2-for-5 with a double, triple and three RBIs.

Starter, Simon Castro was a bit wild, but was still able to toss 4.1 scoreless innings and allow just one hit. Lefty, Colt Hynes (1-0) picked up the win in relief.

The TinCaps jumped onto the scoreboard in the top of the 3rd. With runners at first and second and one out, Robertson roped a two-run triple down the left-field line. Sawyer Carroll followed with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-0.

A fourth inning Cumberland two-out triple and an RBI from Blake Tekotte pushed the lead to 4-0. With two outs in the fifth, Matt Clark doubles off the wall in right field to drive in Allan Dykstra and make it 5-0. Robertson and Carroll hit back-to-back two-out RBI doubles the next inning to make it 7-0. Cumberland’s two-out, two-run double in the 7th made it 9-0.

Fort Wayne improved to 3-0 while Lansing dropped to 0-3. It was the first three-game road sweep for Fort Wayne since September 2007.

The TinCaps have Sunday off for the Easter holiday. Their next game is scheduled for Monday in Appleton, Wisconsin, against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Class-A Brewers). LHP Rob Musgrave locks horns with Wisconsin RHP Wily Peralta in a 7:35pm (Eastern time) start.

The Fort Wayne TinCaps will open the 2009 season with an Opening Day roster that includes three first-round draft selections and a reigning league MVP. Infielders Allan Dykstra and Drew Cumberland and left handed pitcher Nick Schmidt were each first-round draft picks of the San Diego Padres. Outfielder, Daniel Robertson was the 2008 Northwest League MVP.

“On paper, this looks like one of the best teams we’ve ever had in Fort Wayne,” TinCaps team president Mike Nutter said. “We hope these guys can make the first season at Parkview Field a championship season.”

Robertson leads a group of outfielders that also includes Sawyer Carroll, Angel Mercado, and Blake Tekotte. Last year, Robertson hit .377 and broke the Short-Season Northwest League’s single-season hits record with 114. He did that in only73 games. Carroll and Tekotte were third-round picks in last year’s draft.

The TinCaps will have two power-hitting first basemen in Dykstra and Matt Clark. Dykstra made his professional debut last season with Advanced-A Lake Elsinore. Clark hit 28 home runs at Louisiana State University last year, which tied him for the most in the nation in NCAA Division I baseball. Shortstop, Drew Cumberland played 53 games with Fort Wayne last season, but missed the bulk of the season with a rib injury. Third baseman, James Darnell, was a second-round pick last year out of the University of South Carolina and hit .373  with Short-Season Eugene.

The TinCaps are also strong behind the plate with catchers Robert Lara and Adam Zornes. Lara, a 2008 Arizona League All-Star, belted a home run in his first professional at-bat and stayed hot, batting .344 for the season. Zornes had a short stint with Fort Wayne last season, batting .261 in 13 games. 

The pitching staff is anchored by several of the Padres’ top prospects; including Schmidt, right-handers Simon Castro and Anthony Bass plus left, Rob Musgrave. Schmidt returns from Tommy John surgery which kept him on the shelf for all of the 2008 season.

Filling out the bullpen are right-handers Brad Brach, Erik Davis, Tom Davis, Eric Gonzalez and Alexis Lara and left-handers Zach Herr, Colt Hynes and Michael Watt.

Brach blew away the competition in the Arizona League last year with a 33-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Erik Davis, a Stanford University product, was struck in the face by a line drive in 2006 yet made an amazing comeback to the mound less than six weeks later. Gonzalez was born and raised in the Spanish Canary Islands, just off the Atlantic coast of northern Africa. Watt was one of the “players to be named later” in the trade that sent RHP Greg Maddux from San Diego to the Los Angeles Dodgers last season. He was originally a second-round selection by the Dodgers in 2007.

TINCAPS’ ROSTER BY THE NUMBERS:

• Eight of the 25 players on the TinCaps’ Opening Day roster have played in Fort Wayne previously: Hynes, Alexis Lara, Schmidt, Zornes, Cumberland, Hansen, Carroll and Mercado. They will be among a very small group of players who will be able to claim they have worn both a Wizards’ and a TinCaps’ jersey.
• Six TinCaps are among the San Diego Padres’ top 30 prospects according to Baseball America: Dykstra (#8), Darnell (#10), Castro (#14), Cumberland (#15), Tekotte (#19) and Schmidt (#21).
• Eight players were drafted in the 5th round or higher.

Click here for the complete roster.

This announcement comes on the day approximately 6,000 peopel showed up for the Parkview Field Open House. Coverage at Indiana’s News Center and WANE TV. Nice shots over at WhatsGoingDown(Town) too.

Remember a few weeks ago when I suggested the new PDC between the Padres and the soon-to-be the team formerly known as the Wizards might result in better players coming through? Yeah . . . not off to a good start.

Seems that top pick Allan Dykstra has bypassed us and gone straight from rookie league ball to Class High-A Lake Elsinore. Thanks Padres. Can’t wait to watch another team almost compete for a playoff spot in 2009!!!

And to think I have defend you!

Every MLB First Year Player Draft represents a new crop of players who may see playing time at the Castle. On occasion, some of the draft picks make their way into Fort Wayne late in the season, while others trickle in the following year (and some get to skip us). I’m not going to break down the crop of possible Wizards because there are many places on the web that do a fine job of detailing the potential of this year’s “future Friars”. Here’s my suggestions:

• SignOnSanDiego has great line items of Day One and Day Two. They also have a nice article on first round pick, Allan Dykstra.
• Friar John also talks about Allan Dykstra. Always a lot of hype about a first rounder I guess.
• MadFriars.com talks with Towers, Fuson and Gayton on their draft thoughts (subscriber only warning).