The first round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2010 draft, Deck McGuire made his professional debut last season, finishing 9-5 with a 3.02 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 125.1 innings between High-A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire. This season, he is off to a rougher start: 1-5, 7.71, 22 in 32.2 in seven games with the Fisher Cats. I spoke with McGuire late last week before a game against the Binghamton...
Acquired from the San Francisco Giants at last year’s trade deadline, Zack Wheeler was listed as the Mets number one prospect (and baseball’s 35th overall) prior to this season. The sixth overall pick in the 2009 draft has pitched six games at the Double-A level for the Binghamton Mets, compiling a 2-2 record, 2.05 ERA, and 37 strikeouts in 30.2 innings. Wheeler and I spoke after last Thursday’s win over the New Hampshire Fisher...
This is Part 2 of the interview that Craig Forde of Beyond Fenway and I recently did with New Hampshire’s Koby Clemens. In this part, we talk about leaving the Astros organization after seven seasons; how he handles professional ups and downs; and his family, including reaction to his father’s ongoing legal issues. CF: Seven years in your hometown Astros system, now this is your first year in another organization. How’s that going for...
The eighth-round draft pick by the Houston Astros in the 2005 draft, Koby Clemens spent seven years in the Astros organization before being released this past offseason. He was picked up by another of his famous father’s former organizations, the Toronto Blue Jays, and assigned to Double-A New Hampshire, where he is hitting .162 with two homeruns in thirteen games. Craig Forde of Beyond Fenway and I recently had an opportunity to speak with...
Mets farmhand Kai Gronauer is one of a handful of German-born players currently competing in affiliated Minor League Baseball in the United States. A native of Solingen, Germany, Gronauer is in his second season with the Binghamton Mets; after hitting .253 with four homeruns in 52 games last year, he is off to a slow start in 2012, with just four hits in 26 at-bats through eight games. I sat down with Gronauer when...
Who: Reading Phillies (AA, Philadelphia) vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA, Toronto) The starting pitchers were two guys you might’ve heard of: Deck McGuire, Toronto’s first-round pick in the 2010 draft (11th overall) and 8th-ranked prospect according to Baseball America, for New Hampshire; for Reading, Trevor May, Philadephia’s fourth-round pick in 2008 and the team’s number one prospect. May was also 69th on Baseball America’s 2012 Top 100 list this spring, his first such...
Last week, I posted a story I wrote about New Hampshire Fisher Cats infielder Kevin Howard and the path his career has taken the past couple years. We’ve had a pretty good week around these here parts, so I figured I’d bust out a little weekend Q&A action and post the transcript from my recent conversation with Howard. Last year, you came in late, but I feel like you were one of the feel-good...
When Blue Jays minor leaguer Kevin Howard was 13-years-old, he played on the Thousand Oaks team that won the 1994 Little League Junior World Series, vanquishing the Sean Burroughs-led Long Beach squad along the way. “I think when you’re that age, everything is a little bit more fun and better,” Howard said with a laugh last week in the Media Room at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, home of his current team, the New Hampshire...
This is a post that appeared at Philly Sports Central earlier this week, and I thought it could be appropriate here too. Any team, Pat Burrell. Last Thursday, the Phillies announced that Pat Burrell will sign a ceremonial one-day contract so he can officially retire as a member of the team (Ruben Amaro initially offered a three day contract, but that was deemed unnecessary.) He’ll be honored the weekend of May 18-20 against the...
While Drew Hutchison missed out on Baseball America’s preseason Top 100 list (he was ranked ninth in the Toronto Blue Jays organization), he did appear on lists compiled by notable talents scouts such as Frankie Piliere (79), John Sickels (73), Project Prospect (60), and Keith Law (42). The 21-year-old righthander blew through three levels last season (Low-A, High-A, and Double-A) en route to an Eastern League championship with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Hutchison...
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
