Results tagged ‘ Wilmington Blue Rocks ’
Royals announce 2010 organizational award winners
The Royals are pleased to announce the remaining organizational award winners for the 2010 season. The honorees will be recognized at the 2011 Royals Awards Show, scheduled for Saturday, January 22 in conjunction with Royals FanFest presented by Sprint and Teva Neuroscience at the Overland Park Convention Center.
During the event, the Royals will recognize 12 honorees for their contributions both on and off the field in 2010. Former Royals greats such as George Brett and Willie Wilson will be among the presenters in attendance.
Previously, the club announced the following award recipients as voted on by the Kansas City Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). Royals’ closer Joakim Soria was the selection for the 2010 Bruce Rice Pitcher of the Year while Billy Butler was the 2010 Les Milgram Player of the Year for the second straight season. Starter Bruce Chen was named the 2010 Joe Burke Special Achievement Award winner.
The remaining award recipients to be recognized at the event include:
Mike Moustakas, recipient of the George Brett Hitter of the Year – recognizing the organization’s top hitter. The 22-year-old third baseman combined to hit .322 with NW Arkansas (AA) and Omaha (AAA), tying for the minor league lead with 36 home runs. The Royals’ first-round selection (2nd overall) in 2007 also posted 41 doubles and drove in 124 in being named the Sporting News Minor League Hitter of the Year, the Texas League Player of the Year, and a Baseball America 2010 first-team Minor League All-Star.
John Lamb, recipient of the Paul Splittorff Pitcher of the Year - recognizing the organization’s top pitcher. The 20-year-old pitched at three levels of the Royals system in 2010, wrapping up at NW Arkansas. The six-foot-three lefty from Laguna Hills, Calif., was a combined 10-7 with a 2.38 ERA in 28 starts, allowing 122 hits in 147.2 innings, striking out 159 and walking just 45. Lamb was a fifth-round pick of the Royals in 2008.
Derrick Robinson, recipient of the Willie Wilson Base Runner of the Year - recognizing the organization’s top base runner. The 23-year-old patrolled center field for the Texas League-champion Northwest Arkansas Naturals in 2010, hitting .286 with a league-leading 50 stolen bases in 67 attempts. The speedster, drafted by the Royals in the fourth round in 2006, has swiped 236 bases in his professional career, including 181 in his last three campaigns, and is a two-time winner of the Willie Wilson Award, also earning the honor in 2008.
Eric Hosmer, recipient of the Frank White Defensive Player of the Year – recognizing the organization’s top defensive player. Hosmer, 21, is an athletic first baseman who posted a .988 fielding percentage in 80 games at Wilmington (A Advanced) before upping that mark to .994 in 43 games at first for NW Arkansas. At the plate, the Royals’ first-round pick (3rd overall) in 2008 batted a combined .338 with 43 doubles, nine triples, 20 home runs, 86 RBI and 87 runs, also stealing 14 bases in 16 attempts.
Buddy Baumann, recipient of the Mike Sweeney Award - recognizing a player who best represents the organization on and off the field. The 23-year-old left-handed pitcher tirelessly volunteered for numerous community events throughout the 2010 season, visiting Wilmington-area schools and hospitals and conducting several baseball clinics. Kansas City’s seventh-round selection in 2009 was 0-0 with a 1.80 ERA in three relief appearances for Burlington (A) to begin 2010 before going 4-2 with four saves and posting a 2.24 ERA in 31 games (14 starts) for Wilmington.
Brian Poldberg, recipient of the Dick Howser Player Development Person of the Year – recognizing an outstanding member of player development. The only manager the NW Arkansas Naturals have ever known, Poldberg led the club to the Texas League Championship in 2010. The team was also recently recognized as the Baseball America Minor League Club of the Year. After ending a seven-year playing career, the Carter Lake, Iowa resident has been a coach and instructor in the Royals organization since 1987.
Sean Gibbs, recipient of the Art Stewart Scout of the Year – recognizing an outstanding scout. Gibbs has served the Royals organization as an area scout since 2007. He has scouted and signed several players including 2010 Burlington (R) Pitcher of the Year Crawford Simmons.
Andrew Layman, assistant general manager of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, is the recipient of the Matt Minker Award – recognizing an outstanding minor league affiliate employee. Layman has directed the merchandise, ticket and stadium operations departments during his 19-year Blue Rocks tenure. In 1998, he received the Governor’s Outstanding Volunteer Award for best exemplifying the spirit of volunteerism in recognition of his time invested with a local teen. The Malvern, Pa. native is a 1992 graduate of Lynchburg College where he played lacrosse. He currently makes his home in Wilmington with fiancée, Jordan, and their son, Mason.
In addition, the Royals will honor Chuck Sailors with the Dan Quisenberry Special Achievement Award - recognizing an outstanding member of the community. In 2004, Sailors founded the KC Urban Youth Center at 28th and Troost in Kansas City, Mo. Today, the center is part of three low-income housing communities in urban Kansas City serving more than 300 students and their families each year. Sailors and his staff work daily with a holistic approach in order to offer hope, community and wholeness to children and youth living in traditionally underserved communities.
Eric Hosmer promoted to Double-A
Eric Hosmer, KC’s first round pick in 2008 (third overall) was promoted from Wilmington to Northwest Arkansas after Wilmington’s game on Friday. Hosmer leaves Wilmington as the league-leader in average (.354), doubles (29), on-base percentage (.429) and OPS (.974). He went 4-for-5 in last week’s Futures game in Anaheim. The 20-year old is scheduled to play first base and bat fifth in the first game of a doubleheader tonight in Springdale. Check out the NW Arkansas schedule here.
Congratulations to Northwest Arkansas, Wilmington and Burlington!
The Royals will have a trio of affiliates participating in playoff action starting tomorrow night.
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals won the Texas League North Division in the second half and will begin a best-of-five series tomorrow against the Cardinals’ AA affiliate in Springfield.
The Wilmington Blue Rocks went 46-24 to win the Carolina League’s Northern Division in the second half. They will start a best-of-five series against Lynchburg tomorrow.
Burlington (Ia.) is a wild-card entry in the Midwest League. The Bees will start their title defense at home against Kane County on Wednesday.
Best of luck to our affiliates (and future Royals) as they begin post-season play! You can track their post-season games at their websites:
Dickerson to play in Rising Stars Game
Kansas City prospect Joe Dickerson, an outfielder for the Surprise Rafters in the Arizona Fall League, has been selected to play in the league’s Rising Stars Game.
Dickerson, 22, earned Carolina League Postseason All-Star recognition in 2008 after batting .297 with 5 home runs and 45 RBI for the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Dickerson finished second among Carolina League players with 10 triples and in a tie for eighth with 24 stolen bases despite missing the last six weeks of the season with a broken index finger.
The Rising Stars Game is scheduled for Friday, October 24 at 7:15 p.m. at Surprise Stadium, the spring training home of the Royals. It’s an off day from the World Series, so if you’re a Royals fan living in or around Surprise, stop by and cheer for Joe!
Hittin' the road
The Boys in Blue left K.C. yesterday afternoon and square off against the White Sox. Brian Bannister is on the mound tonight to start the three game set.
When the Royals leave Chicago after Thursday’s day game, they will have played the Sox 12 times in 38 days. During those that time, the Royals have played a total of 10 series (four against the White Sox) and had a four-day break for the All-Star festivities..
These two teams are getting to know each other well (and they may not like what they’re finding out?), but have just one matchup left after this week (Chicago comes to town September 19-21). To take a look at the next Sox series and the nine-game, three-city road trip the series starts, let’s go Around the Horn…
First
The 28-game stretch against .500 clubs that started on July 18 has just two stops and six games left (three against the White Sox and three with the Yankees over the weekend). Despite the tough schedule, the Royals have come away with a respectable 11-11 record.
The Royals can still do some damage in their final two series and despite their position in playoff hunt, they can play spoiler. The Sox are tied in the loss column with the Twins and are a half game back from the division leaders. The Sox, who have controlled the Wild Card and the Central Division at times this season, are two games off Boston’s pace in the race for the final American League playoff spot.
Meanwhile New York had started surging to make a push for the A.L. East, but have now lost four in a row and sit nine games back from first-place Tampa Bay. The Yankees are five back in the Wild Card standings. Time is of the essence for them.
As for the Boys in Blue, we had a good run in each city last time we were there. The Royals split with the Yankees back in early June (and could have had at least one more), creeping back into the final game and slapping future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera a loss, thanks to homers by Miguel Olivo and a game-winner from Jose Guillen. In fact, Guillen blistered the Yankees with four homers, 10 RBI, two doubles and a .563 average over the four games.
Billy Butler was the story last time the Royals were in the Windy City. Butler helped lead the Royals to a 2-1 series win, homering twice and knocking in seven with a .386 average.
It’s tough to know what the Royals will get in either town. Both teams have been riddled with injuries lately. The most notable losses for the two were starters Jose Contreras (White Sox, out with a ruptured left Achilles’ tendon) and Joba Chamberlain (Yankees, out with rotator cuff tendinitis in his pitching shoulder). Both teams are trying to cope with their losses while trying to stay in the playoff picture.
Second
Around the Horn needs to clean up a few loose ends we’ve neglected the last few days on the pitching side of things. If you haven’t heard, Zack Greinke dropped his appeal. He began serving his suspension (five games for hitting Nick Swisher after a bench clearing incident versus the White Sox) on Sunday and is scheduled to miss his start on Friday. He will be pushed back one day and start Saturday’s day game in New York.
The Royals also traded Horacio Ramirez to the White Sox late Saturday night. In return, the Royals got outfielder Paulo Orlando. Orlando was playing for the Carolina League Winston-Salem Warthogs (the Sox’ Class A Advanced affiliate). Last night he made his Wilmington
debut and went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple against his former mates. The Brazilian native is the Carolina League’s leader in triples and he upped the speed quotient of the Blue Rocks.
You might remember Around the Horn posting a while back about the Runnin’ Rocks. Well, Orlando just adds more speed to their lineup. Derrick Robinson leads the Carolina League with 55 steals, followed by teammate Jarrod Dyson with 37 swipes and in third is Orlando with 28. Wilmington has six of the top eight base stealers in the Carolina and six of the top eight triples hitters as well.
Wilmington’s amazing speed doesn’t end there. Their 47 triples are 12 more than second place Winston-Salem and their 233 stolen bases are 82 ahead of the Warthogs.
Short
The Royals are riding a five-game winning streak on the road and start a nine-game road trip tonight…Mike Aviles has 23 multi-hitters in 55 career games (42 percent of his games)…Lefty Josh Newman was called up Sunday to replace the traded Horacio Ramirez. Newman is wearing No. 63…Tony Pena broke a 0-for-17 slide with his two hits on Sunday…Pena is one of four players to enter a game as a pinch runner this season and deliver a walk-off winner…Joakim Soria tied a career high with four strikeouts in a single outing.
Third
We have some housekeeping of our own to do here at Around the Horn. The long-awaited renovations update is coming as is our Clubhouse photos sneak peak. The media relations staff held a hard hat tour yesterday of the stadium, so we’ve got plenty of material. And as for the sneak peak, the pictures are taking a little longer to edit than we’d hoped (plus the Olympics are distracting!).
Speaking of the Olympics, have you guys been watching? We have. We’ve been watching Team USA basketball rolling and seen Michael Phelps break three world records already. We’re also excited for USA baseball to start tomorrow (TV schedule). 
Unfortunately the Royals don’t have anybody on this version of team USA or any of the other Olympic teams, though we have in the past. In fact, pitchers Neal Musser and Matt Wright, who are with Triple-A Omaha right now, were members USA Baseball team which won the gold medal over Chinese Taipei during the 2007 World Cup. And Billy Butler helped the USA in a qualifying tournament following the 2006 season.
One final note: The Royals have put together a new ticket package which sells for $40 and includes four View Level tickets (valued at $15 a piece) and a $20 QuikTrip card. The card can be used on gas or merchandise and the retail value of the entire package is $80, but you only pay $40. Is there anything better than getting a deal on both baseball AND gas?
We’ll have a lineup for you later.
Today’s Official Game Notes.
Pitch It, Catch It and We'll Find a Way to Score
It was a solid win last night over a first place team. Timely hitting, great starting pitching from Gil Meche and a couple glamorous defensive plays and viola! Its the recipe to beat a team which, even after the loss, holds a slight edge over the defending World Series champs. And even better it came on Girls Night Out, which by all accounts was another huge success.
True, its just one win and we talked just the other day about being able to move on from 
one game to the next, but on the same token, its good to enjoy the team’s high points. That’s what being a fan is all about right? To do that, let’s go Around the Horn…
First
Gil Meche never went anywhere, but a rough start skewed his numbers. Now he’s back on track and poised to pass his win total from last season, when he was undoubtedly the Royals ace and won Pitcher of the Year. Meche did not allow a run for the first time since May 4 at Cleveland, when he also pitched seven shutout innings. After that start, he dropped his ERA to 5.98. One rough start later and he jumped back up to 6.31.
Then he started whittling it down. After logging so many innings, it took a while, but he’s shaved a full two runs off his ERA since his May 9 start versus Baltimore. Over his last 14 starts, Meche has a 3.27 ERA in 88 innings with 69 strikeouts, which is 7.06 K’s per nine innings.
For a little more prespective, the 2007 Gil Meche set a career best with a 3.67 ERA with 156 punch outs in 216 innings, which is 6.5 K’s per nine innings. Granted, Meche kept his numbers up over 34 starts in 2007, but it looks like we’ve seen the return of the real Gil Meche.
Second
Defense is just as important to a win and three times already this homestand (we’ve only got video evidence of two), David DeJesus has made a spectacular play down the left field line. He’s laying out down there to save his pitchers runs.
His catch last night in particular – a head first layout onto the warning track gravel – became an instant replay on SportsCenter’s Top Plays, Baseball Tonight’s Web Gems, FSN’ Final Score, The Baseball Report and MLB.TV’s highlights. He literally stole a base hit or an extra base hit from the Rays’ Dioner Navarro.
Baseball Tonight’s Buck Showalter had some praise for the Royal, saying with him in the corner outfield position puts him among the elite defensively at that position. Oh and national media, his last name is pronounced “duh-HAY-soos” with the accent on the middle syllable, not “duh-hay-SOOS” with the accent at the end. Mispronunciation is kind of a pet peeve of ours. While we’re at it, it’s “WA-keem SORE-ee-uh”, not “Joe-uh-KIM” or “Sore-eye-uh” or whatever.
Not to be completely overshadowed by DeJesus’ night, Mike Aviles also made an outstanding throw to first to help cut short the Rays rally in the eighth.And Mitch Maier* recorded six putouts in the first five innings in his first game in the big leagues this year.
*Maier went 1-for-4, recording his first hit in the Majors since he went 2-for-4 against Minnesota on September 28, 2006.
Short
Speaking of Mike Aviles, he has hit safely in 13 of 14 games after having his career high 12-game hitting streak snapped two days ago…The Royals induced a double play from Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura in the fifth, his first of the season. He’d gone 392 at-bats without hitting into a double-play, which led the Majors…Joakim Soria (did you pronounce it correctly?) picked up his first save against the Rays last night, leaving Boston as the only American League team he hasn’t recorded a save against…Notes from Trey Hillman’s pre-game press conference: Mark Teahen is still stiff and out of the lineup again. Hopefully he will resume outside workouts tomorrow…Also from Trey: Hillman saw the rehab DVD for John Bale, who is starting for Omaha tonight. He said Bale’s velocity is not back to where is was but the arm action looks okay…Finally: John Buck shaved his head last night before the game, reportedly because Gil Meche said he’d stay locked in better if his catcher had a shaved head. Hillman said Meche, who did the shaving, wasn’t going to come anywhere near him with the clippers.
Third
Minor League Notes:
Triple-A: Mike Aviles is still 5th in the Pacific Coast League in triples (six in 51 games), the leader, Tucson’s Tim Raines, Jr. has 11 in 98 games.
Double-A: Kila Kaaihue of Northwest Arkansas leads the Texas League in homers with 25 and is third in slugging percentage (.615) and RBI (71). He also leads the league with 79 walks and has 39 strikeouts in 87 games.
Single-A Advanced: The Wilmington Blue Rocks, or 
Runnin’ Rocks are tops in the Carolina League in stolen bases. They’ve stolen 200 bases in 102 games, 79 more than any other team in the league. They’ve broken a team record already, lead the league in walks (359) and have five of the top six base stealers in the CL. Derrick Robinson (pictured left) leads the league with 48 steals, followed by Jarrod Dyson at 33, Joseph Dickerson at 24, Winston Salem’s Paulo Orlando at 22 and Chris McConnell and Kurt Mertins at 21…Josh Johnson (11 SB) is third in the league with a .423 OBP and tied for second with 65 walks…Dickerson also leads the league in triples at 10
Single-A: Burlington, Iowa’s Adrian Ortiz leads the league with 128 hits in 99 games…Jason Taylor lead the Midwest League with 60 walks…Mike Moustakas’ 12 homers is tied for 11th, but the league leader only has 19 in the pitcher’s league. Two are tied for second at 16, five players have 14 and two more have 13, so he’s not far off the pace…David Lough is second in the League with nine triples…Alexander Caldera is fifth in the league with 113.1 IP.
Rookie League-Advanced: Burlington, North Carolina’s Kelvin Herrera is second with a 1.83 ERA in 34.1 IP. He also leads the Appalachian League in WHIP with a 0.84 mark.
Rookie League-Advanced: Idaho Falls’ Nicholas Francis has a .582 slugging percentage, which is fourth in the Pioneer League. He’s also fifth with a .978 OPS and first in triples with five…The Chukars also have some runners with three of the top five base stealers, including the leader, Patrick Norris who has 14 in 31 games. Norris also leads the league in walks with 23…Bryan Casey holds a 1.93 ERA which is second in the PL.
Rookie League: The Arizona Royals Jose Bonilla is fourth in the Arizona League with a .390 average, fifth with a .688 slugging percentage and fifth with a 1.129 OPS…Deivy Batista is fifth in doubles with eight…Deybi De La Cruz is tied for third (two tied at four) with three wins and is sixth in the league with a 2.73 ERA. He also has 26 K’s which is sixth and only one strike out behind teammate Carlos Fortuna who is tied for fifth.
Tonight’s lineup: Remember, Emerson Drive and Dan Quisenberry Bobbleheads tomorrow.
DeJesus LF
Aviles SS
Grudzielanek 2B
Guillen RF
Gordon 3B
Butler DH
Gload 1B
Buck C
Maier CF
Meche P
Today’s Official Game Notes.
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