Mizzou in the Minors: 2011 in Review

Brett Nicholas, Spokane Indians

CLASS AAA

♦ Brock Bond (06-07): Fresno Grizzlies (Pacific Coast League) San Francisco Giants organization

• Brock suffered a concussion in a Grizzlies game in early May and was on the disabled list the rest of the season.

♦ Evan Frey (05-07) Reno Aces (AAA Pacific Coast League) Arizona Diamondbacks organization

Frey was promoted from AA Mobile on 5/4.  

♦ Kyle Gibson (07-09: Rochester Red Wings (Independent League) Minnesota Twins organization

Gibson's last game was July 22nd.  He underwent Tommy John surgery in September. 

Andrew Johnston
Colorado SkySox

♦ Andrew Johnston (05): Colorado Springs SkySox (Pacific Coast League) Colorado Rockies organization.

Johnston was placed on the Reserved list for 10 days in June.  He struggled in 2011, posting a 8.29 ERA

CLASS AA

♦ Justin James (02-03): AAA Nashville Sounds (International League) Milwaukee Brewers organization

James was moved down from Nashville to the GCL Brewers (rookie Gulf Coast League) on 8/13, then up to the AA Huntsville Stars on 8/21, and finally back up to AAA Nashville at the beginning of September.

♦ Ryan Lollis (06-09) Richmond Flying Squirrels (Eastern League) San Francisco Giants organization

Lollis played for the High-A San Jose Giants for 14 games early in the season, then spent most of the year with the Augusta GreenJackets (South Atlantic League); promoted to Double-A on September 1st. 

 Lollis was named the GreenJackets' Player of the Month for June.

CLASS A

♦ Tyler Clark (08-10): West Michigan Whitecaps (Midwest League) Detroit Tigers organization

Promoted from the Gulf Coast League Tigers (Gulf Coast League) on 8/19.  His ERA improved from 3.71 in the Rookie League to 2.89 in the Low-A Midwest League.

 ♦ Trevor Coleman (07-09): High Desert Mavericks (California League) Seattle Mariners organization

Coleman was briefly promoted to the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers (Pacific League) for a couple of weeks at the beginning of July to fill an organizational need for a catcher.

♦ Zach Hardoin (10-11) Gulf Coast League Astros (Gulf Coast League) Houston Astros organization

Hardoin had a 4.70 ERA in 15-1/3 innings of middle relief.

♦ Mike Liberto (09-10) Wilmington Blue Rocks (Carolina League) Kansas City Royals organization

Liberto played 15 games with the Low-A Kane County Cougars at the beginning of the season, then played 26 games with the Rookie League Idaho Falls Chukars (Pioneer League) until he was promoted August 8th to Wilmington.  Liberto led the Chukars in playing five different defensive positions, including second base, shortstop, third base, first base and even an inning on the mound as a pitcher.

♦ Phil McCormick (08-11) Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (Northwest League) SF Giants organization

McCormick spent the summer pitching middle and set-up relief, a role he had become quite familiar with at Mizzou.  He continued his success, posting a 1.23 ERA in 19-1/3 innings pitched - good enough to get him a brief end-of-the-season promotion to the Augusta Greenjackets.

• Phil McCormick, added to the Augusta roster a day earlier, celebrated his 23rd birthday by stranding the runners with a strikeout and a line-drive double play to kill the threat.

“I figured they sent me to Augusta for a reason,” said McCormick, who arrived too late to make the regular season roster and wasn’t sure if he would actually see any playing time until the GreenJackets clinched a playoff spot on the final day.

“I was prepared for this type of situation. That was my role in college, and I know how to come in and settle things down.” (Augusta Chronicle, 9/7)

♦ Brett Nicholas (10) Spokane Indians (Northwest League) Seattle Mariners organization

Nicholas was a leader on the Indians team this season (Nicholas knows How to Lead, MLB.com), posting a .277 BA and .451 Slugging %.  He's almost certain to be moved up in 2012 - whether to Hickory or High-A Myrtle Beach remains to be seen.  A good catcher is always valued by an organization.    Video of Brett Nicholas HR

♦ Aaron Senne (07-10) spent the 2011 season on the disabled list (Elbow surgery impedes progress of Senne, Columbia Tribune).  He was listed on the roster of the Jamestown Jammers (New York-Penn League) Florida Marlins organization, but never played a game.

♦ Matt Stites (11) Eugene Emeralds (Northwest League) San Diego Padres organization

"While Rea was great and Quackenbush is only slightly against the rules, Stites deserves some attention for the dominant year he had out of the pen. A 17th-round pick out of Mizzou, the righty allowed only 23 runners in 32.2 innings of work for a better WHIP than Quackenbush. The move to the pen also led to a 36:8 strikeout-to-walk ratio, a better K-rate than he had shown in college." (madfriars.com)

Nick Tepesch
Hickory Crawdads

♦ Nick Tepesch (08-10) Hickory Crawdads (Southern Atlantic League) Texas Rangers organization

Tepesch had a good year with Hickory: 7-5 4.03 ERA.  At times he was spectacular on the mound, grabbing a lot of attention.  He'll almost certainly move up to High-A Myrtle Beach for 2012, where he'll have to prove he can continue to be productive and occasionally spectacular at the next highest level.  If he shines at High-A, he could even find himself at AA Frisco at some point in 2012.

♦ Rick Zagone (06-08): Frederick Keys (High-A Carolina League) Baltimore Orioles organization

After 19  appearances with the AA Bowie Bay Sox (4-6, 4.84 ERA), on August 5th Zagone was moved back down to the High-A Frederick Keys (4-2, 2.97 ERA), a team he has spent parts of the past three seasons with.  At the end of his 4th season in the minor leagues, even Rick has to be wondering if he's become a minor league fixture, just waiting for the Orioles organization to decide they need his spot for someone else.  The best thing that could happen for him now would be a trade or a release and then to be picked up by a different organization, where he can make a last try at breaking out of that mold.

INDEPENDENT LEAGUES

♦ Brad Buehler (08-11) Gateway Grizzlies (Frontier League) 

Buehler was released from the Grizzlies on 6/25

♦ Andy Shipman (03) Kansas City T-Bones (American Association)

32 games, 31-1/3 innings, 11 saves

♦ Doug Mathis (05): Joined the Samsung Lions in Korea in mid-July.

MINOR LEAGUE COACHING

♦ Landon Brandes (2000): Minor League Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, Washington Nationals

♦ Torre Tyson (95-98): Minor League Defensive Coordinator, NY Yankees

♦ Jayce Tingler (00-03) Texas Rangers' Director of Instruction for the Dominican and Arizona Leagues.

If you have further information about any of these players, or corrections to my info, please e-mail me at simmonsfield@hotmail.com