Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Michael Cuddyer’

Several mini-news items that I have not been able to keep up on as of late. Here’s a quick recap with links:

• Back to traditional rotation (LaMond Pope: May 23) – The Wizards officially pulled the plug on the 8-man (piggy-back) rotation and went back to the traditional 5-man rotation. The setup had its critics and its champions, but I think everyone – players and fans – are pleased with the return to normalcy so-to-speak.
• Scott Woodward makes All-Big South (Bluffton News Banner: 5/23) – “Coastal Carolina freshman third baseman Scott Woodward, a 2007 Norwell graduate, was named to the first team of the 2008 Big South Conference baseball team. Woodward also was Freshman of the Year. Woodward ranked first in the Big South in the regular season with 35 stolen bases, 42 walks, a .513 on-base percentage and 25 hit-by-pitches. He also ranks seventh in batting average (.352) and second in runs scored (64). In Big South games, he was third with a .405 batting average and was first in stolen bases, walks and on-base percentage, while ranking second in runs scored. He also was among the top 10 in slugging percentage in overall and conference games. Nationally, he is 10th in the country in stolen bases and fifth in hit-by-pitches.”
• Billy Hogan Plays for the Atlantic City Surf (The New Ottowa Rapidz Blog) – Former Fort Wayne Wizard, Billy Hogan was selected by the Padres in the 5th round in 2003. He’s suiting up for the Atlantic City Surf of the CanAm League.
• IPFW: Knowling Named Summit League First Team (NCAA: 5/27) – IPFW junior Brandon Knowling was named to the Summit League’s First Team in voting conducted by conference coaches. The lefty was third in the league in ERA with the 2.91 mark and fourth in the conference in batting average by opponents at .249. He was tied for fifth in wins (7), and ninth in strikeouts per nine innings with 6.75. Senior center fielder, Jared Davis, was selected to the conference’s second team. His slugging percentage of .574 and doubles mark of 36 are also school records.
• I want this interview, in fact, I’m begging for it (ScoutAbout: 5/18) – Scout was inspired by a TV segment that featured former Fort Wayne Daisies player, Pat Scott. “I realized, I want an interview like that. I want to interview someone who played in the AAGPBL and I want to be able to reflect on the memorabilia and the memories. Yeah, I’m a sentimental softie, but I’m a sentimental softie who loves sports and how they were able to make the history books not by records but by paving ways and creating opportunities for people to succeed who otherwise wouldn’t have been given a chance.” Might I suggest Isabel Alvarez?
• Peter Ciofrone Named Pacific Coast League Batter of the Week (The Raw Feed: 5/28) – Ciofrone, 24, batted .429 (12-for-28) with four homers, three doubles, 10 RBIs, 10 runs scored and a .964 slugging percentage in seven games played during the week. It was enough to earn him the award; the second Portland Beavers player to earn it this season. Maybe he’ll be part of the big changes coming to the Padres later this summer.
• Pinto: Soria deal makes sense for Royals (The Sporting News: 5/21) – David Pinto weighs in on why the extension of the former Wizards pitcher makes sense for the Kansas City Royals.
• Former Wizard, Michael Cuddyer isn’t worried about power, but he did lead the Twins to an extra inning win.
• Hardball Capital not posting latest stories (Fort Wayne Observed: 5/28) – Mitch Harper points out that Fort Wayne Wizards’ owners, Hardball Capital have been a bit lax in posting news stories to their website as of late. Hmmmm….
• Jake Peavy Resumes Throwing (Friar John’s Blog: 5/27) – The former Wizards pitcher and current Padres’ ace, is on the disabled list because of an elbow strain. He rested the elbow and was to resume throwing last Saturday, but soreness persisted so the second MRI was ordered. That came up clean and he’ll begin throwing again.

I recently came across a Minor League Baseball retrospective by Don Ehrke. In it, he discusses some early Wizards memories:

When we lived in Fort Wayne, however, Sean Burroughs played the better part of a season with the Wizards. He tore the cover off the ball, but even at the Single A level, his lack of power was already looking like a detriment. We also saw A.J. Pierzynski and Michael Cuddyer stop off in Fort Wayne as 19-year-olds on their way to bigger and better things in Minnesota.

Full article can be read here.

• 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.

Matt Latos, who signed for $1.25 million with the Padres last May, has recovered from shoulder soreness. The Padres will keep him in extended spring training and then he is expected to report to the Wizards. “He threw a lot of pitches” in two innings Thursday, said Grady Fuson, vice president of scouting and development. [source: SignOnSanDiego]

Intentional Blog On Balls has a nice look at Justin Germano.

Michael Cuddyer looks to return on Sunday. He dislocated his finger on April 4 when he slid headfirst into third base and collided with Royals third baseman Alex Gordon.

Asdrubal Cabrera’s struggles have dropped him from the second spot in the order down to number seven. Josh Barfield is at Triple-A Buffalo and would love to take his job back. But after a hot start, he’s hitting just .175 in his last ten games, including an 0-13 streak in his last three games.

Former Wizards catcher, George Kottaras had a career game for Triple-A Pawtucket (Boston). “The former Olympian hit a pair of homers and drove in a season-high five runs as the Pawtucket Red Sox beat the Louisville Bats, 8-2, at Louisville Slugger Field to earn a split of Monday’s doubleheader.” Kottaras was selected by San Diego Padres in 20th Round (595 overall) of the 2002 draft and played in Fort Wayne in 2004 where he produced the highest batting average of his minor league career (.310) over 271 at-bats. He was traded to Boston in 2006 as the “player to be named later” to complete the David Wells trade.

Last week, former Wizards player, Michael Cuddyer and the Minnesota Twins agreed to a $2.75 million signing bonus in addition to salaries of $5 million this year, $6.75 million in 2009 and $8.5 million in 2010. Minnesota also has a $10.5 million club option for 2011. The signing comes on the heels of a 2007 season where Cuddyer emerged as a dependable run producer in the middle of the lineup. In 2006, he hit .276 with 16 homers and 81 RBIs. He led the AL with 19 outfield assists.

Through his career, he has bounced around from second base to third base, and even played a little at first, before settling in at right field two years ago. However, with the departure of another former Wizards alumnus, Torii Hunter, the Twins may use Cuddyer to fill the void in the center if prospects, Denard Span and Jason Pridie, don’t prove they are ready

Michael Cuddyer was a first round draft choice of the Minnesota Twins in 1997, going ninth overall. As a Wizards player in 1998, he compiled batted .276 with 82 runs and slugged a team best 12 home runs. He had 81 RBI’s and swiped 16 bases.

Baseball America declared him the Twins top prospect and he represented the Wizards at the Midwest League All-Star Game that year. Cuddyer is featured on page 59 of Baseball in Fort Wayne.(Photograph courtesy of the Fort Wayne Wizards)

This week also saw other Wizards alumni make news as they earned organizational honors from the Sand Diego Padres. 2007 National League Cy Young Award winner, Jake Peavy, received the Clyde McCullough Award as the club’s top pitcher in 2007. Chase Headley took the Minor League Player of the Year Award, while Josh Geer was named the Pitcher of the Year.

Geer was selected by San Diego Padres in 3rd Round (98th overall) of 2005 amateur entry draft. While in Fort Wayne over parts of two seasons (2005 & 2006), he compiled a 7-3 record in 17 games; striking out 69 batters and walking 22. He tossed a complete game shutout during the 2006 campaign.

Former Wizards skipper, Randy Ready, who led the San Antonio Missions to the Texas League championship in his first season, was selected as the Jack Krol Award winner for contributions in player development. [Read More at MLB.com]

[tags]Baseball America, Baseball in Fort Wayne, Chase Headley, Jake Peavy, Josh Geer, Michael Cuddyer, Midwest League, Randy Ready, Wizards[/tags]