Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Drew Cumberland’

Drew Cumberland was placed on the disabled list, making room for Kevin Hansen’s return from Extended Spring Training. Cumberland spent a lot of time on the DL last year, which is probably one of the big reason she’s back in Fort Wayne this year.

Now, in the midst of a good start to the 2009 campaign, he’s back on the DL. when he returns, a throwing glitch may move him from shortstop to second base or perhaps the outfield.

“He’s got enough arm strength, but he has a little funny action where he cuts the ball at shortstop,” said Grady Fuson, the Padres’ director of scouting and player development. “We’ve had him on a special throwing program to work on it.”

Many of Cumberland’s 20 errors in 56 games during 2008 were likely owed to his unintentional cutter, when the throw swervs from right to left.

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.

• Padres Prospect Interview: Drew Cumberland (subscription required) – MadFirar’s Jon Conniff sits down with the Wizards infielder to discuss his DL stint, playing in the Midwest League, playing the game the right way and what it’s like to have a brother (Shaun Cumberland) who also plays professionally (in the Reds’ farm system).
• Baseball proves therapeutic for beleaguered Storm catcher – In a season that has seen the Padres use five different catchers (three of them are former Wizards), the one drawing the most attention is one at Lake Elsinore. Mitch Canham, who i n 75 games for the Storm this season, is hitting .291 with five homers, 52 RBIs, 19 doubles and a .404 on-base percentage. Plus, he’s a perfect 9-for-9 in steal attempts. but success has not been one of luck for the former Wizard who has worked hard to overcome many struggles of various types in recent years.
• Q & A With Nick Hundley – SignOnSanDiego sits down with Nick Hundley, who let’s us know that he is not related to Nick or Todd, how much he loves being a catcher, honing his skills at Portland in the beginning of the season and more.
• Top 5 with Chase Headley – The Padres outfielder/third baseman runs down the top five things he’s learned about living in San Diego.
• Soria fitting right in with All-Star idols – Kansas city Royals closer, Joakim Soria‘s short list of influences as Mariano Rivera, Joe Nathan, Francisco Rodriguez. And now, he shared midseason honors with them at the All-Star Game. Great article that talks about the “business” Soria and the “funny guy” Soria in light of a season that has seen him prove that last season was just the beginning to a great career for the Rule-5 pick.
• Blanks hitting his stride in Double-A (subscription required) – The former Wizards first baseman and DH, Kyle Blanks is enjoying a solid season at Double-A San Antonio (despite rumors that he may be on the trade market). Great plate discipline and the tremendous bat speed has gotten the 21-year-old slugger promoted after every year of professional baseball since being taken in the 42nd-round of the 2005 amateur draft.
• Patient eye paying off for Venable -Will Venable is showing signs of becoming the type of hitter the Padres want him to be: a “patiently aggressive” hitter who gets a good pitch to hit and unloads on it, but also is willing to fall behind in the count rather than chase iffy pitches. The Triple-A center fielder has batted better than .300 in every month this season. Of greater significance to the Padres, he has started hitting home runs and drawing walks since April, when he had one walk and no homers. My money says we see him with the Padres before the end of the season.