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.

Tacoma Fantasy Camp

Most Major League teams have fantasy camps right before spring training. The Tacoma Rainiers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, just ran one of their own.

Ask John Rozeboom. At 66, he is retired from teaching and coaching baseball after 40 years, 29 of them at Lynden Christian High School.
...
As a slow, belt-high fastball came toward him, he unleashed a smooth swing – aching triceps and ailing shoulder be damned – ripping a line-drive that sailed over the head of the second baseman into the outfield for an RBI single. The crack of the bat echoed in Cheney’s cavernous confines.

“God, I love that sound,” remarked someone in the dugout.

“It never gets old,” said another.

Eventually Rozeboom made his way back to the dugout and sat down. He wiped the beads of sweat from his face, but he couldn’t wipe away a brilliant smile.

“That had to feel good,” someone said.

“No, that felt better than good,” Rozeboom said. “That felt great.”

After a pause, he looked out at the sun-drenched field where men in his age range were diving in the dirt for ground balls, sliding into second to break up double plays, cheering and chattering, basically playing like they were giddy teenagers. He quietly remarked to no one in particular:

“That’s the feeling of being alive.”

Just go read the whole thing.

Catching up with...

the Tacoma Rainiers.

Now announcing for the Rainiers, Mike Curto

Mike Curto, you are due a confession.

That “interview” at Terry’s Office last week? When you were told your biographical info was needed for a feature story on baseball broadcasters?

All a ruse, my man, all a ruse.

The feature is on you.

Congratulations, Mike. That story turned out really well.

Olympics beckoning for talented Victoria ballplayer

Just last season he was in Single-A with the High Desert Mavericks of California. His speedy rise could raise a five-alarm alert at Baseball Canada if the parent Seattle Mariners want the six-foot-five Saunders to stay with the Rainiers.

But the Tacoma News Tribune, said in story this week that Saunders will likely play for Team Canada at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

That's a relief. Saunders' size and speed on the bases were instrumental in helping Canada earn a berth in Beijing. Saunders' searing .448 batting average helped Canada advance from the Americas' Olympic qualifier at Cuba in 2006 to the last-chance qualifier this spring in Taiwan, where he was again key.

Rainiers’ president reflects on his rookie season

Aaron Artman came on board as the president of the Tacoma Rainiers in June 2007. Having held the office for just one year, Artman is still getting used to his duties on the business side of Rainiers baseball.

One more from Mike

Tacoma Rainier broadcaster Mike Curto has been filing dispatches from Spring Training in Arizona. His third day is HERE. The excerpt below is about a Triple-A game from Wednesday.

the Rainiers lost to Omaha (the Royals Triple-A affiliate), 5-3. Robert Rohrbaugh started and pitched four scoreless innings, but he allowed five runs to score in the fifth. Manager Daren Brown said he simply got tired, which is not unusual for a starting pitcher in the fifth inning at this time of spring. Pitchers are still building up the arm strength needed to work deeper into games - something you will see when the Rainiers season starts next Thursday. Don't expect any Tacoma starter to last more than six innings during the first couple of weeks of the season.

Day four is a three part epic. Part one HERE; part two HERE; and part three HERE. It is worth it to look at all three parts. But, the one thing to excerpt from day four is from part three. Pay attention Rattler fans.

I found an intrasquad game between the two Class A teams, Wisconsin and High Desert. I settled in and watched former Rainiers hitting coach Terry Pollreisz in his new role as manager of the Wisconsin TimberRattlers.

To say that Pollz is excited about his new job would be an understatement. He says he is really embracing his new role, especially the parts he did not get to do when he was just the hitting coach. He's excited about the prospects on his club, and he confirmed that last year's first round draft pick Phillippe Aumont will be in his starting rotation. He's even ready for the travel in the Midwest League, claiming that the long bus rides will be "simpler" than PCL air travel.

Nothing in the Midwest Leauge is "simpler" than the PCL...except, maybe the radio announcer at the Mariner affiliate.

Hello, Curto

Mike Curto is the radio broadcaster for the Tacoma Rainiers. He has been doing a little blogging from Spring Training.

Day one is HERE. What I think is the main item of interest to Rattler fans is excerpted below.

Future Rainiers outfielder Michael Saunders pulled a deep home run to right field. Saunders will start in AA but he is a Name To Know. A BC native, Saunders had a big year last year in the Cal League, and then he played well for a month after a late-season promotion to AA. We might see him in T-town later this summer. Saunders launched his homer off an A-ball reliever, but it was a left-vs-left situation.

Day two is HERE. What I think is the main item of interest to Rattlers fans has been excerpted below.

I ran into Denny Stark today. He's trying to make a comeback after not pitching the last two years - a story recently written by John McGrath in The News Tribune. Rainiers fans will recall that Stark was the ace of the 2001 championship squad, going 14-2 while winning the PCL Pitcher of the Year award. He was then traded to Colorado along with Brian Fuentes in the ill-fated Jeff Cirillo trade. Sorry I had to bring that up. Anyway, Stark told me that his arm is all the way back. Stark has always been a class act and I'm hoping he makes the team.

Stark was a Timber Rattler in 1997.

Thanks for the reports, Mike. Tip of the cap to USS Mariner for pointing out Mike's project.