Catching up with...

the Kane County Cougars.

July 2:
Cougars pitching staff in trouble

The Cougars’ pitching staff was the envy of the Midwest League just one week ago.

With three All-Stars in Craig Italiano, Scott Mitchinson and Jamie Richmond, the Kane County staff was dominant in the first half of the season.

But with Italiano’s call-up to high-A Stockton last week coupled with news Tuesday that Mitchinson (elbow) and recent Cougars call-up Tyson Ross (shoulder), a big prospect in the Oakland system, were headed to the disabled list, things have changed in a hurry.

July 3:
Brown rediscovers stroke

Corey Brown had been on fire at the plate coming into Wednesday’s game. Brown had hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games and drove in 14 runs in that span.

Brown continued his tear with another strong game on Wednesday. He went 3-for-4 with three singles, three RBIs and scored a run to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.

July 4:
Nieckula proud of Futures honorees

Three former Cougars will get a chance to take the field at Yankee Stadium later this month as members of either the U.S. or World team at the Futures All-Star Game.

Cougars manager Aaron Nieckula had a hand in the development of each of the three – pitchers Trevor Cahill and Henry Rodriguez and infielder Cliff Pennington – over the last four years, which is something the third-year manager takes great pride in considering hit main goals as a low-minors manager is player development and promotion.

“Anytime you have young men that matriculate through the minor league system and have success at higher levels or the big leagues or a futures game or an All-Star game, that’s our reward as a coach,” said Nieckula, who managed Cahill and Rodriguez a season ago and was Pennington’s hitting coach in 2005.