Mormon Baseball

If summer hasn’t arrived yet, can we be in the “doldrums of summer?” I don’t think so, but if you look at the Mormons playing in baseball’s minor leagues, you might think that we’re in some kind of doldrums. It doesn’t seem like anyone is playing very well, with some few exceptions.

One of them is Marcus Littlewood, the catcher for the Clinton Lumber Kings (Midwest League – A). Littlewood was 5 for 16 (.313) during the week, scored 4 times, earned 3 rbis and hit his 2nd homer while striking out just 3 times. The performance brings his season average up to a respectable .253 over 75 at bats.

Littlewood’s plate performance was followed closely by Shane Peterson of the Sacramento River Cats (Pacific Coast League – AAA), who hit .278 last week with a very good 7 rbis. His average is up to .251 for the year over 199 at bats. Peterson is on the A’s 40-man roster and already debuted in the majors this year.

Among pitchers, the standout was Bryan Harper (Hagerstown Suns, South Atlantic League – A) [he is the brother of Bryce, last year’s NL rookie of the year]. A reliever, Bryan gave up just 1 run in 3.1 innings of work last week (2.70 era), bringing his season era down to a very good 3.15. Right alongside Bryan is another reliever, Taylor Mangum, whose 3.00 era with 5 strike outs over 3.0 innings brought his era down to 3.28 for the season.

Mitch Talbot of the New Orleans Zephyrs (Pacific Coast League – AAA) remains on the DL and Cale Iorg, son of former MLB player Garth Iorg, has been demoted again, this time to the single A Orioles affiliate Aberdeen IronBirds. This is quite a fall, as Iorg had been a long-time Tigers AAA prospect and was expected to start the year at AAA. It is possible that Iorg may be on his  way out.

.

Hitting Stats Leaders:

[none]

Pitching Stats Leaders:

• Nik Turley (Eastern-AA) — 5 wins (tied 8th); 65 strike outs (tied 9th)

.

Current Roster Players:

• Tyson Brummett — relief pitcher (right handed) — New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA Eastern League) — Toronto Blue Jays
  0-0, 19.64 era, 9 hits, 8 er, 8 k, 2 bb in 3.2 innings
  YTD: 0-4, 7.13 era, 53 hits, 38 er, 46 k, 22 bb in 48.0 innings
• Taylor Cole — starting pitcher (right handed) — Lansing Lugnuts (Midwest League A) — Toronto Blue Jays
  0-1, 7.20 era, 9 hits, 4 er, 2 k, 1 bb in 5.0 innings
  YTD: 3-4, 4.15 era, 66 hits, 28 er, 41 k, 31 bb in 60.2 innings
• Jeff Gelalich — outfielder — Dayton Dragons (Midwest League A) — Cincinnati Reds
  4 for 23 (.174) 2 run, 3 rbi, 0 hr, 4 bb, 0 sb, 7 so
  YTD: .275, 36 run, 22 rbi, 0 hr, 26 bb, 14 sb, 45 so in 218 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, 2.70 era, 1 hits, 1 er, 1 k, 2 bb in 3.1 innings
  YTD: 3-0, 3.15 era, 10 hits, 7 er, 19 k, 14 bb in 20.0 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 — Aberdeen IronBirds (New York-Penn League A short season) — Baltimore Orioles
  Did not play. Reportedly demoted from Bowie Baysox (Eastern League AA)
  YTD: .145, 5 run, 6 rbi, 1 hr, 4 bb, 3 sb, 22 so in 55 at bats
• Marcus Littlewood — catcher — Clinton LumberKings (Midwest League – A) — Seattle Mariners
  5 for 16 (.313) 4 run, 3 rbi, 1 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 3 so
  YTD: .253, 11 run, 4 rbi, 2 hr, 9 bb, 1 sb, 22 so in 75 at bats
• Mitch Maier — outfielder —Pawtucket Red Sox (International League – AAA) — Boston Red Sox
  4 for 20 (.200) 5 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 3 bb, 1 sb, 7 so
  YTD: .292, 18 run, 13 rbi, 3 hr, 12 bb, 2 sb, 15 so in 65 at bats
• Taylor Mangum — relief pitcher (right-handed) — Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Midwest League – A) — Milwaukee Brewers
  0-0, 3.00 era, 4 hits, 1 er, 5 k, 1 bb in 3.0 innings
  YTD: 1-3, 3.28 era, 25 hits, 9 er, 23 k, 10 bb in 24.2 innings
• Matt Neil — starting pitcher (right handed) — New Orleans Zephyrs (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Miami Marlins
  0-1, 11.25 era, 8 hits, 5 er, 7 k, 2 bb in 4.0 innings
  YTD: 2-4, 5.53 era, 63 hits, 34 er, 46 k, 15 bb in 55.1 innings
• Stephen Parker — 3rd base — Nashville Sounds (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Milwaukee Brewers
  0 for 15 (.000) 0 run, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 4 so
  YTD: .227, 21 run, 18 rbi, 6 hr, 22 bb, 2 sb, 52 so in 198 at bats
• Shane Peterson — outfielder — Sacramento River Cats (Pacific Coast League – AAA) — Oakland A’s (40-man MLB roster)
  5 for 18 (.278) 0 run, 7 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 3 so
  YTD: .251, 35 run, 34 rbi, 5 hr, 38 bb, 6 sb, 57 so in 199 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)
  0-1, 7.20 era, 5 hits, 4 er, 7 k, 3 bb in 5.0 innings
  YTD: 5-4, 4.13 era, 53 hits, 30 er, 65 k, 34 bb in 65.1 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