Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘MLB Debuts’

Tigers manager Jim Leyland indicates that there’s a 90 percent chance that former Fort Wayne Wizards Pitcher, Eddie Bonine will be Detroit’s starter on Saturday; pitching in place of the recently demoted Dontrelle Willis. Though it isn’t yet final, Leyland will likely choose between Bonine, who is slated to start that day for Triple-A Toldeo, and the just-arrived left-handed Casey Fossum.

If Bonine debuts, he will become the 65th Wizard in the team’s history to make an MLB debut and the third this season (Jared Wells and Luke Carlin are the other two). He’ll be the first former Wizards player to debut with the Detroit Tigers, making them the 13 team that a former Wizards player has debuted with.le with the Wizards in 2004, Bonine went 2-1 with a 1.98 ERA over five games (all of them starts). He struck out 31 and walked three in 27 innings pitched. Bonine was originally drafted by San Diego in 2003 and the Tigers got him as a Rule 5 Draft selection (anyone else thinking Joakim Soria right now?).

Luke Carlin looks to be the first former Wizard to make his Major League Debut in 2008. He was called up yesterday, while another former Wizards catcher, Colt Morton was sent down to Double-A San Antonio after having been sorely misused during his stay on the roster.

“I got a little nervous,” said Carlin, who until Friday was a backup catcher for the Triple-A Beavers. “The last time I got called in the office, I was released (from Detroit in 2003).”

The 27-year-old, switch hitting Carlin was hitting .387 with 3 home runs and 11 RBI’s in 11 games for Portland. While with Fort Wayne in 2003 and 2004, Carlin appeared in 44 games and had 144 at-bats. He scored 12 runs on 33 hits with 15 bases on balls. If Black actually puts him in a game, Carlin will become the 63rd Former Fort Wayne Wizards player to debut in Major League Baseball.