Mormon Baseball

Somewhat surprisingly, the story of  Mormons in the minor leagues last week was a pitching story. The assumption I ususally make is that pitchers need time to warm up to the season—they often don’t perform well for the first few games of the year. But the Mormon pitchers in the minors were split 50/50 for the past week—half pitching well and half poorly.

[Most of the Mormons (9 of 15 players) we know about in the minors are pitchers—likely because we don’t have a very complete list.]

Perhaps the strongest performance last week was from the Lansing Lugnuts’ Taylor Cole, who struck out 7 and blanked the Lake County Captains over 6 innings for a win. But not far behind Cole was the veteran Mitch Talbot, currently with the New Orleans Zephyrs, who notched a win in 5 innings, also without giving up a run. And reliever Bryan Harper (Bryce’s older brother) earned a 0.00 era in 1 1/3rd innings of relief last week.

Unfortunately, the other pitchers didn’t do nearly as well. Some had bad outings (Brummett – 108.00 era; Turley 13.50 era), while others gave average performances that resulted in losses (Mangum – 3.38 era; Neil 4.76 era).

Among position players the news wasn’t much better. Despite a stunningly strong spring training in the major league camp, Shane Peterson got off to a bad start to the regular season, hitting just 2 of 12 at bats. Some of this may be due to opponents noticing his spring training, because Peterson was walked 8 times, 40% of his plate appearances. As a result he had a .500 OBP!

.

• Tyson Brummett — relief pitcher (right handed) — New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA Eastern League) — Toronto Blue Jays
  0-1, 108.00 era, 3 hits, 4 er, 1 k, 3 bb in 0.1 innings
  YTD: 0-1, 108.00 era, 3 hits, 4 er, 1 k, 3 bb in 0.1 innings
• Taylor Cole — starting pitcher (right handed) — Lansing Lugnuts (Midwest League A) — Toronto Blue Jays
  1-0, 0.00 era, 1 hits, 0 er, 7 k, 1 bb in 6.0 innings
  YTD: 1-0, 0.00 era, 1 hits, 0 er, 7 k, 1 bb in 6.0 innings
• Jeff Gelalich — outfielder — Dayton Dragons (Midwest League A) — Cincinnati Reds
  3 for 22 (.136) 2 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 3 bb, 0 sb, 5 so
  YTD: .136, 2 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 3 bb, 0 sb, 5 so in 22 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
  0-0, 0.00 era, 0 hits, 0 er, 1 k, 1 bb in 1.1 innings
  YTD: 0-0, 0.00 era, 0 hits, 0 er, 1 k, 1 bb in 1.1 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
  Did not play
• Marcus Littlewood — catcher — Clinton LumberKings (Midwest League – A) — Seattle Mariners
  On 7-day DL
  YTD: .000, 0 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 0 so in 0 at bats
• Mitch Maier — outfielder — unassigned?? (was with Pawtucket Red Sox of the International League – AAA) — Boston Red Sox
  no information — did not play
• Taylor Mangum — relief pitcher (right-handed) — Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Midwest League – A) — Milwaukee Brewers
  0-1, 3.38 era, 2 hits, 1 er, 3 k, 2 bb in 2.2 innings
  YTD: 0-1, 3.38 era, 2 hits, 1 er, 3 k, 2 bb in 2.2 innings
• Matthew Neil — starting pitcher (right handed) — Jacksonville Suns (Southern League – AA) — Miami Marlins
  0-1, 4.76 era, 6 hits, 3 er, 5 k, 1 bb in 5.2 innings
  YTD: 0-1, 4.76 era, 6 hits, 3 er, 5 k, 1 bb in 5.2 innings
• Stephen Parker — 3rd base — Nashville Sounds (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Milwaukee Brewers
  3 for 20 (.150) 3 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 6 so
  YTD: .150, 3 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 6 so in 20 at bats
• Shane Peterson — outfielder — Sacramento River Cats (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Oakland A’s (40-man MLB roster)
  2 for 12 (.167) 4 run, 1 rbi, 0 hr, 8 bb, 0 sb, 4 so
  YTD: .167, 4 run, 1 rbi, 0 hr, 8 bb, 0 sb, 4 so in 12 at bats
• Mitch Talbot — starting pitcher (right handed) — New Orleans Zephyrs (Pacific Coast League – AAA)— Miami Marlins
  1-0, 0.00 era, 2 hits, 0 er, 3 k, 2 bb in 5.0 innings
  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)
  0-0, 13.50 era, 4 hits, 4 er, 2 k, 3 bb in 2.2 innings
  YTD: 0-0, 13.50 era, 4 hits, 4 er, 2 k, 3 bb in 2.2 innings

Foreign Leagues:

• Brandon Duckworth — starting pitcher (right handed) — Rakuten Golden Eagles (Japan)
  0-0, 1.50 era, 5 hits, 1 er, 6 k, 1 bb in 6.0 innings
  YTD: 1-0, 1.38 era, 12 hits, 2 er, 9 k, 2 bb in 13.0 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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