Mormon Baseball

Jacoby Ellsbury led the Mormons in the majors at the plate this past week, but by the end of the week he was benched with a rumored strain to his lat, which left him day-to-day. But before the injury he hit .467 with 6 rbis and a home run in 15 at bats.

But unlike Ellsbury, several other Mormons were largely kept from the plate by their managers. John Buck, for example, was one of those who struggled to get a shot at the plate—but Buck made the most of 7 at bats this past week, slamming 2 home runs among 3 hits for a .429 average. Unfortunately, Elliot Johnson (1 at bat) and Adam Rosales (3 at bats) didn’t do as well.

Among pitchers, Jeremy Guthrie again produced for the Royals, earning a 1.50 era in 6 innings and bringing down his season era to 4.80 from his June high of over 7.00. Since the begining of August he has pitched brilliantly, earning a 2.00 era over his last 10 starts. Among relievers his performance past week was matched by Matt Lindstrom, who gave the Diamondbacks another 2 innings of shutout pitching and lowered his era for the season to 2.84.

In contrast, the normally stellar Roy Halladay had a disastrous outing last week, giving up 7 earned runs over just 1 2/3rds innings, equal to a hideous 37.80 era. In the process his season era rose to 4.40—the kind of outing that makes you fear an underlying injury, and Halladay had felt something wrong and visited the doctor the day before the disaster but was given clearance.

Halladay wasn’t the only Mormon pitcher to have bad outings last week. Brandon Lyon had 3 in a row—each lasting just 1/3rd of an inning. Lyon gave up 2 runs among the 3 outings: era 18.00. The Red Sox’ Clayton Mortensen also struggled, giving up 3 earned runs over 2 innings (13.50 era), but in Mortensen’s case the bad outing raised his season era to just 2.70; still great by almost anyone’s standards.

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Current Roster Players:

• Darwin Barney—second base—Chicago Cubs
  8 for 30 (.267), 4 runs, 3 rbi, 1 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 2 so.
  YTD: .263, 71 runs, 43 rbi, 7 hr, 32 bb, 6 sb, 51 so in 520 at bats.
• John Buck — starting catcher — Miami Marlins
  3 for 7 (.429), 3 runs, 5 rbi, 2 hr, 2 bb, 0 sb, 0 so
  YTD: .201, 29 runs, 41 rbi, 12 hr, 49 bb, 0 sb, 96 so in 329 at bats.
• Jacoby Ellsbury — starting outfielder — Boston Red Sox
  7 for 15 (.467), 1 runs, 6 rbi, 1 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .277, 40 runs, 26 rbi, 4 hr, 19 bb, 14 sb, 36 so in 285 at bats.
• Kyle Farnsworth — closer — Tampa Bay Rays
  0-1, era 0.00, 4 hit, 0 er, 2 k, 0 bb, in 2.1 innings
  YTD: 1-6, era 3.08, 19 hits, 9 er, 24 k, 13 bb in 26.1 innings
• Jeremy Guthrie — starting pitcher (right handed) — Kansas City Royals
  0-0, 1.50 era, 8 hits, 1 er, 1 bb, and 4 k in 6.0 innings
  YTD: 7-12, era 4.80 194 hits, 90 er, 45 bb and 95 k in 168.2 innings
• Roy Halladay— starting pitcher (right handed) — Philadelphia Phillies
  0-1, era 37.80, 5 hits, 7 er, 3 bb, 3 k in 1.2 innings
  YTD: 10-8, era 4.40, 149 hits, 74 er, 33 bb, 125 k in 151.1 innings.
• Bryce Harper — left field — Washington Nationals
  4 for 24 (.167), 5 runs, 2 rbi, 0 hr, 1 bb, 1 sb, 7 so
  YTD: .258, 89 runs, 52 rbi, 19 hr, 52 bb, 14 sb, 114 so in 500 at bats.
• Elliot Johnson — infielder — Tampa Bay Rays
  0 for 1 (.000), 1 runs, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 1 so
  YTD: .243, 32 runs, 33 rbi, 6 hr, 24 bb, 18 sb, 84 so in 296 at bats.
• Josh Johnson — starting pitcher (right handed) – Miami Marlins
  0-1, 4.50 era, 5 hits, 3 er, 5 k, 3 bb in 6.0 innings.
  YTD: 8-13, 3.84 era, 176 hits, 79 er, 158 k, 60 bb in 185.1 innings.
• Matt Lindstrom — right handed bullpen pitcher – Arizona Diamondbacks
  0-0, 0.00 era, 2 hit, 0 er, 0 k, 0 bb in 2.0 innings
  YTD: 1-0, 2.84 era, 43 hits, 14 er, 38 k, 12 bb in 44.1 innings.
• Brandon Lyon — right handed bullpen pitcher — Toronto Blue Jays
  0-0, 18.00 era, 3 hits, 2 er, 1 k, 4 bb in 1.0 innings
  YTD: 3-2, 3.30 era, 53 hits, 21 er, 61 k, 19 bb in 57.1 innings.
• Clayton Mortensen — right handed bullpen pitcher —Boston Red Sox
  0-0, 13.50 era, 1 hits, 3 er, 4 k, 4 bb, 1 hr in 2.0 innings
  YTD: 1-1, 2.70 era, 27 hits, 11 er, 35 k, 16 bb, 5 hr in 36.2 innings
• Adam Rosales — 2B — Oakland A’s
  0 for 3 (.000) 0 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 1 so
  YTD: .225, 10 run, 8 rbi, 11 bb, 0 sb, 21 k in 89 at bats.

Foreign Leagues:

• Mitch Talbot — starting pitcher (right handed) — Samsung Lions (Korea)
  Did not pitch
  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 —