News & Transactions: Press Review, Jones, Czech, Sonnier, Estrada, Walda, Davis and Mincey
24 hours separate us from Frontier League Opening Day baseball and my schedule is clear to make sure I can follow as much action on the field as I possibly can.
Starting early Friday morning, you’ll be able to get acquainted with my daily coverage of the games, on top of the usual news and transactions writing I’ve been offering you for the bast two months and a half.
For the best coverage of the Frontier League, I highly recommend you subscribe to my Instagram page where I am very active in the little stories I make daily, but also my Twitter page.
Before we go further, this morning:
- If you haven’t already, please check out my interview with Patrick Scalabrini, manager for Équipe Québec. We’ll be doing weekly updates from the road and talk baseball.
- I also released this interview with C/1B Brian Parreira of the Joliet Slammers, a very cool dude who’s now fully healthy and could put up some nice numbers for his club:
NEWS
- The Florence Y’alls are seeking a business partner for the naming rights of their ballpark.
PRESS REVIEW
The Southern Illinois Miners focus on contact
Bucky Dent of the Southern Illinoisan writes about the Miners offensive plans in 2021:
Launch angle. Exit velocity. Elevate to celebrate.
Miners manager/COO Mike Pinto has heard of all those sayings. To those, he has another one to add.
“Put the ball in play,” he said Monday at the team’s media day in Rent One Park. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can do that. That will wear a team down. It bodes well for a lot of victories.”
…..
“I’ve played on both kinds of teams,” Earley said. “I can tell you the toughest team to play is the one that’s making contact, putting pressure on the defense all the time. Good teams see a lot of pitches, always seem to have a runner aboard and can frustrate a good pitcher.
“It’s kind of an irritating feeling to play a team like that. When you put the ball in play, you give yourself a chance. I think we have the kind of team that can do that.”
Evansville Otters going straight for the title
Tristate Homepage has a small report on the Evansville Otters who, under manager Andy McCauley, think they have a good chance of winning the title in 2021:
Manager Andy McCauley says the goal is to win the Frontier League championship. McCauley says, “Taking a year off, it kind of leaves a lot of more question marks than you know what you’re getting on a normal year. This is a younger league. Some younger players without the extensive resume. So, we it’s a little bit more of the unknown but our goal every year is to win a championship. Make the playoffs, win a championship
The Boulders have a new identity
Eugene Rapay writes about the kind of team the New York Boulders will be fielding, the three returning players coming back from the 2019 edition and the high number of local players.
“Our lineup is extremely talented and extremely balanced,” Stanton said. “We have power. We have speed all over the place and athletic players everywhere. We’re going to be running the bases non-stop. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
“The idea is, for pitchers, to just keep us in the game. Don’t fly the plane into the mountain, don’t burn the house down, and give our hitters a puncher’s chance at all times because we’re one swing away. The pitchers have had to face these guys all spring, and I keep reminding them that this is the best lineup they will face all year, so their stuff will translate better against the other teams.”
The Crushers excited to get finally get going
Michael Fitzpatrick of The Morning Journal was at Media Day yesterday for the Lake Erie Crushers and he was able to talk to manager Dan Rohn about the excitement he sees from his players:
“There’s a lot of excitement,” Rohn said of his 2021 roster.
For an exhibition game early in the week, the Crusher players were in the clubhouse by noon for a 7 p.m. first pitch.
“They were anxious to get on the field and get going. I’m usually the first one at the ballpark. I get here today at 8:15 this morning, and half my team is already here. It’s kind of nice. They are excited to play,” Rohn said.
Denis Phipps just keeps playing the game
Mark Singelais of the Times Union has a profile of 1B/DH Denis Phipps, 35, who had a taste of the big league life and is now the oldest player to have worn a ValleyCats uniform:
Out of affiliated baseball since 2014, Phipps has instead made a living in independent leagues, often teaming up with Incaviglia. He played for Incaviglia for a pair of American Association teams in Texas — Laredo from 2014 to 2016 and Sugar Land in 2018 and 2019.
They won league titles together in 2015 and 2018.
“I mean, he’s like a dad to me,” Phipps said. “He’s always been good to me and he told me, if you need a job and you have a job, you can come with me anytime you want.”
Équipe Québec
May 25: Released INF Chris Thibideau who was hurt (hamstring) on Monday while playing against the Gateway Grizzlies.
Evansville Otters
May 25: Released RHP Matt Cronin, LHP Neil Lang, 1B Montrell Marshall, and INF Jackie Urbaez.
May 24: Placed 3B Andretty Cordero on the inactive list.
May 24: Signed 2B J.R. Davis after he was released from the Washington Wild Things, 3 days ago. He provides depth up the middle and can give you a professional at-bat, although he hasn’t produced an OPS over .800 since 2016 when he was in the lower levels of the St-Louis Cardinals organization.
Florence Y’alls
May 25: Released OF Mitch Piatnik, INF Andres Rios, and LHP Hayden Wheeler.
Gateway Grizzlies
May 25: Traded for catcher Eric Jones with the Schaumburg Boomers for a player to be named later. With Nick Oddo firmly entrenched behind the plate for the Boomers, it made sense for them to trade him, but the Grizzlies are just as stacked at the catcher position as they are, so expect him to share catching duties and play in the corner infield / outfield. I really like his bat out of Davidson College; makes contact, gets on base and has pop. He’s hit everywhere he’s been, except in a very small sample with the Minnesota Twins in 2019.
Joliet Slammers
May 24: Released RHP Nick Porretto.
Lake Erie Crushers
May 24: Signed RHP Ean Walda, a 6'3", 215 lbs , relief pitcher who was with the United Shore Professional Baseball League in 2020. He has been linked to a couple of Frontier League teams in the past few days. Unfortunately, no other information is available on him.
May 24: Released RHP Tyler Vogel.
New York Boulders
May 25: Released catcher Hunter Hisky and RHP Alex Fishberg.
Schaumburg Boomers
May 25: Traded catcher Eric Jones to the Gateway Grizzlies for a player to be named later. See the Gateway Grizzlies section, above, for info on him.
May 25: Released LHP Tyler Peccioli, LHP Jesse Remington and RHP Tyler Tomaka.
Sussex County Miners
May 24: Signed catcher Willie Estrada, a right-handed batter from Puerto Rico and about whom I can find very little. Let’s see what he brings to the table when action begins tomorrow!
May 24: Signed RHP Gavin Sonnier, selected 8th overall in the Frontier League Draft a couple of weeks ago. Very little info is available on him, but he must have impressed in camp to make the Opening Day roster. From the small simple of stats I could find, his problem in the past was the large amount of walks he allowed. Does that mean he has high velocity, but can’t find the plate? Don’t know, just making conversation until we begin the season. Have fun, Gavin!
May 24: Sent RHP Cody Mincey to Kansas City of the American Association to complete a previous trade. This is obviously a huge loss for their bullpen, we they still have a mighty pitching staff and offense that can sustain such a blow.
Washington Wild Things
May 25: Signed INF Andrew Czech, a left-handed batter who has a very impressive resume in College and summer baseball leagues since 2017: .357/.476/.665. He has played exclusively 1B, so expected him to see a lot of time there if he produces at the plate. Later today, I’ll watch their game from yesterday against the Black Sox to see him action. Know what he did during that game to introduce himself to his teammates? 2–4, HR, 2B, BB, 3 RBIs. Wow, welcome home, SIR.
May 25: Released catcher Dom DeRenzo.
Windy City Thunderbolts
May 25: Released LHP Doug Domnarski, INF Manny Jefferson and RHP Jeremy Orbik.
