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Independent Baseball Chatter – by Bob Wirz This story should be required reading for Cody Satterwhite, Geoff Broussard, Derek Eitel, James Hoyt, Ian Thomas and perhaps several other former American Association hurlers who are just short of realizing their major league dream. Two of the league’s other graduates, although far from prominent names in the...Read More

By George Von Benko/MLB.com PITTSBURGH — Right-hander Tim Adleman (Lincoln/El Paso 2012) only found out the night before he would be making his Major League debut, but gave the Reds a strong spot start in place of right-hander Raisel Iglesias on Sunday afternoon at PNC Park. With Iglesias on the 15-day disabled list with an impingement...Read More

Courtesy Sioux City Explorers Media Relations Sioux City, Iowa – The Sioux City Explorers announced on Friday that the Boston Red Sox have purchased the contract of Explorers INF Ryan Court. Court will report to Double-A Portland within the Red Sox organization. Court was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 23rd round of the 2011 MLB...Read More

Phillips Could Become First South African Big-Leaguer While somewhat difficult to believe, a player who grew up in South Africa has never played in the major leagues. Anthony Phillips, an everyday infielder with last season’s powerful St. Paul Saints, is trying to change that situation. The 5-foot-9 switch-hitter is in the lineup daily for the...Read More

Durham, N.C. — For the second time in three years, the American Association lost a valuable member of their fraternity to melanoma. Scott Miller, the voice of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks passed away in late February and Brian Rose, the bench coach for the Wichita Wingnuts, passed away in late January, 2013.  The league will honor these...Read More

Independent Baseball Chatter – by Bob Wirz Mike Zouzalik only got 33.2 innings divided between two Texas Rangers farm clubs before the right-hander found himself getting released pitching for Wichita two summers ago and St. Paul last season where his 2.06 earned run average along with a 4-1 record and three saves earned him Rookie...Read More

Joplin, Mo. — Gabriel Suarez has been announced as the new manager of the Joplin Blasters. The Denver native previously played 13 seasons professionally as part of six different organizations, reaching as high as Double-A. Originally a 26th-round choice by Montreal in the 2004 draft, Suarez also played internationally in Mexico and Australia. He represented Team Spain in the 2012...Read More

Independent Baseball Chatter – by Bob Wirz American Association players will tell anyone interested in listening that one thing they truly enjoy about the Independent game is that teams are out to win, not just to develop talent as is mostly the case in the affiliated leagues.  This notwithstanding, the first message a manager might...Read More

Independent Baseball Chatter – by Bob Wirz Lefty Ian Thomas will not soon forget his 2016 debut for Oklahoma City even though the former Winnipeg hurler would rather be with the parent Los Angeles Dodgers as he was part of last year instead of in Triple-A. Oklahoma City did not allow a hit until the...Read More

Courtesy Gary SouthShore RailCats Media Relations Gary, Ind. –The Gary South Shore RailCats and the American Association jointly announced today that the San Francisco Giants have purchased the contract of RHP Matt Solter. Solter becomes the 24th RailCat to have his contract picked up by an affiliated organization since 2002. Solter had two stays with the RailCats in 2015....Read More