7 Years On

I haven't looked at, or thought about, this blog in many years. It has been 7 years since I started this blog, and nearly 6 years since my last post. The silence has really been due to nothing new to report, to the one-year-and-done nature of the professional careers of these young men. So many years have gone by that I've decided that it's time to find out how these stories ended. For all these players, who were 21 or 22 when the story started, by age 28 or 29 the baseball part of the story appears to have ended.

One nice thing that's happened: in the last 6 years, everyone has now gotten onto social media, and as college grads with a googlable resume term (UNCW baseball), I've been able to learn what's happened to most of these players.


Brad Holt

The 33rd player taken in the 2008 draft, and one who started with great promise, was never able to revive his career after several injuries. After very good results in Low A and Advanced A ball in 2008 and 2009, where Baseball America named him the #4 prospect in the Mets system, Holt's strikeout rate plummeted and his walk rate soared. At cause were annual battles with biceps tendinitis and a debilitating ankle injury suffered in 2009 that altered his delivery and seems to have permanently deprived him of his 98mph fastball. The Mets eventually released him in 2013.

Holt was still pitching as recently as last year (2014), where at age 27 he threw 3 and 2/3 innings (with shockingly high numbers of walks and strikeouts) for the Long Island Ducks in the independent Atlantic League. I don't know if that ended due to the mediocre performance there, injury, or some other reason. It's a long way from the Atlantic League to the Majors, however still only 28 years old, if his arm, old delivery, and the command that once came with it could be found, it is certainly not too late to wonder if there could be one more chapter to be written.


Nate Hall

Nate Hall played the second longest of any of the UNCW 6, accumulating nearly 1,200 plate appearances in the independent Can-Am and Frontier Leagues. After a highly successful 2010 season where he OPS's .879, Hall's production took a step backward in 2011, where he hit .228 to end his last season in professional baseball.


Mark Carver

Mark Carver, a dominant power hitter at UNCW, took only 129 plate appearances at the Low A level, hit one home run, and was released by the Pirates.

In December of 2010, less than two years after leaving baseball, Carver became a Sales Rep at Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics.


Daniel Hargrave

Daniel Hargrave, a likewise dominant second baseman at UNCW who set the school's all-time runs and total bases marks, took 188 plate appearance in the same Low A league as Carver (the New York Penn League), and was released by the Phillies the following year.

Hargrave returned to UNCW as an assistant baseball coach in 2009.


Jason Appel

Jason Appel played only 12 games in the summer of 2008, batting .368 and playing a perfect center field, before leaving the team.

While it appeared that he had signed to play in 2009 for the Washington (PA) WildThings in the Frontier League, no statistics ever materialized from that signing.

From August 2009 through 2012, Appel worked as an Employment Specialist with Easter Seals, helping people find and keep jobs. Since then, he has worked as an IT Recruiter at Bluewolf, a New York City consulting company.


Jeff Hatcher

Jeff Hatcher, a classy and polished pitcher who always got the most out of his pitching arsenal, was the only one of the UNCW 6 never to don a uniform professionally. He immediately accepted a job offer of Management Trainee right out of school in the summer of 2008 with 1-800-PACK-RAT portable mini-storage facilities in Wallace, North Carolina, and has since been promoted to manage several of these facilities, in Greensboro, Raleigh, and Wilmington.


A UNCW Major Leaguer

As of this writing, Chris Hatcher, who was drafted two years before the players I chose to follow in this blog, works late in games for my favorite sports team, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

DL and Stinky Pitching

Nate Hall is just about done with his 14-day DL stint for back spasms. Hopefully, the rest will do him well, and he can resume his hot hitting right away.

Brad Holt had just about his worst start as a pro, giving up 7 earned runs on 9 hits and 3 walks in 5-2/3 innings with only 2 strikeouts. The AA season line for Holt is 2-6, 5.98, but he's got a 41:20 K:BB in 52 IP, so the K/9 and K:BB are still promising, which is the most important thing by far for a developing pitcher. He can still dominate at AA.

Tony Bernazard and a Sore Back

Some crazy stuff in Binghamton within the last month. Tony Bernazard, the scrappy ex-big leaguer and personal puppet of Omar Minaya, apparently acted like a jerk one time too many, taking his shirt off and challenging some number of Binghamton Mets to a fistfight. He previously had very negative interactions with others on the staff and team. The New York Daily News Mets beat reporter got this scoop and ran with it, and in responding to these events, Minaya personally attacked the credibility of the reporter by accusing him of lobbying for Bernazard's job, for which Minaya was roundly criticized, most vehemently by the Mets TV announcers (Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling). Minaya ultimately fired his good friend Bernazard anyways, a move every Met except for Beltran and Alex Cora (also friends of Bernazard?) seemed to agree with.

I don't (and will likely never) know the extent of Brad Holt's involvement with these events, but it (nor anything else) has not helped him pitch better.

Brad followed up back-to-back non-quality starts with a 6 walk, 2 strikeout "quality" start. Three mediocre starts in a row, he's now at 2-5, 5.36, with a 39:17 K:BB ratio. Those numbers, my friends, will keep him in AA through the end of the month, and will likely keep him out of a Mets uniform in September. It's not so much that they're indicative of a lack of talent, but they may indicate a weariness that could presage an injury. If I'm Minaya, I shut him down at the end of the season.

The good news: Nate Hall reached .840 OPS, and is sitting at .328/.396/.443, with a very low error rate over the last month. The bad news: he left Windy City's July 26 home win against Evansville in the middle of the game, and has played in only one game in the last 10 days, a 16-0 win at Gateway where he again left in the middle of the game. The SouthTown star indicated that he is nursing a sore back which is making it difficult for him to play.

Wilson Matos has been playing in his place, and hitting adequately, but is OPSing only .681, so presumably the job is still Nate's when he is feeling better.

Nate did have a nice interview with the SouthTown Star:

By Steve Millar Correspondent
Nate Hall is in his second professional season and his first with the T-Bolts

after being acquired in a trade before the season. He went into last week's All-Star break surging, going 13-for-25 (.520 average) over the final10 days of the first half. He entered Sunday hitting .309 for the year.

What's been the biggest difference for you during this hot streak lately?

It's just been going out and getting a pitch to hit, and waiting for a pitch up in the zone that I can drive. I feel locked in, but it's not really anything I've done differently.

Everyone around the league has been impressed with your defense at third base. Is that something you take a lot of pride in?

I've always taken pride in my defense. I've worked really hard at it all my life. That's one thing I like to do for the pitchers. They like to have people working hard behind them.

What can you tell us about your hometown of Coalfield, Tenn.?

Tiny. There's no stop lights, no grocery store, one gas station and one restaurant. There's a lot of great people down there, though.

I'm going to take (outfielder Vinnie Scarduzio) back home with me (over the All-Star break) and spend four days down there with him. I'm going show him the strip in Knoxville and I'm going to show him the hills. He's never been to a redneck place like Tennessee before.

There are a few small-town guys on this team and most of them say they haven't gotten used to living here in the Chicago area. What do you think about it?

I like it. I'm always going to like home better, but I've been so many places the last four or five years; I know how to adjust to places. But Chicago is awesome, I definitely like it. Me and a couple of teammates went down to see the White Sox play and we loved that. That was a really good time.

You spent last year playing in Ottawa in the Can-Am League. Are you happy to be back in the States?

I am so glad to be back in the states. The bus trips g oing to and from Canada were the worst; you'd get to the border at like three in the morning and have to get off the bus so they could check everything. It was a good experience, because I can always say I lived in another country, but I'm definitely glad to be back home.

Who were your favorite team and player growing up in Tennessee?

Atlanta was my favorite team. My favorite player is definitely Manny Ramirez. I know people are going to give me a hard time about that and say he's on steroids, but I still love him. I still wear his jersey, and I'm not going to stop.

Do you have any hidden talents?

I'm incredible at the guitar. If anyone wants to sit down with me, I will wow them. I'll play any rock - Metallica, Tool, Led Zeppelin.

So if anyone wants to form a band--?

Yeah, if anyone wants to form a band, they need to get a hold of me.

Apparently, his defense is much, much better than I thought. A very good sign. Perhaps some of the moving over to play first base earlier in the season was due to an injury.

In UNCW news, there is no news from Daniel Cropper about signing with the Nationals, and at this late point in the minor league season, it looks like he'll return to the Seahawks for his senior year.

Daniel Hargrave

Congratulations to Daniel Hargrave, who yesterday was named as an Assistant Baseball Coach at UNCW. This is an indication that his professional journey as a player is at an end, but that he'll be able to continue his career in baseball, which seems like a great opportunity him.

Back On Track

Holt is back on track, and was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for the week ending July 20, where he won twice, throwing 13 2-3 innings with 14 K, 3 BB, 2 ER, and 10 hits. Very nicely done. He had a bit of a rough start on the 23rd, but overall is providing consistently good starts, and despite ugly AA statistics, is still (IMHO) likely to receive a September call-up.

Nate Hall is enjoying easily his greatest month as a professional. Windy City is now batting him cleanup, and he's gotten the averages up to .327/.397/.439, back to playing 3B every day. He still has only the 2 home runs, but if he can continue to hit the ball hard (he's got 13 doubles now), work lots of walks, keep the strikeouts down, and can push the average into the .370 range (and keep it there), my bet is he'll attract enough attention to get signed somewhere. He's certainly doing enough now to win himself another year in Windy City as one of the two 2-year players (along with Dylan Axelrod). Only Gilberto Mejia and J.T. Restko, the Windy City stars who both have "veteran" designation, have higher batting averages or on base percentages.

Decking Hall

Nate Hall is clubbing the ball. He now leads all non-veterans (everyone except Restko and Mejia, who both made the Frontier League West All-Star team) with a .319 average (to go with .391/.431), and is hitting doubles like there's no tomorrow.

On Friday, July 10, Nate had his best game as a professional: 4 for 5, 3 doubles, with 2 runs and 2 RBI in a 12-2 win at home versus Travers City. At day's end, he stood at a career-high .331 mark. He's also back at 3rd base (he made his 8th error), but that's more promising than if he was over at first base.

After his HR binge, Wilson Matos is at .205/.286/.455, with more play in the outfield.

First-year player Dylan Axelrod made the all-star team (although pitched poorly there), but looks like a lock to be invited back for next year.

On the Bradley Holt front, just keep pitching, just keep pitching...

After missing most of June with a minor (non-arm) injury, and then enduring the worst back-to-back starts of his short pro career, Bradley has come back with two very good starts, striking out 17 against 2 walks in 12 innings on the road (giving up only 3 runs and 7 hits). At AA so far, he is 1-3, 5.73, but has quality peripherals: 26 K vs. 9 BB and 16 H in 22 IP. It's funny how the runs pile up when the hits are bunched together.

In any event, Holt appears to be back on track, and the dominance he's capable of is definitely in play at AA. With more consistency, further promotion just seems like a matter of time. As I've mentioned earlier, I expect Holt to finish the season at AA, but if he's red hot in August, to receive a call-up to the big club to get a taste of life in The Show in September. Very often, it's a wise move to give a top prospect some early exposure to the Majors without playing them much or in high leverage situations: it can really help them prepare mentally for what's next.

Wilson Matos, "1 Year Players", and Clay Zavada

While Mejia turns 27 later this year, Wilson Matos, who was signed by Windy City on June 24, is the same as age Nate Hall, 24 this year. This is old by minor league standards.

Interestingly, the Frontier League has some sensible policies:
* Only 3 veterans are permitted per team. Mejia, slugging first baseman J.T. Restko, and a pitcher are those 3 veterans, and are top, top performers.
* Two 2-year players are permitted per team.
* Seven 1-year players are permitted. Nate is one of these players.
* The other 12 slots on the 24 man roster must be rookies. Talk about turnover!

Each team has a salary cap of $60,000, with a minimum of $600 per month (a rate of $7,200 per year), which causes most players to live with host families. No wonder Jason Appel retired!

Finally, players cannot be older than 27 as of January 1. This means this season is Mejia's last chance in the Frontier League, as he turns 27 this year, and will be 28 on January 1 of next year.

Wilson Matos is still a rookie, and at age 24, would be eligible to play in the league a couple more years.

For Nate Hall, all this means that after this season, he will be considered a "2-year player", so 5 of the season current "1-year players" will not be eligible to return. In terms of performance relative to the other "1-year players" in the lineup, Nate is slightly behind shortstop Guillermo Martinez (.292/.391/.396, but at a premium position) and ahead of slugging catcher Dan Jordan, who almost never walks and thus gets few at bats these days. The other four 1-year players are pitchers Brandon Garner (1-1, 6.58), Steven Flake (0-2, 5.54), Dustin Pease (5-2, 5.59), and Dylan Axelrod (1-0, 3.38). This puts Nate in decent position to be allowed to return for another Frontier League season in 2010 if he continues to improve.

One last thought. There are seven Frontier League alums in the Majors right now, the most recent being Clay Zavada, he of the Rollie Fingers lookalike mustache, pitching very well for the D'backs. Zavada was a 30th round draft pick by Arizona in 2006, performed well in Rookie ball in Missoula, but then did not pitch in 2007 (injury?) In 2008, Zavada signed with Southern Illinois in the Frontier League, and was completely unhittable. Arizona re-signed him, and Zavada finished 2008 in dominant fashion in A-ball. This year, he pitched very well at AA, and Arizona called him up in late spring. So, take heart, Nate, it can happen!

Gilberto Mejia Add

I just checked this. Gilberto Mejia was signed by the Tigers as a 19 year old out of the Dominican Republic in 2002. After a reasonable A-ball debut in 2002, he struggled mightily in 2003, and was sent down to rookie league and short-season A ball, where he righted the ship. Mejia spend 2004 to 2006 bouncing between Advanced A and AA, OPSing .527 in AA in 2005. After being released by the Detroit organization at the end of 2006, he is in his third season as Windy City's second baseman, OPSing .720, .794, and now suddenly over 1.000. Mejia is 26 this year, and I'll bet that before the year is done, an organization will give him a shot, stick him in AA, and see what he can do. Middle infielders who can hit for average, line doubles all over the place, and steal 30+ bases are nice commodities.

Hold Yer Horses!

The usual story of our two protagonists, one struggling, and one dominating, only there's a twist!

Nate Hall is raking it, hitting singles and doubles all over the park, now batting .298 with OBP of .383 and SLG of .395. That means his OPS over the last 20 games is probably over .950. He's now third on the team in average and OBP, and is maintaining a level K:BB ratio, which is promising.

Today is the first day that I can write this: if Nate continues to improve at the rate he has been improving, it is possible that he can find his way into affiliated ball. I don't know about his defense, and with a team-leading 7 errors and my memories that he was just an average college 3B, the difficulty for Nate is the lack of a position. A corner infield prospect generally needs to hit home runs, or play great defense. Because Nate does neither, his ticket to the top will come from using his exceptional batting eye and hitting lots of doubles, but hey, if he can hit .330 or .340 at this level, that could translate to a .950+ OPS, which is possibly enough to get him signed somewhere.

The bad news for Nate: Wilson Matos has started to play some third base, and homered in 3 straight games from July 3 to July 5. However, despite the power surge, Matos is hitting only .222/.317. Hall has played a couple of games at first base now, which doesn't speak well of his defense. It just means he's going to really have to improve both offensively and defensively to have a chance to get noticed. He'll need to work to become an above-average infielder, and a really exceptional, high average, high walk rate hitter. Or, he might develop some decent power in the next couple of years, which would not be unusual for a player of his age.

Now, Brad Holt, on the other hand, has gotten absolutely killed his last 2 starts, after skipping a couple of starts with an injury. Giving up 9 ER in his last 3-2/3 innings may wreck his stats for the rest of the season, or at least to the point where we can be pretty sure he'll finish the year in AA. He's young and still has some developing to do, so that's not the end of the world. The last thing anyone wants to do is to rush him up to a level where he won't be encouraged to 1) keep his confidence, and 2) refine and add offspeed pitches.

One last tidbit: Gilberto Mejia is the second baseman and leadoff hitter on the Windy City Thunderbolts, and looks like the best player in the league. He's hitting .390/.452/.573 as a second baseman, with 31-38 stolen bases and a level K:BB ratio. I'm planning to follow him a little on this blog, if only to see what one must do to get noticed in the Frontier League. It's hard to believe one of the major league teams won't notice a performance like this and send a contract his way. And if one does, that sets the bar for what Nate Hall can do to get a contract shipped his way as well.

From Chuck Carree: Bradley Holt will miss 2 starts afeter rolling an ankle slipping on some steps. No big deal, as I'm sure the Mets want to continue to increase his innings gently to minimize the risk of future arm injury.

Nate Hall is hitting the ball well, playing absolutely every day, usually at 3B, with an occasional DH appearance, and hitting between 5th and 7th in the lineup. He's at .281/.368/.375, which is a very useful offensive line. The .368 OBP is excellent, and is 100 points better than the only other Windy City player to have gotten a start at 3B, Tyler Farrar. With 10 BB to 11 K, Nate is handling the bat well, and has hit a couple of doubles in the last 3 games, which is helping the all-important slugging percentage.

Double A!

Bradley Holt, the Mets fastest-rising prospect, is now in Double A. After skipping 2 starts with some shoulder tightness earlier in the season, his dominant ways have landed him in Binghamton, New York, in the Eastern League, and within sight of the Major Leagues. I'd say if he continues to dominate at AA, he'd be in line for a September call-up to the Mets. Wow!

His first start in Binghamton was strong: 6-1/3 innings, 2 hits and 3 walks to go with 3 strikeouts. Final Port St. Lucie numbers were 4-1, 3.05 ERA, 50 K and 10 BB in 41 innings, with a majority of the runs coming in his first start, where he left all of his pitches up.

The other active player from the UNCW 6, Nate Hall, has a longer path that is currently in independent ball in Pennsylvania. Nate is hitting well, drawing a lot of walks, and playing nearly every day at 3B. He stands at .261/.357/.348, with a home run in 48 at bats. That's not nearly enough to get him noticed, but the plate discipline is promising (8 BB, 7 K), and he's got a chance to continue to get comfortable with the wood bats, and continue to work hard in order to have a shot at becoming a dominant player in the league.

No other news on the rest of the 6.

Really, Next.

Holt has struck out 19 and walked 1 over 10-2/3 innings in his last 2 starts. Total dominance.

Nate Hall started the first 3 games of the season for Windy City, batting 8th, then 7th, then 6th, and getting a hit (single) each game. He's started with 3 hits in 10 at bats, plus 2 walks, for a .417 OBP. The fourth game, Tyler Farrar started at 3B, so there's the competition for playing time, and Farrar has started 2-for-11 (.182) with 1 walk. So far, so good, but it's so early!

Washington (PA) Wild Things outfielders have started 5-for-33 (.152), so Jason Appel is clearly being missed there.

Next!

Brad Holt is making a strong case for promotion to the next level.

Since a nightmarish first start, Brad has thrown 25-2/3 innings, allowed 19 hits, 4 earned runs, 4 walks, and struck out 29. That adds up to more than 1 strikeout per inning, a 7:1 strikeout to walk ratio, and an ERA of 1.40. That is perfectly dominant at the Advanced A level.

Next stop for Brad: the Binghampton Mets (AA), or possibly even the Buffalo Bisons (AAA), depending on the needs of the parent club. The only question is when. But he's clearly gotten comfortable at Advanced-A, and it's hard to imagine that the Mets will keep him there for a full season given his current level of dominance.

Nate Hall's Windy City ThunderBolts begin play tonight, so we'll see if Nate is in the opening day starting lineup and how he does.

The only other news I could find, from (as usual) Chuck Carree of the Wilmington Star-News: the Washington (PA) Wild Things of the independent Frontier League announced the retirement of OF Jason Appel. So, maybe he just doesn't like playing baseball all that much, or perhaps he has a better job lined up.

Advanced-A: Bradley Holt
Independent: Nate Hall
Unsigned: Mark Carver and Daniel Hargrave
Presumed Retired: Jason Appel and Jeff Hatcher

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

Appel signs with Washington Wild Things

Jason Appel is back. To some extent.

After an enigmatic stint with a mysterious ending in the New York-Penn league, Appel signed a one year contract with the Washington, Pennsylvania Wild Things, of the Frontier League.

The Frontier League is a (mostly) rookie league where 12 slots on each team's 24 man roster are reserved for rookies: players with fewer than 150 professional at bats or 50 innings pitched. There are 7 slots on each team for 1-year players, two for 2-year players, and three for "veterans". The league minimum is $600 per month, which means that most likely, Jason will be living with a host family, unless he has other money available.

It's a long way from here to the Majors. There are six Frontier League alums who played in the Majors last year, none bound for the Hall of Fame: D.J. Carrasco, Mike Cervenak, Brendan Donnelly, Josh Kinney, Scott Patterson, and Orioles closer George Sherrill. However, more than 30 recent alums have been signed to play in A or AA ball, which is about 1 player in 20 over a 3 year period.

Having been released by the Rays, Jason must be hoping to dominate the Frontier League, and then sign with another MLB organization to re-start his ascent through the low minors.

Well Done, Nate!

The season is over in Ottawa, which means Nate Hall, after a rough start, can come back to Wilmington very proudly, finishing with a .263 average in 152 at bats, an awesome .367 on base percentage (with 22 walks to only 28 strikeouts, many of which were the first few weeks after he signed), a .316 slugging percentage (6 2B, 1 3B, no HR), and 8 errors at third base (he appeared in 51 games, but I have no idea how many of those were at 3B.)

All in all, an excellent season for his first in pro ball, and with his second half surge, I'm confident that he'll have an opportunity to play professionally again in 2009.

I read that Nate, Mark Carver, Bradley Holt, and Daniel Hargrave will all share a place in Wilmington this winter, where they'll lift weights, hit balls, and work hard towards becoming better players next season.

The New York-Penn League season ends tomorrow, so early next week will be my last regular post, barring any off-the-field news, until spring 2009. Not that anyone's reading this anyways ;)

Power Surge!

Daniel Hargrave is on a tear! He's gotten a hit in 8 of his last 9 games, including his first 2 multi-hit games of the season, and is batting .313 with 3 home runs and 2 doubles in that span. Wow! Way to go, Daniel! It looks like the adjustment to the wood bats is coming, and just in time. There are only another couple weeks left in the season, and by showing such a powerful late surge, I do believe Daniel has done enough to get a look next season.

Carver got into a couple of games this week, getting 1 hit in 6 at bats but drawing 2 walks, and getting the on-base percentage above .300. Peley has been getting most of the playing time lately, as Mendez has struggled since his call-up. All 3 catchers are struggling, and it's unclear to me how the mix will look next season.

Holt pitched, and won, at Auburn on August 14, going 7 innings with 3 hits, 2 walks, and 8 strikeouts. He's now at 4-3, 1.98 ERA, and 69 K in 54 IP. Great start! Holt probably has 3 more starts left: August 22 vs. Lowell, August 27 vs. Oneonta, and September 1 at Aberdeen (and then maybe the finale September 6 vs. Aberdeen, but I'll bet they skip that).

Nate Hall continues to rake, raising his average to .252, with a .357 on base percentatge. Given his horrific start, these are very good numbers. With no home runs in 119 at bats, it's a bit hard to imagine that he'll be picked up by any Major League organization, but hopefully he will earn another year with Ottawa, and a chance to continue to improve hitting with the wood bats.

No news on Jeff Hatcher or Jason Appel.

UNCW 6 Update

After rough treatment in Vermont, Bradley Holt has come back with a couple of nice, short starts, yielding one run over six innings at State College, strking out 5, and, six days later, holding Batavia to one run in four innings at home. On the season, Holt has thrown 47-2/3 innings, with 31 hits, 25 walks, and 61 strikeouts. He is 3-3, with a 2.08 ERA. My only worry is the relatively high number of innings he's thrown already since UNCW started playing in January. The short season ends at the end of the month, so Holt has probably only 3, at most 4 more starts, and let's hope they keep the pitch count in those starts way down.

Nate Hall is really starting to play well in Ottawa. After a seriously cold start, he's at .243/.322/.262, and has added only a couple of errors to his total (although, it's hard to see how many starts at 3B that was in, as the Rapidz web site has not put up a box score since late July). The .262 slugging percentage (2 doubles, no triples or home runs in 107 AB) is a bit surprising, as I'm sure he's got more pop than that, but I think the combo of wood bats, cold weather, and better pitchers has mostly to do with it.

On August 6, he got a walk-off, game winning base hit, which must have been a great delight for him in his young career.

From the Ottawa Citizen:

Former college player Nate Hall put the wood to the ball to drive in Kyle Geiger with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning last night as the Ottawa Rapidz defeated the Sussex Skyhawks, 4-3, at Ottawa Stadium.

''It's a tough transition from metal (bats) to wood,'' Hall said. ''I call my dad every day, and he tells me to just stick with it.''

Before Hall's heroics, Jereme Milons had singled home Jabe Bergeron with the tying run.
Both runs were scored with two outs.

Good job, Nate! Way to stick with it!

Daniel Hargrave hit a game-tying solo home run a couple of hours ago in the 5th inning at Staten Island off of Yankee farmhand Hector Noesi, a Dominican right-hander just up from the Gulf Coast League. This is Daniel's second home run of the season, and puts his stats at .143/.188/.210, with an improved .188 average and .300+ Slugging for the last 10 games. So he's definitely improving, he now has a career-best 4 game hitting streak (including 2 extra base hits), and is still playing much more often than not. The Phillies are showing patience, and Daniel is starting to come around.

Mark Carver has only played in 2 games this month, but has 4 hits (including a two-bagger) in 9 at bats, bringing his line up to .212/.293/.258, which is beginning to approach respectability. In the last 10 games, he's got 4 multi-hit games, and is at .281/.361/.344 over that stretch, which is actually very good for a catcher in the New York-Penn League. Way to go, Mark!

Meanwhile Miguel Mendez, the spectacular Gulf Coast callup who has been playing nearly every day in place of Carver, is at .231/.286/.282, which is not materially different from Carver's line. Josue Peley, the third catcher, a Venezuelan who I also learned played prep ball in Montreal, played yesterday for the first time since July 16, when he suffered a wrist injury in the batting cage. With Peley's return and Mendez's massive amount of recent playing time, it's a great thing that Carver is heating up the bat.

Jason Appel has still not returned to the Renegades. It has been six weeks since he last played.

I still have no news on Jeff Hatcher.

Miguel Mendez

Miguel Mendez. Is this a name you should know?



He is a 20-year-old undrafted catcher who was just promoted from the Gulf Coast Pirates (rookie league). I suppose he was a Latin American signee. The Gulf Coast League is also called an "instructional" league, where only 60 games per season are played before almost no spectators. It is clearly a step below even the short-season New York-Penn League, which we can think of as "Low A" baseball.



However, Mendez was hitting an eye-popping .400/.477/.727 in the GCL, and has been promoted to fill Chris Simmons' roster spot as Simmons takes on his armed forces commitment (recall that he is an Ary graduate.) Mendez has received starts in both games since his promotion. Are Josue Peley and Mark Carver on the bench for good now? Mendez has started o-for-8, but it seems logical that following such a tear in GCL, he'll get a very long look, to the detriment of the other two catchers.



Hargrave, who hasn't yet had a mult-hit game, had his modest 2 game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-3, and is still sitting in the low .100s, but is still playing just about every day at 2B. I guess you just don't have so many power-hitting middle infielders, and if you think you can develop one, it's worth giving it a real effort. On the other hand, Hargrave wasn't considered by many scouts to be a natural second baseman, that he would have to "find a position". If he's hitting .110, and can't play in the middle infield, I sure hope he can pitch.



Holt is Holt. During his last start, he struck out 14 batters in 6 innings (!!), claiming that guys were just swinging at the fastball low and away and missing it. OK, time to promote this guy. He's completely dominant at this level, and leads the entire league in strikeouts, even though his innings are being tightly controlled. I am beginning to expect some really big things for Bradley Holt.



Good news from Ottawa: Nate Hall is heating up! His average sat at .162 after Tuesday night's o-for-2. After riding the pine on Wednesday and an off-day on Thursday, Nate was 3-for-4 on Friday with 2 RBI, and 1-for-4 on Saturday with a SB and a Run scored, as the Rapidz swept New Jersey at home. Good going, Nate!