Field, Stanford impressive at AAA; Phillips, Lee fight injuries
The baseball season is underway for the several former Barton County Community College baseball players. Two ex-Cougars are just one step from Major League Baseball as Nate Field and Jason Stanford – both of whom have thrown in the big leagues – are throwing at the AAA level. Jeff Christy, in his 1st full season in pro baseball, started the season for the Minnesota Twins Advanced A team while 3 others are fighting injuries and have not yet thrown their 1st pitch of the season.

Field and Stanford are both throwing well at their respective AAA cities with Field throwing for the Florida Marlins AAA team the Albuquerque Isotopes and Stanford back in AAA Buffalo, an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Christy, in his 1st full summer of pro ball, started the year catching for the Minnesota Twins Advanced A team in Fort Myers (Fla). He is the only non-pitcher of the 6 former Cougars in pro ball. Chad Lee, also in his 1st full season of pro ball, is with the Oakland A's affiliate in at the A level, the Kane County (Wash) Cougars. Ryan Phillips, who has fought injuries in his 4 years in pro baseball is on the roster for the Boston Red Sox A affiliate the Greenville (SC) Drive. Also in his 1st full season of pro ball, Nate Hedrick has been sent to extended spring training for the New York Mets organization.

Field is throwing excellent the 1st few weeks of the season for AAA Albuquerque, posting a 2-1 record with 3 saves. He has appeared in 8 games so far with an ERA of 2.89 and a WHIP (walks and hits per inning) of 0.89. Field has struck out 8 batters in his 9 1/3 innings of work out of the Isotopes bullpen and walked just 1 batter. He is currently 5th in the Pacific Coast League in saves.

Stanford is also throwing very well in AAA Buffalo as well, posting a 2-0 record in his 2 starts with an ERA of 0.00. Stanford went 6 scoreless innings in his debut, allowing just 3 hits and striking out 6 then followed with 7 scoreless innings, allowing just 1 hit and striking out 7. He is just 1 of 2 players to post a perfect 0.00 ERA so far in the International League.

Christy, who was invited to the Twins big league camp this spring, was sent to Advanced A Fort Myers to start the season. He has appeared in 6 games so far this season, hitting .250 with a double. Known as a defensive stalwart who calls a good game behind the plate, the Twins organization has told Christy he needs to work on that hitting to become a major league player.

Phillips, who has fought injuries for most of his now 4 seasons in pro baseball, is doing so again. Phillips started the 2007 campaign on the disabled list for the Greenville Drive. When healthy, Phillips has been a good prospect for the Red Sox, making 32 starts and posting a career ERA of 2.74 in those games for the organization.

Chad Lee is also on the disabled list as well in Kane County. The hard-throwing right-hander is rated as the No. 29 prospect in the A's organization, but due to tendonitis in his shoulder, has not thrown yet this season and was placed on the DL last week by the team. In rookie baseball last year, Lee had a pair of no-hit outings (5 innings and 6 innings) and posted a 3-2 mark with 4.29 ERA.

Hedrick has yet to be placed with a team in the Mets organization, throwing in an extended spring training camp for New York.