Looking in obvious places

Here are where ex-Rattlers are in the Seattle and Milwaukee minor league systems.

This is more difficult than it would appear. Tacoma's online roster is not completely, um, completed.

The best I can tell is that Caesar Jimenez, Greg Halman, and Michael Saunders are there.

West Tennessee is would be best described as who on the team is not an ex-Rattler.

Only two of the 12 position players never played for Wisconsin. Half of the 12 pitchers are ex-Rattlers.

High Desert...I don't know...According to the roster, Ryan Feierabend is there...Marwin Vega is there...Here is the release, you can figure it out.

Clinton has Danny Carroll and Kalian Sams.

Also from the Mariner side of things (Welcome back to the internet, Mariners Minors!) comes this piece of bad news from one of the exhibition games in Albuquerque last weekend.

James McOwen, famous for last year’s hit streak, separated his right shoulder yesterday in an exhibition game after he ran into a wall. Funny thing about that, he’s already done it twice before. So, in essence, a player rewarded by the organization for his hard work by being brought along with the big club has gone and injured himself in a way that will likely put him out for the entire season. Ouch.

Ouch indeed.

Over on the Brewers side of the ledger:

No ex-Rattlers in Nashville...yet.

Huntsville has Jim Henderson, Alex Periard, Taylor Green, and Brett Lawrie.

Brevard County w/ a lot of former Rattlers: Mike Fiers, Ruben Flores ('06), Evan Frederickson, Corey Frerichs, Daniel Meadows, Dan Merklinger, Wily Peralta, Brandon Ritchie, Cody Scarpetta, Nick Tyson, Martin Maldonado, Brock Kjeldgaard, Juan Sanchez, Erik Komatsu, Erik Miller.

Our Friends in High Desert

Since Jim Horner, a former Rattlers player and Manager, is going to manage the High Desert Mavericks in 2010, I'll share the latest on the Saga of the Mavs.

Bretts yet to sell Mavs after waiver period

The waiver period for Brett Sports and Entertainment to sell the High Desert Mavericks ended after six months, but the company still hasn’t struck a deal.

Brett Sports and Entertainment, the owner of the Mavs based in Spokane, Wash., completed a purchase of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in August. Because Minor League Baseball prohibits ownership of more than one club in a league under the rules adopted by all clubs and leagues, Brett Sports was given a six-month waiver period to sell the Mavericks.

Brett Sports chief operating officer Andy Billig said he has talked with a number of potential buyers, but nothing is imminent. He added that it’s not unusual for a sale to take a long time because the purchase is large. Billig said even when the sale process starts, it takes months to complete.

“We are talking to Minor League Baseball and the California League on how to proceed,” Billig said. “Those discussions are on-going. Nothing’s been determined.”

Brett group unable to sell High Desert Mavericks

The Mavericks, who reached the championship series in the California League in 2009 before being swept by the San Jose Giants, have been the subject of move rumors for the last couple seasons. One scenario had the team moving to Carolina League along with the Bakersfield Blaze. Those rumors had the Mavericks moving to Richmond, Virginia, which has since seen the former Connecticut, Defenders (Double-A) move into town. More recently, the Mavericks wanted to move to nearby Apple Valley, California until a deal to build a new stadium was voted down by city leaders. The team has been unhappy with upkeep at Mavericks Stadium by the City of Adelanto.

A bit more on that California League Championship Series

From the San Jose Mercury News

The San Jose Giants put the finishing touches on a season for the ages Saturday night at Municipal Stadium, completing a sweep of the California League finals with a 4-3 comeback victory over High Desert.

The Cal League title was San Jose's second in three years and its fifth since 1998.

"There is just something about this team, the chemistry,'' third baseman Conor Gillaspie said. "That's what carried us the whole year.''

Much was expected of the Giants when the squad opened the Class A season with an unprecedented accumulation of first-round draft picks and high-profile prospects. Many of those players were gone by midseason, but those who remained didn't disappoint, helping establish a franchise record for regular-season victories with a record-setting second half that spilled into the postseason.

Saturday, the Giants rallied from an early three-run deficit in front of an announced crowd of nearly 3,400. It was their third comeback victory of the posteason, including the deciding fifth game of the North Division series.

"The hallmark of this team has always been when it mattered, we stepped up and got it done,'' said first-year San Jose manager Andy Skeels, who guided Augusta to the South Atlantic League title last season.

Closer Rafael Cova put an exclamation mark on the season Saturday night when, with the potential tying run on third base, he induced a fly ball to center fielder Francisco Peguero for the final out.

From MiLB.com

Eric Surkamp overcame a rocky start and struck out 12 over eight innings Saturday as the San Jose Giants won the California League championship with a 4-3 victory over the High Desert Mavericks.

Surkamp, San Francisco's sixth-round pick in 2008, surrendered three runs over the first two innings but settled down and retired 13 consecutive batters into the sixth.

"Eric was tremendous. He struggled early on and he had a few choices -- he could have quit or he could buckle down," Giants manager Andy Skeels said. "It was a gutsy performance. That's the sign of a champion and a quality player."

Surkamp (1-1) was promoted to San Jose on Sept. 8 after leading Class A Augusta with 11 wins. He got the start in Game 3 of the North Division Finals and gave up six runs in two innings.

"When I finally got that call, I was excited to help the team win a championship," Surkamp said. "Nothing can beat this. I'll remember this for the rest of my life."

A great season comes to an end for Jim Horner and his group of ex-Rattlers playing out in High Desert. Congratulations to them on the year.

Rattler Alumni Report: MiLB Playoffs September 18, 2009

San Jose 7 @High Desert 5

The High Desert Mavericks rallied late, but came up short in a 7-5 loss to the San Jose Giants in Game 2 of the California League championship series on Friday night.

The Mavs trail 2-0 in the best-of-five series. The final three games will be played in San Jose.

High Desert was behind 5-1 after five innings, but started to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the sixth when Kuo Hui Lo singled and came home on a sacrifice fly by Joe Dunigan. Lo drove in a run with a single in the seventh, bringing home Tyson Gillies, to make the score 5-3.

Ex-Rattlers for the Mavericks:
Jeffrey Dominguez ('06): 1-for-3
Alex Liddi ('08): 1-for-4
Carlos Peguero ('08): 0-for-4
Kui Hui Lo ('07): 2-for-4, RUN, RBI
Leury Bonilla ('07): defensive replacement
Joe Dunigan ('08): 0-for-4, RBI
Brent Johnson ('05): 1-for-3
Jamir mcOwen ('07): 1-for-2, RUN
Travis Scott ('06): 3-for=-4, 2 RUNS
Juan Diaz ('08): 2-for-3, RBI
Travis Mortimore ('08): 2.1IP, 2H, 0R, BB, K
Jake Wild ('08): .2IP, 2H, 2R
Aaron Jensen ('05): .2IP, H, 0R, 2BB
Steven Richard ('08): IP, 0H, 0R, BB

Rattler Alumni Report: MiLB Playoffs September 17, 2009

San Jose 2, High Desert 1

Giants draw first blood

The High Desert Mavericks fell against the San Jose Giants 2-1 on Thursday night at Stater Bros. Stadium in the California League championship series opener.

San Jose starter Clayton Tanner outdueled High Desert’s Steven Hensley as both worked seven innings. Tanner struck out seven batters, giving up one run on seven hits and no walks. Hensley yielded two runs on six hits and no walks, striking out seven.

Ex-Rattlers for High Desert:
Jeffrey Dominguez ('06): 1-for-4
Jamie McOwen ('07): 1-for-4, run
Carlos Peguero ('07): 2-for-4
Alex Liddi ('08): 1-for-4, RBI
Joe Dunigan ('08): 0-for-4
Brent Johnson ('05): 1-for-4
Travis Scott ('06): 1-for-3
Juan Diaz ('08): 0-for-3

Rattler Alumni Report: MiLB Playoffs September 15, 2009

@Racho Cucamonga 2, High Desert 1

Quakes force Game 5
The winner of today's game advances to championship series

The Mavericks, preparing to head back to the High Desert, were quieter than usual in the visiting locker room after the game. They were realizing that every game counts in the playoffs and that they’re on the brink of either the California League championship series or the end of their season.

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes edged High Desert 2-1 on Tuesday night at The Epicenter in Game 4 of the second round of the playoffs to even the series at 2 to force Game 5 at Stater Bros. Stadium today. The winner of today’s game advances to the championship series, which starts on Thursday.

The Mavs, who led the league in runs scored during the regular season, hit just 23-for-94 (.245) in the first three playoffs games, and the trend continued on Tuesday as they tallied four hits.

Rancho Cucamonga starter Ryan Brasier silenced the Mavs for eight innings, giving up three hits, a walk and no runs with seven strikeouts. Closer Michael Kohn, who had a stellar 0.94 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 28.2 innings in the regular season, pitched the final inning to pick up the save.

But the Mavs provided some thrilling moments in the ninth for their fans who traveled from the High Desert.

With two outs and Jeff Dominguez and Carlos Peguero on second and first, Joe Dunigan hit a line drive toward right. Second baseman Carlos Colmenares dove and seemed to have had it in his glove, but the ball dropped on the field, scoring Dominguez and advancing Peguero to third. But Kohn struck out Travis Scott to end the game.

Lost of ex-Rattlers in the game for High Desert:
Jeffery Dominguez ('06): 0-for-2, RUN
Jamie McOwen ('07): 0-for-4
Carlos Peguero ('07): 0-for-3
Alex Liddi ('08): 0-for-4
Joe Dunigan ('08): 2-for-4
Travis Scott ('06): 0-for-4
Kuo Hui Lo ('07): 1-for-3
Juan Ramirez ('08): 7.1IP, 8H, 2R, 2BB, 5K
Travis Mortimore ('08): 0.2IP, 0H, 0R

Rattler Alumni Report: MiLB Playoffs September 14

@Rancho Cucamonga 7, High Desert 6 (10 innings)

Mavs crumble in 9th
The Quakes win in the 10th to extend the semifinal series

High Desert couldn’t hold on to its three-run lead in the ninth as the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes rallied to the beat the Mavericks 7-6 in the 10th inning Monday night and force Game 4 of the second round of the playoffs.

The Mavs were leading 6-3 going into the bottom of the ninth, but the Quakes showed some resilience, rebounding from their two consecutive shutout losses.

After Mavericks relievers Edward Paredes and Steven Richard gave up a single and two walks to load the bases, Carlos Colmenares hit a two-run single off Richard. Aaron Jensen replaced Richard, but Efren Navarro hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

Navarro singled home Alberto Rosario in the bottom of the 10th for the walk-off win.

Click the score up top for the complete boxscore to see how all 13 ex-Rattlers for High Desert did last night.

Highlights include:
Joe Dunigan ('08): 3-for-4, 2 RUNS, 3RBI, HR
Michael Pineda ('08): 5IP, 6H, 2R, 3K, ND

Also, you may notice that Brent Johnson ('05) is in there at first base for the Mavs. While looking for a detail or two from the Rancho Cucamonga newspaper, I found this little note.

Mavericks' Johnson ready to convert

Brent Johnson's career is at a crossroads, and right now, those crossroads have him back in the California League.

Johnson, a member of the 2006 Cal League champion 66ers when they were a Seattle Mariners affiliate, is currently a first baseman with the High Desert Mavericks, the current Mariners affiliate in the league.

"It's nice to be back in the playoffs," the 27-year-old Johnson said before Monday night's Game 3. "Hopefully, we can win one of these games and go to the next round.

"Everything in the playoffs is more intense. You see guys with a lot more focus."

Johnson, who had been playing at Double-A West Tenn and Triple-A Tacoma since 2006, batted .292 in 21 regular-season games with the Mavericks this year.

But those could be his last regular-season at-bats.

The Mariners look like they'll be converting Johnson into a pitcher.

"I threw once last year (in Double-A), and I threw once this year in Lancaster," Johnson said. "I guess they (Mariners) liked what they saw."

That outing in Lancaster was a mop-up role, but Johnson was told he threw in the 88-91 mph range and says he throws four different pitches.

"That's what I was told to report to spring training as next year," he said.

That's interesting.

Rattler Alumni Report: MiLB Playoffs September 13, 2009

@High Desert 4, Rancho Cucamonga 0

Mavs take control

At hitter-friendly Stater Bros. Stadium, it was pitching that put the Mavericks on the brink of reaching the California League championship series.

Starter Mauricio Robles helped High Desert shut out Rancho Cucamonga for the second straight night as the Mavs defeated the Quakes 4-0 on Sunday, following Steven Hensley’s complete-game shutout in Game 1. The Mavs lead the best-of-five series 2-0.

The last time the Mavericks pitched back-to-back shutouts at Stater Bros. Stadium was in 1997.

“(Hensley and Robles) threw two great games here,” High Desert manager Jim Horner said. “Hensley’s was pretty darn impressive and tonight wasn’t far behind it. With that wind blowing, it’s pretty impressive to keep throwing those zeroes up there. They both attacked the zone.”

Ex-Rattlers for Mavericks:
Jeffrey Dominguez ('06): 1-for-3, RUN
Jamie McOwen ('07): 0-for-2
Carlos Peguero ('07): 1-for-3, RUN, 2 RBI, HR
Alex Liddi ('08): 0-for-3, RBI
Joe Dunigan ('08): 0-for-4
Brent Johnson ('05): defensive replacement
Kuo Hui Lo ('07): 1-for-4
Travis Scott ('06): 1-for-3, RUN
Juan Diaz ('08): 2-for-4, RBI
Aaron Jensen ('05): IP, H, BB, K
Steve Richard ('07): IP, H, 0R, K

Tonight Michael Pineda ('08) is on the hill at RC to try to close out the Quakes.

Before getting started with the afternoon posts

A congratulations to the High Desert Mavericks in the California League.

For the first time since 1993, the High Desert Mavericks are first half champions. They defeated the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 4-3 Wednesday night at Mavericks Stadium and paired with a Lake Elsinore loss they clinched the title.

See any familiar names here?

Alex Liddi parked a solo homer over the left field fence to lead off the sixth to tie the game at one run apiece.

The seventh inning has been the big one for the Mavs all season, so it was only appropriate they broke through for three runs on Wednesday night. The first run came home on a throwing error by Rancho Cucamonga outfielder Jeremy Moore.

Liddi and Kuo Hui Lo each had big two-out base hits to put the Mavs ahead 4-1 heading into the eighth.

Phillippe Aumont worked the ninth and got his 12th save of the season.

By my count there are 21 former Timber Rattlers on the Mavericks roster.

Congratulations to former Rattler manager Jim Horner, his staff -- which is also made up of ex-Rattler coaches -- and the entire team.

“They are the ones who did it. They are the ones who deserve the celebration,” said High Desert manager Jim Horner, watching the Champagne fight from the back. “For me personally, the last two years managing, it was up-and-down type of seasons. The Mariners knew when they sent these guys here that they would do something special because there are a lot of good players on this team. Hopefully, we get to kind of hang out for a little while and we get to play in the playoffs and hopefully we can prove that we are the best team.”

Grass Roots

Many Timber Rattlers from the 2008 squad will be headed for High Desert in the California League in 2009. This is what they have waiting for them.

On a cool, sunny afternoon, Rick Radecki looks out onto the High Desert Mavericks’ ballpark and points out the cracked paint bordering the outfield walls and a dilapidated, shoddy field.

It’s a stadium that hasn’t been renovated since it was built nearly 20 years ago.

“It’s deteriorated season after season after season,” said Radecki, who’s been a loyal Mavericks’ fan for the past 11 years. “Everybody whines and everybody complains, and nobody wants to pick up the ball and do anything about it.”

So Radecki is stepping up to the plate — literally — launching a community campaign to upgrade the facilities of Stater Bros. Stadium. On his white T-shirt, Radecki’s printed the three, big, green words that sum up his mission: Save our grass.

The city of Adelanto, which owns the stadium and is responsible for its upkeep, concedes that the stadium is in need of many repairs. But the city simply doesn’t have the funds for renovation, Adelanto City Manager Jim Hart said.

“The fact that things at the stadium may not be up to par is a direct result of the fact the city itself doesn’t have sufficient revenues or finances to pick up in some of the areas that really need help,” Hart said.

There is one improvement that will stand out...

For the first time in at least the past four years, the city is re-sodding the entire field for this season, which should result in a more even playing surface that poses fewer safety hazards or strange ball bounces, Hart said.

But the broken scoreboard and field lighting, battered seats and chipped paint throughout the concourse will have to wait — which could cause the team itself to abandon the stadium.

For the city, which loses about $200,000 in annual maintenance costs for the stadium, it’s a matter of upgrading the facilities or spending that money on new police officers’ salaries, Hart said.

“We understand the stadium needs upgrades, and we also would like to be able to keep the Mavericks here,” Hart said. “We’re open to suggestions that will allow that to occur, but at the same time won’t take money away for the city to provide other critical services.”

There is a meeting and some ideas. The Mavericks will need those and a lot more.

The next destination

Some of this year's Timber Rattlers will be heading out to High Desert in the California League for 2009. Seattle has re-signed with the Mavericks.

The Mavericks announced in a press release on Wednesday that the Mariners renewed their player development contract, keeping them with the franchise for two more seasons.

“Renewing the contract with Seattle will allow the Mavericks to have more continuity next season since we’ll get a lot of the players back here next year,” said Mavs GM Tim Altier in a press release. “We won’t have to field a whole new team like we did after 2004 and 2006. And since we lost a few of our best players to injury last season, getting some of them back could mean more wins in ’09.”

High Desert, which has been affiliated with the Mariners over the last two seasons, has gone a combined 112-168 during that time.

A quick Mavs wrap-up

The Victor Valley Daily Press caught a few different thread in this article from Friday.

But here is the main one, for me at least. Ex-Rattlers have their name bolded.

While the Mavericks promoted several players to Double A this season, they were hampered by the injury bug. Overall, 15 different players spent time on the disabled list, and seven were lost for the season. A few others missed time on a game-to-game basis.

“I think the biggest thing I was disappointed about was the injury always seemed to come when a kid was starting to figure it out,” Mavericks manager Jim Horner said.

Standout players lost for the season included outfielder Carlos Peguero (.299 batting average, 12 HRs and 74 RBIs in 92 games), infielder Leury Bonilla and all-star pitcher Kyle Parker.

The Mavs limped to the finish line in August; they began the month in contention for a California League South Division playoff spot and won their first four games of the month (five straight overall). But they had dropped 19 of 22 entering Friday’s game.

Head over to the link for the other stuff.

Mavericks help out

Not, the players. The front office. This is an odd story that caught my eye since I tend to travel by bus quite a bit during the season.

Already dealing with a heartbreaking loss against Victor Valley on Thursday, the Burroughs [High School] baseball team found itself stranded in near Adelanto when a charter-bus driver transporting the team was arrested for apparent drug violations.

Fortunately, the arrest occurred in perhaps the best of places for the team: Next to the High Desert Mavericks baseball stadium.

“We felt bad for them, so we wanted to do something nice for them,” said Eric Jensen, spokesman for the Mavericks. “They didn't have anything to do for a couple of hours.”

So while the team waited for another driver, the Burros were treated to a game against the Inland Empire 66ers. The Mavericks are the class A affiliate of the Florida Mariners.

Great story...except for the, you know, Florida Mariners thing.

Burroughs head coach Jonathan Holmes said his boys were treated very well by the staff and said the team will be writing letters thanking them for the hospitality.

“They let us all in to the game. Tickets are $6, and there were 30 of us so that was around $200. Then they sell T-shirts for $10, and again for 30, that was around $300 to $350,” Holmes said. “They were very, very accommodating.”