Mormon Baseball

The Dayton Dragons’ Jeff Gelalich (pronounced JELL-ah-litch) is pretty good. Among the various Mormon prospects inthe minors, he now has the best batting average (although he is playing in the single A Midwest League). He also has scored 31 runs, walked 21 times and stolen 12 bases in 172 at bats. So should he be promoted to AA?

Unfortunately, he’s not so good that he is on the Midwest League’s leader boards, which might be a signal that he should be promoted. But he might be good enough for promotion, if there was a need. And it is the “need” part of the equation that is hard to judge in the minors. If the players in AA all have more potential, surely the management won’t send them down to make room for Gelalich. And those players may be in AA for the same reason — there are already strong AAA prospects, who are also waiting for something to happen to make the majors—in this case the Cincinnati Reds. Unfortunately, its not just about how good you are, its also about other players and how well they are playing. So everyone in the minors waits and watches and tries to play their best so that when the need is there they can be promoted. Still, with Gelalich’s numbers, especially with his .360 average last week, a promotion to AA later this year seems possible.

The other notable Mormon prospects last week were all pitchers. Perhaps the most likely to be promoted soon is Nik Turley, the Yankee’s prospect at the Trenton Thunder (AA Eastern League) who is on the major league team’s 40-man roster. And given the injuries at the major league level, some promotion might be expected soon. This past week Turley give up 2 runs in 8 innings (2.25 era) while striking out 9. Even so, he has a 3.81 era and has given up too many walks and hits, so he may stay put until he improves a bit.

Also in AA Tyson Brummett (New Hampshire Fisher Cats) earned a 1.50 era over 6 innings last week, but he brought his era down to 6.10 in doing so, still too high to inspire confidence. On the single A level, Taylor Cole didn’t give up any earned runs last week for the Lansing Lugnuts in 4.2 innings of work, but still ended up with the loss. Cole’s season era (4.17) is also still too high to consider promotion a possibility.

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Hitting Stats Leaders:

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Pitching Stats Leaders:

• Nik Turley (Eastern-AA) — 5 wins (tied 3rd)

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Current Roster Players:

• Tyson Brummett — relief pitcher (right handed) — New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA Eastern League) — Toronto Blue Jays
  0-0, 1.50 era, 2 hits, 1 er, 3 k, 0 bb in 6.0 innings
  YTD: 0-4, 6.10 era, 42 hits, 28 er, 36 k, 20 bb in 41.1 innings
• Taylor Cole — starting pitcher (right handed) — Lansing Lugnuts (Midwest League A) — Toronto Blue Jays
  0-1, 0.00 era, 6 hits, 0 er, 6 k, 3 bb in 4.2 innings
  YTD: 2-3, 4.17 era, 52 hits, 23 er, 35 k, 26 bb in 49.2 innings
• Jeff Gelalich — outfielder — Dayton Dragons (Midwest League A) — Cincinnati Reds
  9 for 25 (.360) 5 run, 3 rbi, 0 hr, 3 bb, 1 sb, 5 so
  YTD: .285, 31 run, 15 rbi, 0 hr, 21 bb, 12 sb, 34 so in 172 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, 6.00 era, 1 hits, 2 er, 2 k, 4 bb in 3.0 innings
  YTD: 3-0, 3.45 era, 8 hits, 6 er, 17 k, 11 bb in 15.2 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
  1 for 7 (.142) 1 run, 2 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 3 so
  YTD: .174, 4 run, 5 rbi, 1 hr, 3 bb, 2 sb, 22 so in 46 at bats
• Josh Johnson — starting pitcher (right handed) — Buffalo Bisons (International League – AAA) — Toronto Blue Jays (Rehab assignment)
  0-0, 0.00 era, 1 hits, 0 er, 3 k, 1 bb in 4.0 innings
  YTD: 0-0, 1.29 era, 4 hits, 1 er, 8 k, 1 bb in 7.0 innings.
  MLB YTD: 0-1, 6.86 era, 28 hits, 15 er, 19 k, 9 bb in 19.2 innings.
• Marcus Littlewood — catcher — Clinton LumberKings (Midwest League – A) — Seattle Mariners
  0 for 9 (.000) 0 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 4 so
  YTD: .229, 7 run, 1 rbi, 1 hr, 8 bb, 0 sb, 16 so in 48 at bats
• Mitch Maier — outfielder —Pawtucket Red Sox (International League – AAA) — Boston Red Sox
  Disabled — on 7-day DL — did not play this past week – last played April 22
  YTD: .321, 8 run, 7 rbi, 1 hr, 5 bb, 0 sb, 4 so in 28 at bats
• Taylor Mangum — relief pitcher (right-handed) — Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Midwest League – A) — Milwaukee Brewers
  0-0, 18.00 era, 1 hits, 2 er, 0 k, 2 bb in 1.0 innings
  YTD: 1-3, 3.66 era, 20 hits, 8 er, 15 k, 9 bb in 19.2 innings
• Matt Neil — starting pitcher (right handed) — New Orleans Zephyrs (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Miami Marlins
  Did not pitch this week
  YTD: 1-2, 3.69 era, 38 hits, 16 er, 28 k, 10 bb in 39.0 innings
• Stephen Parker — 3rd base — Nashville Sounds (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Milwaukee Brewers
  7 for 23 (.304) 3 run, 2 rbi, 0 hr, 2 bb, 0 sb, 6 so
  YTD: .250, 19 run, 16 rbi, 6 hr, 16 bb, 2 sb, 42 so in 164 at bats
• Shane Peterson — outfielder — Sacramento River Cats (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Oakland A’s (40-man MLB roster)
  3 for 20 (.150) 4 run, 4 rbi, 1 hr, 4 bb, 0 sb, 8 so
  YTD: .270, 34 run, 24 rbi, 4 hr, 37 bb, 6 sb, 42 so in 152 at bats
• Mitch Talbot — starting pitcher (right handed) — New Orleans Zephyrs (Pacific Coast League – AAA)— Miami Marlins
  On 7-day DL – last pitched April 7th
  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)
  1-0, 2.25 era, 4 hits, 2 er, 9 k, 7 bb in 8.0 innings
  YTD: 5-2, 3.81 era, 42 hits, 23 er, 56 k, 31 bb in 54.1 innings

Foreign Leagues:

• Brandon Duckworth — starting pitcher (right handed) — Rakuten Golden Eagles (Japan)
  Did not pitch this week
  YTD: 2-3, 4.30 era, 43 hits, 18 er, 25 k, 17 bb in 37.2 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