Mormon Baseball

The A’s outfield prospect, Shane Peterson, ended a post-majors slump last week in a big way. He went 8 for 19 for the week (.421) while hitting 2 home runs and stealing 3 bases, and in the process raised his season average past .300. He was once again the Peterson we saw in Spring Training. Peterson’s slump came right after he spent two games in the majors, substituting at 1st base for Brandon Moss, who was out for paternity leave.

Peterson wasn’t the only Mormon in the minor leagues whose bat woke up last week. Both Stephen Parker (AAA Nashville Sounds) and Marcus Littlewood (A Clinton Lumberkings) hit .286 last week, although Littlewood did it in just 7 at bats while Parker went 8 for 28. Parker also had a home run and 3 rbis.

Among pitchers, the bright spots were Bryan Harper and Nik Turley, both of whom pitched well. Harper, who returned from the DL last week, was limited to just 2/3rds of an innning, perhaps as part of his recovery. But the reliever didn’t give up anything in getting those two outs, and his era for the season is now just 1.42 over 6.1 innings. Better still was Nik Turley, who pitched 6 innings, giving up just 1 earned run (1.50 era) while striking out 8.

And in Japan Brandon Duckworth finally had a strong start after several disasters. The veteran gave up 1 run in 7 innings, bringing his era for the season back down below 5.00.

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• Tyson Brummett — relief pitcher (right handed) — New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA Eastern League) — Toronto Blue Jays
  0-0, 10.80 era, 8 hits, 6 er, 4 k, 5 bb in 5.0 innings
  YTD: 0-3, 7.71 era, 26 hits, 20 er, 21 k, 17 bb in 23.1 innings
• Taylor Cole — starting pitcher (right handed) — Lansing Lugnuts (Midwest League A) — Toronto Blue Jays
  0-0, 3.86 era, 7 hits, 2 er, 5 k, 3 bb in 4.2 innings
  YTD: 1-2, 4.34 era, 29 hits, 14 er, 25 k, 14 bb in 29.0 innings
• Jeff Gelalich — outfielder — Dayton Dragons (Midwest League A) — Cincinnati Reds
  4 for 18 (.222) 3 run, 1 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 5 so
  YTD: .262, 16 run, 9 rbi, 0 hr, 8 bb, 8 sb, 20 so in 103 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, 0 k, 1 bb in 0.2 innings
  YTD: 1-0, 1.42 era, 5 hits, 1 er, 7 k, 4 bb in 6.1 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
  Disabled — on 7-day DL — did not play this past week
  YTD: .179, 1 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 11 so in 28 at bats
• Marcus Littlewood — catcher — Clinton LumberKings (Midwest League – A) — Seattle Mariners
  2 for 7 (.286) 3 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 2 bb, 0 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .226, 5 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 4 bb, 0 sb, 11 so in 31 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
  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
  0-1, 13.50 era, 5 hits, 3 er, 2 k, 1 bb in 2.0 innings
  YTD: 1-2, 3.07 era, 15 hits, 5 er, 12 k, 6 bb in 14.2 innings
• Matt Neil — starting pitcher (right handed) — Jacksonville Suns (Southern League – AA) — Miami Marlins
  Did not pitch this past week
  YTD: 0-2, 4.79 era, 23 hits, 11 er, 16 k, 5 bb in 20.2 innings
• Stephen Parker — 3rd base — Nashville Sounds (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Milwaukee Brewers
  8 for 28 (.286) 3 run, 2 rbi, 1 hr, 2 bb, 0 sb, 4 so
  YTD: .255, 11 run, 7 rbi, 3 hr, 6 bb, 1 sb, 24 so in 102 at bats
• Shane Peterson — outfielder — Sacramento River Cats (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Oakland A’s (40-man MLB roster)
  8 for 19 (.421) 4 run, 3 rbi, 2 hr, 2 bb, 3 sb, 3 so
  YTD: .302, 29 run, 13 rbi, 2 hr, 26 bb, 4 sb, 23 so in 96 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)
  1-0, 1.50 era, 2 hits, 1 er, 8 k, 3 bb in 6.0 innings
  YTD: 3-1, 4.91 era, 30 hits, 16 er, 30 k, 16 bb in 29.1 innings

Foreign Leagues:

• Brandon Duckworth — starting pitcher (right handed) — Rakuten Golden Eagles (Japan)
  1-0, 1.29 era, 4 hits, 1 er, 5 k, 2 bb in 7.0 innings
  YTD: 2-3, 4.04 era, 39 hits, 16 er, 21 k, 12 bb in 35.2 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