Welcome Back!

It's a couple of weeks into the baseball season, and I thought I'd check on my favorite minor leaguers, the UNCW 6.

First, our Golden Boy, Bradley Holt. The Mets moved him up to St. Lucie, into the Advanced A Florida State League, a jump of 2 levels. Holt was absolutely torched on Opening Day, in his first start against Sarasota. Alex Buchholz (a very common pro baseball name right now) ripped a home run and a double for 4 RBI, and 2 other Sarasota players homered. After 3 and 2/3, and 7 hits, 4 walks, and 9 earned runs, Holt was out. 6 days later, however, Holt dominated Charlotte for 6 innings, allowing 5 baserunners and striking out 7. So, he clearly put that rough first start behind him, and hopefully he's ready to get back to dominating as he did at the Low A level.

From Chuck Carree: “I threw real well and made a lot of progress with my changeup,’’ he said.

Mark Carver, after batting .217 at State College last season, and Daniel Hargrave, after batting .179 at Williamsport last season, were released during spring training. It's a tough racket: you either distinguish yourself real quickly, or you're replaced. Hopefully, Carver and Hargrave can catch on somewhere and continue their development. Hargrave actually showed decent power for a second baseman in the New York-Penn league, hitting 4 home runs in about 180 at bats.

In the Frontier League, Jason Appel's new team, the Washington (PA) Wild Things of the Independent Frontier League will open its season May 22 at home against Lake Erie. It's a bit odd that Appel, who quit his affiliated team after 12 games last summer, will be playing pro ball this May, and Carver and Hargrave, who played the full (short) season and both showed great improvement over that time, are looking for jobs.

Nate Hall's Ottawa Rapidz folded during the off-season, announcing in late March that they could not meet their financial obligations. Hall, with an impressive .367 OBP during his time in Canada, was assigned to the Worcester Tornadoes of the Can-Am league, from whence he was traded to the Windy City ThunderBolts of the Frontier League. Hall only posted a .316 SLG and .263 BA in Canada with 0 HR in nearly 200 AB, however he struck the ball much better in the second half of the season, and it is conceivable that he could improve his batting enough to warrant promotion in pro ball. As with Appel, Hall's season will begin in about one month.

No news still on Jeff Hatcher. At this point, I can only conclude that the business major found more gainful employment than would have been available to him in the pro ranks.

So, right now, of the UNCW 6, here's the summary.

Promoted: Bradley Holt
Released and Looking for Work: Mark Carver and Daniel Hargrave
Frontier (Independent) League: Jason Appel and Nate Hall
Never Signed: Jeff Hatcher