Top 9 MU Baseball Stories of 2011: MU in the Majors & Minors

9. Brock Bond & Aaron Senne sidelined for 2011 with injuries

The pair of promising minor leaguers found themselves on the shelf this season.   Bond played in 19 games and then suffered a concussion in a game and never got back to being able to play.  Senne had Tommy John surgery at the beginning of the season and was out for the year.  

8. Doug Mathis, World Traveler

Mathis, who had spent part of the previous three seasons up and down with the Texas Rangers, spent time in the minor leagues of the Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's during the season, finally signing on for a stint with the Samsung Lions in Korea.  Upon his return from Korea, he was signed to a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox on December 2nd.

7. Max Scherzer pitches in the AL Playoffs

Max had a good year with the Detroit Tigers (15-9, 4.43 ERA), helping take them to the AL Central Championship.  He pitched great in a game against the Yankees in the ALDS (1.23 ERA), and then stumbled in the ALCS against Texas (9.72 ERA, 8.1 IP)

6. Former Mizzou Catchers contribute

Former MU catcher Nicholas was featured in an milb.com story for his leadership skills with the Spokane Indians, an important characteristic for a catcher on his way up the ladder.  Trevor Coleman had a good season with the High-A High Desert Mavericks (Mariners organization), but the highlight of his season was being called up to AAA Tacoma for 10 days as a temporary fill-in.  

5. Nick Tepesch makes a splash in  his first full season

Nick Tepesch spent a solid year with the Hickory Crawdads (Texas Rangers organization) of the High-A Southern Atlantic League.  He was the Rangers' June Pitcher of the Month, 

4. Ian Kinsler in the World Series.  Again

For the second straight year, Ian Kinsler played a key role in helping the Texas Rangers make it to the World Series.  The Rangers failed to win the crown again, but Kinsler had a much better series this time around, earning a lot of attention for his performance in Game 2

3. Four Tigers drafted; 3 begin their pro careers

Matt Stites (17th round, Padres), Phil McCormick (31st round, Giants), Conner Mach (46th round, Yankees), and Zach Hardoin (47th round, Astros) were all drafted.  Mach chose to return for his senior year with the Tigers, but the other three spent the summer putting up good numbers in the Rookie Leagues 

2. Kyle Gibson's fast-track to the Show delayed by injury

Kyle Gibson received a lot of press and a lot of hype for his performance in Spring Training and then with the AAA Rochester Red Wings in the early weeks of the season.  Most experts predicted he would be a mid-to-late season call-up to the Minnesota Twins.  But then his numbers started to drop, and then the other shoe dropped.  In early September, Gibson underwent Tommy John surgery and is hoping to return to the mound in time for Spring Training 2013.

1. Aaron Crow makes Major League debut with the KC Royals

After a layoff of more than year between his first draft and finally signing with the Kansas City Royals, and then a rough and disappointing first full year in the minors, Aaron Crow grabbed the attention of baseball fans and the Royals' management in 2011 Spring Training, earning a spot on the opening day roster.  Crow became an early leader in the Kansas City bullpen, so much so that he was chosen to join the American League team in the All-Star Game.  Altogether, an impressive rookie year.

MU Alum Gets Start for Game 1 of Championship Series

♦ Samsung, SK clash in Korean Series for second straight year (mcot.net)

With the Samsung Lions and SK Wyverns set to square off in this year's Korean Series, it will be deja vu during the championship round for the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

The top-seeded Lions will host the defending champion Wyverns at 6 p.m. Tuesday here in Daegu, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, to kick off the best-of-seven series. The two clubs also met in the Korean Series last year, and the Wyverns swept the Lions in four games to claim their third title in four years.

Right-hander Doug Mathis, a former Major League Baseball pitcher, will start the first game for the Lions. The Wyverns will counter with lefty Ko Hyo-jun on the mound.

Mizzou Baseball in . . . Korea ?!?!

Former Tiger Doug Mathis is now apparently a member of the Samsung Lions. In Korea.

■ New foreign faces (koreabaseball.blogspot.com)

Teams have added a few new imports to their rosters in recent weeks. SK canned Jim Magrane and brought in righty Brian Gordon, the Lions ditched struggling slugger Ryan Garko and joined the other KBO teams by bringing in another foreign arm with Doug Mathis, and former part time Angels/Pirates reliever Chris Bootcheck was brought in to replace Brian Corey in Busan with the Lotte Giants.

■ From @mykbo on twitter (July 13): It's official, Samsung has waived Ryan Garko and signed Doug Mathis. Remember, you heard it here first! ;-)

■ More about the Samsung Lions:

• Samsung Lions on Wikipedia
  
  
• Official Samsung Lions website (English version)

Mizzou Baseball in the Minors -- Mathis Again

■ Athletics sign Doug Mathis (mlbtraderumors.com)

The Athletics have signed Doug Mathis to a minor league deal according to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League transactions page. He signed a minor league deal with the Giants back in April, but apparently became a free agent at some point since then.

Mathis, 28, made 13 starts for San Francisco's Triple-A affiliate and posted a 3.60 ERA in 65 innings. He struck out 7.5 batters per nine innings while walking 4.3 per nine. Mathis appeared in 45 games (six starts) for the Rangers from 2008-2010, pitching to a 4.84 ERA in 87 1/3 innings. The Athletics have a full five-man rotation on the disabled list right now (Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden, Rich Harden, Brandon McCarthy, and Tyson Ross), so Mathis will give them some much needed depth.

Mizzou Baseball in the Minors

■ Fresno's Mathis unhittable for six (milb.com)

The feeling wasn't there, but the results were. And for grizzled veteran and Grizzlies starter Doug Mathis, that's all that mattered.

Mathis battled through command issues to twirl six no-hit innings Monday, though Triple-A Fresno lost its grasp on a 3-0 lead and eventually fell in 14 innings, 5-4, to the host Memphis Redbirds.

"Any time you play extra innings and lose," Mathis said, "it's tough."

Even more so when the starter doesn't allow a single hit two-thirds of the way through what was supposed to be a nine-inning game. Mathis retired the first 13 batters he faced Monday before Matt Carpenter reached on first baseman Brett Pill's fielding error. Mathis also plunked a batter in the fifth and walked one in the sixth.

"It was kind of weird. I was struggling to get ahead of guys," the 27-year-old right-hander said, "but I made a pitch when I had to."

MU in the Minors: Mathis signs

■ Tribe adds pitching depth, signs Mathis (mlb.com)

The Indians continued to add to their pitching depth on Wednesday, signing free-agent pitcher Doug Mathis to a Minor League contract. The deal includes an invite to attend Spring Training with the big league club.
. . .
Excluding a forgettable outing on May 14 in Toronto, where Mathis was charged with eight earned runs over just 1 1/3 innings, the righty had a 3.00 ERA out of the Rangers' bullpen. His second stint with Texas in July consisted of four scoreless innings.

Mizzou in the Majors: Mathis released by Rangers

■ Rangers cut three (NewsOK.com)

The Texas Rangers have sent infielder Esteban German and right-handers Doug Mathis and Brandon McCarthy outright to the minor leagues, and the trio have refused the assignments and become free agents.

Mizzou in the Majors

■ Mathis keeping eye on World Series (White Mountain Independent)

Mathis is scheduled to depart for winter ball in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday.

“I’ve never played winter ball,” he said. “I was supposed to play last year but it didn’t work out. My arm wasn’t feeling that great. But this year I’m going down to work on some stuff.”

And he has a couple of things to work on as he looks to get back to the majors and remain there.

“I had an up and down year, kind of inconsistent,” he said. “I’m going to work on my stuff and correct some mistakes. That’s the biggest thing I’m going down there for. The bottom line is it’s a good competition level. There are a lot of big league guys from the Dominican Republic playing down there and a couple of my teammates are going. As it gets closer to spring training the talent level picks up.”

Mizzou in the Majors

■ ShowLo honoring Mathis Friday (wmicentral.com)

Show Low High School will hold a ceremony retiring Doug Mathis' No. 17 jersey at halftime of its varsity football home game with Payson at 7 p.m. Friday. Mathis, who pitches in the Texas Rangers organization, will be on hand and is expected to sign autographs before the game.

"He made it to the pro level which doesn't happen very often for somebody from here," said Show Low varsity baseball coach David Nikolaus.

The left-hander has pitched with the Rangers parts of the past two seasons and is on their 40-man roster but is not pitching in the World Series.

Mizzou in the Majors 2010: Doug Mathis

Doug Mathis, Texas Rangers

Doug Mathis MLB.com player page and stats

Doug Mathis' season can be summed up in these numbers:

Texas Rangers - 8 appearances, 4/11 - 5/14

Oklahoma City Redhawks - 9 appearances, 5/21 - 7/1

Texas Rangers - 1 appearance, 7/6

Oklahoma City - 2 appearances, 7/11-16

Texas Rangers - 3 appearances, 7/20-24

Oklahoma City - 7 appearances, 8/7 - 9/7

Texas Rangers - called back up on 9/28, no appearances

ERA with Rangers: 6.05

ERA with RedHawks: 5.56

■ Mid-season grades: Bullpen (HomeOnTheRangers.com, 7/8/2010)

To be honest, I almost forgot Doug Mathis had been a bullpen cog for a good portion of the first half. But that’s probably the way it should be since he posted a 6.98 ERA and 1.97 WHIP. He pitched better than that last season, but he really is just a replacement level arm and he will find it harder and harder to make any kind of contribution with the Rangers going forward.

Quotes & Notes: Free Tex & Cool Max

■ In response to a question asked on one of the message boards, I checked with Josh Murray of the MU Media Relations office and learned that MU Baseball broadcasts by KTGR will once again be streamed FREE online in 2009.

■ Max Scherzer (04-06) was the star of the show at the Arizona Diamondbacks' Hometown Tour stop in Show Low High School in Arizona, according to the White Mountain Independent:

This was actually Scherzer's second trip around the state on the Home Town Tour, which gives fans of all ages across the state a chance to mingle and get autographs with their heroes. Scherzer said interacting with the youngsters is what makes these events fun. "It's great because you get to come out here and really see fans that are growing up as Diamondbacks' fans," Scherzer said. "That's special to see because they watch you on TV and they really look up to us and to go and shake their hands and go to their schools and really get to have an effect on their lives, it's a really cool moment for me."

An interesting coincidence: Show Low is the High School that boast another MU alum now in the major leagues: Doug Mathis (05)



■

Doug Mathis a Ranger once again

As we reported earlier this week, Doug Mathis was given his release from the Texas Rangers, but rumor had it that they would turn around quickly and re-sign him to a minor league contract.

The Dallas News confirms the turn of events today:

The Rangers have re-signed RHP Doug Mathis to a minor league contract and invited him to major league spring training. The club made Mathis a free agent last week when it did not tender him a major league contract.

Doug Mathis now a free agent

Former MU Tiger Doug Mathis, who spent part of 2008 with the Texas Rangers in Arlington and part of the year on the disabled list, was not tendered a Major League contract for the coming season, making him a free agent.


From MLB.com:

The Rangers have declined to tender a Major League contract to Doug Mathis and have instead made him a free agent.

The Rangers will likely re-sign Mathis to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training. The move leaves the Rangers with 39 players on the Major League roster. Mathis was 2-1 with a 6.85 ERA in eight games, including four starts, with the Rangers last year. He did not pitch after June 15, instead going on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation.

MLB.com predicted this move last week, with an explanation about the Rangers' rationale:

The Rangers aren't planning to let anybody get away by not tendering them a contract. But club officials said they might non-tender a player and then re-sign him to a Minor League contract. The Rangers did that five years ago with outfielder Jason Tyner.

The move would free up a spot for the Rangers on their 40-man roster. Right now, the roster is full. Two possible candidates are pitchers Willie Eyre and Doug Mathis, who are both coming off arm injuries.