Mormon Baseball

If there is a Mormon “Cinderella” player this year, it sure looks like it is Shane Peterson. After starting last year in AA, working his way to AAA, Peterson was invited to spring training and promptly tore up the ball, hitting .408 over 39 at bats and making a big impression on the Athletics brass. He started the regular season with the AAA Sacramento River Cats, and by last week he was again beating up the white spheroid, going 14 for 27 (.519) and scoring 9 times. So when the As were hit with injuries at shortstop and left field, they called up the outfielder Peterson—and had him play first base yesterday! Huh?

Apparently its temporary. The As regular first baseman, Brandon Moss, is out on paternity leave, and since Peterson has experience at 1st (64 games in AA in 2011) and was hitting better than the backup first baseman, Nate Freiman (current batting average .176), he got the job. What will happen next? I assume it depends on how Peterson adjusts and performs. Yesterday he went o for 4 with a strike out, but the As won the game and Peterson performed well in the field, so he has at least a few games—till Moss returns—to prove himself.

While this past week Peterson outperformed any other Mormon in the minor leagues, he wasn’t the only player making a difference at the plate.

You might expect a strong performance from a player like Darwin Barney, who played for the Iowa Cubs on his rehab assignment in the minors this last week, 5 for 10 is a little stronger that I expected. He was almost matched by the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox’ Mitch Maier, who went 5 for 11 and earned a spot on MiLB.com’s highlights with a nice over-the-shoulder catch. Stephen Parker, infielder with the Nashville Sounds (AAA, Brewers), was 8 for 24 (.333) for the week and Dayton Dragons (A, Reds) outfielder Jeff Gelalich was 6 for 17 (.353). In general, the Mormon position players in the minors have warmed up and are hitting well.

Among the pitchers things aren’t going as well yet. The best performance was from Taylor Mangum, a reliever with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (A, Brewers), who managed three innings of shut-out ball, which lowered his era to 1.59 over 5.2 innings. But otherwise the Mormon pitchers were still struggling. Tyson Brummett improved last week—if you want to call it that. In his first game this season in AAA, he finished with a stunning 108.00 era. After he was sent down to the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays) he managed to settle down for a 18.00 era. I hope he can fix whatever is wrong. Taylor Cole also had a bad outing with the Lansing Lugnuts (A, Blue Jays) and Bryan Harper, Matthew Neil and Nik Turley all managed mediocre outings. It must be the time of the year.

Even former major leaguer Brandon Duckworth, playing in Japan with the Rakuten Golden Eagles, had an off week, losing a game after giving up just 3 earned runs in 5.2 innings. Still, that left his era for the three games he’s pitched so far at 2.41, and I think most teams would live with an occasional  3 run ‘bad outing’ from their starters.

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• Darwin Barney — second base — Iowa Cubs (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Chicago Cubs (MLB rehab assignment)
  5 for 10 (.500) 4 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 3 bb, 1 sb, 3 so
  YTD: .500, 4 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 3 bb, 1 sb, 3 so in 10 at bats
• Tyson Brummett — relief pitcher (right handed) — New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA Eastern League) — Toronto Blue Jays
  0-1, 18.00 era, 5 hits, 6 er, 2 k, 3 bb in 3.0 innings
  YTD: 0-2, 27.00 era, 8 hits, 11 er, 3 k, 6 bb in 3.1 innings
• Taylor Cole — starting pitcher (right handed) — Lansing Lugnuts (Midwest League A) — Toronto Blue Jays
  0-1, 16.87 era, 6 hits, 5 er, 2 k, 3 bb in 2.2 innings
  YTD: 1-1, 5.19 era, 7 hits, 5 er, 9 k, 4 bb in 8.2 innings
• Jeff Gelalich — outfielder — Dayton Dragons (Midwest League A) — Cincinnati Reds
  6 for 17 (.353) 5 run, 1 rbi, 0 hr, 1 bb, 2 sb, 4 so
  YTD: .231, 7 run, 1 rbi, 0 hr, 4 bb, 2 sb, 9 so in 39 at bats
• Austin Hall — pitcher (right handed) — AZL Brewers (Arizona Leauge Rookie) — Milwaukee Brewers
  (opening game June 20)
• Bryan Harper — relief pitcher (left handed) — Hagerstown Suns (South Atlantic League – A) — Washington Nationals
  1-0, 2.08 era, 5 hits, 1 er, 6 k, 2 bb in 4.1 innings
  YTD: 1-0, 1.59 era, 5 hits, 1 er, 7 k, 3 bb in 5.2 innings
• Blaine Howell — relief pitcher (left handed) — unassigned?? (was with Bakersfield Blaze of the California League – A+) — Cincinnati Reds
  no information — did not play
  
• Cale Iorg — Second base — Bowie Baysox (Eastern League AA) — Baltimore Orioles
  2 for 8 (.250) 1 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 3 so
  YTD: .250, 1 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 3 so in 8 at bats
• Marcus Littlewood — catcher — Clinton LumberKings (Midwest League – A) — Seattle Mariners
  0 for 3 (.000) 0 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 0 so
  YTD: .000, 0 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 0 so in 3 at bats
• Mitch Maier — outfielder —Pawtucket Red Sox (International League – AAA) — Boston Red Sox
  5 for 11 (.455) 4 run, 4 rbi, 1 hr, 2 bb, 0 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .455, 4 run, 4 rbi, 1 hr, 2 bb, 0 sb, 2 so in 11 at bats
• Taylor Mangum — relief pitcher (right-handed) — Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Midwest League – A) — Milwaukee Brewers
  1-0, 0.00 era, 3 hits, 0 er, 2 k, 1 bb in 3.0 innings
  YTD: 1-1, 1.59 era, 5 hits, 1 er, 5 k, 3 bb in 5.2 innings
• Matthew Neil — starting pitcher (right handed) — Jacksonville Suns (Southern League – AA) — Miami Marlins
  0-0, 7.20 era, 7 hits, 4 er, 3 k, 1 bb in 5.0 innings
  YTD: 0-1, 5.91 era, 13 hits, 7 er, 8 k, 2 bb in 10.2 innings
• Stephen Parker — 3rd base — Nashville Sounds (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Milwaukee Brewers
  8 for 24 (.333) 3 run, 2 rbi, 2 hr, 1 bb, 1 sb, 5 so
  YTD: .250, 6 run, 2 rbi, 2 hr, 2 bb, 1 sb, 11 so in 44 at bats
• Shane Peterson — outfielder — Sacramento River Cats (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Oakland A’s (40-man MLB roster)
  14 for 27 (.519) 9 run, 6 rbi, 0 hr, 5 bb, 0 sb, 4 so
  YTD: .410, 13 run, 7 rbi, 0 hr, 13 bb, 0 sb, 8 so in 39 at bats
• Mitch Talbot — starting pitcher (right handed) — New Orleans Zephyrs (Pacific Coast League – AAA)— Miami Marlins
  On 7-day DL
  YTD: 1-0, 0.00 era, 2 hits, 0 er, 3 k, 2 bb in 5.0 innings
• Nik Turley — starting pitcher (right handed) — Trenton Thunder (Eastern League – AA) — New York Yankees (40-man MLB roster)
  0-1, 6.30 era, 14 hits, 7 er, 11 k, 4 bb in 10.0 innings
  YTD: 0-1, 7.82 era, 18 hits, 13 er, 13 k, 7 bb in 12.2 innings

Foreign Leagues:

• Brandon Duckworth — starting pitcher (right handed) — Rakuten Golden Eagles (Japan)
  0-1, 4.76 era, 9 hits, 3 er, 2 k, 5 bb in 5.2 innings
  YTD: 1-1, 2.41 era, 21 hits, 5 er, 11 k, 7 bb in 18.2 innings

Last Year’s players released: (could still be picked up by other teams)

• Derek Cone — starting pitcher (right handed) — Los Angeles Dodgers organization Released.
  Cone has returned to school at ASU pursuing a degree in Accounting
• Willie Mays Eyre — starting pitcher (right handed) — Texas Rangers organization
  Retired
• Kyle Hurst — relief pitcher (right handed) — Independent
  Released
• Lance Pendleton — starting pitcher (right handed) — Tampa Bay Ray’s organization
  Released
  Now a salesman with Baker Hughes
• Jordan Whatcott — relief pitcher (right handed) — Philadelphia Phillies organization
  Released

Other players who may be Mormon:
[We need to determine if these players are Mormon before publishing further information about them.]

Rick Anton, Jay Brossman, Brian Budrow, Tyler Chism, Dallas Christison, Stephen Fife, Tyler Hanks,Steve Hirschfeld, Zachary Jones, Ryan Khoury, Kam Mickolio (apparently not Mormon, but I don’t have evidence either way), Cole Miles, A. J. Murray, Jordan Taylor Pratt, Tanner Robles, Braeden Schlehuber, Justin Smith, Matt Spring, Brad Thompson

Non-Mormons who may be confused for Mormons

Matt Carson (non-Mormon who went to BYU), Derek Christensen, Egan Smith, Jordan Smith

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