More Releases

The latest round of Spring Training releases hit the Silver Hawks alumni hard, as all four once played here at the Cove.

Those that were released today are:

Bryan Byrne (2006)
Jeff Dietz (2008)
Errol Hollinger (2010)
TJ Hose (2009)

I don't know the first two guys, but saw them while I was with Dayton.  Byrne had success at AA, but struggled in his lone AAA appearances in 2009 and will soon be 27.  Dietz surprises me a bit, as his ERA was only 4.03 at AA last year.  He's 25 though, so time was running out.

Hose excelled in South Bend, with a sub 2.00 ERA in 2009.  He struggled last year in Visalia with a 6.41 ERA.  Hollinger was a four year college player, so he was a bit older.  He hit the ball well at the beginning of last season with South Bend, tailed off towards the end, and apparently has been passed on the depth chart by a few others so the D-backs cut him loose. 

As always, we wish these guys the best of luck in either landing with a new team or moving on to something new. 

MLB.com Article on D'Backs

Somehow, I missed this over the Thanksgiving holidays. It's a good article about the Diamondbacks system, and T.J. Hose was awarded as the pitcher of the year by MLB.com.

Pitching MVP

The voting is over for the Silver Hawks pitching MVP award, as determined by you, the readers of this blog. Since this is a completely unofficial poll, there is no prize awarded other than the pride of knowing the fans selected you (and yes, it's unofficial because this basically just turns into a "who can stuff the ballot box?" campaign).

Here are the results
1) T.J. Hose - 8 votes
2) Wade Miley - 6 votes
T-3) Justin Mace - 5 votes
T-3) Taylor Sinclair - 5 votes
5) Ryan Cook - 4 votes
T-6) Trevor Harden - 1 vote
T-6) Keny Sosa - 1 vote
T-6) Bryan Woodall - 1 vote
T-9) Victor Capellan - 0 votes
T-9) Sean Morgan - 0 votes

I don't have a tremendous problem with these rankings, although I'd shuffle a few positions around.

Again, I didn't include everyone in the voting because certain players didn't have enough innings or a good enough ERA to qualify. I set the standards at 35.0 innings and an ERA lower than 4.50.

There's a new poll on the right.

Hose Promoted to High-A, Marte Activated

Today's Roster Move:

RHP T.J. Hose has been promoted to high-A Visalia.

OF Alfredo Marte has been activated from the DL.

Full story is here.

My Take: The Silver Hawks had been carrying 14 active pitchers. When Marte came back, we knew one was moving. Congratulations to T.J., a well deserved promotion.

The good news is that the Silver Hawks bullpen has been really strong lately, so perhaps losing T.J. doesn't hurt as much as it seems on the surface. The bad news is that T.J. was a large reason why the bullpen has been so strong, and anytime you promote a closer who leads the team in saves and ERA, then it's going to leave a mark.

It just means everyone else has to step up to fill the void at the back end of the games.

Getting Marte backs helps too, as he's the team leader in RBIs.

Great Win Tonight

Wow, what a game tonight (Saturday).

Randy Rodriguez sensational through 8.1 innings, the longest outing by a Silver Hawks pitcher this season.

Drama in the ninth with the bases loaded and one out, winning run at first base.

T.J. Hose closing it out for his ninth save.

And Nelson Gomez getting it done at the plate and in the field. A big two-out, two-RBI double in the third inning. Then, picking five balls out of the dirt at first base, including the final play of the game. Huge night for Gomez!

If every game was as exciting as that one, there would be sell out crowds every night. That was a thrilling game.

I was hoping to get pictures up tonight from the stadium, but that's going to have to wait until tomorrow morning. I don't know if I got too excited on the final play and blew out my voice, or whether I have a cold/sinus infection developing, but my throat is rather sore all of a sudden. So I'm going to do my media notes, and then rest up so I can go strong tomorrow.

I promise, pictures of the Wisconsin stadium up by noon tomorrow.

Also, I don't say this enough, but thanks to everyone who reads the blog, whether you check it daily or sporadically. I have a site counter on the blog, and I'm getting well over 100 page views a day. It's amazing to me to have that many people interested in the stuff I put on here. I hope I'm giving you what you want, but if there is more you'd like to see on here, please let me know by emailing me at oserey@silverhawks.com. I figure between here and the official website of www.silverhawks.com where you can get all the stats and stories, then we should have you covered.

Thanks again, and pictures in the morning!

From the Notes - May 15, 2009

Some interesting notes from today

-South Bend is 16-0 when holding a lead entering the final inning.

-T.J. Hose is on a streak of 8.1 scoreless innings of relief, highest current streak on the team right now.

-Silver Hawks starters have a 3.76 ERA; The bullpen has a 3.39 ERA.

-South Bend is 10-3 in the month of May.

-Reynaldo Navarro hit leadoff for the first time yesterday, he also was the DH -- the first time he's been anywhere other than shortstop.