10-1 in Cubs System in 2010, Indy Leaguer Today

     How do you figure this game?

      James Levertonwas 10-1 with a 2.75 earned run average in his third season in the Chicago Cubs’system in 2010, earning mid-season all-star status in the Midwest Leagueand finishing the year in Class AA.  Yet, he was released out of spring training.

      What my eyes showed me this week was a stylish left-hander, yet it was in the Can-Am League (New Jersey, Little Falls), not in a major league organization.  Aren’t pitchers to be prized, especially if they are lefties? 

      I asked New Jersey Manager Joe Calfapietrawhat he has seen after three starts by Leverton:  He praised the 25-year-old’s “presence on the mound; command of all his pitches.  He carries himself well and he competes.”  Leverton, a former Texas Techposition player, is 1-1, 2.50 for the Jackals.

After Broken Elbow, Delabar’s Star Keeps Rising

       Yes, pitching is still in demand.  Records maintained by the Independent Baseball Insider show 14 players who started this season in Independent leagues have been sold to major league organizations already and 12 are hurlers.  Right-handers account for seven of the signings. 

      The hottest of the hurlers seems to be tall right-hander Steve Delabar,who Seattlesigned in April and promoted from the Class A California Leagueto Jackson, TNlate last month.  The 6-foot-5 hurler still has not been scored on in seven appearances for the Generalswith his June log showing six innings spread over five games in eight days without allowing a hit.  He has issued three walks and struck out seven in that span, dropping the combined batting average against him in the Double-A league to .105.

      A Kentuckynative, Delabar, who turns 28 next month, spent more than four years in the San Diegoorganization, then worked in Indy leagues at Florence, KY (Frontier League)and Brockton, MA (Can-Am)before a broken right elbow appeared to end his career in 2009.

      When he asked if he would be able to pitch again “they never really gave me a straight answer, but you could tell what they thought”, he told The News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown, KY. 

Cramer Back in Oakland

 

      It will be interesting to see if Bobby Cramer’srole changes now that Bob Melvinhas taken over as manager of the Oakland Athletics. The southpaw, who spent 2008 in the Golden League (Orange County, Fullerton, CA), just returned to the injury-depleted American Leaguestaff this week and lowered his season’s ERA in four appearances to 1.93 with a scoreless inning against Baltimore.

      Cramer, 31, given a chance to start in spring training, had been starting games since going down to Triple-A Sacramento,posting a 4.03 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning for his six outings.  Surprisingly, he did not have any decisions.

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www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com AND www.IndyBaseballChatter.com

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Go, Governor Christie

      One has to like what New JerseyGovernor Chris Christieis doing to promote the state’s six minor league teams, four of which are Independent.

      The official state web site ( www.state.nj.us ) includes baseball as one of its featured revolving photos on its home page, and there is a logo linking to a feature on the New Jersey Jackalsand Newark Bears (Can-Am League)and the two Atlantic Leagueteams, the Camden RiverSharksand Somerset Patriots, plus the affiliated teams in Lakewoodand Trenton. Once there, visitors can see a video feature of more than three minutes plus a photo gallery and the web site of each team.

          (This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.  Fans may subscribe at newly reduced rates 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.)