Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Triple-A All-Star Game’

Just got back from Louisville, Kentucky where we didn’t see Jared Wells. But We did see former Wizards and current Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay) pitcher, Dale Thayer pitch a scoreless inning for the International League All-Stars.

Thayer worked a scoreless fifth inning, giving up a one-out double to the PCL’s Matthew Brown, who went 2-3 with an RBI and run scored in route to being named PCL Star of the Game.

Now a full-time relief pitcher, Thayer is the three-time reigning Southern League (Double-A) saves champion and doing well at Triple-A. He has a 1.46 ERA in 37 appearances and a newly introduced slider, which he rarely threw before this season. In doing so, Thayer has posted better strikeout numbers (57 in 49 1/3 innings).

“Dale can pitch and be successful in the big leagues today,” Bulls pitching coach Xavier Hernandez said [source: Montgomery Advertiser].

With the Wizards in 2003, Thayer appeared in  45 games, all in relief. He posted a 1-3 record with a 2.06 ERA and 25 saves. In 48 innings pitched, he gave up 15 runs (11 earned) and struck out 72 while walking just 15. His WHIP was a crazy .960, although his MiLB career WHIP is still just 1.12.

In fact, his whole career has been remarkably consistent with the numbers he posted in the Fort. He boasts a career record of 24-13 with 132 saves (25, 23, 27, 27, and 21 over 2003-2007) and a career ERA of 2.10.

Photos by Chad Gramling. See more photos from the trip.

Heading down to Louisville tomorrow to take in the Triple-A All Star Game. Former Wizards pitcher, Dale Thayer is on the roster so I’ll try to get some pics to post when I return. Jared Wells was on the roster, but because of an inept Seattle Mariners front office, I don’t think he’s going to be there.

Check thorughout the day tomorrow as there are some posts scheduled to publish while I am out.

Former Wizards pitcher, Jared Wells has had an interesting 2008 season. He started the year with the Padres as the 64th former Wizard to make his MLB debut, went to China, then got sent back to Triple-A before being traded to Seattle.

Thanks to Erik Bedard hitting the DL and Seattle’s release of Richie Sexson, Wells was back in the Bigs despite not putting up stellar numbers with Triple-A Tacoma. In 16 games and 16 innings of work with the Rainiers, Wells went 0-2 with a 4.41 ERA. He gave up 13 hits and eight earned runs with 20 strikeouts and six saves. However, his opposing batting average was just .217 against him. He’s also seemed to have turned a corner of sorts, giving up just two earned runs in his last 8 outings.

BUT WAIT! Maybe there was no room for him after all. One day later, when the Mariners have activated right-hander, Felix Hernandez, from the 15-day disabled list, they optioned Jared Wells back to Triple-A Tacoma.

But here’s the real kicker:

Wells was named to the Pacific Coast League Triple-A All-Star team. But since he was on the big league roster, he was replaced on the team by infielder Oswaldo Navarro. So now he isn’t on the MLB squad AND he isn’t pitching in the All-Star Game.

Wells was a 31st Round (925th overall) pick in the 2002 Major League Draft. He joined the Wizards in 2002. During that season, he started 14 games and compiled a 4.09 ERA with one complete game and 72 strikeouts over 81.1 innings pitched.