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86 SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD

BY WILLIAM MONTGOMERY

Times Herald-Record

Teammates for three years at Western Kentucky University, Matt Rice

and Kes Carter will spend at least one more season together after both

were drafted by the Tampa Bays Rays and assigned to the Hudson Valley

Renegades.

College teammates reunited on Western Kentucky stars pursuing MLB dreams together

KES CARTER FILE

Age: 21

Hometown: Memphis, Tenn.

Position: Center field

2011 draft: No. 56 overall,

supplemental round

College highlights: As a junior

in 2011, was first team All-Sun

Belt for the second straight

season. Batted .344 with 17doubles, three triples and

seven home runs in 53 games.

Stole eight bases and was

caught only once.

Notes: Selected No. 56

overall in 2011, Carter was

the highest draft pick in WKU

history. His signing bonus was

$625,000, as reported by

Baseball America. Drafted in

the 43rd round by the FloridaMarlins out of high school in

2008. Won a Tennessee state

high school championship with

Houston High in 2004 as a

freshman.

MATT RICE FILE

Age: 22

Hometown: Johnson City, Tenn.

Position: Catcher2011 draft: No. 300 overall,

ninth round

College highlights: Western

Kentucky career records for hits

(309) and RBI (223). First team

All-Sun Belt and a semifinalist

for the Johnny Bench Award

(given to the nation’s top col-

lege catcher) in both his junior

and senior seasons.

Academic highlights: 2011Capital One Academic All-

American of the Year. WKU’s

2011 Student-Athlete of the

year. Was candidate to become

WKU’s first Rhodes scholar.

Will Montgomery

Rice: Mr. Significant?

One year ago, Matt Rice wasMr. Irrelevant. Selected by the

New York Yankees with the finalpick, No. 1,525, in the 2010 first-year player draft, he decided toreturn to Western Kentucky Uni-versity for his senior season.

A hot-hitting catcher for fouryears at WKU, Rice finished witha career batting average of .372in 831 college at-bats. He also wasdurable behind the plate, havingstarted 109 of WKU’s 113 gamesthe past two seasons.

No slouch in the classroom,

Rice was named the 2011 Cap-ital One Academic All-Ameri-can of the Year by the CollegeSports Information Directorsof America after finishingwith a 4.00 GPA in mechanicalengineering.

“If we had any hard questionsthat needed to be answered,we’d go to Matt Rice,” Carterlaughed. “More times than not,he’d know the answer.”

Recruited by a number of IvyLeague schools, Rice certainly

had the grades to go that route.Instead, he decided that WKUoffered him a quality educationand a better chance to show-case his talent in the Sun BeltConference.

“I felt like I had the best op-portunity baseball-wise andacademically there,” he said.“Obviously the Ivy Leagueschools are very prestigiousacademic institutions, butbaseball has been my dreamsince I was a kid. I wantedto make sure I fulfilled thatdream and I felt like I wouldbe happy with myself if Igave myself the best opportu-nity to get to right here, play-ing professionally.”

Rice will have a big role withthe Renegades this season, ashe’ll be counted on for his bat

and for his ability to handle apitching staff.

“I’m still working on namesright now, so dealing with pitch-ers’ stuff is another task,” he

laughed. “It’s a learning process.You have to get to know newpitchers. I’ve been working in thebullpen with guys recently andthey all have outstanding stuff,which is exciting for our club.”

Carter: Rising star

Carter and Rice didn’t knowthey would be professional team-mates until Carter signed hiscontract Wednesday morningand was told to report to Fishkill,a 15-hour drive from his parents’home in the Nashville suburb ofBrentwood, Tenn.

“I don’t even know where I’mstaying yet. I guess I’ll figurethat out down the road,” he said.“But I’m happy to be here.”

A left-handed hitter andthrower, Carter is a five-toolplayer. Some scouts have com-

pared his ceiling to that of for-mer Angels and Cardinals cen-ter fielder Jim Edmonds.

Carter’s potential drew scoutsfrom far and wide to WKU

games, which in turn gave play-ers like Rice greater exposure.

“I told him I need to buy hima beer because he had all kindsof heat coming in, all kinds ofscouts, scouting directors, andpeople coming in to watch himplay,” Rice said of Carter. “Itwas good for our whole team.Western had five guys draftedand an additional one sign. At amid-major school, that’s a pret-ty good year. I would say a lot ofthat was because Kes was bring-ing them in.”

Next stop: Bowling Green

The next highest rung on Tam-pa Bay’s minor league ladder isthe long-season Class A team inBowling Green, Ky. Carter andRice know Bowling Green well,as it’s also home to WKU. Hav-

ing won all three games playedat Bowling Green Ballpark thelast two seasons – defeatingin-state rivals Kentucky twiceand Louisville once – Rice and

Carter hope someday to reportthere again as teammates, butthis time as professionals.

“When I first heard my namecalled by the Rays, I said ‘Wow,Bowling Green Hot Rods,’ ” Cart-er said. “But I’m not trying tostay there all my career. That’sthe goal in professional baseball,to go as high as you can go. I thinkit would be pretty cool to go backthere and bring back more fansthan would normally be there.”

“I have some good vibes inthat stadium and in that city,”said Rice. “I would love to getback there. Bowling Green is agreat city. All kinds of support,not only for the Hot Rods, butthe college teams, too. It’s a re-ally good town.“

[email protected]

Renegades catcher Matt Rice, left, was reunited with his Western Kentucky University teammate KesCarter, right, on the Hudson Valley team. Rice was drafted in the ninth round and Carter was selectedNo. 56 overall. The Renegades are beginning their 18th season at Dutchess Stadium with the homeopener scheduled for Monday against the Staten Island Yankees.

RENEGADES



SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD 87

FISHKILL — Andrew Leary thinks

he’ll be ready for the crowds

and the attention this summer,

his first stint in professional

baseball.

In college, he played in a three-

ring circus.Leary, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound

right-handed pitcher, played his

junior and senior seasons at

San Diego State in 2009 and

2010, respectively. San Diego

State’s head coach is Hall of

Famer Tony Gwynn and Stephen

Strasburg pitched there before

being drafted No. 1 overall by the

Washington Nationals in 2009.

“The amount of publicity and

scouts was amazing,” Leary

said. “(Strasburg) would throw

a regular bullpen throughout the week and there would be

20 scouts just videotaping for a

regular day of practice. And we

had Tony Gwynn, so when you

get a combination of Strasburg

fans and Tony Gwynn fans, it’s

pretty unbelievable. We would

show up to an away game in

Utah and just checking in, there

would be a line of people want-

ing autographs.

“It was kind of fun, but then

again, if you’re...” Leary trailedoff. “You kind-of felt out of the

loop if you’re not really a top

guy. But it was fun. It was a good

experience.”

Starting rotation

Wilking Rodriguez got the

opening-day start Friday night in

Aberdeen and will be followed in

the rotation by Jason McEachern,

Jake Partridge, Andrew Bel-latti and Parker Markel. Justin

Woodrall, in his first year of

professional baseball after win-

ning a national championship in

football with Alabama as a strong

safety in 2009, will get a shot to

close games.

Homecoming for Cononie

For Charlie Cononie, Friday

night’s opening day game in

Aberdeen, Md., his first in a

professional uniform, was a bit of a homecoming.

“I went to Towson, which is

about 45 minutes away from

Aberdeen,” said Cononie, a 24th

round pick in the 2011 draft. “I’ll

probably have a decent amount

of family and coaches coming to

the game.”

A 6-foot-7, 210-pound righty,

Cononie also played basketball

in high school and at one point

nearly gave up on baseball to

focus solely on basketball. His

father advised him otherwise.

“I’m pretty glad that heconvinced me not to do that,”

Cononie laughed.

Thoughts on Hudson Valley

“In college, we played Hofstra

on Long Island. My Legion team

went up to Utica a few years ago.

But I’d never really been in this

area. I’ve been around New York,

but never in the actual city. But

I like the area. The people have

been very warm and really nice. I

like it here.” – Charlie Cononie.

“The stadium is amazing andI’ve heard good things about this

area. I heard they pack it out. I

heard it’s a great atmosphere, so

I’m ready to get it going.” – Kes

Carter.

“I was born and raised in

Johnson City in the lower Appala-

chians, but it’s very similar here

with the trees and the wilder-

ness. Very similar to back home.

I’d never been to New York. I

didn’t know what to expect.” –

Matt Rice“I love Oregon and it reminds

me of Oregon a lot. I like the

small-town atmosphere and it’s

really green. It’s got a good feel

to it. It’s different from what I’m

used to.” – Andrew Leary, Las

Vegas native.

Will Montgomery

Pro ball to be calmer for San Diego St. hurler


Times Herald-Record

FISHKILL — It’s a long way toTropicana Field from DutchessStadium – 1,218 miles, to be ex-act – but the recent draft picksassigned to the Hudson ValleyRenegades couldn’t be happi-er to belong to the Tampa BayRays organization as they em-bark on their own long journeyin professional baseball.

With a record 12 draft picksin the first two rounds of the2011 draft, the Rays are hop-ing they’ve stocked an alreadystacked farm system with evenmore talent.

“I was willing to go withanybody, but I’ve heard goodthings about their minorleague system. I’m ready to

get my career going,” said KesCarter, an center fielder draft-ed 56th overall.

According to USA Today’ssalary database, Tampa Bayhas the second-lowest majorleague payroll ($41,053,571).The Rays don’t spend wildlyon free agents. Instead, gener-al manager Andrew Friedmanhas decided to develop play-ers in the farm system. FormerRenegades Evan Longoria andWade Davis worked their wayup through the minors and wereoffered team-friendly contractslong before they were eligiblefor free agency that includedmultiple team options extend-ing the life of the deals.

The players are thrilled tobe a part of an up-and-com-

ing organization, even at theground floor.

“It’s extremely exciting.Their player development hasgot a great reputation through-out the league and that’s thetype of program you want tobe in,” said ninth-round selec-tion Matt Rice. “That’s the typeof organization you want to bein because we do need to learnand we’re still young and thereis a lot, especially for me, tolearn. I’ve already learned alot in practice in three daysfrom professional coaches.I’m excited.”

“You see how much this orga-nization has done with so littleand that just tells you that thereis great coaching,” 24th-roundpick Charlie Cononie said.

2011 SCHEDULE

Renegades

Players pleased to be in Rays organization

JEFF GOULDING/Times Herald-Record photos

Charlie Cononie

RENEGADES

76



76 SUNDAY, JULY 3, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD

RENEGADES

BY WILLIAM MONTGOMERY Times Herald-Record

FISHKILL — Jason McEach-ern pitched well enough forthe 2009 Hudson Valley Rene-gades that he seemed destinedto leave Dutchess Stadium inhis rearview mirror.

After a promotion to full-sea-son Class A Bowling Green of

the Midwest League, McEach-ern had a lackluster 2010 sea-son, going 4-11 with a 5.68 ERAin 120

1 ⁄ 3 innings.

After spring training, McEach-ern was told to stick around foradditional instruction in PortCharlotte, Fla. Assigned to Hud-son Valley in June, he’s back andhe’s better than ever.

Through his first three starts,McEachern is 2-0 with a 0.54ERA. He rarely lets opponentson the basepaths. McEachern isholding opponents to a .075 bat-ting average – he’s allowed fourhits and issued three walks – andhas struck out 19 in 16

2 ⁄ 3 innings.

McEachern can’t really puta finger on the turnaround. Hehasn’t added a new pitch. Hehasn’t tweaked his mechanics, ei-ther. Being back in the New York-Penn League certainly helps,as did a bit of inspiration fromRenegades pitching coach JackGiese as well as Marty DeMer-

ritt, pitching coach of the Princ-eton Rays, a Rookie-level team inthe Appalachian League.

“We worked real hard on fo-cusing on pitching,” McEach-ern said. “Forget everythingelse, zone in, look at the gloveand throw your pitch like youhave your whole life. Thathelped out huge with the men-tal part of the game.”

In his second start, againstBrooklyn June 24, McEachernpitched 6

2 ⁄ 3 innings of hitless

baseball. With his pitch countlimit set at 75, he was removedfrom the game after throwing74 pitches. Hudson Valley wenton to win, 5-1.

On Wednesday at Brooklyn,McEachern pitched five score-less innings, striking out 10 andallowing three hits. McEachern

got a no-decision, but the Ren-egades won, 1-0.

Just two days earlier, McEach-ern was named the New York-Penn League’s pitcher of theweek. His mother was the first

to hear the news, sending hima text message of congratula-tions. Prior to Wednesday’s startin Brooklyn, McEachern saidthe Renegades coaches also ap-plauded him on the award.

“It’s an honor; it really is,” hesaid.

McEachern, 20, was selectedin the 13th round of the 2008draft after winning 11 gamesand leading the state of NorthCarolina with 140 strikeoutsin his senior season at St. Ste-

phens High School in Hickory.He pitched well at Princeton in2008 and 2009, earning a pro-motion to Hudson Valley.

He doesn’t consider this year’sreassignment to Hudson Valleyas a demotion. For McEachern,it’s another chance to show hisstuff and start climbing the pro-

fessional ladder again.

“Everybody’s out here do-ing the same thing every day,going through the grind of mi-nor league baseball,” he said.“It’s just an awesome thing togo through. You’re living yourdream one day at a time.”

[email protected]

JASON MCEACHERN FILE

Age: 20

Hometown: Hickory, N.C.

Drafted: 13th round (383rd

overall) in 2008 draft out of St.

Stephens High School

2008: 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA in

nine games (25 innings) for

Princeton (Rookie)

2009: 0-0 with 1.06 ERA in

three starts (17 innings) for

Princeton; 2-3 with a 2.75 ERA

in 11 starts (47 strikeouts in

55 and2

⁄ 3 innings) after beingpromoted to Hudson Valley

(Short season A)

2010: 4-11 with 5.68 ERA in

27 games (1201 ⁄ 3 innings) for

Bowling Green (Long season A)

2011: 2-0 with 0.54 ERA in

three starts (162 ⁄ 3 innings) for

Hudson Valley. Leading New

York-Penn League in WHIP

(0.42), bating average against

(0.75) and fewest baserun-

ners per nine innings (5.40).

Named New York-Penn League

pitcher of the week June 27.

WEEK AHEAD

Monday: at Aberdeen, 7:05

p.m.

Tuesday: at Aberdeen, 7:05

p.m.

Wednesday: vs. Tri-City, 7:05

p.m. (Evan Longoria bobble-

head night)

Thursday: vs. Tri-City, 7:05

p.m. (Replica jerseys to first

1,500 fans 13 and older)

Friday: vs. Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.

(Postgame fireworks)

Saturday: at Lowell, 5:05 p.m.

Sunday: at Lowell, 5:05 p.m.

McEachern makes most of return After lacklusterMidwest stint,off to fast start

JOHN MEORE/For The Times Herald-Record

Hudson Valley Renegades starting pitcher Jason McEachern recently was named the New York-PennLeague’s pitcher of the week. So far this season, he is 2-0 with a 0.54 ERA.

“Everybody’s out here doing the same thing every day,

going through the grind of minor league baseball. It’s

just an awesome thing to go through. You’re living your

dream one day at a time.”

JASON MCEACHERNRenegades pitcher

SUNDAY JULY 3 2011 TIMES HERALD RECORD 77



SUNDAY, JULY 3, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD 77MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL


Times Herald-Record

The Times Herald-Recordtakes a look at former HudsonValley Renegades players andwhat they’ve done since leav-

ing DutchessStadium.

J e r e m yHellickson is

the No. 5 starter in the TampaBay Rays’ rotation and wasnamed the American League’spitcher of the month androokie of the month in May.On his way to the big leagues,he played a full season withthe Hudson Valley Renegadesin 2006.

Hellickson started 14 gamesthat year and went 4-3 with a

2.43 ERA. In 77 and2

⁄ 3 inningspitched, he struck out 86 andallowed 55 hits. He was a NewYork-Penn League midsea-son all-star and was named a

short season all-star by Base-ball America.

During the next four years,

Hellickson climbed from Co-lumbus, Ga. to Vero Beach,Fla. to Montgomery, Ala. be-fore landing with Class AAADurham, N.C., late in the 2009season.

Hellickson made his markwith the Bulls in 2010, go-ing 12-3 with a 2.45 ERA in21 starts. He was named theminor league player of theyear by both Baseball Amer-ica and USA Today and thenmade his major league debutAug. 2, 2010. Hellickson made10 appearances with the Raysafter that, going 4-0 with a3.47 ERA.

In spring training, Hellick-son won a starting job andbroke camp with the Rays.

Through 15 starts this season,Hellickson is 7-7 with a 3.18ERA. He’s struck out 66 andallowed 74 hits in 96 and

1 ⁄ 3 in-

nings pitched.

JEREMY HELLICKSON FILE

Age: 24

Hometown: Des Moines, Iowa

Drafted: Fourth round (188th

overall) in 2005 draft out of Herbert Hoover High School

With Hudson Valley: 2006

Major League debut: Aug. 2,

2010

Trivia: Named his Yorkshire

Terrier ‘Jeter’ after one of his

childhood idols. Was rated the

No. 2 prospect in baseball prior

to the 2011 season by MiLB.

com, trailing only Los Angeles

Angels outfielder Mike Trout.

COMING SOON TO CITI FIELD?

A look at some of the Brook-lyn Cyclones who may one daybe New York Mets.

Xorge Carillo, C: Carillo was drafted

in the 14th round out of ArizonaState, the fourth time he was been

drafted: 2010, San Diego, 23rd

round; 2009, Cleveland, 29th round;

2007, Toronto, 28th round. One of

four catchers on the Cyclones’ roster.

Randy Fontanez, SP: The staff

ace at South Florida, Fontanez

was taken in the 27th round. He’s

pitched two innings of scoreless

relief for the Cyclones.

Casey Hauptman, RP: Taken in

the 26th round, Hauptman was

the closer at Nebraska this spring.

Went 6-3 with a 2.45 ERA and eightsaves in 28 appearances.

Jack Leathersich, SP: A Division II

star at UMass-Lowell, Leathersich

was picked in the fifth round

(162nd overall) after striking out

12.74 batters per nine innings as a

junior. A southpaw, his fastball tops

out around 95 MPH. Has yet to play

for the Cyclones.

Cory Mazzoni, SP: A second-round

draft pick (71st overall) from North

Carolina State, Mazzoni has yet to

appear in a game for the Cyclones.

He has been clocked at 97 MPHand struck out 137 in 114

2 ⁄ 3 in-

nings as a junior.

Danny Muno, SS: Muno was selected

in the eighth round of the 2011 draft

out of Fresno State. Was a member

of the 2008 College World Series-

winning team. Batting .320 in 25 at-

bats for Brooklyn through Thursday’s

games. Started switch-hitting during

his sophomore year at Fresno State.

Tyson Seng, RP: Seng, who just fin-

ished his senior year at Oklahoma,

was drafted in the 33rd round.

Through Thursday’s game, therighty had made five appearances,

striking out six and allowing one run

in nine innings.

Travis Taijeron, OF: Taijeron hit 32

home runs in four years at Cal Poly

Pomona and was taken in the 18th

round. He’s batting .282 with four

extra-base hits and six RBI in 39

at-bats for the Cyclones.

Charlie Thurber, OF: An Elmira Free

Academy graduate, the lefty-swinging

Thurber was picked in the 39th

round of the 2011 draft after his ju-

nior year at Tennessee. Hit 13 homeruns and made 12 outfield assists in

three seasons with the volunteers.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR:

Cyclones at Dutchess Stadium:

Sat., Aug 27, 7:05 p.m.

COMING SOON

TO YANKEE STADIUM?

A look at some of the StatenIsland Yankees who may oneday be New York Yankees.

Zachary Arneson, RP: A ninth-

round draft pick, Arneson struck

out 46 in 442

⁄ 3 innings in hissenior season at Lewis-Clark

State this spring.

Cito Culver, SS: The Rochester,

N.Y. native was taken 32nd

overall in the 2010 draft. Batting

.218 in 55 at-bats this season.

Cody Grice, OF: Grice batted

.381 with 14 doubles, 59 RBI

and 23 stolen bases as a junior

at Grand Valley State and was

drafted in the 12th round. He

has four hits in 15 at-bats for

the Yankees.

Corey Maines, SP: Went 9-4 with

2.87 ERA in 15 starts for Illinois

State, striking out 110 in 94

innings. Taken in the 23rd round,

Maines has made two relief ap-

pearances for Staten Island.

Robert Paullus, RP: A 19th-round

pick from Memphis, Paullus has

made one relief appearance for

the Yankees. Struck out 51 in 481 ⁄ 3 innings at Memphis this spring,

holding opposing batters to a

.170 average.

Branden Pinder, SP: From the

baseball factory at Long Beach

State, Pinder went 3-5 with a

5.29 ERA and four saves as a ju-

nior. Has made five appearances

for the Yankees, striking out six

in four innings of work.

Bobby Rinard, OF: Originally

drafted by the Mets in the 43rd

round in 2009, batted .442

with nine doubles and one

home run in his senior season

WHERE ARE

THEY NOW?

Rays’ Hellickson shows promise

The Associated Press

Bobby Rinard, right, with Arizona.

at Arizona this spring. Signed with

the Yankees as a free agent (and

a $1,000 bonus) June 10. Batting

.321 with nine runs scored and five

RBI in 28 at-bats for Staten Island.

Philip Wetherell, RP: A righty,

Wetherell was taken in the eighth

round. The Renegades’ Kes Carter

and Matt Rice were teammates at

Western Kentucky University, where

he made 30 appearances and

went 1-3 with a 4.25 ERA this past

season. He has one save in four

appearances for Staten Island.

Mason Williams, OF: A fourth-round

draft pick out of West Orange (Fla.)

High in 2010, Williams, a lefty bat-

ter, is hitting .286 with two homeruns and 10 RBI through 49 at-bats

this season.

Zachary Wilson, 3B: A third base-

man from Arizona State, Wilson hit

.270 with seven home runs in his

junior season and was drafted in

the 21st round. He’s batting .263

with one home run in 38 at-bats

with the Yankees.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

S.I. Yankees at Dutchess Stadium:

Tues., July 19, 7:05 p.m.; Weds.,

July 20, 7:05 p.m.


Former Renegade Jeremy Hellickson is the No. 5 starter in the Tampa Bay Rays’ rotation. Through 15starts, he’s 7-7 with a 3.18 ERA, and he was named the American League’s pitcher of the month in May.

FRIDAY JULY 8 2011 • TIMESHERALD RECORD 65YANKEES



FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD 65YANKEES

BY MIRA WASSEF

AND WILLIAM MONTGOMERY Times Herald-Record

NEW YORK — Derek Jeter remem-

bers hailing a cab in New York in

2009 while pursuing Lou Gehrig’s

all-time Yankees

hits record. When

he got in, the

driver asked him, “When are you

going to do it already?”

“I’m trying,” Jeter replied with a

laugh.

Jeter’s pursuit of 3,000 hits feels

somewhat the same as his chase

for Gehrig’s record felt in 2009. But the pressure to finally get that last

hit, the media attention and the

crowd buzz before every Jeter at-bat

are even greater than they were

during the journey to Gehrig’s mark.

“I think it’s a different feeling,”

Jeter said before Thursday’s game

against the Rays. “The Gehrig

record was a Yankee record. Three-

thousand hits is a baseball record.More people are aware of it. I’m

going to try to focus on the task at

hand and doing what I’m supposed

to do, which is getting a hit anyway.”

Jeter said he only realized about

five years ago, while reading a

media guide, that none of the Yan-

kee legends – such as Joe DiMag-

gio, Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth

– had reached 3,000 hits and that

he had the opportunity to do it.

The Yankees’ captain did look at

the list of 3,000 hitters and saw a

common thread of consistency andlongevity. He also noticed some of

the other members of the 3,000

club, such as Cal Ripken Jr., had to

switch positions before reaching the

milestone. Jeter is the all-time hits

leader for a shortstop, with 2,970

after doubling Thursday.

“All those guys played a long

time,” he said. “I think the one thing

that gets overlooked is the guys thatget 200 hits in a season. There are

usually only three or four guys that

do that in a season. But you have

to do that for 15 years to get to

this point. That’s what I’m the most

proud of. I take pride in going out

there every day. It’s tough to play

this position every day, physically

and mentally. There is a reason why

guys that have played shortstop

haven’t had as many hits.”

Damon also nearing 3,000 hits

Johnny Damon played four fullseasons with the Yankees and

won a World Series in pinstripes in

2009. Like Jeter, he’s also chasing

3,000 hits.

Damon has 2,662 hits, rank-

ing fifth on the active list behind

Alex Rodriguez (2,762 entering

Thursday’s games), Omar Vizquel

(2,831), Ivan Rodriguez (2,842)

and Jeter.Damon, signed to a one-year deal

by Tampa Bay in the offseason, said

he’d like to keep playing as long as

it takes to join the 3,000-hit club.

“Once you start getting closer,

you talk to your friends and family

and realize you’re only a couple of

years away,” said Damon, 37.

Ivan Rodriguez, 39, and Vizquel,

44, may retire before they reach the

milestone. Alex Rodriguez, signed

through the 2017 season, is on

track to reach 3,000 hits late in

2012 or early in 2013.“I hope after this year that I’ll only

be about 250 hits away,” Damon

said. “It’s definitely reachable.”

Damon, hit in the left hand by

a pitch Wednesday at Minnesota,

will sit out Thursday’s and Friday’s

games. He is available to pinch-run,

however, and plans to start Saturday.


Times Herald-Record

NEW YORK — Jeremy Hellicksongrew up in Des Moines, Iowa,where he idolized Derek Jeterfrom afar.

Hellickson, Tampa Bay’srookie No. 5 starter, went sofar in his fandom as to name hisYorkshire Terrier “Jeter.”

Hellickson will be up againsthis idol Friday night with a place

in baseball history on the line:Hellickson gets the start as Jeterpursues his 3,000th career hit.

“I loved watching him play,”Hellickson said of Jeter beforeThursday’s game. “He was ob-viously the best shortstop inthe game for a long, long time. Iwas a shortstop in high school,so that’s who all the high schoolkids idolized growing up. That’swho I watched. I was a fangrowing up.”

Drafted by Tampa Bay outof high school in 2004, Hellick-son worked his way up throughthe minor leagues, including aseason-long stop with the Hud-son Valley Renegades in Fishkillin 2006, before reaching major

league spring training camp in

2010. He was Baseball America’sminor league player of the yearin 2010 and briefly pitched withthe Rays late last season.

Jeter has had two plate ap-pearances against Hellicksonin the majors. Jeter was 1-for-2, with a one-out single in thebottom of the sixth inning, in agame played at Yankee Stadi-um on Sept. 22.

Hellickson and Jeter also havea spring-training history. OnMarch 5, 2010, Hellickson, mak-ing his major league-level de-but, faced Jeter in an exhibitiongame. Jeter went down swinging.The next batter, Curtis Grander-son, grounded out to Hellickson,who then struck out Mark Teix-

eira to end the inning.Hellickson is a long way from

those days of dreaming aboutwhat it would be like to play inthe big leagues. He was namedthe No. 1 pitching prospect inbaseball by www.Milb.com pri-or to the 2011 season – the No.2 prospect overall behind MikeTrout, an outfielder in the LosAngeles Angles system – and

Hellickson looks like he’s ontrack for a successful majorleague career.

But Hellickson said he wasn’tworried if he winds up being aJeter trivia answer: the pitcherwho gave up hit No. 3,000.

After all, Hellickson thinksback to the first time they met– the day he struck out his idol.

“There really wasn’t much

going through my mind atthe time,” Hellickson said. “Itwas really more for my fam-ily. They loved it. They knewhe was somebody I looked upto growing up, and they lovedmaking a huge deal out of it,but I kind of try not to thinkabout it too much.”

[email protected]

NOTEBOOK


Yankees' Derek Jeter takes amoment before his first at-batagainst the Rays on Thursday.He doubled, for hit No. 2,998.

Jeter’s pursuit of 3,000 a bit different than Gehrig chase

COMING UP

(Jeter’s career history against

upcoming Tampa Bay starters)

Friday: Jeremy Hellickson –

1-for-2

Saturday: David Price – 6-for-25

Sunday: James Shields –

17-for-54


Rays’ Jeremy Hellickson, a Renegades pitcher in 2006, idolized Derek Jeter as a high school shortstop.

Hellickson startswith 3,000 on lineFormer ’Gade faces Jeter on Friday

SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD 55RENEGADES



SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011 • TIMES HERALD RECORD 55RENEGADES


NEW YORK — Although it’s onlya 65-mile trip up the Thruway,Dutchess Stadium sure seemsfar away when you’re sitting inthe visitor’s clubhouse at Yan-kee Stadium.

Still, former Hudson Val-ley Renegades James Shields,

John Jaso and Jeremy Hellick-son have nothing but fondmemories of their time in theNew York-Penn League.

“That was my first teamthat I actually went on, and Iwas the opening day starterin 2001 there,” said Shields,a 2011 American League All-Star pitcher. “They treatedtheir players like they werebig leaguers up there. Theyrun a good ship up there.”

Hellickson, a rookie starterfor the Rays, felt similarly.

“That was really my firststop in pro ball,” he said. “Imade my first start in proball up there. That’s where Imet a lot of the guys. HudsonValley was an awesome placeto play. They pack that placeout almost every single game.I had a great time there myfirst year.”

The thing that Jaso, a sec-ond-year catcher, remem-

bered most was a trip to NewYork City he took with his hostfamily.

“Oh my God. It was a tripthat I’ll never forget,” he said.

They took the train downfrom Poughkeepsie and vis-ited the Statue of Liberty andGround Zero. When it cametime to see the sights from thetop of the Empire State Build-ing, Jaso, suffering from foodpoisoning that day, declined.

“I don’t know if I could have

made it to the top of the eleva-tor ride,” Jaso said, laughing.“I opted not to take it, so may-be the next trip up here, if wehave an off day, maybe I’ll goup there.”

A McKinleyville, Calif. na-tive, Jaso played college ball atSouthwestern Junior College

in Chula Vista. His time withthe Renegades was special be-cause it was his first taste ofplaying in front of big crowds.

“It was my first time ever

playing in stadiums, really,”

Jaso said. “When I got to Hud-son Valley, that was cool, butit was nice coming here inthe city. Playing in Staten Is-land was nice and playing atConey Island was cool, too. Itwas kind of the introduction toplaying in stadiums for me.”

Despite playing in frontof huge crowds in the majorleagues night in and night out,Shields and Hellickson saidthat they’ll never forget howkind the fans were in Fishkill.

“They came out almost ev-ery night,” Hellickson said.“It didn’t matter if it was aTuesday or a Saturday – theywere there supporting us. Andlike I said, it was my first stopin pro ball, so it’s a place I’llalways remember.”

“I was only there for about

four weeks,” Shields said,“but there are great people upthere, and they treated us like

professionals.“I had a great time up there.

It was like a family atmo-sphere, and they were pack-ing houses up there. They lovetheir Renegades up there,that’s for sure.”

[email protected]

REMEMBER THESERENEGADES?

Hudson Valley stat lines:

Jeremy Hellickson (2006):

4-3, 2.43 ERA, 96 strikeouts

in 772 ⁄ 3 innings in 14 starts

(made one relief appearance)

John Jaso (2003 and 2004):

.269 batting average, four

home runs and 55 RBI in 104

games

James Shields (2001): 2-1,

2.30 ERA, 25 strikeouts in27

1 ⁄ 3 innings in five starts

Rays fondly reflect on time with ’GadesRecall goodthings aboutprogram, fans


Rays pitcher James Shields was the opening day starter for the Renegades in 2001 and is now an American League All-Star.

US Presswire

Rays starter Jeremy Hellicksonand catcher John Jaso both gota taste of playing in stadiumsduring their time in Fishkill.

“They pack that place out

almost every single game.

I had a great time there

my first year.”

JEREMY HELLICKSON

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher on fans of the Hudson Valley Renegades

SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD 57YANKEES



57YANKEES


NEW YORK — After Friday’sgame was postponed by rain,

Yankees players voted to playa split doubleheader Saturday.The Rays voted to make thegame up on a common off daylater in the season.

The Rays won that argument.The teams will make up the

game September 22. The starttime for that game has yet tobe determined.

“We didn’t want to lose anyoff days in September becausewe figured that would obvi-ously be the most crucial partof the season,” center fielderCurtis Granderson said. “Evenwith the rosters expanded,though, we would have likedto take advantage of it nowbecause off days are few andfar between. We were hopingwe could get it in tomorrow,but unfortunately, both sidesweren’t able to agree on that.”

“Both teams have to agree –that’s the bottom line,” manag-er Joe Girardi said. “We voted

to play, and they voted not toplay. I’m not sure why. You justhave to move forward. We’regoing to play later on.”

General manager BrianCashman admitted that theYankees could have played atwi-night doubleheader Satur-day, but they did not want tolose the ticket and concessionrevenue in the process.

“We’re not interested in go-ing from 81 home games to80,” he said. “We would have

wanted to play a split tomor-row regardless. It’s the sum-mer, so it’s easier to sell thana date in September.”

Cashman and Girardi insist-ed that the Yankees’ desireto play two games Saturdayhad nothing to do with DerekJeter’s pursuit of 3,000 hits.

Still, Girardi said he felt forfans hoping to see history Fri-day night. Jeter, two hits away

from the milestone, will stillhave a chance over the week-end, but he’ll have to pick uptwo hits against Tampa Bay’stop two starters, David Priceand James Shields.

The weekend games alsomark Jeter’s last chance, atleast for some time, to accom-

plish the feat in New York.The Yankees open the sec-ond half of the season with an

eight-game road trip throughToronto and Tampa Bay.

“It’s important to our fans,”Girardi said. “People havemade a lot of arrangements tosee this on the day that theypicked.”

[email protected]


N E W Y O R K — F o l l o w i n gThursday night’s death ofShannon Stone, a 39-year oldTexas Rangers fan, Yankeesoutfielders were reconsider-ing how they approach theirinteractions with fans.

Stone reached for a foul ball

tossed into the stands by Rang-ers outfielder Josh Hamilton,slipped over a railing and fellheadfirst about 20 feet ontoconcrete. He was pronounceddead at an Arlington-area hos-pital Thursday night.

Stone was standing next tohis 6-year-old son, Cooper,who was unharmed.

“Never in a million yearsdid I ever think this wouldcross my mind,” right field-er Nick Swisher said. “I nev-er thought something likethat would happen.”

Center f ie lder CurtisGranderson said part of theproblem is that many fanslooking to snag a baseball“physically can’t catch it.” Herecalled an incident in the mi-nor leagues in which a youngfan on top of the dugout wasstruck by a player-tossed ballbecause the fan simply failedto catch the ball.

Stone was sitting in aquirky part of the Ballparkat Arlington, where the seatsare separated from the fieldby a walkway behind a tallscoreboard.

Other than the steep dropfrom the front row of thebleachers into the home andvisitors’ bullpens, no part of thelower bowl at Yankee Stadiumposes a similar threat.

Still, Granderson said theaggressive nature of fans is

the same no matter wherehe has played.

“It is interesting to seethe number of plays where Igo out on a foul ball and thenumber of people that get hitby it, push each other for itor knock each other over forit,” he said. “It happens in

every ballpark. It’s nothingagainst Texas. It happens inevery ballpark.”

Granderson doesn’t oftenget an opportunity to providea souvenir for fans becausehe’s stationed in center field.

That doesn’t stop fansfrom screaming for the ballwhen he records the final outof an inning and jogs back tothe dugout.

“It’s something that nomatter where I’ve been, I’malways really far away frompeople,” he said. “A lot ofpeople don’t grasp how far I

am to get the ball to you asan individual. I always addarc and try to throw it asslow as possible.”

Swisher, on the other hand,has become a fan favoritebecause of his interactionswith the Yankees support-ers in the right-field corner.He’s reconsidering how he’lltreat foul balls and thirdouts in the future.

“Obviously, now it makesyou think,” he said. “I’m the

type of guy that every timeI get one, I want to give itaway. Now, I think we have tobe more cautious. Maybe I’llrun over to hand it directlyto somebody, make it a littlemore personal.”

[email protected]

Players reconsider interactions with

fans after tragedy “Obviously, now it makes

you think. ... Now, I think

we have to be more

cautious. Maybe I’ll run

over to hand it directly to

somebody, make it more

personal.”

NICK SWISHER

Yankees outfielder, after hearinga fan in Texas died after fallingover the railing while trying toreach for a ball thrown by Rangersoutfielder Josh Hamilton

Rain delays Yankees’play, Jeter’s hit quest


Fans wait outside Yankee Stadium for the game between the Yankees and the Rays before it was called because of rain.

Bombers, Rayssettle on fallmakeup game

56 SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD

YANKEES



YANKEES


Times Herald-Record

NEW YORK — The fans voted for an

all-Yankees left side of the infield for

this year’s American League All-Star

team. Derek Jeter

and Alex Rodriguez,

however, decided

to decline their

invitations to the Midsummer Classic

as both recover from injuries.Jeter, who landed on the dis-

abled list in June with a right calf

injury, announced the news in front

of his locker Friday afternoon.

“He just felt coming off a calf

injury, he thought that it probably

wouldn’t be the best idea to play,”

manager Joe Girardi said. “He made

the decision. I mean, it was totally

his decision. We talked about it, but

I left the decision up to him.”

Cleveland’s Asdrubal Cabrera

is the American League’s only

reserve shortstop. Texas’ Elvis

Andrus and Detroit’s Jhonny

Peralta finished third and fourth

in the fan voting, respectively; one

of those players will likely replace

Jeter on the All-Star roster.

Jeter, two hits away from 3,000

for his career, was batting .257 in

66 games, well below his career

average of .312.

A 12-time All-Star, Jeter earned

his sixth consecutive fan-selected

start with 4,536,386 votes. Only

Cal Ripken Jr. (eight straight) andOzzie Smith (10 straight) started

more All-Star games at shortstop.

“He said, ‘You know, I had a

calf injury, and I’m playing every

day, and I feel it’s probably in my

best interest to give it a couple of

days,’” Girardi said.

Rodriguez was set to miss Fri-

day’s game, which ended up being

postponed, for a “precautionary”

MRI on his right knee, with the

results set to be released Saturday.

“There wasn’t anything yesterday

that showed me he was moving totally different to do the MRI,”

Girardi said. “He’s not playing, we

have time, so we might as well do

an MRI.”

Girardi wasn’t sure when Rodri-

guez would return to the lineup or

if he would follow Jeter’s lead and

also decline his All-Star invitation.

“I’m not in the business of

recommending,” Girardi said.

“This is a player’s choice. That’s

the bottom line. Alex has to make

that choice. We’ll just see what

he decides. Would the rest help

him? Probably. But he’s earned the

All-Star selection, and if that’s what

he wants to do, I’m not going to

stand in his way.”

Shortly after Girardi made hiscomments, Rodriguez did, in fact,

announce he would not play in

the All-Star Game. It was his 14th

overall selection and the 12th time

he had been voted in as a starter.

Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rang-

ers is the lone reserve at third base.

Yankee closer Mariano Rivera has

already declined his All-Star invita-

tion as well because of a sore right

triceps muscle. Jordan Walden of

the Los Angeles Angles was selected

to go in Rivera’s place.

Gordon heading to Korea

The Yankees announced Friday

that Brian Gordon had been

unconditionally released and that

his rights had been purchased

by the SK Wyverns of the Korean

Professional League. The Yankees

receive cash considerations.

Gordon, 32, started two games

for the Yankees this season, going

0-1 with a 5.23 ERA in 101 ⁄ 3 innings

pitched. He was sent to AAA Scran-

ton/Wilkes-Barre on July 2.

An unusual lineup

Joe Girardi had posted a lineup

full of bench players for Friday’s

game, which was postponed by rain.

Eduardo Nunez was set to takeRodriguez’s place at third base.

Nick Swisher was also out Friday.

Girardi said that Swisher’s “left

quad was bothering him a little bit”

and that the injury was day-to-day.

Andruw Jones was set to take his

place in right field.

With day games Saturday and

Sunday, catcher Russell Martin

was also scheduled to receive a

night off.

Brett Gardner was penciled into

the leadoff spot, sliding Derek

Jeter to the No. 2 slot in the lineup.Jeter has 1,634 of his 2,998

career hits as a No. 2 hitter. Girardi

said he didn’t want to bat Gardner

sixth and risk having him stuck

on the basepaths behind slower

runners such as Mark Teixeira,

Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada.

The Yankees play their first eight

games after the All-Star break

on artificial turf in four-game

series at Toronto and Tampa Bay.

Scheduling and recent injuries to

Rodriguez and Swisher, as well as

an aging Derek Jeter, will make

for some creative lineups in the

second half of the season.

“That’s a concern, and I’ll have

to manage them carefully,” Girardi

said. “But I don’t think it’s anything Ihaven’t done in the last few years.”

Garcia, Hellickson skipped

Saturday’s game will pit A.J.

Burnett against Tampa Bay’s David

Price. Yankees ace CC Sabathia and

James Shields will pitch in Sunday’s

game. Friday’s scheduled starters,

Freddy Garcia and Rays rookie Jer-

emy Hellickson, will make their next

starts after the All-Star break.

Secret at team store

A pile of Jeter merchandise wasplaced strategically at the front of

the Yankees’ team store, includ-

ing bobblehead dolls, a variety of

t-shirts, No. 2 caps, 8x11 photos

and, yes, even a Jeter coaster set.

In the middle of the store, a large

banner with a “DJ3K” logo covered

what was presumably a collection

of similarly branded items that will

only be available for purchase afterJeter records his 3,000th hit. The

store manager on duty declined to

comment Thursday on what was

beneath the banner and if the store

was selling more Jeter memorabilia

than normal.

[email protected]

YANKEES

NOTEBOOK

Jeter, A-Rod will skip the All-Star GameNeither wantsto aggravaterecent injuries

Yankees glance

YANKEES FRIDAY

The Yankees’ game against the

Rays was postponed because

of rain. The teams will make up

the game Sept. 22.

YANKEES SATURDAY

Matchup: vs. Rays, 1:05 p.m.

On the hill: Yankees RHP A.J.

Burnett (8-7, 4.12 ERA) vs. Rays

LHP David Price (8-7, 3.56 ERA)

TV/radio: YES/WCBS 880-AM,

WKXP 94.3-FM, WTSX 96.7-FM,

WZAD 97.3-FM, WDLC 1490-AM


Derek Jeter, who landed on the disabled list in June with a calf injury, declined his invitation to this year’s Midsummer Classic to rest up.

JETER’S 3,000 7SUNDAY, JULY 10, 2011 TIMES HERALD-RECORD




Dave Benedetto, the base-ball coach at Minisink Valley,and George Layng, the base-ball coach at Warwick, are bothdie-hard Mets fans. But eventhey made sure to tune in Sat-urday afternoon as Derek Jeterchased history.

“I’m a huge Mets fan, but I

did stop from the yard workto make sure I was watch-ing good, old Derek Jeter,”Layng said. “I guess it was intrue Jeter fashion to make the3,000th hit a home run. He’dhave it no other way.”

Jeter’s big hit came on a solohome run to left field at YankeeStadium off Rays pitcher DavidPrice in the third inning.

“I’m the other kind of NewYork fan, but I do watch the Yan-kees as well,” Benedetto said.“It’s a really big milestone and afantastic feat. He’s a role modelas well, off and on the field.”

Joe McClennan, who recentlygraduated from Cornwall HighSchool and will play baseball atManhattan College, was play-ing in a doubleheader with theCornwall Dragons travel team.

“We were following along onour BlackBerrys,” McClennansaid. “When I got home, the gamewas still on. I saw his last hit and

he went 5-for-5. That’s prettysweet. And they won, 5-4.”

Jeter makes strong role model

Thanks to a gift from hisgrandparents, McClennan hasbeen a Jeter fan for at least adecade.

“I’ve been a fan my wholelife. When I was younger, about7 or 8, my grandparents got methe whole Jeter uniform,” Mc-Clennan said. “I’ve been a hugefan ever since.”

McClennan played short-stop this season in high schooland said he’s dreamed of mak-ing Jeter’s patented defensiveplay, the backhanded stop, leapand throw. But McClennan hasalso been impressed by Jeter’sleadership and the way he han-dles himself off the field.

“He’s the true definition ofa major league ballplayer,” hesaid.

Another recent graduate andlifelong fan, Justin Smith, of-ten wore Jeter gear to baseballpractices.

“Yeah, he’s definitely myfavorite player,” said Smith,who played second base at Mi-nisink Valley High School. “Iwear some of his stuff, and Ihave his autograph. It’s justthe way he plays. He’s a hum-

ble guy, and he’s out there ev-ery day like he’s competing forthe shortstop position. He runseverything out.”

Jared Jensen, a recentKingston graduate, led the Ti-gers to the Section 9 Class AAtitle in 2011. Jensen is an out-fielder and a pitcher, but he

still appreciates everythingJeter represents.“He’s a good role model for

anyone,” Jensen said. “I don’tfollow him all that closely; I’mmore looking at pitchers andathletes that play my positions.But just look at what’s he’sdone for them over the pastfew years.”

Influencing current play

As one of the game’s mostrecognizable players, Jeter,

with the way he plays the game,has had a tremendous impacton the attitude of a generationof high school players.

“He’s probably the mostpopular replica shirt out therefor sure,” Benedetto said.“You see a lot of young kidsemulating the way he plays

the game. He’s got a great at-titude. He hustles. You neverknow if something good orbad happened. He’s got a per-fect attitude for baseball. It’sin the way he approaches eachpitch and every ground balldefensively. He’s the first guyout of the dugout, and he setsa great example.”

Layng also thinks Jeter’sinfluence has rubbed off oncoaches and players, makingfor a very sportsmanlike atmo-

sphere in Section 9 games.“I think I’ve noticed that all

of the coaches in our leaguehave their guys play the gamethe right way,” he said. “Therearen’t too many hot dogs, andthere’s a kind of blue-collarapproach, which I like. Thatto me seems to be like Derek

Jeter. The coaches here do agood job of keeping the kids onan even keel and playing likegentlemen.”

With Jeter’s Hall of Fame ré-sumé and squeaky-clean im-age, even a big Mets fan likeBenedetto is glad his playersand all the young players ofthis generation have someonelike Jeter to admire.

“Jeter has played his wholecareer in an age of perfor-mance-enhancing drugs, with

many players using steroidstrying to get an unfair advan-tage,” Benedetto said. “Derekreached the 3,000-hit milestoneby playing the game of baseballfairly. He is a true role model inevery sense of the word.”

[email protected]

Jeter impacting next generationCredentials,image admired

around section

“He’s a good role

model for anyone. ...

Just look at what’s he’s

done for them over the

past few years.”

JARED JENSENFormer Kingston pitcher

“When I was younger

... my grandparents

got me the whole Jeter

uniform. I’ve been a

huge fan ever since.”

JOE MCCLENNANFormer Cornwall shortstop

DOMINICK FIORILLE/Times Herald-Record photos

SUNDAY, JULY 10, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD 73RENEGADES



RENEGADES


Times Herald-Record

FISHKILL — Jeff Malm hopesthat what happened in Vegasdoesn’t stay in Vegas.

At Bishop Gorman HighSchool in Las Vegas, Malm hadquite the career. He won fourstraight Nevada state champion-ships and finished with 277 hits,tying for the national record.

Malm’s extracurricular activ-ities were impressive, too. Hewon an American Legion WorldSeries in 2008 (Malm was tour-nament MVP) and he played onthe USA Baseball 18-and-undernational team in 2007 and 2008.On the 2007 team, Malm earnedmore playing time than EricHosmer, who is now the every-day first baseman for the Kan-sas City Royals.

Malm had signed a nationalletter of intent to play at the Uni-

versity of Southern California,but once the Tampa Bay Rayspicked him in the fifth round ofthe 2009 draft, Malm couldn’tsay no to professional baseball.

With long bus trips and plen-ty of time to kill during long af-ternoons and rain delays, Malmadmits that his past sometimescomes up in conversations withteammates. While he has a fewgood stories to tell, he knowshis amateur successes don’t

mean anything at the profes-sional level.“It opens up the yearbook, I

guess. But, you know, we’re allhere,” he said prior to Wednes-day’s game, gesturing at theRenegades clubhouse. “Prettymuch everything you’ve donein the past you have to contin-ue in the future. We’re all at thesame level. The past is not asimportant, but it’s always coolto talk to the guys about whateveryone’s been through.”

Malm played seven gameswith the Gulf Coast Rays af-ter signing in 2009 but playedthe entire 2010 season withPrinceton of the AppalachianLeague. It was a frustratingseason for Malm, who hit .220with three homers and 25 RBIin 200 at-bats.

This year, however, Malm hasbeen the main man in the Ren-egades’ offense. Through Fri-day’s games, Malm was lead-ing the Renegades in on-basepercentage (.457) and sluggingpercentage (.571) and was tiedfor the team lead in RBI (12),

to go along with a .302 battingaverage. His four homers werealso tied for the New York-Penn League lead, and his on-base mark was second.

“I’ve flattened out my swing alot, which has helped,” he said.“I’m keeping the bat through

the zone a lot longer and I’mdriving the ball. I think it’s acombination of a lot of stuff.Last year being my first year,I didn’t know how to get into aroutine, which I’ve been able todevelop this year.”

In high school, Malm played

against another Las Vegasprep superstar, Bryce Harp-er. The No. 1 overall pick in

the 2010 draft, Harper is play-ing at Class AA Harrisburgfor the Washington Nation-als. Malm also played againstRenegades teammate DrewLeary, another Las Vegas na-tive, in high school.

Perhaps someday Malm willcap his resume with a stint inthe major leagues, but rightnow, he’s content trying to makea name for himself. Again.

“Obviously it’s tough,” saidMalm. “Anybody that goes

straight from high school topro ball, I think they’ll admitit’s a hard transition, being onyour own for the first time andall that stuff. It’s been prettymuch a two-year process so farand it continues on.”

[email protected]

’Gades’ Malm looking the part of a pro


Renegades first baseman Jeff Malm is tied for the team lead in RBI while batting .302. His four homerswere also tied for the league lead through Friday’s games. Still, he calls the transition to pros ‘tough.’

1st basemanleading offense

after tough 2010

JEFF MALM FILE

Age: 20

Hometown: Las Vegas, Nev.

Drafted: Fifth round (169overall) in 2009 by Tampa Bayout of Bishop Gorman HighSchool, received $680,000signing bonus

Amateur highlights: 277 hitsin high school career, tied forall-time national record ... Wonfour consecutive Nevada statetitles at Bishop Gorman ...American Legion World Seriestitle in 2008 (also tournamentMVP) ... Member of USA

Baseball 18-and-under teamin 2007 and 2008 ... Onlyunderclassman at Cape CodHigh School Classic in 2007... Signed national letter of intent to play at University of Southern California.

Professional highlights:

2009: Played in seven gamesfor the Gulf Coast Rays(Rookie), batted .240 with sixsingles in 25 at-bats.

2010: Played in 61 games for

the Princeton Rays (Rookie),batted .220 with three homersand 25 RBI in 200 at-bats.

2011: Through Friday, batting.302 in 19 games (63 at-bats)with four homers, 12 RBI, a.457 on-base percentage anda .571 slugging percentage.


RENEGADES



RENEGADES


Times Herald-Record

FISHKILL — The Hudson ValleyRenegades have some super-serious fans, but perhaps the

biggest fan of them all is TomPeters.Peters, 32, who resides in

Poughkeepsie and works at Me-diacom in Middletown, is alsothe president of the HudsonValley Renegades Fan Club.It all started with the wish hemade on his 15th birthday.

“Right before my 15th birth-day, we learned that the countylegislature was going to be build-ing a stadium here,” he said.“The first thing I wanted for my

birthday was season tickets.”Peters got his wish and he re-

members walking into the sta-dium for the first game in 1994and being able to “smell thepaint on the foul poles.”

His three favorite memoriesduring his 17 years as a fanwere the Renegades’ New York-

Penn League championship in1999, Doug Waechter’s no-hitterin 2000 and last but certainly notleast, proposing to his wife.

For the last five years, he’sserved as fan club president.Fan club members enjoy perks,such as a members-only picnic

with Renegades players, a sea-son-ending tailgate party andan annual bus trip. The fan clubhas travelled to Oneonta, Troy,Brooklyn and Staten Island inrecent years as well as a 2007

trip to Fenway Park for a gameagainst the Lowell Spinners.

This year, Peters is excitedfor the trip to Williamsport,Pa., on July 30.

“The reason why most people

go is for the experience on thebus,” he said. “We have somefood, some drinks and somelaughs. I think it’s the one eventevery year that all the mem-bers of the fan club really lookforward to.”



Fans of theNew York Mets

know Jason Pridie, but even themost dedicated Renegades fansmay not remember the out-

fielder’s brief stint in Fishkill.Drafted out of high school in

2002 by Tampa Bay, an 18-year-old Pridie signed and played 67games at Princeton in the Rook-ie League. He was promoted toHudson Valley on August 28of that year and played eightgames with the Renegades, bat-ting .344 with one home run in32 at-bats.

Over the next five years, Pri-die climbed through the Rays’farm system. Following the

2007 season, Pridie was in-cluded in a trade that sent Matt

Garza, Jason Bartlett and Edu-ardo Morlan to Tampa Bay andDelmon Young, Brendan Har-ris and Pridie to Minnesota.

Pridie appeared in 11 gamesfor the Twins in 2008 and 2009and was claimed off waivers bythe Mets before the start of the

2010 season.When Mets center fielder An-

gel Pagan landed on the disabledlist, Pridie was called up to themajors, picking up his first bigleague hit on April 23, a 6-4 Metswin against Arizona.

Through Friday’s game, Pri-die was batting .228 in 123 at-bats with three home runs, four

stolen bases and 13 RBI.William Montgomery

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday: at Lowell, 7:05 p.m.

Tuesday: Off day

Wednesday: at Jamestown,7:05 p.m.

Thursday: at Jamestown, 7:05p.m.

Friday: at Jamestown, 7:05p.m.

Saturday: vs. Connecticut,7:05 p.m. (postgamefireworks)

Sunday: vs. Connecticut, 5:05p.m. (Jared Sandberg build-a-bear giveaway to first 1,500fans 12-and-under)

FAN CLUB BUS TRIP

For the Renegades Fan Clubbus trip to Williamsport, Pa.,

the bus leaves the stadiumaround 2:30 p.m. Saturday,July 30.

The cost is $35 formembers and $40 for non-members. All are welcome.

Fans can sign up at thecustomer service booth atRenegades home gamesor may reserve a spot byreaching Tom Peters via phone(845-527-3754) or email(tpeters2hvc.rr.com)

WHERE ARE

THEY NOW?

JASON PRIDIE FILE

Age: 27

Hometown: Prescott, Ariz.

Drafted: Taken in the second round (43rd overall) of the 2002 draftby Tampa Bay.


Major league debut: September 3, 2008 (for Minnesota)

Trivia: The player drafted 44th overall in 2002, one spot behind

Pridie? Cincinnati’s Joey Votto, the 2010 National League MVP.Jason’s older brother, Jon Pridie, was drafted in the 11th round in1998 by Minnesota. A pitcher, Jon Pridie played seven seasons in theTwins’ minor league system.

Pridie sees bright futureafter brief ’Gades stint

CHARLES LECLAIRE/US Presswire

Jason Pridie played with the Hudson Valley Renegades in 2002. Hewas batting .228 with the Mets through Saturday.

CF played 8 games with team; currently with Mets

Renegades fan club president shares longtime passion

Tom Peters, the president of the Renegades’ fan club for the lastfive years, has been a loyal team fan for 17 memorable years.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BILL RICHMOND

66 FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD

METS



Then, the Mets hired peppyTerry Collins as manager, replac-ing the laid-back Jerry Manuel.Collins last managed in the bigleagues in 1999, largely becausehe was forced to resign when hisAngels players petitioned thefront office to have him fired.The Collins hire was certainly a

head-scratching move with fanfavorite Wally Backman, nowmanaging Class AA Bingham-ton, waiting in the wings.

The Mets were also wrappedup in the Bernie Madoff Ponzischeme scandal. Irving Picard,trustee for victims of Madoff’sscheme, filed a $1 billion lawsuitagainst owners Fred Wilpon andSaul Katz, who Picard claimedearned false profits in dealswith Madoff. Major LeagueBaseball loaned $25 million to

the Mets in November.In May, Bobby Bonilla start-

ed receiving the first of 25 an-nual installments of $1.2 million.Bonilla, who last played for theMets in 1999, opted to receivea deferred payment plan on his$5.9 million salary that season.By 2036, Bonilla will wind upmaking $30 million because ofinterest for the 1999 campaignin which he batted .160 with fourhome runs and 18 RBI.

On the field, Ike Davis andDavid Wright landed on the dis-abled list within one week ofeach other in mid-May. JasonBay has also missed some time

and his power outage in the blueand orange has continued.

Despite all the bad news, theMets have gone from laughing-stock to one of the many sur-prise stories in baseball. JoseReyes is looking like the Na-tional League’s Most ValuablePlayer. Carlos Beltran is havingan All-Star season. Dillon Gee,from out of nowhere, has solidi-fied a shaky starting rotation.

Terry Collins’ bubbly optimismhas proven to be exactly whatthe Mets’ clubhouse needed.

Still, at the All-Star break,the Mets were 11 games be-hind Philadelphia in the Na-tional League East and openthe second half of the seasonFriday night with a three-gameset against the Phillies at CitiField. The Mets are 71

⁄ 2 gamesbehind Atlanta in the wild cardrace with four teams between

the two. Despite the Mets’ sur-prisingly strong play, it’s begin-ning to look like the front officewill accept its fate and becomesellers at the trade deadline.

Positives

Jason Bay has a $16 millionsalary but has yet to put upthe offensive numbers that gowith that kind of money. He isbatting .237 with six homers.

David Wright’s expected returnto the lineup after his rehabassignment will add someoffensive punch as well asstrengthen the bench.

As the No. 1 starter, MikePelfrey has failed. He is 5-8with a 4.55 ERA while givingup 15 homers, and opponentsare batting .273 against him.

Before getting injured nearthe end of the first half, JoseReyes was putting up MVP-likenumbers. It is uncertain if theMets will trade Reyes.

Dillon Gee was a bright spot forthe Mets in the first half, buthis great start was somewhattempered by his 1-3 record inhis last four starts.

Carlos Beltran, in the last yearof his contract, is batting .285with 13 home runs and 58 RBI.He could be the next playertraded, though.


Times Herald-Record

E

xpectations could not have been lower for the Mets

prior to the 2011 season.

The bad news began when ace Johan Santana under-went season-ending surgery in September 2010. He has yet to

throw from a mound since.

Hard-luck Mets have reasons to be

Starting Rotation

Negatives

When bargain

basement free agent

acquisition Chris

Young went down with

a torn anterior capsule

in his right shoulder after

only 24 innings pitched,

starting pitching looked like a

serious weakness for the Mets.

Their ace, Johan Santana, recovering

from a torn capsule of his own, may

or may not return after the All-Star

break. Chris Capuano and Jonathon

Niese have both been consistent,

combining for a 16-15 record and a

4.00 ERA. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey

had the lowest ERA and WHIP among

Mets starters before the All-Star

break (3.61 and 1.32, respectively)

yet he also had the fewest wins

(four). Mike Pelfrey, the opening day

starter, was 5-8 with a 4.55 ERA.

Pelfrey hasn’t given the Mets

what they thought they were going

to get out of their No. 1 starter. He

has allowed 15 home runs, has an

opposing batting average of .273

and his strikeout-to-walk ratio (63:34)

is ugly, too. Enter Dillon Gee, who

took Young’s slot in the rotation and

won his first seven decisions. Gee,

however, has gone 1-3 since. The

Mets have a number of elite pitching

prospects in Matt Harvey, Jeurys

Familia, Juan Urbina and Jenrry

Mejia, but they are all still years away

from pitching at Citi Field.

ChrisCapuano

DickeyNiese

Angel Pagan has been reliablein center field, but his offensive

METS FRIDAY

Matchup: vs. Phillies, 7:10 p.m.

On the hill: Mets RHP R.A.

Dickey (4-7, 3.61 ERA) vs.

Phillies RHP Vance Worley (4-1,

2.20 ERA)

TV/radio: SNY/WFAN 660-AM

FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD 67METS



optimistic in the second half

Relievers

The Mets solved a huge problemby trading Francisco Rodriguez tothe Brewers, freeing themselves of both a headache in the clubhouseand what was a looming disasteron the payroll. Had K-Rod finished55 games this season, his $17.5million option for 2012 would havekicked in automatically. The Mets

will get two players to be namedlater from Milwaukee’s depletedfarm system, so this was purely amoney dump for New York. Collinsannounced Thursday he will go witha closer by committee, with someof the save chances going to theexperienced Jason Isringhausen,who is seven saves away from No.300. Hard-throwing Bobby Parnell,who has been clocked at 100 mphlately, and the promising Brooklynproduct, Pedro Beato, will alsoget opportunities. Journeymansouthpaw Tim Byrdak has a 1.48WHIP, but he’s allowed only fiveof 27 inherited runners to crosshome plate and could be of valueat the trade deadline. Byrdakcould get the call if there are threelefty batters due up in the ninth,Collins said. D.J. Carraso has notpitched particularly well -- opposinghitters have a .286 batting averageagainst -- and Taylor Buchholz isout indefinitely with depression andanxiety. Byrdak and Isringhausen

could also draw interest on thetrade market, so this group maylook entirely different by the timegeneral manager Sandy Alderson isdone wheeling and dealing.

Outfielders

Carlos Beltran has rejuvenated hiscareer, carried the Mets’ offense andearned a starting spot in the All-Stargame with a batting average of .285,13 home runs and 58 RBI. The Mets’right fielder may be the next player to be

traded as the Giants, Red Sox and Tigersare among the teams looking to add aslugging corner outfielder/designatedhitter type. Beltran knows he doesn’tfit into the Mets’ future plans and thefranchise may be better served inflatinghis value through a bidding war andsnagging a mid-level prospect or two for ahalf-year rental.

Jason Bay is certainly not living upto his $16 million salary in left field, ashe’s batting .237 with six home runs and28 RBI. (In his 160-game tenure with theMets, Bay has 12 home runs but also hasthree games in which he hit two home

runs. Half of his Mets home runs havecome in three games.)

Center fielder Angel Pagan is batting.249 with 27 RBI and 34 run scored in 61games.

If Beltran is traded, the Mets couldinsert prospects Kirk Nieuwenhuis and/or Fernando Martinez to see if they areready to be starters in 2012.

Infielders

Bench

FIVE KEYS FOR THE

SECOND HALF

1. Make good use of players

returning from injury: The Metsmight be sellers at the deadline,but they’ll inserting major-leaguetalent into the lineup soonenough when David Wright andIke Davis return from rehabassignments. Johan Santana

may also be available for ahandful of starts.

2. Alderson has to make up his

mind: The K-Rod trade madesense because it saved the Mets$17.5 million. But if Aldersonreally wants to clean house, heshould make everyone availableand restock his farm system. Orhe can stand pat and continue tochase a wild-card berth.

3. Give the kids a chance: If theMets do become sellers, players

like Fernando Martinez deservea half-season audition to showtheir stuff.

4. Don’t lean on Gee: Dillon Geehas already pitched 100

1 ⁄ 3 innings

this season. He pitched a career-high 194

1 ⁄ 3 last season, most of

those in the minors. If the Metsare out of contention, there is nouse pushing the 25-year old toohard in September.

5. Consistency in the bullpen: Give one guy the chance to close.

FIVE BIGGEST SURPRISES

1. Dillon Gee: In his first fullmajor-league season, Gee hasbeen just what the Mets neededafter Chris Young went down witha shoulder injury.

2. Daniel Murphy and Justin

Turner: They haven’t exactlyreplaced the power provided byIke Davis and David Wright, butMurphy and Turner have kept theMets in contention much longer

than anyone thought possible.3. Terry Collins: The always-energetic manager was just whatthe clubhouse needed after therelaxed regime of Jerry Manuel.

4. The play of Jose Reyes and

Carlos Beltran: Both perennialAll-Stars, Reyes and Beltrantruly earned their selections thisseason. Beltran showed he stillhas something left in the tankand Reyes could potentially hit30 triples.

5. Jason Isringhausen: He’swalked a few too many batters(13 in 28

2 ⁄ 3 innings), but the

former mega-prospect of the mid-1990s has held opponents toa .208 batting average and willbe a veteran, reliable arm in thebullpen. Unless, of course, theMets decide to trade him, too.

The Associated Press photos

Mets manager Terry Collins, center, was a questionable choice when he was named manager, but hehas brought passion and confidence to his team, which by all accounts overachieved in the first half.

Shortstop Jose Reyes is having acareer year and is a serious NationalLeague MVP candidate (.354, 22doubles, 15 triples, three home

runs, 32 RBI, 65 runs scored and30 steals), but this is the final yearof his contract and he’s reportedlylooking for “Carl Crawford” moneyon the free agent market. The Metscould trade Reyes to a contender(San Francisco, Cincinnati andBoston could match up trade-wise)

but it appears that the Mets willkeep him through the season andmake a sizeable contract offer.At second base, Collins named

Brad Emaus the starter after acompetition in spring training, butthat didn’t last long. Two weekslater, Emaus (.162 BA in 37 at-bats,no extra base hits) was designatedfor assignment. And when thirdbaseman David Wright and firstbaseman Ike Davis went down with

injuries in May -- as well as therecent DL trip for Reyes -- JustinTurner, Ruben Tejada and DanielMurphy became full-time starters.

That trio has combined for a .283batting average, seven home runsand 89 RBI, good enough to keepthe Mets in contention through thefirst half. Josh Thole and RonnyPaulino haven’t provided much punchat catcher, as they’ve combined fortwo home runs and 31 RBI.

Willie Harris is valuable asa pinch-hitter and he can playoccasionally in the outfield or

at third base. Lucas Duda, NickEvans, Scott Hairston and JasonPridie round out the bench, whichwill certainly be bolstered whenDavis and Wright return. NBC

Sports reported Thursday thatthe Mets were aiming to activateWright, playing a rehab game

Friday, on July 22. The AP wasreporting Davis would wait threeweeks before deciding whether toundergo season-ending surgery.

Turner and Murphy will be perfect

as versatile pieces for managerCollins if and when they lose playingtime to the Mets’ established corner

infielders. Like Emaus, middleinfielder Chin-ling Hu, acquired in anoffseason trade with the Dodgers,didn’t last long, either. He was 1-for-20 before being optioned to Buffalo.

numbers need to improve in the second half. He isbatting .249 with 27 RBI.

Parnell Isringhausen





FISHKILL — As his senior year atFlorida Atlantic University waswinding down this spring, Ray-mond Church’s parents keptasking him, “What if the draftdoesn’t go your way? What’syour backup plan?”

Church, a 22-year-old second

baseman from West Palm Beach,graduated with a business de-gree but knew it was going to beprofessional baseball or bust.

“I kept telling them, untilthe draft is over, I’m not hav-ing a backup plan,” Church saidlast week at Dutchess Stadium.“My dream is to be here play-ing professional baseball.”

Unlike some of his HudsonValley Renegades teammates,Church wasn’t a can’t-miss pros-pect in high school. He played

two years of junior college base-ball at Palm Beach State Col-lege, batting more than .340in both seasons there. Churchthen landed at Florida AtlanticUniversity, where he started 60games, hit .329 with 10 homeruns and 46 RBI his junior year.This spring, he batted .351 in 57starts, turned 33 double playsand had a .974 fielding percent-age, leading his coaches to be-lieve he likely would be taken inthe 2011 first-year player draft.

“But with the draft, you nev-er know,” Church said. “Youabsolutely don’t have any clue.You really don’t know until theyfinally call your name. I had afeeling, I had a good feeling,and I thought I would at leastget some type of shot. The Raystook a chance, and I’m going tomake the best of it.”

Church waited through eachagonizing round, finally hear-ing his name called when Tam-

pa Bay picked him 810th over-all in the 26th round.

“I graduated with a businessdegree, but honestly, I didn’tknow what I was going to dowith it,” he said. “I really didn’t– God’s honest truth – I didn’twant to think about it until mydraft dreams, until my major

league baseball dreams, end.

To this day, I’m still not. ... Untilsomebody tells me I can’t playbaseball anymore, I’m goingto keep playing. That’s all I’vecome to know.”

Assigned to Hudson Valley,Church has stepped right in asthe everyday second baseman.He’s batting .243 with five dou-

bles in 19 games played, but

has really taken off in July. Af-ter hitting .194 in June, Churchwas batting .294 in July throughFriday’s game.

Church is adjusting to livingon his own in a new place, some-thing he did for the first timelast summer when he playedfor the Winchester (Va.) Royals

of the Valley League and livedwith a host family. He had livedat home through his four yearsof college.

He’ll get a taste of home inearly August, as his parentsplan to visit Fishkill for a Rene-gades homestand. In February,he won’t be too far from home,as the Rays’ spring trainingfacility in Port Charlotte, Fla.is about three hours from hisfamily’s home.

For now, Church is just hap-

py to get a chance to play ev-ery day for the Renegades. Af-ter all, getting drafted allowedhim to postpone the thoughts ofwhat he’s going to do with therest of his life.

“It was a dream come true.The feeling I got was unlikeany other,” he said of being

selected. “It shows that hardwork, most of the time, can getyou where you want to be.”

[email protected]

RAYMOND CHURCH FILE

Age: 22

Hometown: West Palm Beach,Fla.

Drafted: 810th overall in the

26th round

Palm Beach State College:

Batted over .340 in two sea-

sons (2008-09), totalled 12

doubles, three triples and 43

RBI.

Florida Atlantic University:

Started all 57 games his senior

season (2011), batted .351

with six home runs, 15 doubles

and 32 RBI...started 115

straight games at second base

over two years...tied school

record with a 24-game hitting

streak...drew 45 walks in

2010, the most of any player in

the Sun Belt Conference...had

nine RBI in one Sun Belt tour-

nament game in 2010, named

to Sun Belt All-Tournament and

Gainesville All-Regional teams

that season.

Valley League: Played in 40

games with Winchester in

2010, batted .314 with four

home runs and 34 RBI.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday: vs. Connecticut, 11

a.m. (Early bird game)

Tuesday: vs. Staten Island,

7:05 p.m. (Irish night)

Wednesday: vs. Staten Island,

7:05 p.m. (American heroes)

Thursday: at Staten Island,

7:00 p.m.

Friday: at Staten Island, 7:00

p.m.

Saturday: vs. Mahoning Valley,

7:05 p.m. (Postgame fire-

works)

Sunday: vs. Mahoning Valley,

5:05 p.m. (Replica jersey to

first 1,000 fans 12-and-under)

Church making strides in pro career‘Dream cometrue’ for 810th

overall pick


Renegades second baseman Raymond Church graduated from Florida Atlantic University with abusiness degree, where he batted .351 in 57 starts this spring and had a .974 fielding percentage.

“You really don’t know until they finally call your name.I had a feeling, I had a good feeling, and I thought I

would at least get some type of shot. The Rays took a

chance, and I’m going to make the best of it.”

RAYMOND CHURCH

Renegades second baseman, who was picked in the 26th round of the2011, 810th overall, after playing at Palm Beach State College and FloridaAtlantic University


RENEGADES




Times Herald-Record



Th u rsd a y ,Jake McGee

was recalled to the TampaBay Rays bullpen from Triple-A Durham, but the left-handerjump-started his professionalcareer as a starting pitcherfor the Renegades.

McGee spent all of 2005with Hudson Valley, going 5-4with a 3.64 ERA in 15 games,14 of which were starts. He

struck out 89 in 762

⁄ 3 inningspitched, the second-higheststrikeout total of any pitcherin the New York-Penn Leaguethat season, allowing 64 hitsand 23 walks.

By 2007, McGee was pro-moted to Double-A Montgom-ery and started the 2008 sea-

son there before tearing hisulnar collateral ligament onJune 22. He underwent Tom-my John surgery and workedhis way back up from rookieball beginning in 2009.

McGee returned to Mont-gomery in 2010, going 3-7 witha 3.57 ERA in 19 starts beforebeing promoted to Triple-ADurham, where he was usedin relief. McGee struck out 27batters in 17

1 ⁄ 3 innings, earning

a promotion to Tampa Bay’sbullpen Sept. 14. In his initial

big league appearance, Mc-Gee got Derek Jeter swingingfor his first strikeout.

During spring training, Mc-Gee was considered an optionto close games for the Rays

following the departure of Ra-fael Soriano to the Yankees viafree agency. McGee made theopening day roster, but with a5.40 ERA in 11 games, he wasoptioned to Durham at theend of April. At Durham, hewas 4-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 24games before being recalled.

JAKE MCGEE FILE

Age: 24

Hometown: Sparks, Nev.

Drafted: 135th overall in thefifth round, 2004 by Tampa Bay

(Edward C. Reed High School)


Major League debut: Sept. 14,

2010

Trivia: Nicknamed “clockhands”

because of his unique windup

motion ... named the No. 15

prospect in all baseball by

Baseball America in 2008 ...

one of eight pitchers in Major

League history to not have

allowed a hit in his first six ap-

pearances.

First baseman Jeff Malm was

named the New York-Penn League

player of the week July 11. Malm

had a two-home run game in

Sunday’s rally at Lowell, capping

a successful 5-1

week for the Ren-

egades.

Through Friday’s

games, Malm was tied for the

league lead with six home runs,

second with a .450 on base per-

centage and tied for third with 18

RBI. In July, he’s batting .348 with

four home runs and 13 RBI.

Jamestown’s Gregory Napposcattered two hits and struck out

16 in nine innings to earn pitcher

of the week honors.

Hudson Valley’s Jason McEach-

ern was the New York-Penn

League’s pitcher of the week

June 27.

Damn Yankees

The Renegades (15-11 through

Friday), who already have played

one third of their games, are off

to a strong start. They’re also six

games behind Staten Island (21-5)in the McNamara Division.

That puts the Yankees on pace

to go 61-15, which would be a

New York-Penn League single-

season record for wins since the

league shifted to a short season,

76-game format in 1967. The

1986 Oneonta Yankees, which

featured Jim Leyritz and Kevin

Maas among the 14 future big-

leaguers on the roster, finished

59-18.

The league’s three division

champions and one wild card

team advance to the playoffs. The

semifinal and final series are both

best 2-of-3.

Hudson Valley’s one-and-only

league championship came in

1999 under manager Edwin

Rodriguez, who resigned as Florida

Marlins manager this season. The

Renegades finished the 1999

season 42-34, a half-game behind

the Utica Blue Sox in the McNa-

mara Division. Josh Hamilton,

Jorge Cantu and Matt Diaz playedon that team, which beat Mahon-

ing Valley in the third game of the

championship series at Dutchess

Stadium, 11-3. A 17-year-old Cantu

hit a home run in that game.

Victor Martinez, now playing for

the Detroit Tigers, caught and hit

cleanup for Mahoning Valley.

Alums at MLB All-Star game

A record 83 players were namedMLB All-Stars this season (that’s

11 percent of the 750 active play-

ers at the major league level), and

17 of them had once played in the

New York-Penn League.

Josh Hamilton, now with the

Texas Rangers, and James Shields

of Tampa Bay were the former

Renegades to make the team.

Hamilton, who started, went 1-for-

2 before being replaced by Tampa

Bay’s Matt Joyce.

Shields, who had pitched the

Sunday prior to the All-Star game

against the Yankees, was ineligible

to participate in the Midsummer

Classic.

Smith goes the distance

Complete games in the league

are few and far between, as most

pitchers are on strict pitch counts

and each organization look to

evaluate as many pitchers as

possible. Connecticut’s Brennan

Smith threw an eight-inning com-

plete game against Staten Islandon July 6, the only pitcher to finish

what he started in the league this

season. He also pitched a com-

plete game against Staten Island

during the 2010 season. Ironically,

Smith took the loss in both of

those games.

William Montgomery

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Rays recall lefty relieverMcGee from Triple-A

NYPL

NOTEBOOK

Malm earns player of the week honors


Rays relief pitcher Jake McGee spent all of 2005 with Hudson Valley, going 5-4 with a 3.64 ERA in 15games. He was 4-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 24 games with Triple-A Durham before being recalled.


Renegades first baseman JeffMalm was tied for the leaguelead with six home runs, secondwith a .450 on base percentageand tied for third with 18 RBIthrough Friday’s games.

THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD 59MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL




Times Herald-Record

NEW YORK — Nearly 11 yearsago, Jason Motte packed hisbags and headed to Iona Col-lege, not knowing what hisbaseball future held.

On Wednesday, Motte, a Val-ley Central graduate, was re-laxing in the visitors’ clubhouse

at Citi Field as a fourth-yearpitcher in the St. Louis Cardi-nals’ bullpen. Now an estab-lished setup man, Motte stillhasn’t gotten over the day-to-day thrill of being a major-leaguer.

“I don’t think you ever reallyget comfortable,” he said be-fore the game against the Mets.“You always go out there andyou always want to do better,but the game’s always chang-ing. You have to make adjust-

ments and the hitters maketheir adjustments, so you haveto make them again. I don’tthink you’re ever comfortable.You’re just trying to go outthere and execute your pitchesand do your job.”

Motte took a winding path tothe big leagues. A catcher in hisyounger days, he never threwa pitch while at Valley Centralor Iona. After being drafted bythe Cardinals, Motte struggledto hit in the minors, but teamofficials liked his arm behindthe plate and attempted to turnhim into a fireballing reliever.

Motte proved he could throwhard off the mound, too, but headmitted he’s still learning howto pitch.

“I’m throwing a lot more two-seamers and cutters this yearthan I had in years past,” hesaid. “It feels a little bit bettercoming out of your hand. I’mstill just going out there trying

to get ahead of guys and attackguys. It’s really just making thepitch and location rather thanjust going out there and throw-ing hard.”

According to www.fangraphs.com, Motte threw fastballs 89.4percent of the time during hisrookie season in 2008. This sea-

son, he’s throwing 77.4 percentfastballs, 18.8 percent cuttersand an occasional curveball orchange-up. His average fast-ball velocity is 96 mph, the fast-est it’s been since he averaged96.4 in 2008.

“It’s hitting your spot andthat’s what everybody’s tryingto do,” Motte said. “I don’t think

I’m doing anything differentthan I had done in years past.I’m just trying to mix it up, butstill be aggressive and throwstrikes and get at guys.”

Heat of the race

The Cardinals (50-46, thirdplace) are in a four-team racein the NL Central with the Pi-rates, Brewers and Reds – allwithin five games of first.

Motte has been a consistentlate-inning reliever in what’s

been a topsy-turvy bullpenin St. Louis this season. RyanFranklin, the opening-day clos-er, was released in late June.Miguel Bautista was also re-cently cut and lefty specialistBrian Tallet (8.31 ERA) was re-cently diagnosed with polycys-tic kidney disease.

Mitchell Boggs, first-yearcloser Fernando Salas andMotte will be major factorsin the Cardinals’ run toward asixth division title since 2000.

“It makes it exciting,” Mottesaid. “You come to the ballparkand every game matters, so it’sone of those things where youjust have to come out there anddo your job. Even in years past,no matter where you were,even if you were leading thedivision by 10 games, you can’tgo out there and half-step onegame because that’s when youget into a little funk.”

New York still feels like home

Motte was married in No-vember and he resides withhis wife, Caitlin, in Memphis,Tenn.

Still, coming to New Yorkis a special road trip for him.Motte was able to catch up witha few college roommates, and

a few high school friends fromthe Montgomery area made thetrek to Citi Field, as well.

Motte continues to keep intouch with Valley Central base-ball coaches Eric Bartle andGlenn Taylor, and was proudto see his alma mater make itto the Section 9 championshipgame two years in a row.

“I saw Bartle’s son (Greg)was on the team. He wasjust a little guy when I was

there,” Motte laughed. “I’mglad they’re going out thereand doing well. I know theyhad some struggles for a cou-ple years, but that’s good forthem that they’re going outthere and doing well.”

[email protected]

NEW YORK — Gerald Lairdjoined the Cardinals this sea-son as a free-agent backupcatcher to Yadier Molina af-ter spending eight years inthe American League withthe Rangers and the Tigers.

It didn’t take long for JasonMotte, the catcher-turned-pitcher, to impress his newbatterymate.

“Catching all those yearshe did and catching in the mi-nor leagues, you get an ideaof how to work hitters,” Laird

said of Motte. “I guess the ad-vantage is just to show youhow talented a player he wasand talented of an arm he has.To make the adjustments andmake it to the big leagues asa pitcher, he has to be prettyintelligent upstairs.”

Motte said that many people

have played a part in his de-velopment as a pitcher, fromcoaches to catchers to otherpitchers in the bullpen.

Laird hasn’t offered toomuch specific advice, but hedoesn’t think Motte needs itanyway.

“Just once in a while, justmechanical things,” Lairdsaid. “Other than that, I thinkhe has a pretty good under-standing of what he wants todo out there and knowing allthe situations. He’s just one

of those guys, honestly, thatyou respect as a player be-cause he respects his catch-ers. He really depends on usto make the right pitch selec-tion and he knows he just hasto execute his pitches to get alot of guys out.”

William Montgomery

Motte carves vitalniche in Cards’ penVC grad returns to face Mets JASON MOTTE FILE

Age: 29

Hometown: Walden

High school: Valley Central, class

of 2000

College: Iona

Drafted: 575th overall (19th round)

by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2003

Major-league debut: Sept. 3, 2008

Fast facts: When Motte left Valley

Central, he held school records for

home runs in one season (11), a

career (17) and most RBI in one

season (49). ... At Iona, Motte

started 115 games as catcher,

batting .277 with 11 home runs

and 72 RBI. ... The player drafted

one pick before Motte, Jeff

Karstens, made his major-league

debut in 2006 with the Yankees.

This year, Karstens is 7-4 with a

2.55 ERA for the NL Central-leading

Pittsburgh Pirates. ... Motte batted

.191 in 614 minor-league at-bats

over five seasons. ... Motte’s older

brother, James, a shortstop, playedthree years in the Twins’ minor

league system. ... Motte resides in

Memphis, Tenn., home of St. Louis’

Triple-A af filiate the Redbirds.

Motte played there in 2008.

Career stats, all with St. Louis

Year G W-L S ERA IP

2008 12 0-0 1 0.82 11.0

2009 69 4-4 0 4.76 56.2

2010 56 4-2 2 2.24 52.1

2011 42 3-1 0 2.43 37.0


While Valley Central grad Jason Motte has been bringing heat forfour years now, he says big-leaguers never really get comfortable.

Catchers, naturally,love kindred Motte


RENEGADES




Times Herald-Record

FISHKILL —Parker Markel doesn’tlead the New York-Penn Leaguein wins or strikeouts. Throughhis first five starts, however, hedid the most important part of hisjob better than any other pitcherin the league: keeping the otherteam off the scoreboard.

Markel’s streak of 292 ⁄ 3 in-

nings without an earned runwas snapped in Tuesday’s startagainst Staten Island – Markelhad allowed four unearnedruns over that span – leavinghis season ERA at a sterling0.59 in six starts.

“I think just the main thing iscoming out, working hard andnot slacking off on anything,”Markel said Monday afternoon.“One of the big parts is – I’vesaid it before, but you have tohave a good routine. And just

trying to repeat the same pro-cess between starts.”

An offer he couldn’t refuse

Markel was drafted as a highschool senior in 2009. He and theDetroit Tigers couldn’t meet ona signing bonus, so Markel de-cided to play one year at YavapaiCollege in Prescott, Ariz., whereCurt Schilling played in 1986.

Markel fell 221 slots in the2010 draft, but he still felt like hehad won the lottery when he wasselected by the Tampa Bay Rayswith the 1,181st pick in the 39thround. Markel had an opportu-nity to play Division I baseballand potentially boost his stockfor a future draft, but the allureof playing in the Rays organiza-tion was too good to pass up.

“I had plenty of offers, plen-ty of scholarship offers aftermy one year at JUCO,” Markelsaid. “I had offers on the table.And the Rays came and offered

me. I feel like they have the bestminor-league organization fordeveloping players. I thoughtit was the right move.”

Markel throws his fastball at97 mph and mixes in a sliderand a changeup, both of whichhe throws in the mid-80s. Aright-hander, he throws with a

not-quite-sidearm three-quar-ters motion.

At least for this summer, theRays envision him as a startingpitcher. Markel was a starter inhigh school, but he came out ofthe bullpen at Yavapai and alsorelieved in his seven appearanceswith the Gulf Coast League Rayslast summer. In spring training,Markel prepared to be a relieverbut was not assigned to a full-sea-son team when camp broke. Inextended spring, coaches askedhim to become a starter.

“In high school, you’re still akid. You don’t really – I mean,you think you know the game, but

you don’t,” Markel said. “It waskind of tough going from starterto reliever and then being a re-liever again in Gulf Coast andthen finally getting a chance tostart here. It’s worked out great.It’s really worked to my favor asfar as saving my arm and learn-ing a lot about the game.”

Ace of a strong staff

Markel hasn’t been alone in al-lowing few runs to score: Bata-via’s Michael Maness did not al-low an earned run through hisfirst four starts. Maness leadsthe league with a 0.31 ERA, buthe’s also made two relief appear-ances and has yet to register a de-cision in his seven appearances.

The Renegades’ pitching staffranked third in the New York-Penn League with a 3.27 ERAthrough Friday. Starter JasonMcEachern (3-0, 2.38 ERA) washaving a fine season before be-ing promoted to Bowling Green

on Saturday. Relievers CharlieCononie (0.00 ERA in 152 ⁄ 3 innings)

and Mickey Jannis (0.38 ERA in24 innings) have also excelled.

Markel isn’t sure what theRays have in store for him inthe future. Right now, he’s justhappy to be getting top-notchinstruction from the coaches

in the organization.“Everyone is changing every

day,” Markel said. “Everyonehere is getting better every day.No matter how good you’re doing,they’re still trying to make you a

better player. They treat us as ifwe’re developing players and notjust saying, ‘I want you to go outthere and win every game.’”

[email protected]

Markel making most of opportunityPitcher choseto go pro after

Rays selection

CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Parker Markel was drafted in 2009 by the Tigers but declined to sign. After spending a year at JUCO, he was selected by the Rays.

PARKER MARKEL FILE

Age: 20

Hometown: Peoria, Ariz.Drafted: 2009: 960th overall

(32nd round) by Detroit Tigers out

of Mountain Ridge High School,

did not sign. 2010: 1181st overall

(39th round) by Tampa Bay Rays

out of Yavapai Community College.

Yavapai Community College:

Went 2-3 with a 3.03 ERA in 19

relief appearances. Struck out 41,

walked 30 and allowed 29 hits in

382

⁄ 3 innings.

Professional highlights: 2010:

Pitched in seven games (all in

relief) for the Gulf Coast Rays in

2010. Went 2-0 with a 1.74 ERAin 10

1 ⁄ 3 innings with 13 strikeouts,

three walks and eight hits allowed.

2011: In six starts, Markel is 2-0

with a 0.59 ERA (six runs allowed,

two of which were earned) in 302 ⁄ 3

innings pitched. Has allowed 14

hits, 10 walks and zero home runs

and struck out 25 batters. He’s

holding opponents to a .057 bat-

ting average with runners on base

and remains undefeated in his

professional career.




Jeff Malm hit his ninth home

run of the season in the first

inning of Thursday’s game at

Staten Island, and he hit anotherround-tripper

in the seventh,

bringing his

season total to

a New York-Penn League leading

10. Through Friday’s games, Malm

was hitting .306 with 26 RBI.

Double-digit home run sea-

sons are few and far between for

Renegades players. Not only are

many of the players still adjusting

to wood bats after using alumi-

num in high school and college,Dutchess Stadium is known as a

pitcher’s park. Malm is the fifth

Renegades player in franchise

history to hit at least 10 home

runs in a single season. Dan

Grummitt hit a club record 22 in

1999. Joey Gomes (15, 2002),

Jared Sandberg (12, 1998) and

Andy Beinbrink (11, 1999) have

also accomplished the feat.

In 2010, Malm batted .220

with three home runs and 25

RBI in 61 games at rookie-level

Princeton.Malm won four Nevada state

championships at Bishop Gor-

man High School in Las Vegas.

He’s always been known to hit for

average, having graduated with

the national record for hits in a

high school career with 277, tied

with Darren Deadmond (Odin, Ill.,

1985-88).

Phillip Wunderlich and Steven

Tinoco, both first basemen, are

having strong years at full-season

Class A Bowling Green and are

currently blocking Malm’s path to

a promotion. Wunderlich batted

.330 for the Renegades in 2010,

but he hit only four home runs

with Hudson Valley.

Winder leading league

Outfielder Chris Winder leads

the New York-Penn League with

28 runs scored through 31

games. The Renegades’ leadoff

hitter, Winder is batting .274 with

two home runs and 11 RBI.

Last season, Winder played 55games for the Renegades, batting

.225 with 27 runs scored, seven

RBI and zero home runs. Winder,

a Craig, Colo., native, played col-

lege baseball at Odessa (Texas)

Junior College before being

drafted by Tampa Bay in the 27th

round of the 2010 draft.

Roster move

On Monday, the Renegades

promoted catcher David Wendt

to Double-A Montgomery. He did

not appear in any games for the

Renegades after being assigned

on July 13.

Luis takes the mound

Infielder Diogenes Luis pitched

a scoreless inning of relief in

Monday’s matinee loss to the

Connecticut Tigers.

A 24-year-old from San Pedro

de Macoris in the Dominican

Republic, Luis is batting .149

through 47 at-bats. He has just

one extra base hit, a triple,

and is 3-for-5 in stolen base

attempts. He’s appeared at sec-

ond base, third base, shortstop,

center field and pitcher this sea-

son. Luis also pitched a score-

less inning of relief last season

in Bowling Green.

Players of the week

On Monday, Casey Stevenson

(Staten Island) and Josh Hodges

(Jamestown) were named the New

York-Penn League’s player and

pitcher of the week, respectively.

Stevenson won his second

NY-P player of the week award, as

he also earned the honor August23, 2010. He’s batting .320 with

two home runs and 20 RBI for

the Yankees.

A 6-foot-7 right-hander and a

seventh-round draft pick in 2009,

Hodges is 3-0 with a 4.46 ERA in

seven starts for Jamestown.

William Montgomery

Malm’s HR total is

rare one for ’Gades

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday: vs. Mahoning Valley,

7:05 p.m. (Steal home: one

lucky fan wins mortgage pay-

ments for one month)

Tuesday: off day

Wednesday: at Auburn, 7:05

p.m.

Thursday: at Auburn, 7:05

p.m.

Friday: at Auburn, 7:05 p.m.

Saturday: at Williamsport,

7:05 p.m.

Sunday: at Williamsport,

5:05 p.m.

NYPL

NOTEBOOK


Times Herald-Record



A l e x C o b bjust earned a

spot in the Tampa Bay rota-tion, but he played his firstfull season of professionalbaseball with the Hudson Val-ley Renegades.

Cobb pitched 82 ⁄ 3 innings

with rookie-level Princetonafter being drafted in 2006and was promoted to Hud-son Valley to start the 2007season. In 16 starts with the

Renegades, Cobb was 5-6with a 3.54 ERA in 811 ⁄ 3 in -

nings pitched. He struck out62, walked 31 and allowed 78hits for a 1.34 WHIP and wasnamed the Renegades’ pitcherof the year at season’s end.

In 2008, at Class A Colum-bus (Ga.), Cobb went 9-7 with

a 3.29 ERA in 25 starts. A sea-son later, Cobb was 8-5 with a3.03 ERA in 23 starts for high-A Port Charlotte.

For the 2010 season, Cobbwas promoted to Double-AMontgomery, where he went7-5 with a 2.71 ERA in 22 startsand was named the team’s mostvaluable player. This year, hewas 5-1 with a 1.87 ERA at Tri-ple-A Durham in 12 starts.

Cobb made his major-leaguedebut on May 1, lost to the LosAngeles Angels and was sentback to Durham. His coach-es believed he was tipping hispitches. He returned on May 31and made four starts, pickingup his first two major-leaguewins at the Angels (June 7) and

at home against the Marlins(June 18). Cobb was recalledagain in mid-July as the Rayslook to use a six-man rotationfor the rest of the season.

Not a particularly hardthrower, Cobb’s fastball topsout in the low 90s. He is oftenlikened to fellow Rays starter

Jeremy Hellickson for havingsuperb control.

[email protected]

WHERE ARE

THEY NOW?

US Presswire

Alex Cobb has been compared to fellow Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson for having superb control.

ALEX COBB FILE

Age: 23

Hometown: Vero Beach, Fla.

Drafted: 109th overall (fourth

round) in 2006 by Tampa Bay

out of Vero Beach High School


Major league debut: May 1,2011

Trivia: During his junior year

of high school, made a verbal

commitment to play baseball at

Clemson University, but a sign-

ing bonus of $400,000 helped

push him toward the pros. ...

Also played quarterback at Vero

Beach High. ... Cobb’s older

brother, R.J., served 16 months

with the Army in Iraq and earned

a Purple Heart after sustaininginjuries in an IED explosion while

driving in a Humvee.

Cobb returns to Rays,

lands spot in rotationEach year shows improvement


RENEGADES




FISHKILL — With the massiveRawlings S100 helmet tuckedon top of his head, the 5-foot-10,157-pound Chris Winder looksmore like a Little Leaguer thana professional baseball player.

As it turns out, despite theoversized headgear that’s stan-

dard issue for all minor-leagu-ers, the second-year Renegadesoutfielder is playing like a gi-ant in the leadoff spot.

Winder, who has split timebetween center field and rightfield, was tied for the New York-Penn League lead with 31 runsscored through Friday’s game.Brooklyn’s Richard Lucas hadalso scored 31 runs. Winder isbatting .265 – his on-base per-centage is .353 – with two homeruns and 13 RBI. He’s also sto-

len 11 bases in 15 attempts.Winder’s small stature had

discouraged college coachesand professional scouts in thepast, but he’s glad to have founda home with the Renegades.

“I always heard I wastoo small from the scouts,”Winder said after a game atDutchess Stadium. “I’d go tocollege, I figured.

“I’m just trying to eat as muchas I can. I’m trying to put someweight on. You know, I don’tthink I’m going to get any taller,so I have to get stronger.”

Winder, who graduated fromMoffat County (Colo.) HighSchool in 2008, played in theColorado Rockies’ top 50 se-niors game at Coors Field asa shortstop.

Winder then played twoyears at Odessa College (Tex-as), where he was convert-ed into a center fielder. Af-ter posting gaudy offensive

numbers there, Winder com-mitted to Northwestern State(Natchitoches, La.). Yet, whenthe Rays drafted him after hissecond year at Odessa, he opt-ed to sign instead.

He struggled in his first sea-son with the Renegades, batting.225 while playing all three out-

field positions. Winder’s workwith Renegades hitting coachReinaldo Ruiz has paid off. HisOPS (on-base plus sluggingpercentage) has surged .153points, rising from .577 in 2010to .730 in 2011.

“We changed my swing, myhand path a little bit,” Windersaid. “My legs, using my legsmore. Getting separation. Me-chanics.”

Winder is now in his thirdyear of playing the outfield

and is gradually improvinghis play there as well. Havinggrasped the basics in college,he’s now learning the nuancesof the position.

“That’s what it started out as,just running around trying torun balls down,” he said. “Now,

it’s getting to be working onjumps, learning about the hit-ters, learning what they do, try-ing to ... getting jumps, know-ing the hitters.”

Outfielder Kes Carter, the56th overall pick in this year’sdraft, has played in only threegames as he deals with shin

splints. Carter’s absence hasgiven Winder an opportuni-ty to play every day and he’smade the most of it. After all,it’s the leadoff man’s respon-sibility to get on base andscore runs, and Winder hasdone that better than anyone

else in the NY-PL.“It’s good for me to come outhere again,” he said. “I’ve beenhere once, so I kind of knowwhat to expect and I can justgo out there and have fun. I trynot to do too much.”

[email protected]

CHRIS WINDER FILE

Age: 21

Hometown: Craig, Colo.

Drafted: 821st overall (27th

round) by Tampa Bay out of

Odessa College in 2010

Junior college highlights:

Batted .380 with nine home

runs, 32 RBI and 31 steals in

33 attempts as a freshman.

He hit .362 with six home runs

and 48 RBI and 36 steals in

39 attempts as a sophomore.

Professional highlights: 2010

– Played in 55 games with

the Renegades, batted .225

with six extra base hits (zero

home runs) and seven RBI.

Stole 13 bases in 14 chances.

Scored 27 runs in 196 plateappearances. 2011 – Batting

.265 with two home runs, 13

RBI and 31 runs scored in 36

games as the team’s leadoff

hitter. He’s hitting .292 at

Dutchess Stadium.

Trivia: The player drafted

one spot above Winder

was Bryan Harper, the

older brother of Nationals

prospect Bryce Harper. Bryan

Harper did not sign with

the Cubs in 2010, but went

to the University of South

Carolina and was drafted

by the Nationals in 2011.

Winder delivers big as leadoff hitterCombats hissmall stature

with strength

“I’m just trying to eat as much as I can. I’m trying to

put some weight on. You know, I don’t think I’m going

to get any taller, so I have to get stronger.”

CHRIS WINDER

5-10, 157-pound Renegades outfielder, who said scouts have always toldhim he was too small


Chris Winder of the Renegades is 5-foot-10 and 157 pounds. His size deterred many college andprofessional scouts, but he is tied for the New York-Penn League lead with 31 runs scored.





Times Herald-Record

Ryan Carpenter, the 240th over-

all pick (seventh round) in the 2011draft out of Gonzaga, made his pro-

fessional debut for

the Renegades on

Wednesday night in

Auburn. Carpenter,

a 6-foot-5 left-hander, did not allow

a hit over five innings.

The Renegades went to the bull-

pen in the sixth, lost the no-hitter

and the game as well, 3-1.

Carpenter threw two no-hitters

and two one-hitters in his senior

season at Cactus High (Peoria, Ariz.)He also threw eight hitless innings

in a Cape Cod League game last

summer before giving up a hit in

the ninth. Carpenter was 6-1 with a

2.65 ERA, striking out 82 and allow-

ing 54 hits in 742 ⁄ 3 innings pitched

for Gonzaga this spring.

McEachern roughed up

Jason McEachern, who was 3-0

with a 2.38 ERA in seven starts

for the Renegades, got off to a

rough start in his first outing with

full-season Class A Bowling Green.In a start on Wednesday at Lake

County (Eastlake, Ohio), McEach-

ern allowed 10 hits and six runs in

five innings of work.

Culver comes home

Staten Island shortstop Cito

Culver hit his first two home

runs of the season this week in

Batavia, less than an hour away

from where he grew up. Culver, the

Yankees’ first-round draft pick in

2010, graduated from Rochester-

area Irondequoit High School.

Bergman hit streak ends at 22

Batavia second baseman Joey

Bergman had a 22-game hit streak

snapped Monday at Aberdeen.

Bergman broke current Yankees

outfielder Brett Gardner’s College of

Charleston record of 85 runs scored

in a single season when he scored

88 in 56 games played in 2009.

League leaders

In addition to Chris Winder lead-ing the league in runs scored, Ren-

egades first baseman Jeff Malm

also leads the New York-Penn

League in home runs (11) and RBI

(32). Malm’s slugging percentage

(.596) is second to Brooklyn’s

Travis Taijeron’s .598.

On the mound, starting pitcher

Parker Markel’s 0.50 ERA is tops,

as is his 0.76 WHIP. Hudson Val-

ley’s staff WHIP of 1.23 is the best

in the league.

34 games remaining

Including Sunday’s game at

Williamsport, the Renegades

(21-19 through Friday) have 34

games remaining in the regular

season. Hudson Valley trails both

Brooklyn (23-17) and McNa-

mara Division-leading Staten

Island (30-10) in the standings.

The three division winners and

one wild-card team advance to

best-of-three semifinal series.

The Renegades do not play

Staten Island again. The Yan-

kees won the season series, 9-1.

Hudson Valley plays Brooklyn Aug.

26-29. The Aug. 27 game will be

at Dutchess Stadium, with the rest

on Coney Island.

Transactions

Renegades infielder Diogenes

Luis was released on July 26. Luis,

24, was hitting .143 in 49 at-bats

and was receiving limited playing

time. Jonathan Koscso, who batted.269 with one home run and three

RBI in 26 at-bats at Princeton, was

promoted on July 27. He had played

second and third base and the out-

field for Princeton. Koscso made his

Renegades debut Friday at second

base in Auburn, going 1-for-5 with

one run scored.

The Times Herald-Recordtakes a look at former HudsonValley Renegades players andwhat they’ve done since leav-ing Dutchess Stadium.

Matt Diaz is a veteran out-fielder with the Pittsburgh Pi-

rates, who arelooking to fin-ish with a win-ning recordand secure a

postseason berth.The Pirates have done nei-

ther in 18 years, but Diazknows a thing or two about win-ning. In 1999, he went straightfrom the College World Serieschampionship game to a NewYork-Penn League champion-ship-winning team in Fishkill.

Diaz played in 54 gameswith the Renegades after be-

ing drafted as a catcher out ofFlorida State. The Seminoleslost to Miami (Fla.) in the Col-lege World Series final, 6-5.

With Hudson Valley, Diazplayed the outfield and batted.245, with one home run, 15 dou-bles and 20 RBI. The Renegadesdefeated Mahoning Valley in the

NY-PL championship series, theonly league title in Hudson Val-ley’s franchise history.

Diaz played for high Class Ateams in St. Petersburg, Fla.,and Bakersfield, Calif., in 2000

and 2001, respectively, beforelanding at Double-A Orlando in2002. He hit .274 with 10 homeruns and 50 RBI there, earninga promotion to Triple-A Dur-ham in 2003. Over his two sea-sons at Durham, Diaz hit .331with 29 home runs and 138 andalso appeared in 14 games with

Tampa Bay over that span.He was placed on waiv-

ers following the 2004 seasonand signed with Kansas Cityin 2005. Diaz spent one yearwith the Royals before being

traded to Atlanta, where hebatted .305 with 41 home runsand 180 RBI over five seasons.Pittsburgh offered him a $4.25million, two-year contract pri-or to the 2011 season.

Diaz is batting .270 with11 doubles and 16 RBI in 77games with the Pirates.

MATT DIAZ FILE

Age: 33

Hometown: Lakeland, Fla.

Drafted: 505th overall (17th

round) in 1999 out of Florida

State University


Major-league debut: July 19,2003 (with Tampa Bay)

Current team: outfielder with

Pittsburgh Pirates

Trivia: First major-league hit

came on July 26, 2003, off

Rick White of the White Sox at

U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago

... first major-league home

run came on Sept. 22, 2004,

off Darrell May of the Royals

at Tropicana Field ... veteran

major-league outfielder Reed

Johnson of the Cubs was also

drafted in the 17th round in

1999 ... Jonny Diaz, Matt’s

younger brother, is a singer-

songwriter who has released

five albums since 2003.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday: at Williamsport, 7:05

p.m.

Tuesday: vs. Batavia, 7:05

p.m. (Webkinz Lil’ Kinz St.

Bernard to first 1,000 fans

12-and-under)

Wednesday: vs. Batavia,

7:05 p.m. (Jared Sandberg

bobblehead)

Thursday: vs. Batavia, 7:05

p.m. (German night)

Friday: vs. Aberdeen, 7:05

p.m. (Bed & Breakfast night,

postgame movie on the field)

Saturday: vs. Aberdeen, 7:05

p.m. (Renegades cap to first

2,000 fans age 13 and older;

postgame father and daughter

dance on field)

Sunday: at Aberdeen, 5:35

p.m.

Carpenter debuts withno-hitter for 5 innings

NY-PL

NOTEBOOK

WHERE ARE

THEY NOW?

Diaz helping PiratesOF was on Hudson Valley’s only NY-PL title team


Pirates' Matt Diaz played 54 games with the Renegades after being drafted as a catcher.

76 SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORDRENEGADES

R ki C t t hi t h




Times Herald-Record

FISHKILL — Ryan Carpenterwalked into the Hudson ValleyRenegades clubhouse last weekas a newly signed rookie profes-sional, but there was one famil-iar face there for him. Carpenter,a Peoria, Ariz., native, had previ-ously crossed paths with pitcher

Parker Markel (Glendale, Ariz.).Another Renegades pitch-er, Jacob Partridge, however,seemed destined to one day beteammates with Carpenter.

Carpenter and Partridge areboth tall, 20-year-old left-hand-ed pitchers and resemble eachother enough that it’s possi-ble to mistake them for twins.They could have been pitchingin the same rotation at GonzagaUniversity a few years ago hadthey not made different choic-

es as high school seniors.Carpenter was selected in

the 21st round of the first-yearplayer draft by the Tampa BayRays in 2008, but he opted toplay at Gonzaga instead.

Partridge, a Spokane, Wash.,native, was committed to playfor his hometown ’Zags. Butwhen the Tampa Bay Rayspicked him in the 18th round ofthe 2009 draft, Partridge, rankedthe No. 1 left-handed pitcher inWashington as a junior by Base-

ball Northwest, couldn’t say no.“I just kind of wanted to get

a start on it early. Schoolingwasn’t my best thing,” Partridgesaid, laughing, before Wednes-day’s rainout at Dutchess Sta-dium. “I had a good chance andopportunity to come out there,so I had to take it.”

Carpenter, on the other hand,decided that playing at Gon-zaga was going to provide hima better chance of ultimate-

ly sticking in the minors andhopefully beyond.“I went up (to Gonzaga) for

a visit, and I really liked theirstadium,” he said. “It was brandnew. I think it was a year old. Itwas kind of a smaller school, agood education, obviously, andI really liked the coaches. So

just the entire package I reallyenjoyed and thought it wouldbe a good fit for me.”

Carpenter was the West CoastConference pitcher of the yearthis spring – a significant im-provement over his fresh-man and sophomore seasons,in which he had a combined

5.46 ERA – and on July 27, hepitched five innings of no-hitball in his pro debut at Auburn.In his second Renegades start,Carpenter allowed four hits butpitched five scoreless inningsto earn his first win.

“It was nice,” he said. “Youknow, I didn’t really know toomuch what to expect coming outhere, but I was a tad bit nervous,but I just wanted to come outhere and do as well as I could and

give the team a chance to win.”Hudson Valley is Partridge’sthird stop in the Rays’ sys-tem, as he pitched for the GulfCoast Rays in 2009 and Princ-eton (W.Va.) in 2010. He got offto a rough start with the Ren-egades in 2011, losing his firstfour decisions. But in his last

two starts, he has allowed six

hits, one earned run and struckout six over 10 innings.Carpenter and Partridge took

different paths to DutchessStadium, but they’ve been hav-ing similar success lately. Al-though they missed out on be-ing teammates at Gonzaga,they’re already planning a Spo-

kane adventure or two once the

Renegades’ season is over.“We talk about that all thetime,” Partridge said. “I keepasking if he’s going to come upthis offseason and finish someschool. We could hang out anddo some things together.”

[email protected]

JACOB PARTRIDGE FILE

Age: 20

Height: 6-foot-3

Hometown: Spokane, Wash.Drafted: 559th overall (18thround) in 2009 by Tampa Bay.

Professional highlights: 2009: 0-2 with a 1.75 ERA in11 games (seven starts) atrookie-level Gulf Coast. 2010:4-3 with a 3.23 ERA in 13games (nine starts) at rookie-level Princeton. 2011: 1-4 witha 4.36 ERA in nine starts.Struck out 34 and walked ninein 431⁄3 innings.

Trivia: Played football (WR andLB) at Rogers High and wasa member of the team in thefall of 2008 that snapped a40-game losing streak thathad spanned five seasons. ...Committed to play baseballat Gonzaga while a junior atRogers High. ... Has madefour errors this season in10 chances for a fieldingpercentage of .600.

RYAN CARPENTER FILE

Age: 20

Height: 6-foot-5

Hometown: Peoria, Ariz.

Drafted: 623rd overall (21stround) in 2008 by Tampa Bay,did not sign; 240th overall(seventh round) in 2011by Tampa Bay, signed for$200,000.

College highlights: WestCoast Conference pitcher of

the year in 2011 after going8-2 with a 2.62 ERA and107 strikeouts in 96 inningspitched. Finished three-yearcareer at Gonzaga with a18-10 record, 4.21 ERA and229 strikeouts, good for eighthplace on Gonzaga’s careerstrikeout list.

Professional highlights: 2011:Threw five innings of no-hitball in his pro debut July 27at Auburn. Allowing just 0.50

baserunners per inning.Trivia: Threw two no-hittersand two one-hitters in hissenior season at Cactus High.... Played for the OrleansFirebirds of the Cape CodLeague in the summer of 2010.

Rookie Carpenter meets his match

CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record photos

In his last two starts, Renegades starting pitcher Jacob Partridge (above, below) has allowed six hits,one earned run and struck out six over 10 innings. The Rays picked him in the 18th round of the 2009draft after he was ranked the No. 1 lefty in Washington as a high school junior by Baseball Northwest.

Sharing success with Renegades

LHP Partridge

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD 77RENEGADES

B k B l



Renegades pitcher BrooksBelter is among the 64 playersnominated for Minor League

Baseball’s Moniker Madness tour-nament, whichfeatures “uniqueand funny namesfrom across

the minors.” Belter faces toughcompetition from Jetsy Extrano,Tuffy Gosewisch, Shooter Hunt,Rougned Odor, Forrest Snow, BenTootle, Zelous Wheeler and Kurt Yacko, among many others. Fansmay vote for their favorites using the March Madness-style bracketsat www.MiLB.com.

Bus crash in NYC

The Williamsport Crosscutterswere heading back to the teamhotel in downtown Brooklyn follow-ing Tuesday’s game against theCyclones when their bus driver tooka wrong turn onto a Staten Island-bound lane of the Verrazano-Nar-rows bridge. Attempting to make aU-turn, the driver collided with anSUV, causing the bus to crash intoa guard rail. No one was injured,

and the Crosscutters playedWednesday’s scheduled afternoongame against the Cyclones.

That’s one way to get on base

According to a report on www.MiLB.com, Williamsport outfielderKelly Dugan has reached base oncatcher’s interference six timesin 44 games. Dale Berra holds the major-league record, having reached on catcher’s interfer-ence seven times in 161 gameswith Pittsburgh in 1983. Dugan’s

father, Dennis Dugan, is a filmdirector whose credits include the 1996 Adam Sandler comedy“Happy Gilmore.”

Transactions

Alejandro Segovia (C/1B, Gulf Coast Rays) and Trevor Shull (RHP,Bowling Green Hot Rods) wereassigned to Hudson Valley onFriday. Brian Baker, a right-handedpitcher and Brooklyn native, wasassigned from Triple-A Durham on

Wednesday.Rays draft picks update

Taylor Guerrieri and Mikie Mah- took, first-round draft choices, aswell as Tyler Goeddel and GraysonGarvin, supplemental-round picks,have yet to sign with the Rays.Tampa Bay has signed six players

from its historic draft class – itwas the first time a team had 10selections in the first 60 picks.

Guerrieri, a right-handed pitcher,and Goeddel, a third baseman,were drafted out of high schooland may opt for college instead.Guerrieri has committed to theUniversity of South Carolina. As the 24th pick, he is due a signing

bonus of $1.24 million, according to MLB slot guidelines. Goeddel iscommitted to UCLA and would bedue $815,400 by his slot position,41st overall.

Mahtook (OF, Louisiana State)and Garvin (LHP, Vanderbilt) couldboth choose to return for theirsenior seasons of college in 2012,but they would lose significantsigning-bonus negotiation leveragein the process.

Outfielder Kes Carter, drafted56th overall out of Western

Kentucky, was the only one of those six players assigned toHudson Valley. Carter, signed toa $625,000 bonus, has playedin just three games this seasonbecause of nagging shin splints.

Players of the week

Brooklyn outfielder Travis Taijeronand Aberdeen left-handed starterTrent Howard were named theNew York-Penn League player andpitcher of the week, respectively.

All-Star game notesThe New York-Penn League All-

Star game will be played Tuesday,Aug. 16 at LaLacheur Park inLowell, Mass. Rosters had notbeen released as of press timeSaturday.

William Montgomery



Dan Wheel-er was a long

shot to make the big leagues asa 34th-round draft pick in 1996.Not only did Wheeler make it tothe majors, but he’s also become

a reliable reliever and a key partof Boston’s bullpen this season.

Wheeler made his profession-al debut with the Renegades in1997. He started 15 games, go-ing 6-7 with a 3.00 ERA, strik-ing out 81 and walking just 17in 84 innings pitched. Promot-ed to Charleston (S.C.) in 1998,Wheeler went 12-14 with a 4.43ERA. In 1999, Wheeler started23 games between Double-AOrlando and Triple-A Durham,

going 10-5 with a 4.23 ERA. Hemade his major league debut asa September call-up and went0-4 with a 5.87 ERA in six startsfor the Devil Rays.

Wheeler continued as a start-er in Durham in 2000 and 2001and also made a handful of re-lief appearances for Tampa Bay

before being released Dec. 13,2001. He signed with Atlantaand pitched for Triple-A Rich-mond in 2002, but he was re-leased after posting a 9-6 recordand a 4.65 ERA in 25 starts.

Wheeler signed with theMets in 2003 and became a reg-ular contributor in the bullpen

before being traded to Hous-ton for Adam Seuss in August2004. He pitched in parts offour seasons for the Astros,making 205 appearances andsaving 23 games.

Tampa Bay reacquiredWheeler in July 2007, trad-ing Ty Wigginton to Houston.

During Tampa Bay’s run to theWorld Series in 2008, Wheelerpitched in 70 games – saving13 – and made seven appear-ances in the postseason.

The Rays declined to offerWheeler arbitration after the2010 season, and he signed aone-year, $3 million deal with

the Red Sox. Through Friday’sgame, Wheeler had made 34appearances, going 2-1 with a4.50 ERA. Wheeler returnedfrom the 15-day disabled list(calf strain) May 21. SinceJune 1, opponents are batting.184 (14-for-76) against him.

William Montgomery

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday: at Aberdeen, 7:05p.m.

Tuesday: vs. Lowell, 7:05 p.m.(Renegades cap to first 1,000fans 12-and-under)

Wednesday: vs. Lowell,7:05 p.m. ($1,000 hot doggiveaway)

Thursday: vs. Lowell, 7:05p.m. (Ladies night andpostgame fireworks)

Friday: at Tri-City, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday: at Tri-City, 7:00 p.m.Sunday: at Tri-City, 5:00 p.m.

Brooks Belter among best names in minors

NY-PL

NOTEBOOK

WHERE ARE

THEY NOW?

DAN WHEELER FILE

Age: 33

Hometown: Warwick, R.I.

Drafted: 1,024th overall (34thround) in 1996 by Tampa BayDevil Rays out of Pilgrim HighSchool


Major league debut: Sept. 1,

1999 (for Tampa Bay)

Trivia: Has one career hit, which

came with the Mets againstArizona’s Casey Daigle on May

10, 2004. ... While with the

Astros, recorded the final outin Busch Stadium on Oct. 19,

2005, in the NLCS-clinchingvictory over the Cardinals. ...

Played for Team USA in the

2006 World Baseball Classic.... Wheeler’s Red Sox contract

includes a $3 million option for2012 that vests if he makes 65

appearances.

Wheeler key to Sox ’pen

Signed to 1-year deal with Boston after Rays stint


Red Sox relief pitcher Dan Wheeler made his professional debut with Hudson Valley in 1997. Hestarted 15 games, going 6-7 with a 3.00 ERA, striking out 81 and walking 17 in 84 innings pitched.

66 SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD

RENEGADES

U g L l g tti g i g d g




FISHKILL — When Craige Lyer-ly introduces himself to newteammates, he often has someexplaining to do.

Lyerly is a bit of a baseballunderdog, an infielder turnedoutfielder whose path to pro-fessional baseball included afour-year stint at Division IICatawba College in Salisbury,N.C.

“I feel like that sometimeswhen you have a bunch ofbig Division I players comein all the time, when they askwhere you went, you have totell them, and they have noidea where that is,” Lyerlysaid, laughing, last week atDutchess Stadium. “They’venever heard of it.”

While his teammates maynot have heard of where hecomes from, Lyerly is start-ing to make a name for him-self in the New York-PennLeague.

Lyerly was the only Rene-gades player with at least 100at-bats hitting more than .300following Friday’s doublehead-er at Tri-City. After hitting .200in June, Lyerly hit .319 in July.He’s batting .361 through 11games in August.

Lyerly has played 20 gamesin left field, 14 in center andhas hit in every spot in thebatting order except thirdand ninth at least once. As hisnumbers have surged, he’s be-come a regular in the fifth andsixth slots and he has eventwice hit cleanup.

The 5-foot-11, 175-poundLyerly played infield in highschool and played both sec-ond and third base at Cataw-

ba. After being selected in the19th round of the 2010 draft,the Tampa Bay Rays organi-zation decided to shift Lyerlyto the outfield.

“It was hard. It took meabout a whole year to be ableto grasp it,” he said. “I’m stilllearning. It takes repetition.

Taking routes and everything.That’s tough.”

In college, Lyerly was an all-around offensive threat. Hehad a career .392 batting av-erage and a .627 slugging per-

centage and he stole 96 bases in114 attempts.

He struggled to hit after be-ing assigned to the rookie-levelGulf Coast Rays last summer(23-for-102) and went 3-for-33in a brief stint with the Ren-egades, for a combined aver-age of .193.

This June, he was 6-for-30

with the Renegades, but had atorrid July, raising his battingaverage .119 points. He’s alsoraised his slugging percentagefrom last year’s minor leaguetotals by .210 to .788.

“I feel like I’m getting bet-ter each day as we go on, andit’s been kind of hot lately, so I

hope it keeps going,” he said.Lyerly’s starting to show he

can be an all-around talent atthe professional level as well.Not only has he surpassedhis home run and RBI totalsfrom his first professionalseason, he is also 16-for-17 instolen base attempts. In thefirst game of a doubleheader

Thursday, he also had an RBIsacrifice bunt.Another Renegades out-

fielder, Chris Winder, trav-eled much the same path asLyerly. Winder was an infield-er in high school and also isimproving in his second pro-fessional season.

Lyerly might not have thename recognition that someof the major college players

and elite high school prospectsplaying in the New York-PennLeague do, but he’s had a blasttrying to earn it.

“It’s a good experience,” hesaid. “I just enjoy it every day.It’s just fun being here.”

[email protected]

CRAIGE LYERLY FILE

Age: 22

Hometown: Salisbury, N.C.

Drafted: 518 overall (19th

round) of 2010 draft out of

Catawba College

College highlights: Played

third base and second base

at Catawba. ... Holds Catawba

records for hits in a single sea-

son (106); triples in a career

(17); stolen bases in a career

(96). ... His 39-game hitting

streak between 2009-10 was

the sixth-longest in NCAADivision II history. ... Was the

South Atlantic Conference co-

player of the year in 2009.

Professional highlights:

2010: In 102 at-bats with

the Gulf Coast Rays, hit .225

with two home runs and 11

RBI. Also played in 11 games

with Hudson Valley, collecting

three hits in 33 at-bats. 2011:

Hitting .301 with three home

runs and 14 RBI in 113 at-

bats. Has stolen 16 bases and

was caught only once.

Trivia: Jerry Sands, who was

born in Middletown and made

his major league debut with

the Dodgers in April, played

with Lyerly at Catawba ... Rob

Lyerly, a third baseman with

the Double-A Trenton Thunder

in the New York Yankees’

system, is a distant cousin

of Craige Lyerly. “He’s kin to

me way down the line,” Craige

Lyerly said. “I look him up on

the Internet to see how he’s

doing every now and then. I

talk to him on Facebook now

and then.”

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday: Off day

Tuesday: New York-Penn

League All-Star Game at

Lowell, 7:05 p.m.

Wednesday: vs. State College,7:05 p.m. (Evan Longoria

Build-a-Bear to first 1,000 fans

12-and-under)

Thursday: vs. State College,

7:05 p.m. (team meet and

greet; Latin night)

Friday: vs. State College, 7:05

p.m. (postgame fireworks)

Saturday: at Vermont, 6:05

p.m.

Sunday: at Vermont, 1:05 p.m.

Unsung Lyerly getting in good grooveDiv. II playerstreaking afterslow pro start

“I feel like that sometimes when you have a bunch of

big Division I players come in all the time, when they

ask where you went, you have to tell them, and they

have no idea where that is. They’ve never heard of it.”

CRAIGE LYERLY

Renegades outfielder, who spent four years at Division II Catawba Collegein Salisbury, N.C.


Craige Lyerly not only is adjusting to minor-league ball after playing at little-known Catawba College,he’s also adjusting to playing in the outfield after playing in the infield at the Division II school.


L f i k



The Times Herald-Recordtakes a look at former HudsonValley Renegades players andwhat they’ve done since leavingDutchess Stadium.

Before Ryan Dempster was atwo-time National League All-Star, he made a very brief pit

stop in the Hudson Valley.Drafted by the Texas Rang-

ers out of high school in BritishColumbia in 1995, Dempster

quickly signedand was sentto Texas’ GulfCoast rookie-

league team, where he madesix starts. Dempster was thenpromoted to Hudson Valley –the Renegades were affiliatedwith the Rangers from 1994-

96 – where he made one start,pitching 52 ⁄ 3 innings, allowing

two runs, striking out six andearning the win.

In August 1996, he was trad-ed, along with Rick Helling, tothe Florida Marlins for JohnBurkett. Dempster started 11games for Florida in 1998 and

was a regular member of theMarlins’ rotation from 1999 to2002. In 2000, he went 14-10with a 3.66 ERA and was namedan All-Star.

The Cincinnati Reds acquired

Dempster in July 2002 for JuanEncarnacion, Wilton Guerreroand Ryan Snare. Dempster alsopitched the 2003 season with theReds, but signed with the Chica-go Cubs as a free agent prior tothe 2004 season. The Cubs con-verted him into a closer and hesaved 87 games from 2004-07.

In 2008, Dempster movedinto the Cubs’ starting rota-tion. He went 17-6 with a 2.96ERA, again made the All-Starteam and finished sixth in Na-tional League Cy Young voting

that season.Dempster is 10-8 with a 4.70ERA in 25 starts for the Cubsthis year. He has a $14 millionplayer option for the 2012 sea-son if he wishes to return to theCubs. He could choose to pur-sue free agency instead.

William Montgomery

RYAN DEMPSTER FILE

Age: 34

Hometown: Gibsons,

British Columbia, Canada

Drafted: 66th overall (third

round) in 1995 by the TexasRangers out of Elphinstone High

in Gibsons


Major league debut: May 23,

1998 (with Florida Marlins)

Trivia: Other players taken in the

third round of the 1995 draft

include Randy Winn, Bronson

Arroyo, J.J. Putz and Marlboro

native Rob Bell ... Dempster

led the National League with

64 games finished in 2006.

He also led the league in more

unfortunate categories, finishing

first in walks (112) in 2001 and

earned runs (125) in 2002.

As the oldest continuously

operating Class-A professional

baseball league, the New York-

Penn League has had its shareof history the

past 72 years. In

fact, more than

2,400 former

NY-PL players have appeared in

the major leagues. Through Sep.

1, fans may vote for their All-Time

NY-PL favorites at www.voteNYPL.

com. Eligible players include C.C.

Sabathia, Jason Isringhausen

and former Broncos quarterback

John Elway, who hit .318 with

four homers and 25 RBI for the

Oneonta Yankees in 1982. No

former Renegades players made

the ballot. The team will be

announced during the first game

of the NY-PL Finals on Sept. 1.

Belter bows out

Renegades pitcher Brooks

Belter has been eliminated in

Moniker Madness, Minor League

Baseball’s search to see which

player has the best name. In

the fan vote on www.MiLB.

com, Belter defeated his firstround opponent, Zeke Spruill, a

pitcher with the Double-A Mis-

sissippi Braves. In the second

round, Belter lost to Lowell’s

Seth Schwindenhammer, who

advances to face Bob Stumpo

in the semifinals of the Icicle

Reader bracket.

Renegades take a walk

The Renegades and the Lowell

Spinners played a wacky game

Tuesday night at Dutchess Stadi-

um. The start was delayed 2:03by rain, which apparently had an

effect on the Spinners’ pitchers.

Renegades hitters had six hits

in the 7-0 victory, but they also

drew 12 walks. Hudson Valley

scored six runs in the bottom of

the third, drawing eight walks

and making the most of three

wild pitches and one passed ball.

Cobb out for the season

Tampa Bay starter Alex Cobb,

who pitched for the Renegadesin 2007, underwent season-

ending surgery for a blockage

from the area of his first rib on

his right side. Cobb was 3-2 with

a 3.42 ERA in nine starts for the

Rays. The estimated recovery

time is 10-12 weeks. A fourth-

round draft pick in 2006, he

went 5-6 with a 3.54 ERA in 16

starts for the Renegades.

Military Appreciation weekThe Renegades’ homestand

against State College Tuesday,

Wednesday and Thursday will be

Hudson Valley’s Military Appre-

ciation week. Fans who present

a military ID at the box office will

receive a free ticket to any game

in the series. All three games

will begin at 7:05 p.m. The gates

open at 5:30 p.m.

Playoff positioning

Following Friday’s games, the

Renegades (27-27) sit eight

games behind Staten Island (35-

19)and 41 ⁄ 2 games behind Brook-

lyn (31-24) in the McNamara

Division standings. The three

New York-Penn League division

winners qualify for the postsea-

son, as does one wild card team.

The Renegades trail Mahoning

Valley (32-23) by five games in

the wild card race. Williamsport

(31-23), Brooklyn and Jamestown

(28-27) are also in the hunt for

the final playoff spot. The semifi-nal and championship rounds are

both best-of-three series.

Shortstop shakeup

Tampa Bay reshuffled its

shortstop depth chart this week,

promoting Tim Beckham, the No.

1 overall pick in 2008, to Triple-A

Durham. Hak-Ju Lee, a shortstop

acquired from the Cubs in the

Matt Garza trade last winter, was

moved to Double-A Montgomery.

At the major league level, Tampa

Bay has struggled at shortstop this season, as Reid Brignac has

hit .193 in 187 at-bats. Derek

Dietrich, who batted .279 for the

Renegades in 2010, is having a

fine year at Bowling Green (long

season A), where he is batting

.287 with 16 homers and 65

RBI. The 16 home runs are a

Bowling Green franchise record.

All-Star Game Tuesday

First baseman Jeff Malm,

catcher Matt Rice and pitchersParker Markel, Robert Dickmann

and Charlie Cononie will repre-

sent the Renegades in Tuesday’s

New York-Penn League All-Star

Game in Lowell. Only Batavia,

with six, had more All-Stars than

Hudson Valley.

William Montgomery

WHERE ARE

THEY NOW?

NY-PL

NOTEBOOK

League fans can pick stars for all-time team

Dempster’s time with ’Gades brief, but victorious1 game was all it took


Ryan Dempster made the briefest of stops with the Hudson Valley Renegades, pitching in just one game in1995. Since then, he’s had a successful big-league career, and is 10-8 with the Chicago Cubs this year.

68 SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD

RENEGADES

Bullpen having good




FISHKILL — Robert Dickmannplayed his college baseball atPepperdine University in Mal-ibu on a field overlooking thePacific Ocean.

Lenny Linsky, who pitchedat the University of Hawaii,had his share of ocean views,too.

For those two pitchers, andthe rest of the Hudson Val-ley Renegades’ bullpen, para-dise this summer has been thebench near the right-field foulpole at Dutchess Stadium.

After Friday’s games, Ren-egades pitchers had combinedfor the lowest team WHIP(walks and hits per inningspitched) in the New York-PennLeague, allowing 1.25 baserun-ners per inning.

Hudson Valley’s team ERA(3.18) trailed only Williamsport(3.05) and Brooklyn (3.06).

The Renegades have re-ceived outstanding startingpitching performances fromJason McEachern, who quick-ly earned a promotion to Bowl-ing Green, and Parker Markel,who started the league’s All-Star game Tuesday.

The bullpen, including All-Stars Dickmann and Char-lie Cononie, has been, by and

large, equally outstanding.The secret to their success?

A lot of laughs on that bullpenbench.

“As a group, we’re just aclose-knit group of guys andwe like to have a good time,”Linsky said. “We’re all prettymuch the stereotypical bull-pen guys. We have a good timein the bullpen, but once it’stime to get in and get focused,we do.”

Adjusting to new rolesLinsky was a reliever at Ha-

waii the past three years be-fore being drafted 89th over-all in the second round in June.Cononie and Dickmann, how-ever, were starters in their fi-nal college seasons and have

had to adjust to coming out ofthe bullpen.

“I like both roles, but I’vekind of accepted that I’m notgoing to be a starter anymore,”said Cononie, who finished hissenior year at Townson Uni-versity this spring. “My mind-set has definitely changed to,you know, you have a lot less

room for error as a reliever.You kind of come in and shut itdown. You need to focus moreas a reliever.

“As a starter, you obvious-ly do need to focus, but youhave more innings to work. Ifyou have a bad inning, you cancome back and say, ‘I’m notgoing to let that happen any-more’ and shut it down for therest of the game.”

Cononie leads the team insaves with six, but seven otherRenegades pitchers have hadat least one save. Their rolesaren’t as firmly establishedas they would be in a major-league bullpen, as managerJared Sandberg doesn’t use atrue closer or regular set-upmen. Dickmann, in fact, has

filled in as a spot starter ontwo occasions.

It hasn’t been a dream sea-son for everyone in the bull-pen.

Andy Bass (0-4, 7.71 ERAin 14 appearances) and DaveLaufer (1-2, 5.71 ERA in 13 ap-pearances) have struggled.Drew Leary, who pitched inthe San Diego State bullpen

behind Stephen Strasburg, haspitched in only three gamesbecause of an arm injury.

“It’s kind of a friendly com-petition, I guess you couldsay,” Dickmann said. “We’repretty loose and we have a lotof fun together. I don’t knowif I should say it, but it’s notlike a whole, serious type ofatmosphere. It’s good whenyou’re warming up and beforea game, it’s good to be aroundguys that relax you. I think it

helps you perform your best.”Dickmann and Cononie

learned they had made theAll-Star team when Sandbergpulled them aside during alate night bus ride home fromAberdeen earlier this month.The three Renegades All-Starpitchers each threw one inningin the game and had the sameline: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB and 2 K.

“I was really happy that theleague officials could recog-nize me because there are alot of guys who have moresaves than I do,” Cononie said.“It was a great experience, be-ing around all the best playersin the league and hanging outwith them.”

[email protected]

RENEGADES’ TOP RELIEVERS

Player W-L S ERA G IP K BB

Brooks Belter 3-1 1 3.38 12 26.2 21 13

Charlie Cononie* 0-1 6 1.78 14 25.1 20 9

Robert Dickmann* 3-1 1 1.85 13 34 29 11

Mickey Jannis 3-2 1 2.08 14 43.1 33 15

Lenny Linsky 2-0 2 0.96 10 18.2 21 6

Stayton Thomas 2-0 1 3.00 10 18 8 8

Justin Woodall 2-1 2 2.21 15 20.1 22 11

* – New York-Penn League All-Stars; stats through Friday’s game

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday: at Vermont, 7:05

p.m.

Tuesday: vs. Vermont, 7:05

p.m. (Trick-or-treat night)

Wednesday: vs. Vermont,

7:05 p.m. (Renegades dog

bowl from Little Tin Tub to thefirst 500 dogs)

Thursday: vs. Vermont, 7:05

p.m. (team card set to first

2,500 fans; nursery rhyme

night)

Friday: at Brooklyn, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday: vs. Brooklyn,

7:05 p.m. (most interesting

fan in the world; postgame

fireworks)

Sunday: at Brooklyn, 5:00p.m.

DOMINICK FIORILLE/Times Herald-Record

The Renegades’ relievers ask two girls to get them something to

eat during a game Thursday. The relievers have a less-than-serious

attitude when they’re in the bullpen, but are all business when

on the mound, helping the team sport the league’s third-best ERA.

Bullpen having goodtime on, off the fieldRelievers playing big role for ’Gades

“It’s kind of a friendly

competition, I guess you

could say. We’re pretty

loose and we have a lot of

fun together.

ROBERT DICKMANN

Renegades relief pitcher


Rays catcher Jaso spent



Tug Haines, a 32-year-old cran-

berry farmer from southern New

Jersey, made a stop at Dutchess

Stadium for

Thursday’s gameagainst State

College. Haines is

nearing his goal of visiting every

major league-affiliated minor-

league baseball stadium east of

the Mississippi River this season.

He posts daily updates on his

website (www.casualfan.com)

and is also active on Twitter (@

TugHaines). Haines plans on writing

a book about his experiences. The

trip began in Dunedin, Fla., April 7.

Haines’ journey concludes Monday,

Sept. 5, when the New Hampshire

Fisher Cats host the Portland Sea

Dogs at Northeast Delta Dental

Stadium in Manchester, N.H.

Moniker Madness continues

Renegades relief pitcher Brooks

Belter has been eliminated from

Minor League Baseball’s Moniker

Madness competition, but Dusty

Harvard, Rougned Odor, Seth

Schwindenhammer and Beamer

Weems still are alive in the tourna-ment to see which player has the

best name. Fans can vote online

at www.MiLB.com. Voting also

continues through Sept. 1 for the

All-Time New York-Penn League

team at www.voteNYPL.com.

Cobb goes under the knife

Alex Cobb, a former Renegades

starting pitcher who earned a spot

in Tampa Bay’s six-man rotation

earlier this season, underwent

successful surgery Thursday in

Dallas. Cobb had a blockage in the

subclavian vein – located near the

right side of his rib cage. He will

miss the remainder of the season

but plans to be back on the

mound for spring training 2012.

Cobb, 3-2 with a 3.42 ERA in nine

starts for the Rays this year, went

5-6 with a 3.54 ERA in 16 starts

for the Renegades in 2007.

Draft wrap-up

The 2011 first-year player draftwas an historic one for the Tampa

Bay Rays, who had a record 10

picks in the first 60 selections.

By the 11:59 p.m. deadline on

Sunday, the Rays had signed the

top 14 picks and a total 41 out of

60 selections. J.D. Davis, a high

school third baseman from Elk

Grove, Calif., drafted 180th overall

in the fifth round, was the first

selection who declined to sign. It

appears none of the late-signing

selections will be assigned to

Hudson Valley at this point in the

season. They are being sent to the

Rays’ spring training complex in

Port Charlotte, Fla.

Transactions

Kes Carter, who had played in

just three games with the Ren-

egades after being selected 56th

overall out of Western Kentucky

University in this year’s draft, was

assigned to the Gulf Coast League

on Thursday. Carter had beendealing with a nagging shin splints

injury that had kept him out of

action in Hudson Valley.

Carter’s Western Kentucky

teammate, Matt Rice, has excelled

in his first taste of professional

baseball. Rice, a catcher, is the

leading hitter among Renegades

regulars and earned a spot in the


game. The Carter move leaves the

Renegades with just four outfield-

ers on the roster: Brian Bryles,

Cesar Guillen, Craige Lyerly and

Chris Winder.

Rotation shuffling

The Spokane, Wash., connec-

tion continues to grow in the

Renegades’ clubhouse. Trevor

Shull, recently recalled from the

Gulf Coast League, has taken Ryan

Carpenter’s spot in the pitching

rotation. Shull is the second Spo-

kane native on the Renegades’ ros-

ter, joining starting pitcher JacobPartridge. Carpenter, a Peoria,

Ariz., native, played for Gonzaga

University, located in Spokane.

Shull missed the entire 2010 sea-

son after straining his right elbow

in extended spring training. Tampa

Bay drafted Shull in the 19th round

of the 2008 draft.

Players of the week

Connecticut Tigers teammates

Luis Angel Sanz and Tyler Collins

were named the New York-Penn

League pitcher and hitter of the

week, respectively. Sanz threw

seven innings of one-hit ball in a

10-0 victory over Lowell, striking

out five. Collins went 9-for-22 in a

six-game stretch, driving in eight

runs and scoring eight as well.

William Montgomery

The Times Herald-Record

takes a look at former HudsonValley Renegades players andwhat they’ve done since leavingDutchess Stadium.

Some of the Renegades’ mostnotable alumni, players such as

Evan Longoriaand Ryan Demp-ster, did notspend much timewith the team.

Longoria played in just eightgames and Dempster earnedthe win in his one-and-only Ren-egades appearance.

Then there’s John Jaso, whospent the entire 2003 and 2004seasons with the Renegades.Typically, players who spend twoseasons in the New York-PennLeague aren’t on the fast track tothe majors, but Jaso’s unique setof skills for a catcher have madehim a valuable asset for TampaBay Rays manager Joe Maddon.

Jaso had a .269 batting av-erage, four home runs and 55

RBI in 104 games with the Ren-egades, earning a promotion tothe Class A Southwest MichiganDevil Rays in 2005. In 2006, he

moved up to high Class A Visa-lia and by 2007, Jaso was play-ing in 109 games at Double-AMontgomery, batting .316 with12 home runs and 71 RBI.

Jaso split time between Mont-gomery and Triple-A Durhamin 2008, and he also saw his firstmajor-league action as a Septem-ber call-up that year. In 2009,Jaso was the everyday catcherin Durham and did not appear in

the big leagues.Recalled to Tampa Bay April13, 2010, Jaso has remained withthe Rays since. He was Mad-

don’s leadoff hitter in 45 games,getting more at-bats in that spotthan any other player on theteam. His .372 on-base percent-age was highest among Ameri-can League rookies that seasonand he finished fifth in rookie ofthe year voting.

This season, Jaso is hitting.220 with a .297 OBP through 66games. He was placed on the dis-abled list July 15 with a strained

right oblique. On Friday, Jaso re-turned from a rehab assignmentat Durham.

William Montgomery

NY-PLNOTEBOOK

NJ man spends season touring minor-league ballparks

WHERE ARE

THEY NOW?

Rays catcher Jaso spent

two seasons with ’Gades JOHN JASO FILE

Age: 27

Hometown: McKinleyville, Calif.


round) of the 2003 draft out of

Southwestern Community College

(Chula Vista, Calif.)

With Hudson Valley: 2003 and

2004

Major-league debut: Sept. 6,

2008

Trivia: Since 1901, only twocatchers have hit in the leadoff

spot more times in one season

than Jaso did in 2010: Jason

Kendall (Pittsburgh/Oakland,

five times) and Rollie Hemsley

(Cleveland, 1939) ... Jaso holds

the major-league record for most

leadoff at-bats by a rookie catcher

... Jaso was behind the plate

when Derek Jeter smashed career

hit No. 3,000 at Yankee Stadium

July 9.


Rays catcher John Jaso had a .269 batting average, four homeruns and 55 RBI in 104 games with the Renegades in 2003-04.

68 SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORDRENEGADES

Biagini’s links to diamond run deep




FISHKILL — Tanner Biagini hadone of his best games of theseason last month at Jame-stown, going 3-for-5 with tworuns scored and one RBI.

He had no idea that 38 yearsearlier, his father, Greg Biagi-ni, had dug into the same bat-ter’s box at what’s now calledRussell E. Diethrick Jr. Park.

“I didn’t really know exactlyall the places he had played,”Biagini said, laughing. “I didn’tknow that about Jamestown. Iknow he had played in Quebecand Kinston and California andMexico. All over. It doesn’t sur-prise me.”

Following in dad’s footsteps

Greg Biagini played brief-ly for the Jamestown Expos in

1973, hitting .214 in 28 at-bats.He played six years in the mi-nors, advancing to Triple-A in1978 and 1979. Later, the el-der Biagini became a success-ful minor-league manager atthe Triple-A level. He managedteams to league titles at Roch-ester (1990) and Oklahoma City(1996). In between, he served asthe Baltimore Orioles’ hittingcoach from 1992-94.

Greg Biagini, who had kid-ney cancer, died in 2003 when

Tanner was 15 years old.While Biagini didn’t recog-

nize the connection to Jame-stown, he has had peoplesearch him out to talk about hisfather in other New York-PennLeague stops.

“When we played at Auburn,some people from Rochestercame down, where he used tomanage the Red Wings,” he said.“When we played at Aberdeen,they knew him from when hewas with the Orioles, so theycame down and talked to me.”

Long path to pro ball

Tanner Biagini attended D.H.Conley High School in Green-ville, N.C., graduating in 2006.One of his high school team-mates was Alex White, a right-

handed pitcher who was re-cently traded from Clevelandto Colorado as part of the pack-age for Ubaldo Jimenez. Whiteattracted the attention of pro-fessional scouts while in highschool, and Biagini alwaysseemed to play well when theywere around.

The Dodgers drafted Biagini inthe 48th round of the 2006 draft– the scout who picked him hadcoached Greg Biagini at IowaState – but he opted for college.

“I actually got recruited byWest Point in high school,” hesaid. “It was a great school anda great facility, and the coacheswere awesome. They were real-ly nice guys. But I wasn’t quitesure if I was ready to make afull commitment to the Army,that type of thing.”

Biagini chose Virginia Mili-tary Institute instead and waspicked in the 50th round of the2009 draft after his junior sea-son. Biagini figured he wouldcome back for his senior season,

get his degree and try to improvehis stock during his senior year,but a hand injury kept him frombeing drafted at all in 2010.

Biagini signed a minor-leaguefree-agent deal with Tampa Bayin July 2010 and played 20 gamesin the Gulf Coast League.

A baseball lifer

This season, Biagini has beenthe Renegades’ reserve corner

infielder, playing in about halfof the team’s games.

“The coaching staff is awe-some, and the players are awe-some to play with,” he said. “Theregimen they put us through ev-ery day, you’re always ready toplay. I don’t know about the oth-er teams, but I know we workpretty hard. Just going througha round of BP, that’s great whenyou don’t get a chance to playevery day. You get a lot of reads,stuff like that. When you get inthe game, it’s a little easier toadjust right away.”

Unlike some of his team-mates in the Renegades’ club-house, Biagini wasn’t a can’t-miss prospect in high school ora major college star. He’s justglad to have an opportunity

to play the game and keep theBiagini name in baseball.

“My dad passed away whenI was in high school,” he said.“So having all those memoriesand being able to step back onthe field, for me, one, it’s a re-lief from all that kind of stuff.Now, it’s a good way for me toremember my dad and think ofmy dad and know we all connectto the game and stuff like that.All the old, fun, good memories.I know he’s looking down on me.I know he’s still with me.”

[email protected]

Biagini’s links to diamond run deep

TANNER BIAGINI FILE

Age: 23

Hometown: Greenville, N.C.

Drafted: 1,425th overall (48thround) by Los Angeles Dodgers

in 2006, did not sign; 1,503rd

overall (50th round) by

Oakland in 2009, did not sign;

signed as a free agent with

Tampa Bay in July 2010.

College highlights: Played in

175 games over four seasons

at Virginia Military Institute

and was a three-year starter

at third base. ... Had a career

batting average of .303. ... His

39 doubles rank ninth-most inschool history. ... Batted .343

with 10 home runs and 46 RBI

during his sophomore year.

Professional highlights 2010:

Batted .235 with five doubles

and 11 RBI in 20 games with

the Gulf Coast League Rays. ...

Played 14 games at third base

and four at first. 2011: Batting

.212 in 113 at-bats over 32

games with seven doubles and

five RBI through the first game

of Friday’s doubleheader. ...

Has played 19 games at third

base, eight at first base and

five as the DH.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday: at Brooklyn, 7 p.m.

Tuesday: at Connecticut, 7:05

p.m.

Wednesday: at Connecticut,

7:05 p.m.

Thursday: at Connecticut, 7:05

p.m.

Friday: vs. Aberdeen

(doubleheader), first gamestarts at 5:15 p.m. (postgame

fireworks)

Saturday: vs. Aberdeen,

7:05 p.m. (Josh Hamilton

bobblehead to first 1,500

fans; postgame fireworks)

Sunday: vs. Aberdeen, 7:05

p.m. (Santa Claus is coming to

town; postgame fireworks)*

* end of regular season

Infielder for’Gades follows,

honors late dad

DOMINICK FIORILLE/Times Herald-Record photos

Renegades’ Tanner Biagini, right, praying with teammate Raymond Church before a game, takes

comfort knowing he’s playing the same game – occasionally on the same field – as his father once did.

“All the old, fun, good

memories. I know he’s

looking down on me. I

know he’s still with me.”

TANNER BIAGINI

Renegades infielder, whose father – who died while Tanner was in highschool – also played in the New

York-Penn League

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD69

RENEGADES

Renegades schedule





J a m e sShields got his

first taste of professional base-ball as the Hudson Valley Ren-egades’ opening day starter in2001. Eight years later, Shieldsset the Tampa Bay Rays fran-

chise record by making his thirdconsecutive opening day start.

Shields was drafted in the 16thround of the 2000 draft as a highschool senior. He made his mi-nor-league debut with the Ren-egades the next year, going 2-1with a 2.30 ERA in five starts.He was promoted to Charles-ton (S.C.) of the South AtlanticLeague, where he went 4-5 witha 2.65 ERA in 10 starts.

Shields missed the 2002 sea-son after undergoing shouldersurgery. By 2003, he was backwith Bakersfield (Calif.) of theCalifornia League, going 10-10 with a 4.45 ERA in 24 starts.Having lost velocity on his fast-ball because of the shouldersurgery, Shields began devel-oping a change-up, which has

become his go-to pitch. Accord-ing to www.fangraphs.com, 27.2percent of the pitches he hasthrown over the course of hismajor league career have beenchange-ups. Only Johan Santanaand Cole Hamels have thrown ahigher percentage of change-upssince 2008. AL managers votedShields as having the junior cir-cuit’s best change-up in a 2011Baseball America survey.

Shields’ rise through the mi-nors continued with stops inDouble-A Montgomery (2005)and Triple-A Durham (2006).Shields was promoted to the ma-jor leagues in 2006 and started 21games for Tampa Bay that sea-son, going 6-8 with a 4.84 ERA.

A regular in the Rays’ rotationever since, Shields struggledin 2010, leading the AmericanLeague in all the wrong catego-ries: hits allowed (246), earnedruns (117) and home runs (34).

Shields, however, has bouncedback in 2011, making an All-Starteam for the first time in his ca-reer. He is 12-10 with a league-leading 10 complete games, fourof which were shutouts. The 10complete games are the most inthe American League since ScottErickson threw 11 for the Ori-oles in 1998. With his distinctivepick-off move, Shields leads themajors with 10 pickoffs and hasallowed only one stolen base.

William Montgomery

The Renegades have sched-

uled a doubleheader against

the Aberdeen IronBirds for Sept.

2. The gates will open at 4 p.m.and first pitch

is scheduled for

5:15 p.m. Both

games will be

seven innings in length and there

will be a 30-minute intermission

between games.

In other doubleheader news,

Hurricane Irene’s arrival in the

New York area Sunday prompted

the Renegades and the Brook-

lyn Cyclones to move Sunday’s

scheduled game to Friday, creat-

ing a doubleheader. Saturday’shome game was also moved

from a 7:05 p.m. start to 1:30

p.m. The Renegades played four

doubleheaders in August.

Hot and cold

Renegades first baseman Jeff

Malm, catcher Matt Rice and

starting pitcher Parker Markel

have cooled off since earning


nominations earlier this month.

Malm’s 12 home runs stilllead the New York-Penn League,

but he has struggled in August,

batting .174 with one home run

and nine RBI through Thursday’s

game. He hit .314 with nine

home runs and 27 RBI in July.

Malm, however, is one of only

five players to hit double-digit

home runs in a single season

with the Renegades, joining

Dan Grummitt (22, 1999),

Joey Gomes (15, 2002), Jared

Sandberg (12, 1998) and Andy

Beinbrink (11, 1999).Rice was hitting .295 with

three home runs and 17 RBI

before the All-Star game, but

he’s batting .154 in seven

games following the break.

Alejandro Segovia, a catcher

recently recalled from the Gulf

Coast League, is hitting .333

with two home runs and eight

RBI in his first 11 games with

the Renegades.

Markel, who was 3-1 with a

0.89 ERA through eight starts

in June and July, has also had a

rough August.

He is 0-2 with a 7.98 ERA in

four starts this month. Markel

bounced back with a four-hit,

one unearned run performance

on Aug. 25, but the bullpen could

not hold the lead.

Belter is a tweeter

Renegades reliever Brooks

Belter didn’t win Minor LeagueBaseball’s Moniker Madness

tournament – Lowell outfielder

Seth Schwindenhammer was

named the winner Friday – but

he has been sharing his life as a

minor leaguer with fans on Twit-

ter since July 28. Follow Betler

(@Belter10) at www.twitter.com/

belter10.

With the season rapidly com-

ing to an end – the Renegades

play their final game Sept. 4 –

Belter is already planning for the

offseason. He tweeted on Aug.23: “Mall trip to star t the day.

Looked for and applied for jobs

in the Los Angeles area ... hope-

fully someone bites.”

Making the jump

When major-league rosters

expand to 40 players in Septem-

ber, it’s highly unlikely that any

former Renegades will get their

first taste of the big leagues. The

only former Renegades player on

Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster yet to appear at the major-league

level is right-handed pitcher

Albert Suarez.

Suarez started two games for

the Renegades in 2009, going

1-0 with a 2.79 ERA. He played

at long-season Class A Bowl-

ing Green in 2010 after having

Tommy John surgery, but has

appeared in just five games this

year between the Gulf Coast

Rays and the Advanced-A Char-

lotte Stone Crabs.

Austin slugging for S.I. Yanks

Yankees farmhand Tyler Austin

had a game to remember in

Staten Island’s 16-1 victory over

Lowell on Aug. 21. Austin went

6-for-6 with one home run and

three doubles. He had four RBI

and scored four runs.

Drew to rehab with Spinners

Boston Red Sox outfielder J.D.

Drew was scheduled to make a

rehab appearance with the Low-

ell Spinners Friday and Saturday.

He joins other high-profile players

such as Jose Reyes (Brooklyn

Cyclones) and Phil Hughes (Stat-

en Island Yankees) in making a

New York-Penn League pit stop

this season.

William Montgomery

WHERE ARE

THEY NOW?

NY-PL

NOTEBOOK

Renegades scheduledouble-dip vs. ’Birds

JAMES SHIELDS FILE

Age: 29

Hometown: Newhall, Calif.


round) of the 2000 draft out of

William S. Hart High School


Major league debut: May 31,

2006

Trivia: Shields was Tampa Bay’s

opening day starter in 2008,

2009 and 2010. ... He is the

only player in franchise history to

win a World Series game, beating

Philadelphia on Oct. 23, 2008.

... Shields was the only player

from the 16th round of the 2000

draft to reach the major leagues.

... Shields’ cousin is Aaron

Rowand, an outfielder with the

Giants. Rowand is 1-for-3 lifetime

against Shields.

Shields pulls the string’Gades veteran develops change-up after surgery


James Shields, a regular with the Rays since 2006 who made his professional debut with Hudson Valleyin ’01, has rebounded this season with a 12-10 record and a league-leading 10 complete games.

66 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2011 • TIMES HERALD-RECORD

RENEGADES

As season closes Renegades




Times Herald-Record

FISHKILL — It was a season ofstrong pitching performancesbut little in the way of offensivefireworks for the Hudson ValleyRenegades. For the 12th consec-utive year, the Renegades failedto qualify for the New York-Penn League playoffs.

Winning, however, isn’t themain object at Dutchess Sta-dium. College players get theirfirst taste of professional base-ball, and the highly-rated pros-pects drafted out of high schoolhave a chance to impress andcontinue moving up the TampaBay Rays’ minor-league ladder.

So how did the Renegades doin 2011? Let’s take a look at thenumbers, through Friday’s dou-bleheader against Aberdeen.

Catcher/designated hitterMatt Rice, taken as the final

pick of the 2010 draft by the Yan-kees, opted to play his senior sea-son at Western Kentucky Uni-versity. Drafted by the Rays inthe ninth round of the 2011 draft,Rice batted .295 with three homeruns and 17 RBI prior to the All-Star game, for which he earneda starting spot. Rice startedslumping in August. His averagestayed steady at .286, but he did

not hit a home run and drove injust four runs after the All-Starbreak. Rice likely did enough toearn a promotion to Low-A Bowl-ing Green in 2012.

Gerardo Olivares (.297, 2 HR,18 RBI), Alejandro Segovia(.264, 2, 9) and Kyle Holloway(.185, 4, 22) also filled in behindthe plate and rotated in at thedesignated hitter spot. All fourdid a tremendous job handlingthe pitching staff.

Grade: A-

First base

Jeff Malm, a fifth-round draftpick out of high school in 2009,held the NY-PL lead in home runswith 12 heading into the season’sfinal weekend. Like Rice, Malmwas an All-Star starter, but he

too slumped in August. Malm(.257, 12, 47) has a reputation forbeing able to hit for average – heholds the national high school re-cord with 281 career hits – butthe power potential was certain-ly something he needed to prove,playing a corner infield position.

Despite his late-season strugglesMalm should wind up in BowlingGreen in 2012 as well.

Grade: B+

Second base

Raymond Church started thebulk of games at second for theRenegades and only got strongeras the season wore on. He hit 100points higher in August (.295)than he did in June (.194). Church(.247, 14 doubles, 16 RBI) made11 errors and needs to displaythe batter’s eye that made himan on-base machine at FloridaAtlantic University if he wishesto advance through the system.

Grade: C+

Shortstop

Juniel Querecuto was another

player who cooled off significant-ly late in the season. Querecuto,who batted .333 in June and .250in July, was a .192 hitter in Au-gust. He had ten doubles, threetriples and 23 RBI, but he struckout 45 times against 20 walks.Querecuto also made a team-high

25 errors at the most importantdefensive position on the field.

Grade: C

Third base

Leonardo Reginatto saw themajority of the starts at the hotcorner and was sure-handed,making only seven errors in52 games. Reginatto, however,never got it going with the bat,never hitting higher than .218in any one month. The 2011 sea-son was a major regression inall categories from the short-yet-promising 16-game stint hespent with Rookie-level Princ-eton (W.Va.) last year.

Grade: C-

Outfield

Brian Bryles, Craige Lyer-

ly and Chris Winder, who allspent time with the Renegadesin 2010, split the outfield dutiesthis year with Cesar Guillen.

Winder played in the mostgames (68) and led the NY-PLin runs scored at midseason.Winder (.231, 3, 21) improved in

his second full season with theRenegades, but was it enoughto earn a promotion?

Lyerly was one of the fewRenegades to hit after the All-Star break. Lyerly (.284, 3, 19)is not much of a power threat –he had two doubles and one tri-ple – but he was deadly on thebases, successful in 85 percent(17-for-20) of his steal attempts.It was a major improvementover his brief professional de-but last summer, but Lyerlyprojects as a fourth outfielderwith his general lack of power.He was promoted to BowlingGreen this week.

Bryles was back for his secondfull season with the Renegadesafter two disappointing full sea-sons with rookie-league Princ-

eton; he took another step back.Bryles played well in August,batting .272 in 22 games, but thatonly raised his season average to.208. He had 13 doubles, two tri-ples and 20 RBI. The Rays mayhave all they need to know abouta player who has hit .211 in 211

career minor league games.Guillen started his Rays ca-

reer in the Dominican League in2007. He batted .297 in 45 gamesfor Princeton last year but strug-gled to a line of .238, 2 HR and 9RBI with the Renegades.

Grade: B-

Bench

Tanner Biagini backed upMalm and Reginatto at the cor-ners, playing in 34 games. Hehit .220 with eight doubles. Hemade 11 errors, eight of thoseat third base.

Utility man Jonathan Koscsoarrived from Princeton in lateJuly and stole some at-bats fromChurch and Reginatto while alsoseeing time in the outfield. Hehit .406 in 13 games in August

As season closes, RenegadesPitchers excel;hitters needimprovement

DOMINICK FIORILLE/Times Herald-Record

Reliever Lenny Linsky, left, pitched well in his time with the Renegades, going 3-0 with a 1.46 ERA to earn a promotion to Bowling Green.He was one of several pitchers who had success with Hudson Valley: The staff’s 3.30 ERA and 1 .27 WHIP each ranked fourth in the league.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

•TIMES HERALD-RECORD 67

RENEGADES

get their grades



and could earn a starting jobwith the Renegades in 2012.

Diogenes Luis, who hadbeen in the Rays’ system since2007, played in 15 games andbatted .143. He was releasedin late July.

Outfielder Kes Carter, taken56th overall in the 2011 draft,played in only three games be-fore a nagging shin-splints in-jury forced him off the field.

Grade: C

Starting pitchers

Jason McEachern pitched so

well early in the season (3-0,2.38 ERA in seven starts) thathe earned a promotion to Bowl-ing Green.

Parker Markel (3-1, 0.89 ERAthrough eight starts in Juneand July) started the NY-PLAll-Star game for the AmericanLeague affiliates. But he had arough time after the break, hav-ing gone 0-2 with a 6.55 ERA inthree starts since.

Jacob Partridge didn’t winhis first game until August,but he was 3-2 with a 3.64ERA in six starts last month.

He was also hurt by the de-fense, as 13 of the 45 runs heallowed were unearned.

Andrew Bellatti (2.62 ERA,1.24 WHIP, 63 K, 23 BB and 66

hits in 72 innings) pitched betterthan his 3-6 record indicates.

Trevor Shull (0-2, 4.90 in fivestarts) and Jake Floethe (1-1,1.71 in seven appearances, fiveof which were starts) also hadshort-lived stints in the rotation.

For a team that had such ahard time scoring runs – the Ren-egades were shut out six times,scored one run 11 times andscored two runs in eight games– the starting staff, more oftenthan not, kept the team in the

game for the first five innings.Grade: A-

Bullpen

The relief pitchers added tothe Renegades’ success throw-ing the baseball, as the teamranked fourth among NY-PLteams in both ERA (3.30) andWHIP (1.27).

Charlie Cononie (1-1, 2.43, 6saves) and Robert Dickmann(3-3, 1.65, 1) were All-Star selec-

tions. Lenny Linsky (3-0, 1.46,3), a second-round pick out ofHawaii, was recently promotedto Bowling Green. Justin Wood-all (2-1, 2.35, 4), Mickey Jannis(4-3, 2.98, 1) and Stayton Thom-as (3-0, 2.05, 2) also played arole in closing out games.

Grade: A-

Final grade

It was a great year for pitch-ing in Fishkill, which is becom-ing an expectation in a sys-

tem that has developed JamesShields and Wade Davis and up-and-comers Jeremy Hellick-son, Matt Moore and Alex Cobb.McEachern, Markel, Linskyand Woodall should be makingtheir way up through the ranksin the years to come.

Offensively, players likeMalm and Rice showed prom-ise, but it was generally an un-disciplined year at the plate forthe Renegades, who struck outa combined 565 times and drew222 walks.

Time will tell, but the oddsare that at least one of theseplayers will wind up on a ma-jor-league roster someday.

Final grade: B-

[email protected]



Jared Sand-berg had a ter-

rific season with the HudsonValley Renegades in 1998, play-ing in 73 games, batting .288,hitting 12 home runs and col-lecting 54 RBI.

Now he’s got the best seat in

the house – in the dugout alongthe first base line at DutchessStadium.

Sandberg started his manag-ing career in 2009 with at rook-ie-level Princeton (W.Va.), go-ing 36-31. Last summer, he waspromoted and managed theRenegades to a 39-36 record.

Over the course of his 12-yearminor-league playing career,Sandberg played 721 gamesat third base, 145 at first, 69 atsecond, 12 in left field and oneat shortstop. He had a careerminor-league batting averageof .244, hit 144 home runs andhad 587 RBI.

Sandberg made his majorleague debut in 2001, hitting .206in 39 games. He played in 102games in 2002, batting .229 with

18 home runs and 54 RBI. In 2003,his final year in the big leagues,Sandberg hit .213 in 55 games.

From 2004 to 2007, Sandbergstuck it out in the minors, bounc-ing around and playing for affil-iates of the Rays, Red Sox, As-tros, Indians and Royals.

He served as the Renegades’hitting coach in 2008 beforeturning to managing.

William Montgomery

JARED SANDBERG FILE

Age: 33

Hometown: Olympia, Wash.


round) of the 1996 draft by

Tampa Bay

With Hudson Valley: 1998;

hitting coach in 2008 and

manager since 2010

Major league debut: August

7, 2001

Trivia: Sandberg is thenephew of Ryne Sandberg, the

former Chicago Cubs second

baseman and a Hall of Famer.

Ryne Sandberg currently

manages the Lehigh Valley

IronPigs, the Philadelphia

Phillies’ Triple-A team.

WHERE ARE

THEY NOW?

Sandberg passing onRenegades experience


Manager Jared Sandberg, second from left, knows from experiencewhat it’s like for his infielders to play at Hudson Valley – he was aRenegade himself during the 1998 season.

get their grades

2011 BY THE NUMBERS

Offense

.316: Hudson Valley’s on-base percentage, second-lowest in the

NY-PL.

4: games in which the Renegades scored 10 or more runs.

13: times Jeff Malm was hit by a pitch, one more than his league-

leading HR total (12).

64: team high in hits by Juniel Querecuto (.240 batting average).

87: number of stolen bases in 117 attempts, a 74-percent success

rate.

Pitching

1: number of intentional walks issued.

4: Mickey Jannis’ team-high win total. Eight pitchers tied for second

with three wins apiece.

8: shutouts, second-most in the NY-PL.

43: wild pitches thrown.

550: hits allowed by Renegades pitchers, fewest of any NY-PL staff.

This and that

4: years since the team’s last non-winning season (2007; 34-42).

The Renegades were 36-38 with two games left to play.

5: season’s longest losing streak, Aug. 12-17.

6: games postponed by rain.

37: number of players to make at least one appearance in a Hudson

Valley uniform in 2011.

4,436: Average attendance through 30 home games, fifth-highest in

the NY-PL.


Juniel Querecuto

Documents

WE Montgomery Baseball Writing Summer 2011 Times Herald-Record