South Bend, IN – The Arizona Diamondbacks have added three former Silver Hawks to their major league roster in recent days, with all three having a chance to make their debut in tonight’s game against the Cincinnati Reds.
Bryan Augenstein was a pitcher for South Bend in 2008. The right-hander was 5-0 with a 0.78 ERA in six games for double-A Mobile, and will make his major league debut in a starting role tonight against the Reds. Augenstein will be facing a former Midwest League star as Cincinnati sends former Dayton Dragons pitcher Johnny Cueto to the mound tonight. Augenstein was 5-1 with a 2.16 ERA in 13 starts with South Bend in 2008.
Also joining the Diamondbacks is left-handed reliever Clay Zavada. Zavada pitched for South Bend in 2008 as well, going 3-1 with a 0.51 ERA in 24 appearances. He allowed just two earned runs in 35.1 innings for the Silver Hawks in 2008. This season with Mobile, Zavada was 1-0 with a 2.51 ERA in nine games. He is expected to join the Diamondbacks bullpen and will be in uniform for tonight’s game.
Finally, joining the offense for Arizona is outfielder Gerardo Parra, a Silver Hawk from 2007. Parra was hitting .361 in Mobile at the time of his promotion. While with South Bend, Parra batted .320 with six home runs and 51 RBI. Parra was a Midwest League all-star in 2007 and had a career average of .319 in four minor league seasons heading into 2009.
Arizona recently fired manager Bob Melvin and named A.J. Hinch to the managerial role. Hinch was the Vice President of Player Development for the Diamondbacks, and is very familiar with each of the three players that have been recently added to his team.
The Diamondbacks will be in action tonight at 9:40 PM Eastern Time.
The Silver Hawks were rained out Wednesday, but will play a doubleheader Thursday with a special 10:30 AM start for a School Day at the Cove. For more information on the Silver Hawks or to purchase tickets, fans are invited to visit www.silverhawks.com or call the front office at (574) 235-9988.
AJ is putting his personal touch on the team. Hopefully they respond in kind.
ReplyDeleteKnowing Gerardo, he will put his best foot forward early on. Not sure how he will respond if he stays on the bench. Give him a few games in the line up and he will respond.
To follow up with another player from last nights discussion, Sean Coughlin has been moved up from Visalia to Mobile AA.
Sean was moved up to South Bend last year and immediately paid dividends for us. I think he was player of the week, hit a handful of homeruns and batted like .450 (before cooling down). Sean hit for the fences and was famous for hitting a hole in the "Steak and Shake" sign in Fort Wayne (Amy B may still have that picture)
Things are moving faster than normal around here!
Dave
Parra dropped a bomb in his first major league at-bat tonight off Johnny Cueto of the Cincinnati Reds. Congrats to him!
ReplyDeleteAnd just as dave mentioned.. parra trying to get off to a fast start and sure enough in his first big league at bat he hits a home run!
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