Stanford throwing out of Cleveland bullpen; two more former Cougars in minors
The list of former Barton County Community College Cougars playing pro baseball got a little longer this past month as two more ex players were draft in the 2007 draft. That brought the total to 9 the number of former Cougars in pro baseball with Jason Stanford currently at the Major League level throwing out of the Cleveland Indians bullpen. In addition to Stanford, Nate Field has also spent a brief time in the big leagues this season and is having a great season at AAA for the Florida Marlins.
Stanford was called up the Indians in mid June, starting the 1st two outings. It was his 1st appearance in the big league since Tommy John surgery a few years back. This is the 3rd season that he has played with the Indians, throwing in 2003 and 2004 before the surgery. Stanford was impressive in his initial out, tossing 6 innings of 1-run baseball and collecting the win in a 3-2 Indians victory over Florida. Stanford gave up 6 runs his next outing and with the return of Jake Westbrook to the Indians, was moved to the bullpen. He has thrown twice out of the pen in long relief, throwing 5 2/3 innings against Oakland, giving up 3 runs as well as 2 2/3 at Detroit, giving up 1 run. He has an ERA of 4.71 in his 21 innings of work.
The two newest ex Cougars to the list are pitchers Steve Edlefesen and Ronnie Morales. Edlefsen was an infielder at Barton as well as his 1st year at University of Nebraska but turned into a pitcher this past season for the Cornhuskers and was a 16th round pick of the San Francisco Giants. Edlefsen was drafted in 2005 while at Barton in the 41st round by the Boston Red Sox but chose to stay in college and attend Nebraska. The Giants organization sent him to Salem-Keizer in Oregon, an A level short season league. He has appeared in 5 games for the Volcanoes of the Northwest League, striking out 3 in 8 2/3 innings with an ERA of 2.08.
Morales was a 45th round pick out of Wichita State by the Chicago White Sox. Morales was sent to Great Falls, Montana – 1 of 4 rookie teams for the White Sox organization playing in the Pioneer League South Division. While with the Great Falls Sox so far, Morales has appeared in 8 games, collecting 1 save in 14 2/3 innings. He has struck out 15 in that time and walked just 3 while posting a 4.30 ERA.
Field threw in 1 game out of the pen for the Marlins filling in due to injuries. The remainder of the season Field has been impressive at the AAA level for the Albuquerque Isotopes. Field has 10 saves for the Isotopes, sporting a 2.12 ERA as well as a 6-4 record in 32 games. He has 33 strikeouts in 34 innings.
Jeff Christy is back with the Fort Myers Miracle after briefly playing for the Minnesota Twins AA team in New Britain. Christy had played 34 games for the Miracle – the Twins Advanced A team and 11 for New Britain. In those 45 games as the catcher for the 2 teams he is hitting .215 with 1homer and 8 RBI. This is just Christy's 2nd summer in pro baseball and he already has nearly 15 total games at the AA level to his credit.
Ryan Phillips is back and throwing for the Greenville Drive after starting the season on the disabled list, throwing both in a starting role and out of the bullpen. Phillips has thrown in 12 games – 3 of those starts. The lefty has a 3.48 ERA for the Drive and a 0-1 record for the Boston Red Sox Class A affiliate. He has struck out 34 batters in 31 innings of work and opponents are hitting just .180 off the former Cougar.
Derek McDaid continues to throw out of the Fort Wayne Wizards bullpen, appearing in 31 with 1 start. McDaid, in his 2nd year of pro ball, has a 4.84 ERA for the Wizards, the San Diego Padres Class A club. McDaid has struck out 25 in 48 innings of work and has a 6-2 record for Fort Wayne.
After starting the season in extended spring training, Nate Hedrick is back throwing for the New York Mets organization as part of their rookie league team in the Gulf Coast League. Hedrick has thrown in 5 games for the team, posting an ERA of 6.43 – most of that due to a rough 1st outing in which he gave up 5 runs in 1 innings. Since that time the 6-10 right-hander has pitched 6 innings over 1-hit shutout baseball for the Mets. Foes are hitting just .136 off him.
The 9th Cougar in pro baseball is done for the season as Chad Lee has been fighting injury all season and has been shut down by the Oakland A's organization without throwing a pitch this year.