Influx of Indy Hurlers in Arizona Fall League Will Keep Baseball Fans Happy After World Series

If anyone is thinking that with the World Series behind us and most free agency chatter not really in the news 24/7 yet there might be a break from baseball. Never fear, baseball-holics. In fact, there are a plethora of interesting developments for Independent Baseball fans emerging already in the fall and winter leagues.

It is very impressive to see that at least five Indy pitchers, four of them with American Association roots, are in the prestigious Arizona Fall League, which only gets higher profile players since each major league organization is limited to sending six players.

The presence of Aaron Crow, Tanner Scheppers and former Northern Leaguer Travis Schlichting is not so surprising because they already carry a certain status within their organizations, but when one goes looking for the hidden nugget among players getting attention Scot Drucker and Paul Phillips show up and give the American Association more cachet.

They are those mid-20s athletes Independent leagues are giving an opportunity to after initial stumbles early in their career in major league organizations. Drucker and Phillips both spent a good chunk of 2008 in the American Association, Drucker at Grand Prairie, TX and Phillips at Pensacola, FL, and now find themselves in a position to fight for a major league job.

Drucker, once a decent prospect in Oakland’s farm system before injuries slowed him, turned in a commendable 8-3, 4.78 season for Detroit’s Triple-A Toledo club this summer to win the Arizona Fall League audition. “There is little doubt Drucker has the stuff to pitch at the big league level, either in the back of a rotation or out of the bullpen, it’s just a matter of timing a hot streak with an opportunity to crack the roster,” praised Mark Anderson of Scout.com. The onetime Tennessee right-hander has split two decisions and posted a 4.09 earned run average for four AFL starts, where innings are pretty regulated.

Phillips started in the Toronto organization, but landed with Tampa Bay after signing out of Pensacola’s bullpen. Also a righty, he pitched at the Class A, AA and AAA levels in ’09, and has worked in seven AFL games in relief (0-1, 6.14) as he strives to impress Rays brass.

Nasty McFilthy Scheppers

Tanner Scheppers, a highly-regarded Texas prospect who prepped with St. Paul, MN in the American Association before signing, is being called Nasty McFilthy because of his 95-98-mile per hour delivery and what ESPN.com baseball analyst Keith Law described as “a vicious curveball with (a) hard, late two-plane break.” Scheppers has allowed only five hits and two walks while striking out nine in the same number of innings in the Arizona Fall League.

Aaron Crow (0-1, 7.36 in two AFL starts) is on Kansas City’s 40-man roster only months after starting out with Fort Worth, TX prior to the draft. Travis Schlichting (1-0, 2.70 with 10 strikeouts in 10 innings in Arizona) got his pro career on track as a reliever with Kansas City, KS of the Northern League in 2007, and progressed so rapidly he made the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 40-man last winter and even worked in two games for the parent club this summer before spending considerable time on the disabled list with back spasms.

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Teams Search Far and Wide for Key Sponsors

With the world of sponsorships still a big, big challenge for sports teams, those who reach out and find new support, especially in non-traditional areas, are to be applauded.

The York (PA) Revolution of the Atlantic League seems to have had success, signing the York County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as their season-long presenting sponsor. New logos have been created for mutual use, and the program will run two ways with the ballclub raising money and awareness for the SPCA, and the chapter bringing attention to the team. “It’s energizing to partner with an organization as passionate as they (SPCA) are,” Revolution General Manager Matt O’Brien said.

Meanwhile, the Northern League’s new Lake County Fielders (Zion, IL) have reached agreement with three diverse companies, Lake Forest Hospital, Grand Appliance & TV and The Ray and Raymond Autogroup to be their Founding Partners at what Fielders President Rich Ehrenreich describes as an “unprecedented level”. Incidentally, groundbreaking for Lake County’s new stadium was scheduled for this very day (Thursday).

One Never Knows

How is this for an eye-opening reminder of how times change?

Alex Rodriguez’s flirtation with the all-time postseason RBI record brought this to light. While A-Rod came up one run batted in short of the record of 19 while helping the New York Yankees win the World Series, one of the three record-holders was actually trying to make a comeback in the Golden League this summer.

Sandy Alomar, Jr., collected his 19 ribbies for Cleveland in 1997. Scott Spiezio tied the mark while playing for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2002, and David Ortiz matched it for Boston two years later. It was Spiezio who was working on a comeback with the Orange County (CA) Flyers this season.

(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes on Independent Baseball. Fans may subscribe at www.WirzandAssociates.com, enjoy his blog, www.IndyBaseballChatter.com, or comment to RWirz@aol.com. The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)