Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Matt Antonelli’

• South Bend Silverhawks (Diamondbacks) and Norwell standout Jarrod Parker earned his first professional win over the Beloit Snappers (Twins) 7-1. Parker allowed nine runs over his first three starts, but all but two were unearned. Parker righted the ship with this latest start though. He worked five innings and allowed just one run on two hits. [source: Baseball America]
• Former Wizards pitcher, Jack Cassel has been optioned to Round Rock, the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. Cassel, 27, was 1-0 with a 5.59 ERA over two starts. On Tuesday, Cassel threw 4 2/3 innings and gave up three runs on four hits to take a no-decision. The move comes as the Astros prepare to bring some players off the disabled list.
  

  “I knew I was limited in my time here pretty much, coming up on Wandy’s injury, and I know Wiggy’s down doing his rehab assignment, so essentially it was going to be a numbers game,” he said. “I was pleased with how I threw the ball in two outings and very happy that I was able to get that opportunity. I’ll go down and [have] the same plan — be the first guy they call” [source: MLB.com].

• Turns out, Chad Moeller wasn’t on the move at all. Literally. The 33-year-old veteran (an former Wizards) catcher “returned to the Yankees under a strange set of circumstances, passing through waivers before briefly becoming a free agent before the Yankees signed him to a Major League contract on Wednesday.” Moeller batted .350 (7-for-20) with one home run and three RBIs in six games for New York. [source: MLB.com].
• The Padres opened two spots on their 40-man roster on Tuesday. Infielder Oscar Robles was claimed off waivers by the Phillies and Mauro Zarate was outrighted to Portland. Might this mean spots for a couple former Wizards? Say . . .Headley? Antonelli? LeBlanc? Hundley?

• Former Wizard – the one who got away from the Padres – Joakim Soria finally showed signs of vulnerability. David Eckstein’s one-out single ended Soria’s streak of retiring 24 batters in a row. But he still has no ERA to accompany his six saves and 11 strikeouts.
• Matt Latos made his first start of the season for the Wizards and pitched very well. Some see him moving up to Lake Elsinore before the season is out. While I hope Latos pitches well (and I believe he will), I hope those folks are wrong.
• Wade LeBlanc picked up his first loss this year. He allowed seven earned runs on 10 hits and five walks over 3.1 innings. It was the worst outing of his career. It follows another bad start that saw him giving up six runs on eight hits. (hat tip to Denis Savage at MadFriars) Wonder what’s going on there. Speaking of LeBlanc, it appears that the Cubs had tried to get him in return for Matt Murton. As much as I would love to see Murton get a chance with a team willing to give him one, and as much as I would have loved to see LeBlanc with the Cubs, I don’t blame the Padres for turning that one down.
• Angel Mercado homered in his first game off the disabled list. Mercado had been out the last nine games but the hit extended his on-base streak to eight games. He also homered on Opening Night.
• It appears that Jake Peavy has pitched the idea of brining veteran outfielder, Kenny Loften, in to help shore up the Padres offense. But it seems that Padres’ GM, Kevin Towers would rather give some of the former Wizards now playing in Portland a shot.
  

  . . . some of the players Towers is most eager to promote would warrant demotion if judged solely on their Triple-A statistics. Chase Headley, the left fielder of tomorrow, is hitting a soft .236. Matt Antonelli, the heir to second base, has been hovering near the Mendoza line. Though Antonelli has drawn 12 walks in 16 games, his batting average is .212. Closest to a call-up, Towers said, is probably catcher Nick Hundley, who has hit four home runs in 11 games and whose arm would represent an improvement on Padres’ regular Josh Bard.

  “Hundley’s a guy I think our pitching staff felt fairly comfortable with in spring training,” Towers said. “He’s got a chance to be an offensive catcher and he’s somebody we feel comfortable enough to where we could put him back there (as much as 40 percent of the time) and not kill Bard.”

• Michael Cuddyer has returned to the Twins’ lineup.