Mormon Baseball

9 for 19, 7 runs and 6 walks. Sounds like a great week, huh? That was Darwin Barney this past week as he helped the Cubs win 4 of 6 against the Astros and Pirates. The week raised his batting average for the year to .263, slightly lower than last year.

But Barney was just the leader of a troika of strong Mormon hitters this past week. Jacoby Ellsbury also was strong, hitting .360 for the week with 2 runs, 2 rbis, 3 walks and 2 stolen bases. And the teenager Bryce Harper continued a now 3-week-long hot streak, hitting .318, scoring 3 runs and walking 3 times while hitting his 19th home run — he now holds the record for the most home runs in the National League by a teenager, 5 behind the major league record of 24.

The Mormons on the mound had their star also; again a repeat performance, this one from Jeremy Guthrie, who gave up just 2 earned runs in 8 innings to lower his era below 5.00 for the first time this season. The Guthrie pitching for the Royals now is nothing like the Guthrie of the first half of the season, pitching for the Rockies. Over his last 8 starts (55.2 innings) he is 4-0 and has a 1.78 era!

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Current Roster Players:

• Darwin Barney—second base—Chicago Cubs
  9 for 19 (.474), 7 runs, 1 rbi, 0 hr, 6 bb, 0 sb, 0 so.
  YTD: .263, 67 runs, 40 rbi, 6 hr, 31 bb, 6 sb, 49 so in 490 at bats.
• John Buck — starting catcher — Miami Marlins
  0 for 8 (.000), 0 runs, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 3 so
  YTD: .196, 26 runs, 36 rbi, 10 hr, 47 bb, 0 sb, 96 so in 322 at bats.
• Jacoby Ellsbury — starting outfielder — Boston Red Sox
  9 for 25 (.360), 2 runs, 2 rbi, 0 hr, 3 bb, 2 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .267, 39 runs, 20 rbi, 3 hr, 18 bb, 14 sb, 34 so in 270 at bats.
• Kyle Farnsworth — closer — Tampa Bay Rays
  0-1, era 6.75, 2 hit, 1 er, 1 k, 1 bb, in 1.1 innings
  YTD: 1-5, era 3.38, 15 hits, 9 er, 22 k, 13 bb in 24.0 innings
• Jeremy Guthrie — starting pitcher (right handed) — Kansas City Royals
  0-0, 2.25 era, 5 hits, 2 er, 1 bb, and 2 k in 8.0 innings
  YTD: 7-12, era 4.92 186 hits, 89 er, 44 bb and 91 k in 162.2 innings
• Roy Halladay— starting pitcher (right handed) — Philadelphia Phillies
  1-0, era 5.84, 13 hits, 8 er, 5 bb, 13 k in 12.1 innings
  YTD: 10-7, era 4.03, 144 hits, 67 er, 30 bb, 122 k in 149.2 innings.
• Bryce Harper — left field — Washington Nationals
  7 for 22 (.318), 3 runs, 2 rbi, 1 hr, 3 bb, 0 sb, 6 so
  YTD: .263, 84 runs, 50 rbi, 19 hr, 51 bb, 13 sb, 107 so in 476 at bats.
• Elliot Johnson — infielder — Tampa Bay Rays
  2 for 6 (.333), 3 runs, 2 rbi, 1 hr, 0 bb, 1 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .244, 31 runs, 33 rbi, 6 hr, 24 bb, 18 sb, 83 so in 295 at bats.
• Josh Johnson — starting pitcher (right handed) – Miami Marlins
  0-1, 3.86 era, 4 hits, 3 er, 6 k, 3 bb in 7.0 innings.
  YTD: 8-12, 3.81 era, 171 hits, 76 er, 153 k, 57 bb in 179.1 innings.
• Matt Lindstrom — right handed bullpen pitcher – Arizona Diamondbacks
  0-0, 9.00 era, 2 hit, 1 er, 0 k, 0 bb in 1.0 innings
  YTD: 1-0, 2.98 era, 41 hits, 14 er, 38 k, 12 bb in 42.1 innings.
• Brandon Lyon — right handed bullpen pitcher — Toronto Blue Jays
  1-0, 0.00 era, 1 hits, 0 er, 0 k, 1 bb in 1.2 innings
  YTD: 3-2, 3.04 era, 50 hits, 19 er, 60 k, 15 bb in 56.1 innings.
• Clayton Mortensen — right handed bullpen pitcher —Boston Red Sox
  0-0, 0.00 era, 1 hits, 0 er, 1 k, 0 bb, 0 hr in 0.2 innings
  YTD: 1-1, 2.08 era, 26 hits, 8 er, 31 k, 12 bb, 4 hr in 34.2 innings
• Adam Rosales — 2B — Oakland A’s
  3 for 9 (.333) 1 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .233, 10 run, 8 rbi, 11 bb, 0 sb, 20 k in 86 at bats.

Foreign Leagues:

• Mitch Talbot — starting pitcher (right handed) — Samsung Lions (Korea)
  1-0, 5.06 era, 6 h, 3 er, 2 hr, 5 k, 2 bb in 5.1 innings
  YTD: 13-2, 3.63 era, 118 h, 50 er, 7 hr, 62 k, 43 bb in 124.0 innings

Players who may be Mormon:

• Rick Anton – pitcher – LA Dodgers organization
• Tyler Hanks — pitcher — Washington Nationals organization
• Kam Mickolio — pitcher — Arizona Diamondbacks organization (apparently not Mormon, but I don’t have evidence either way)
• Brad Thompson — pitcher — Houston Astros organization
• Other remote possibilities: Jay Brossman, Brian Budrow, Tyler Chism, Dallas Christison, Stephen Fife, Steve Hirschfeld, Zachary Jones, Ryan Khoury, Cole Miles, A. J. Murray, Jordan Taylor Pratt, Tanner Robles, Braeden Schlehuber, Justin Smith, Matt Spring

Non-Mormons who may be confused for Mormons

• Matt Carson — non-Mormon who went to BYU
• Derek Christensen
• Egan Smith —
• Jordan Smith —