Keeping up with the NYCBL alum.
Hunter Pence (Schenectady ’02) and heckling in the internet age
Hunter Pence, the lanky, affable outfielder for the San Francisco Giants, is widely admired for his abilities on the field and for his quirkiness off of it. He was selected, for the second straight year, as the Giants’ winner of the Heart & Hustle award, given by the players’ alumni association. He rides a scooter to home games. And so Mets fans had to dig pretty deep to find anything bad to say about him when he was in town last weekend, for a series at Citi Field. But they managed: taunts from the stands were personal and cruel. “HUNTER PENCE CAN’T SHUFFLE PLAYING CARDS,” read one homemade sign. “HUNTER PENCE CAN’T PARALLEL PARK,” read another. (This one left the announcers in the Mets booth especially baffled.) There were dozens of similar scurrilous attacks. Pence was linked to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s worst public performance: “HUNTER PENCE EATS PIZZA WITH A FORK.” Even the man’s pop-cultural taste was impugned: READ MORE…
Brunnemann (Rome ’11) closes second pro season with MVP performance
ABILENE, TX – Former Hardin-Simmons pitcher Tyler Brunnemann closed out his second season in professional baseball with his second championship and this time added series MVP to his resume.
Brunnemann worked three innings and struck out six batters in Lancaster’s 10-2 win over Visalia last night in the fifth and deciding game of the California League Championship. Brunnemann came into the game in the fifth inning with no outs and runners on first and second in a 4-2 game. He needed just five pitches to get a line out, a flyout and a three-pitch called strikeout. READ MORE…
Brunnemann (Rome ’11) survives tumor, savors all-star opportunity
It’s quite possible that no participant in tonight’s Midwest League All-Star Game appreciates the opportunity more than Quad-Cities pitcher Tyler Brunnemann.
A survivor of surgery to remove a non-malignant tumor from his brain when he was 11 years old, the River Bandits right-handed pitcher welcomes any chance he gets to compete. READ MORE…
Martinez (Saratoga/Oneonta ’08) is destroying the A.L. Central
J.D. Martinez is having an amazing season for the Tigers after beginning the year in the minor leagues. Since being called up in late April, Martinez is hitting .305/.347/.553 with 21 home runs and 69 RBI in 421 plate appearances. He recently busted out of a month-long cold streak and has all but cemented himself into the Tigers’ plans for the 2015 season. READ MORE…
Martinez (Saratoga/Oneonta ’08) finds new life as Tigers hitter
No team in baseball claimed J. D. Martinez on waivers last November. No team chose him in the Rule 5 draft in December. In March, he was released by the Houston Astros, who were coming off a season of 111 losses.
“They just said they had too many prospects, and it was a product of their success,” Martinez said Friday. “They had traded for so many prospects, and they needed to get guys playing time. They didn’t have any room for me, and they didn’t want to hold me back.” READ MORE…
Martinez (Saratoga/Oneonta ’08) has made adjustments to swing, results show
DETROIT — Nobody was hotter than J.D. Martinez before the All-Star break.
Martinez was hitting .346 with 13 home runs and 43 RBI and an OPS of 1.035.
Since the All-Star break, Martinez is hitting .263 with four home runs and 15 RBI and an OPS of .738.
“I’m getting pitched a lot differently now than I was,” Martinez said. READ MORE…
The J.D. Martinez story
You may never have heard of J.D. Martinez. Maybe it’s because he underachieved on theHouston Astros. Maybe it’s because he’s surrounded by hitters by the names of Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, and Ian Kinsler. I don’t know. But if you don’t know who J.D. Martinez is, you should. READ MORE…
Amid historic run, Fiers (Saratoga/Oneonta ’08) tries not to look at numbers
MILWAUKEE — The numbers that Mike Fiers has put up in his first three Major League starts in 2014 haven’t just been impressive; they’ve been downright historic.
The 29-year-old righty has won all three of his starts, allowing a total of two earned runs over 21 innings. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Fiers is the fourth pitcher in baseball history to allow two earned runs or fewer and eight or fewer total hits while striking out 25 or more through his first three starts of a season. His company in that category? READ MORE…
Well-traveled Rakkar (Webster ’11) settles in with Kane County
Cougars reliever Jasvir Rakkar has had to keep a bag packed in his second professional season.
All season long, Rakkar was the guy the Cubs organization called on when somebody needed help in one of the affiliates.
You need a guy to throw a game for Class AAA Iowa? Rakkar is your man. How about a stint at high-Class A Daytona? No sweat, Rakkar has you covered. Short-season Class A Boise needs a hand? Why not ask Rakkar? READ MORE…
Hudson (Hornell ’96) notches 2,000 strike out
SAN FRANCISCO — Tim Hudson briefly felt confused when Giants manager Bruce Bochy approached him in the dugout after Wednesday night’s sixth inning.
“He shook my hand like he normally does after he takes me out,” Hudson said, who had thrown only 62 pitches, was locked in a 1-1 tie with the Colorado Rockies and had done nothing to warrant removal from the game. READ MORE…
Passion for game still resonates with MLB 40-somethings – McDonald (Cohocton ’93)
McDonald (born 9/24/74) hasn’t hit the big milestone yet, but he will before the season is out — and he’ll be the guy in his 40s most likely to take his old self into the postseason. He has been bringing his defensive prowess at several positions, which makes up for his light hitting and augments his presence as a guy who has been around a long, long time. READ MORE…
Fiorito (Syracuse Salt Cats ’11-’12) hits solo shot
O’Rourke (Brockport ’08) post-game interview
Bostick (Webster ’11) plates run
Asuaje (Oneonta ’11) cranks solo shot
Gunkel (Oneonta ’11) records sixth K
Kemmer (Olean ’12) clubs solo shot
Heyman (Geneva Red Wings ’12) highlight
Hockenberry (Geneva Red Wings ’12) feature
Trio of alums meet in Carolina League Playoffs
Carlos Asuage (Oneonta ’11) and Joe Gunkel (Oneonta ’11) led Oneonta’s Outlaws to the 2011 New York Collegiate Baseball League championship. Chris Bostick (Webster ’11) helped Webster’s Yankees get in position for the organization’ s only championship series appearance. The three NYCBL alums are squaring off in the Advanced-A Carolina League Southern Division Series as the Salem Red Sox take on the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. READ MORE…
Darnell (Amsterdam ’08) finishes no-hitter
On July 24, right-hander Trevor May threw three hitless innings for Triple-A Rochester at Durham. The game was then suspended in the middle of the fourth inning due to rain.
More than two weeks passed. May, the Twins’ No. 8 prospect, was called up to make his Major League debut Saturday. Then, on Monday, the game resumed more than 600 miles north in Rochester as Game 1 of a doubleheader. READ MORE…
In pro baseball, pitchers’ weak core linked to more missed days
New research suggests that professional baseball pitchers with poor core stability are more likely to miss 30 or more days in a single season because of injury than are pitchers who have good control of muscles in their lower back and pelvis. READ MORE…
The simple technology that accidentally ruined baseball
It’s not the sort of accomplishment that ESPN is likely to crow about, but Philadelphia Phillies center-fielder Ben Revere is on track to set an astonishing baseball record—a mark that says as much about the game today as Barry Bonds’s 73 home runs said about the swollen biceps that defined the early 21st century. Revere is currently batting just over .313, higher than any other player in the National League. That figure would match the lowest batting title in the NL’s 138-year history and the fourth lowest in baseball since 1900. READ MORE...
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