24-Year-Old on Top of Indy Baseball World

It Is Another Busy Week in the Indy World With One 24-Year-Old Sitting on Top of It

Every 24-year-old involved in Independent Baseball dreams of landing an honest-to-goodness major league opportunity.

It has happened once more, although this time it was not a 95-mile per hour fastball or rare power that provided the launch.

I suppose one could say it was an excellent delivery…and voice.  The “dream” has come true for Atlantic Leaguebroadcaster Adam Aminof Somerset, NJ, who admitted “it’s kind of overwhelming” to find his name on the same ESPN assignment list for this fall as longtime nationally known play by play men such as Mike Patrickand Brent Musburger.

Amin, who has been calling Independent Baseball games for four years (two in Gary, IN, now in the American Associationand the last two summers for the Patriots), is not likely to get the opportunity to describe a battle between top ten teams right away, but his voice will be heard coast to coast as he covers late Saturday football games on ESPNU featuring Western Athletic Conferenceteams.  He expects to have a similar schedule when college basketball season rolls around, and probably will be heard on the same college-oriented network with important volleyball contests since that is a sport he played while in college at Valparaiso , IN.

“I have always wanted to be a national television play by play man, but I didn’t think it would happen this early in my life,” Amin told this corner.

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www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com ADDED TO www.IndyBaseballChatter.com

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Struggling Mariners Sign Wily Mo Pena

The Bridgeport , CT– Reno , NVlink has one more intriguing chapter with news Wily Mo Penahas signed with the Seattle Mariners.

Power boy Pena left the Atlantic Leagueteam about this time one year ago, and eventually turned up in Reno this spring where he needed just 63 games to pound 21 homers and 17 doubles along with 63 RBI and a .363 average to win a promotion to the parent Arizona Diamondbacks.Pena won some games with long balls for Arizona when Kirk Gibson’steam could use the designated hitter during interleague play, but his overall production of a .196 average and seven RBI in 17 games despite his five home runs led to the 29-year-old being released.

Seattle, which surely has woes, plans to have Pena report to its minor league complex in Peoria , AZ, then join Triple-A Tacoma , WA .It would not be a stretch to expect him with the Mariners yet this year.

Santana Did Not Have the Only No-Hitter

Ervin Santanawas not the only pitcher throwing a no-hit game Wednesday.  Several hours after the Los Angeles Angelshurler shut down Cleveland ,it was 24-year-old Andrew Mosswho etched his name into the record book of the first-year Joliet (IL) Slammersby holding Lake Erie (Avon, OH)hitless for the 15 ^th no-hitter in the 19-year history of the Frontier League.

The right-hander, who spent his first two professional seasons and part of this summer pitching in the St. Louis organization, likely would not have had the opportunity to complete the no-hitter if he still was in affiliated baseball since he threw 136 pitches.  Moss walked six, two of them with two outs in the ninth, and had some exceptional fielding behind him before finishing the game with his eighth strikeout.  Joliet won, 10-1.

(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.  Fans may subscribe at www.WirzandAssociates.com , enjoy his blogs, www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com and 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.)