Mizzou Baseball in the Minors & Majors

MU in the Minors

■ Twins pitching prospect Kyle Gibson (07-09) has been promoted to AA after destroying the FSL. 4-1, 1.87ERA, 43.1IP, 12BB, 40K for Ft. Myers (twitter, by way of RockMNation)

Gibson will be with the New Britain Rock Cats of the Eastern League.

■ Mobile's Roemer, Frey named pitcher, player of the month (blog.al.com)

Mobile outfielder Evan Frey (05-08) and starting pitcher Wes Roemer had hot starts to the season and were recently recognized by the Arizona Diamondbacks as the organizational player and pitcher of the month.

Frey, in his second season with the BayBears, reached base at a solid .396 clip in the season's first month while pacing the BayBears with a .337 average. Among the team leaders in stolen bases, Frey swiped five bags in April while cracking four doubles and three triples.

Playing center and right fields, Frey, a former Missouri standout, went without an error in the first month and recorded two outfield assists.

■ Augusta's closer shuts the door (Augusta Chronicle)

The Suns hurt themselves later in the game when the GreenJackets attempted a double steal with Juan Martinez at first and Ryan Lollis (06-09) at second and one out in the bottom of the sixth.

After Evan Crawford struck out swinging, Suns catcher Adrian Neito fired toward second base for a potential inning-ending double play but instead threw the ball into center field to allow Lollis to score.

Martinez also scored when center fielder Eury Perez bobbled the ball for two runs on two errors in one play.

Sharlon Schoop and Lollis, who both turned in two-hit efforts, delivered back-to-back extra-base hits in the bottom of the seventh inning for the difference-making runs.

[Featured photo of Ryan Lollis]

■ Andrew Johnston (05) is putting up some impressive numbers with the Triple-A Colorado SpringsSky Sox bullpen:

10 Games, 11 IP, 3 BB, 6 SO, ERA of 0.00

■ Hudson hacks in 7-2 win (OurSportsCentral.com)

LF Kyle Hudson had three hits, 3B Billy Rowell drove home three runs and starter Rick Zagone (06-08) picked up a well deserved first win as the Keys defeated Salem 7-2 on Monday night at Lewis-Gale Field.
. . .
Zagone worked through trouble retiring the clean-up hitter Will Middlebrooks with two-on and two-out in a 5-2 game in the fifth inning to write his name in the win column.

■ Contrary to reports during the off-season, Greg Folgia (07-09) is apparently NOT being used a catcher in the Cleveland Indians' minor league organization. His stats for 2010 show him primarily playing Left Field.

■ High Desert powers past Giants, 15-3 (OurSportsCentral.com)

The Mavericks quickly jumped in front with four runs in the top of the second inning against King. Poythress led off with a double to the fence in center field before Scott Savastano was hit by a pitch. Two batters later, Denny Almonte delivered an RBI single and then Trevor Coleman (07-09) ripped a double to deep left center field to bring home two more runs. After Diaz struck out, Kyle Saeger came through with a run-scoring double to make it 4-0.
. . .
High Desert kept the pressure on in the top of the sixth sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring seven runs on seven hits - including six runs before an out was recorded. Seager brought home the first run of the inning with an RBI double off of Odle before consecutive RBI singles from Colina and Tenbrink. Poythress then stepped to the plate and belted a three-run homer to right field off of Quinowski to extend the lead to 14-1. Then with two outs, Coleman came through with an RBI double to score the Mavericks' 15th and final run of the night.

■ Grizzlies catcher Buster Posey, infielder Brock Bond(06-07) and outfielder Joe Borchard also had superb weeks. (OurSportsCentral.com, 5/10)

Bond batted .406 (13-for-32) and is in the midst of a team-high 16-game on-base streak.

■ Hammerheads get extra help from bullpen in 12 inning win (OurSportsCentral.com)

Daniel Pertusati grounded out to the right side of the infield, moving Ontiveros to third. That brought Hunter Mense (04-06) to the plate, looking to add to a night in which he had reached base with a double, a walk, and by being hit by a pitch. This time, Mense drove the ball through the hole on the left side, scoring Ontiveros and starting the celebration on the field.

■ Minor League Roundup: San Diego Padres (bleacherreport.com)

Starting pitcher Nathan Culp (04-06) was hit hard in two starts, prompting a demotion to AA, where he has struggled in three more starts for a total ERA of over six.

■ The Stats page and the Transactions page at the Augusta Green Jackets website show Kyle Mach (06-09) has been moved on and off the GreenJackets roster and in and out of Extended Spring Training over the past month. He has managed to compile a .250 batting average in 8 AB with Augusta.

■ Monday in the Minors (Kansas City Star)

Aaron Crow (06-08) was roughed up Sunday to the tune of seven earned runs in five innings in a 9-0 loss at Tulsa.

Kevin Goldstein, who covers the minors for Baseball Prospectus, may have set some fans into a panic when he tweeted this Sunday:

“How does #Royals RHP Aaron Crow face 26 Double-A batters with that stuff and not strike one out? #hebafflesme”

Crow’s raw numbers aren’t outstanding. He has a 4.54 ERA in seven starts with 21 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings.

MU in the Independent Leagues

• Erik Dessau (04-05) is on the roster of the Calgary Vipers of the Golden League

• Justin James (02-03) is on the pitching for the Kansas City T-Bones of the Northern League

• Andy Shipman (03) is on the roster of the Gary Southshore Rail Cats of the Northern League

MU in the Majors

■ Mathis delivers special gift on Mother's Day (mlb.com)

There was a moment in Sunday's game when Rangers reliever Doug Mathis (05) had to step off the mound and compose himself.

Maybe it was the pink bats that Royals hitters were using against him at home plate or just the whole Mother's Day atmosphere.

But when your mother calls you the day before and tells you she is cancer-free on the seventh anniversary of being diagnosed with breast cancer, well ...

"My mother has been through a lot," Mathis said. "This is the day where everybody wears pink so it was hard to get her off my mind,"
. . .
"It's always good to get a win in the big leagues but Mother's Day is special," Mathis said. "I'm always thinking of her but especially on days like today when we're wearing the pink ribbons and they're using the pink bats."

Jan Mathis was first diagnosed when Doug was a freshman in college back in 2003. The cancer stayed in remission for three years but then she had a flare-up during Spring Training in 2007. She went through another round of treatment and so far so good.

"She's completely healthy," Mathis said. "She beat it again. She called me [Saturday] and told me it's been seven years and she is healthy. That's great news."

■ Kinsler talks his way into the lineup (mlb.com)

Manager Ron Washington wanted to give Ian Kinsler (03) a day off on Wednesday. But Kinsler, who was activated off the disabled list on Friday, talked his way into the lineup.

"I just kept pushing back," Kinsler said. "He told me I was going to get the first day off in Oakland and I asked if we could push it back to [Wednesday]. He said yes. Last night I said could we talk about it and he said yes. We talked about it and I said I was fine."

Washington said he'll try to get Kinsler a game off in the upcoming homestand. The idea is to keep Kinsler fresh and healthy for the entire season. He missed the first four weeks of the season with a sprained right ankle.

■ Scherzer takes loss vs. Indians (rotoworld.com)

Max Scherzer (04-06) was handed a loss on Sunday after yielding five runs in five innings against the Indians.

Scherzer struck out four in the contest, but he also walked three, threw a wild pitch, and gave up nine hits. Three awful outings in a row have ballooned Scherzer's ERA to 6.81, and he can't be trusted in any format at the moment. Watch closely to see how he does against the Red Sox later in the week to determine if he should be left active for the following week's games.

MU in the Coaching ranks

■ Former River Dogs manager Torre Tyson mentioned (web.minorleaguebaseball.com)

Take a rare glimpse behind the curtain, inside a batting cage near Pujols' home outside St. Louis. Early on a January morning, he arrives with a quarter-size blister on his right hand, yet he pulls on a batting glove and begins hitting. After a few swings, his batting practice pitcher, Yankees Class-A manager Torre Tyson (95-98), who lives near St. Louis and whose father, Mike, played for the Cardinals, notices blood seeping through the glove. Pujols takes it off, wraps the hand in athletic tape and pulls on a new glove. Within a few swings, there is more blood.

It is not Tyson's job to offer opinions. His instructions are to throw the ball hard, down the middle, for as many swings as Pujols needs. He feeds Albert roughly 125 pitches every morning but Sunday. Tyson has been doing this for three winters, since he and Pujols met at the public facility, and the two have developed an easy familiarity. So after two blood-soaked batting gloves and a roll of athletic tape, Tyson speaks up. "Albert, you know you don't have to keep hitting," he says. "We can stop now."

Pujols fixes him with one of his more serious stares and replies, "You know what I'm going to say, don't you?" Tyson knows. It's the same thing Pujols says every time a teammate or Tyson suffers a minor injury or faces some other bit of unpleasantness. He says it when Tyson shows up at 7 in the morning and says his arm is hanging like a snapped branch, and he says it this time: "Would you play if it were the seventh game of the World Series?"

"But, Albert," Tyson continues, stretching the limits of his job description, "it's a Monday in January. It's not the seventh game of the World Series."

In response, Pujols pulls off the bloody batting glove and the bloody tape. He rewraps the hand, puts on another glove and gets back into the cage. Tyson shrugs and goes back to throwing, hard and down the middle.