Posts Tagged ‘Greg Folgia’

I wanted to do a profile piece on Ben Carlson about a month and a half ago.  When I asked him about it after a Scrapper game in July, he simply told me “we’ll see”.  Today Carlson admitted to me that he was reluctant to do a profile piece back then because he was not playing well and thought others on the team may have deserved the attention more than he did.  It is because of that attitude that today, I am happy to be doing a feature piece on Ben.  Carlson gives the words ‘team player’ and ‘wise beyond his years’, believability.

 Carlson and I have been linked closer since last Wednesday.  A line-drive foul ball off of his bat struck Luke Holko.  Having an idea of what kind of a person Ben was, I knew that he would be devastated.  After every game, I would talk to Travis Fryman.  Our conversations have been pretty structured lately.  My first question has always been, “Any news on Luke?”, followed by, “How is Ben doing?”, followed by, “Tell me about the start that Clayton Cook provided and how long are Kyle Bellows and Greg Folgia hurt?” 

I met Chad and Nicole Holko on Wednesday, a week after the incident.  The Scrappers played Brooklyn that night and I waited until after the game to talk to Ben and Travis about my visit.  Ben told me, “I gotta get up there and see him.”  The next morning, Ben and I were on our way to Akron Children’s Hospital.  Ben brought a bat to give to Luke.  We had about two hours to talk, so this profile piece is done with more than the usual amount of information.

We met at 9:00 AM at Eastwood Field.  I learned that this early time of nine was a sacrifice in itself for Carlson who said he usually sleeps until 11.  It sounds bad, but when you weigh the normal day ahead of a Scrappers player, it seems that isn’t enough rest.  These guys got home at 6:00 AM from one of their unpopular eight-hour bus rides.  On a gameday, which is pretty much every day, the players are required to be at the field by 2:00 PM for meetings and stretching followed by batting practice.  Then they hit the field for the game.  After showering and sometimes short post-game meetings, a player can expect to get home between 11:00 – midnight.  That’s a long day.

One of the first things I talked with Carlson about was “home”, both growing up and here.  The growing up part was in Kansas.  Carlson has loyalty to the Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs, two franchises which have not been lighting it up as of late.  We talked about George Brett and Christian Okoye and if the Chiefs were capable of winning even three games this season.  Carlson has three brothers, all playing baseball at some level.  His oldest brother is in the Detroit Tigers system, and recently needed surgery on his wrist.  Ben attended Missouri State for a bit, but once you get drafted, college ends up on the back burner.  After this season with the Scrappers, he will go to an instructional league in Arizona on September 30.  His father runs a car auction back in Kansas.  His parents recently made a trip to Ohio to see Ben play and because it was Labor Day Weekend, the car auction was delayed until Tuesday.  “My father hasn’t missed an auction in 24 years.” 

Nick Kirk and Brett Brach live with the same host family as Carlson.  He claims that it is nice to have some teammates around but was quick to point out that pitchers are pretty much on a different schedule, so they go to the park at different times.  “We pretty much have an area of the house to ourselves.  There is a nice setup with a big screen when we have time to watch it.”  Carlson said his host father leaves for work at 5:30 in the morning and he went a stretch of about two weeks without even getting to see him.

Once we got to the hospital and parked, the reality of our trip started to settle in.  We agreed that it is tough to see Luke on the machines as we had both already been there once.  Walking to the room, a million things race through my mind, the most important being some sign of improvement or some good news.  Our unannounced visit was well-received.  Nicole and Chad and Nicole’s parents were all there.  Nicole told us about Eric Wedge’s wife coming yesterday and showed us all of the nice stuff she brought with her including a two-foot card signed by the entire team, some autographed bats, and even a Jamey Carroll glove.  Nicole then talked with us about improvements.  There is something caled an ICP count which is monitored on a screen.  Luke’s ICP count rises when he gets annoyed.  I was fixated on this single monitor for most of the visit.  We had to leave before 11:30 because Carlson had to be back in Niles by 12:30 for practice.

One of the things Carlson and I talked about was his music that he picked when he comes up to bat.  Most of the Scrappers pick R & B stuff, or newer music.  Casey Frawley has a country song.  Ben Carlson has Ted Nugent.  Yep, the Motor City Madman.  I asked Carlson if the music gets assigned or if they get to pick it. He told me that they get to pick what they want.  I then asked how he ended up with ‘Stranglehold’.  He told me he loved the song as a teammate of his in college used it when he came to bat.  Once he got to Niles, he picked the song to use for himself.

Carlson is still getting used to hitting with a wooden bat.  Having used aluminum bats his whole career, it is a big change.  He is also learning to play first base.  He had played there before, but very sparingly.  “You go where they put you and make the most of it,” remarked Carlson whose primary world was the outfield.

Moises Montero, Jesus Brito, and Argenis Martinez do not speak much English yet.  From what Carlson told me, Rafael Vera should draw an additional check from the Indians organization for being a full-time interpreter.  The language and communication problems don’t end there.  Carlson’s roommate on the road is Chun Chen.  I asked him what they could possibly do or how they communicate.  “Chen knows a little English and is learning, we get through it.”

Carlson is very complimentary of the coaches and trainers.  He has much respect for Travis Fryman and Phil Clark and said nothing but good stuff about both guys.  Nothing but praise for the Scrappers organization and not a bad word about a teammate.  Carlson said in some ways it has been a very long Summer.  He is looking forward to going to his brother’s wedding in Las Vegas in November.  “He is 6’4″, she is 6’3″ and used to play basketball at New Mexico, they are going to have some tall kids.”

Carlson and the Scrappers will be competing for the NYPL championship this weekend.  He was quick to point out that the Scrappers lead the NYPL in team batting, yet no Scrapper player is even in the Top-10.  “We are a true team, everyone has been contributing all season.  When someone gets hurt, someone else has been able to step in and get the job done.”

I enjoyed my time with Ben Carlson.  He is a refreshing person who contradicts the young pro athlete stereotypes.  If he doesn’t make it in baseball, he will succeed in some other avenue his path may drive him to. 

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers set a new standard for wins in a season with their 49th, the old record was 48.  With their 3-0 victory over State College, the Scrappers clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs.   The Scrappers got outstanding pitching from Brett Brach and Tyler Sturdevant and put up enough offense to claim the win.  

The Scrappers wasted little time getting on the scoreboard and for the second consecutive night tallied in the first inning.  Casey Frawley (pictured, on left) walked with two outs.  Frawley would later score on a Jesus Brito RBI single to give Mahoning Valley a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, Ben Carlson (pictured, on right) singled and Chun Chen walked.  Rafael Vera then bunted the two Scrappers into scoring position.  Carlson scored on a wild pitch to make the score 2-0.  Argenis Martinez then bunted for a single with two outs knocking in Chen to cap the scoring at 3-0.

Brett Brach had a good start for Mahoning Valley.  Brach went six innings giving up three hits and walking none.  He also struck out six Spikes batters in lowering his ERA to 2.19 and boosting his record to 5-2 for the season.  Tyler Sturdevant pitched the last three innings and didn’t surrender a hit or a walk in picking up his third save of the year. 

Casey Frawley, who was the designated hitter Saturday,  talked about the importance of going after 50 wins for the year.  “We want to go hard and get this ring.  Tomorrow is a big game, we set a goal as a team to win 50 games at the beginning of the year.  It’s what I heard when I came up here, and it has been stressed more and more as we get closer.”

Travis Fryman commented on the potential to win 50 games also.  “This is something the players really want, 50 is a nice round number and sounds better than 49 to me.  It’s something to shoot for and a great accomplishment for a 76 game season.  I think they really want that, and they have earned it.”  Fryman also confirmed a possible return for Greg Folgia if he can hit and run the bases without pain during batting practice.

The Scrappers wrap up their regular season with their final game scheduled for Sunday at 5:05 against State College.  I will post the playoff schedule and ticket options in a seperate article tomorrow.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers offense showed its potency against Batavia.  The Scrappers scored a season-high eight runs in the third inning and never looked back in defeating the Muckdogs.

Batavia struck first on a three-run blast from Kyle Conley.  They added another run in the second inning to push the lead to 4-0.  At this point in the game things may have seemed dismal with Jason Smit, Kyle Smith, and Kyle Bellows holding clipboards and nursing injuries.

The Scrappers batted around in the third inning.  Jordan Henry (pictured above) singled and stole second base.  Casey Frawley then walked and Jason Kipnis reached on an error to load the bases.  Greg Folgia was hit by a pitch scoring Henry.  Jesus Brito then walked to score Frawley.  Chun Chen struck out but the ball got to the backstop and Kipnis alertly scored from third.  Juan Aponte doubled to score Folgia and Brito and give the Scrappers a 5-4 lead.  Tim Palincsar doubled home two more and scored when Henry had his second hit of the inning, an RBI-double pushing the Scrapper lead to 8-4. 

In the fourth, Rafael Vera got in on the action as he doubled home Folgia and Brito, who both reached base via the free pass, extending the lead to 10-4.

The Muckdogs tried to fight back putting a couple of runs up in the fifth inning and cutting the Scrapper lead to 10-6.

Henry collected his fourth hit of the night, an RBI-single plating Vera who doubled, to pretty much seal the victory for Mahoning Valley.

Henry has been superb, as a leadoff man and as a center fielder, all season long for the Scrappers.  Henry said it felt good to put the eight runs up in the third inning, “It was great, just about everyone scored that inning.  It was good to be that consistent through the lineup.  It’s all part of the game, sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t”.

Manager Travis Fryman was pleased with the situational hitting his team provided, especially in the third inning.  “Our situational hitting has been better.  It’s still not on the level where I think it needs to be, but it has been better.  We did this the other day in Auburn where we had five hits with two outs, it is getting better”.

With the win, Mahoning Valley trimmed their magic number to clinch the division to six.  The magic number decreases by one with each Scrapper victory or second-place Williamsport Crosscutter loss.

The Scrappers finish the series with Batavia on Thursday, Buck Night.  On Friday, Mahoning Valley embarks on their final roadtrip of the season with stops in Jamestown and Williamsport.  It should be noted that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday games will not be broadcast on AM-1390, but can still be picked up on the internet transmission.  Marc Means, as always, will still be calling the games online.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers played an uncharacteristic game against the Lowell Spinners on Friday night.  The Scrappers gave up four unearned runs and an error contributed to another run later in the game.  Lowell took a 6-3 lead to the ninth and barely held off the obviously frustrated Scrapper team to win the game 6-5 in front of 4, 244 fans on fireworks night.

In the first, Jordan Henry singled and moved to second base when Kyle Smith walked.  After Henry stole his franchise record-tying 15th base of the season, Kyle Bellows drilled a single through the right side which was misplayed by the Spinners RF Alex Hassan, allowing Smith to also score putting the Scrappers up 2-0.

Chris McGuiness cut the lead in half when he homered to RF in the second.  In the third, McGuiness struck again with a two-run double.  During the nightmarish third inning, the Spinners scored four unearned runs to take a 5-2 lead.

Greg Folgia smacked a solo homer in the sixth to cut the lead to 5-3.

In the ninth inning, trailing 6-3,  Jesus Brito and Rafael Vera doubled to cut the lead to 6-5 with one out and runners on second and third.  Unfortunately, the home team was unable to take advantage of a good situation, a problem Manager Travis Fryman has continually addressed as an achiles heel of this years team. 

Preston Guilmet (pictured above, photo courtesy of Nick Mays) dropped to 5-3 on the season.  Guilmet lasted just three innings giving up five runs on four hits.  Only one of the runs, however was earned.  New acquisition Matt Packer pitched three perfect innings of relief and Tyler Sturdevant closed out the game for the Scrappers.  Fryman talked about Guilmet and the start, “He [Guilmet] has been pitching really well for us, he obviously wasn’t that sharp tonight, but you are allowed a bad outing every now and then.”

Fryman also said he was pleased that the team was able to rally in the ninth and put themselves in a position to win despite falling a bit short.

* Kyle Smith left the game in the third inning when he injured himself fielding a ground ball, his status for Saturday is unknown.

* Jason Smit told me after the game that an MRI shows a torn labrum which will end his season.  Smit has still been working on drills that he can participate in, but his live AB’s for the Scrappers are likely finished this season.

* I was happy to see Rafael Vera come through in the ninth inning.  Vera has played so many positions all season and is settling in as the Scrappers go-to utility guy.  “I prepare myself everyday before the game at each position.  If I know I am playing one, I will practice there all day.  If not, I’ll take some time working in the outfield.  I’m getting pretty comfortable playing just about anywhere.  I’m more comfortable in the infield, the outfield is still kind of new to me”, said Vera after the game.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers improved to 34-19 on the season as they strengthened their hold on first place with a 12-1 clubbing of the Brooklyn Cyclones.  After dropping last nights contest, Mahoning Valley evened the series at one win apiece setting the stage for a Thursday finale.

The Scrappers got busy early as their first three hitters,  Jordan Henry, Kyle Smith, and Jason Kipnis, all singled.  Henry would score on Kipnis’ single putting the Scrappers up 1-0.

With two outs in the third, Kyle Bellows (pictured)  tripled on the thirteenth pitch of a great at-bat.  Bellows ended up tripling again in the fourth and ended the game with a season-high 5 RBI night.  “I hit it [the first triple] in the right spot at the right time and helped our team win and thats all that matters.  Everybody contributed today.  The pitching was great, the defense was great, and the hitting was great”, commented Bellows on the dominating team performance.

Clayton Cook, named earlier in the day to the New York- Penn League All-Star team, looked like exactly that – an All-Star.  Cook hurled five scoreless, yielding just four hits and lowering his ERA to 2.06 in picking up his fourth win for Mahoning Valley.  Austin Adams and Jose Urena threw two innings each in relief of Cook.

Manager Travis Fryman was pleased with the hitting party in the victory, “It was good.  Bellows, obviously had a big night.  Kipnis in our lineup is coming around which gives us a different look, which is encouraging. [Greg] Folgia had a good night too which was encouraging.  It was a good night for our guys, they bounced back after a pretty tough loss last night.”

The Scrappers and Cyclones hook up one more time on Thursday, Buck Night.  Eastwood Field will see a huge crowd as two top teams will battle to untie a defining series.  Marc Means will call the action on AM-1390 for those who get shut out or are unable to attend beginning at 7:05.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers stayed hot with a 2-1 victory over the Tri-City ValleyCats giving then a sweep and running their win streak to eight in a row.  The pitching during the win streak has been unbelievable, despite an offense that has scored two runs for a few of those wins.  The Scrappers have yet to lose a day game this season.

In the top of the second, Kyle Bellows put the Scrappers on the board with a home run, his second in as many days.  Bellows’ sixth bomb this season gave the Scrappers a 1-0 lead.  This is the third game that the Scrappers have gone yard, best streak in that department this season.

The ValleyCats responded with a run in the bottom of the second.  In the top of the third, Kyle Smith hit a one out triple and later scored on a Greg Folgia RBI-single, increasing the lead to 2-1. 

The Mahoning Valley pitching staff took the one run lead and preserved it over the next seven innings to complete the sweep on the road.

Clayton Cook started and went 5 1/3 for the Scrappers.  Cook struck out 4, walked two and surrendered the lone ValleyCat run in the second.  Cook improved to 3-2 for the season with the victory.  Nick Kirk pitched the next three innings and turned in a stellar performance.  Guido Fonseca bailed Kirk out in the ninth.  Fonseca came in with runners on the corners and one out and got the final two outs to earn his second save of 2009. 

The Scrappers bus next heads to Vermont to battle the Lake Monsters.  Brett Brach will try to keep the Scrappers win streak going.  Game time is at 7:05 on Friday and you can hear the action on AM-1390 with Marc Means.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers had a perfect homestand adding four wins to their season total.  The Scrappers again defeated Auburn on Monday night, 4-1.  Preston Guilmet had yet another good start for Mahoning Valley.  Jason Kipnis, the #2 draft pick of the Cleveland Indians made his professional debut with the Scrappers.

Ryan Schimpf led off the game with a homer to right to put Auburn on top 1-0.  The next twenty-seven outs would yield nothing on the scoreboard for the Doubledays.  Preston Guilmet picked up his third win (3-0) against Auburn this season.  Guido Fonseca pitched two scoreless and Cory Burns pitched the last two to remain perfect in save opportunities this season converting all six of his chances.

Trailing 1-0, the Scrappers did not wait too long to rally as Jason Kipnis, in his first professional at-bat, singled home Jordan Henry.  Henry singled and stole second (photo above, courtesy of Nick Mays) before scoring on Kipnis’ first hit.  Kipnis then scored after he stole second on a Greg Folgia RBI double to put the Scrappers up 2-1.

Kipnis went back to work as he tripled in the third and scored on another Folgia hit to push the lead to 3-1.  Kipnis was pulled after he scored that run.  “It felt good to get into a game and contribute, I like it here, the players are all good people and I really like this coaching staff”, remarked Kipnis after the game.  If Kipnis keeps hitting that way, he may not return with the rest of the team for their next home game in a week.

The Scrappers start a six-game roadtrip in Troy, NY.  Tuesday’s game starts at 7:05 and can be heard on AM 1390 with Marc Means calling the action.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers continued to roll on their current homestand as they again outpitched the Batavia Muckdogs.  Clayton Cook was tonight’s Scrapper starter and turned in an impressive performance.  The Scrappers continue to struggle on offense, but remain solid on defense.

The Scrappers scored in the second inning.  Greg Folgia opened the inning with a double and would come around to score on a Casey Frawley RBI single.   Kyle Smith singled home Frawley in the eighth for the other Scrapper run.

Smith (pictured above) has been improving over the past three weeks with the bat and is starting to get comfortable at the plate, “I haven’t really made any changes.  I think it is more about the pitches that I am swinging at.  I’m really focused on swinging at strikes and making sure I get my pitch and not their pitch.”

Manager Travis Fryman feels blessed by the great defense Smith and Kyle Bellows are providing on the left side of the infield, “The left side of our defense has been really, really good this year.  Kyle Smith is a very mature and composed leader on the field at shortstop and Kyle Bellows is a converted shortstop and is learning third base and showing great potential over there at third.”

Clayton Cook looked good despite Fryman saying he didn’t have his best stuff.  Cook pitched six scoreless innings yielding just three hits and a walk.  He also ran his scoreless streak over the Muckdogs to 18 innings this season.  Antwoine Hubbard worked the seventh and eighth and Tyler Sturdevant pitched the ninth earning his second save of the season.

Mahoning Valley wished every day were a Saturday as they ran their 2009 record to 7-1 on that day of the week.  Game three of the four game homestand has Auburn coming to town to face the Scrappers.  First pitch is scheduled for 5:05.

There was no shortage of power, walks, errors, or hits.  The fireworks were supposed to start after the game, but there were plenty of explosions before the game ended.  The Mahoning Valley Scrappers and Oneonta Tigers played a long contest which started fifteen minutes late due to rain.  In the end, the Scrappers came away with a 10-8 victory.

Tigers starting pitcher Jeff Gerbe only lasted two-thirds of an inning as the Scrappers loaded the bases on a walk and two hit batters.  A Kyle Bellows groundout to short drove home Jordan Henry.  A Greg Folgia groundout plated Kyle Smith.  Ben Carlson then drilled one toward the pitcher that deflected into left field driving in Bellows and giving the Scrappers the early 3-0 lead.

Oneonta scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game at 3 apiece.  In the bottom of the fifth,  Juan Aponte homered to reclaim the Scrapper lead at 4-3.  Henry later singled, stole second, and scored on a Smith double pushing the lead to 5-3 in favor of Mahoning Valley.  Bellows then homered to left to push the lead to 7-3.  Rafael Vera got in on the action and drove home Folgia making it 8-3.

The Tigers tacked on a couple of runs in the sixth cutting the Scrapper lead to 8-5.  Guido Fonseca came in to pitch with the bases loaded with just one out and got out of trouble with an inning-ending double play minimizing the Tigers potential threat.

Oneonta clawed back into the game tying the score at 8 runs each on a two-run double from John Murrian.

The Scrappers took a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the eighth when Henry scored again on an error from the Tigers shortstop, Jim Gulliver.  Jason Smit stole second and scored on another Gulliver error to close the scoring at 10-8.

Bellows spoke about the Scrappers being a team that got two home runs in the game, but only have eight for the entire season.  ” It’s great to hit home runs, but we’re pretty much a small ball team.  It just feels good to win.”

Travis Fryman was mostly pleased with his team.  “We need to continue working on consistency.  It was nice to put the losing streak behind us against a hot team.  Oneonta and Staten Island are probably the two hottest teams in the league, so it felt good to get the win tonight.  I like winning the first game of the series.”

Smit-O-Meter:  0-4, Run Scored, SB (5), HBP, Currently Hitting .299

Marty Popham (on mound in picture) seems to get better every start and the statistics are backing him up.  Popham threw a career-high 7 innings, struck out a career-high 9 batters and only walked one in leading the Mahoning Valley Scrappers to a 6-1 victory over the Auburn Doubledays.   

Popham threw 89 pitches before giving way to reliever Austin Adams.  Adams kept the no-hit bid alive but after a couple of Scrapper errors, Doubledays LF Chris Hopkins singled with two outs in the ninth inning.  There has never been a no-no thrown at Cafaro Field.  The Scrappers recorded a no-hitter in 2007, but that was in Vermont.

A vocal audience of 3,903 enjoyed one of the best pitching performances in Scrapper history.

Mahoning Valley wasted little time getting on the board in the first inning as Jordan Henry walked and would later score on a Brian Justice wild pitch for a 1-0 lead.

In the third, Kyle Bellows, who walked three times in the game, reached via the free pass with two outs.   Greg Folgia delivered with an RBI double, scoring Bellows,  to double the Scrappers lead to 2-0.

Back-to-back singles by Henry and Kyle Smith set the stage for Jason Smit’s RBI double in the sixth.  Ben Carlson’s sac fly plated Smith to push the lead to 4-0.

In the bottom of the seventh, Lurvin Basabe’s double to left scored Folgia.  Besabe came home to make it 6-0 on Jordan’s third single of the night.

Marty Popham was throwing a perfect game into the seventh inning.  His walk to Eric Eiland squashed perfection possibilities, but he did leave with a no-hitter still intact.  After the game, Popham commented on his effort, “I had everything going for me tonight – all of the pitches, good catching behind the plate, and great defense in the field.  Going seven almost perfect, it was a hell of an outing.  I haven’t started since college, when I first got drafted they put me in the bullpen for the whole year and I just started coming back as a starter.”

Coach Travis Fryman praised the performance that Popham had, ” Two in a row, back-to-back performances that we expect from Marty.  At this level the guys are on pitch limits, obviously your not going to see an individual throw a no-hitter.  To get seven innings, frankly, this early in the year is a testament to how efficient he was from inning-to-inning.”