Posts Tagged ‘Kyle Smith’

Being in last place means the end of a season can’t come soon enough regardless of what sport.  For the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, the spoiler role made a final game worthwhile, and they responded by having one of their most productive days of offense in 2010.  The game was entertaining and the outcome was in doubt until the ninth inning, but the Scrappers ended up on the short end of the stick, dropping a hard fought verdict to the Jammers.

Jamestown jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Marcell Ozuna knocked in Pedro Mendoza in the top of the first inning.  The Scrappers responded in the home half with a run of their own.  Tyler Cannon trotted home on a passed ball by Jammers starter Adam Veras.

In the third inning, Ozuna had yet another RBI against the Scrappers when he hit a sac fly knocking home Brent Keys.  Mark Canha then hit a three-run bomb to put Jamestown up 4-1.

Uncharacteristically, Mahoning Valley then put together a seven run bottom of the fourth, an explosion they must have saved for their last game.  Jesus Aguilar (pictured, top) connected for a grand slam home run knocking in Cannon, Nick Bartolone and Giovanny Urshela.  Brian Heere got in on the fun when he singled home Diego Seastrunk.  Anthony Gallas capped off the rally with a two-run homer, his first as a Scrapper, to raise the score to 8-5 in favor of the Scrappers.

Kyle Smith entered the game in the top of the sixth inning.  After loading the bases, Mendoza lifted a bloop that RF Kevin Rucker dove after.  The ball landed just fair and bounced out of play for a ground rule double and two runs were plated to cut the lead to 8-7 in favor of the Scrappers.

The Jammers scored a tying run in the eighth inning when Mendoza singled off of JD Goryl.  Dale Dickerson came in to relieve Goryl and inherited runners on first and third.  Ozuna doubled off of the left field wall to give the Jammers a 9-8 lead.  Ryan Fisher then hit a long sac fly to increase the lead to 10-8.

In the bottom of the eighth, Gallas opened the inning with a double.  Aaron Fields bunted Gallas to third.  Bartolone got hit in the batting helmet to put guys on first and third.  Cannon doubled home a run to make it 10-9.  Urshela was intentionally walked.  This set the bases up for Aguilar with the bases loaded.  Aguilar was 3-3 in the game, but in this particular at bat, he smoked a two-hopper right at the shortstop for the 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.

After the game, Travis Fryman reflected on the season.  “Collectively, it was ugly.  We were the worst-hitting team in the league, finished in last place, and finished third to last in pitching.  There is no way to sugar coat that stuff.  On the upside, Giovanny Urshela has a bright future.  Carlos Moncrief has turned into a great story and a prospect, Jesus Aguilar got hot at the end, there were positives and good things despite the record.”

I will be posting the Scrappers organizational report card later this week.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers have had a disastrous season statistically.  The team batting average heading into Thursday’s game with State College was barely above the Mendoza line at .233.  Offense has been the issue all season.  How fitting that on reality TV night, that the Scrappers got voted off their own island (lost), got gonged, and couldn’t dance (5 errors) to save their lives.

State College tallied a run in the opening half of inning one when Adalberto Santos hit into a double play allowing Drew Maggi to score from third.  Maggi reached base on a Scrappers error.  Mahoning Valley responded in the bottom of the first when Carlos Moncrief walked and moved to third on Jesus Aguilar’s double.  Diego Seastrunk then hit a one-out sac fly plating Moncrief to tie things up.

Taking a 2-1 lead into the fifth, State College scored again.  Maggi walked, advanced to second on a groundout, stole third, and scored when Scrapper catcher Diego Seastrunk’s throw got by 3B Tyler Cannon and scooted into left.  Santos kept hurting the Scrappers as he homered to left-center to jack the lead up to 4-1.

Kyle Smith started the eighth inning and mixed walks with hit batters to load the bases and allow State College a couple of freebies. Without recording an out, Smith was yanked.  Clayton Ehlert inherited the bases loaded, nobody out situation and one grand slam later, there was nobody on base and the Scrappers tailed 10-1.  Six runs on two hits in the inning.

Giovanny Urshela should be returning to the Scrapper lineup soon which would definitely give the starved offense a much needed boost.  Manager Travis Fryman talked about Urshela’s progress.  “He looked good today and was cleared a couple of days ago to resume full workouts.  If he is symptom-free he will start playing again the first game in Auburn.”  Urshela has been sidelined since August 13 when he was plucked on the knuckle by a pitch.  Despite missing so many games, Urshela still leads the team in batting average and RBI.

Fryman also said that Jordan Casas would be out the rest of the season.

 

Kyle Smith is enjoying his rookie season.  Drafted 14th by the Cleveland Indians in the 2009 MLB Draft, Smith has already been selected to the NYPL All-Star team.  As of this writing, he is sidelined with a shoulder injury but said he will be re-evaluated early next week and may be able to return to the field by seasons end.  The very best and worst a player could ask for in his first season, being named an all-star and being hurt for a few weeks.

 I caught up with Kyle to discuss the past, future, and present.  He provided some great answers to my questions.

Paneech: What is it like having a birthday on December 25?

Smith: It’s pretty cool.  Everyone always asks as a kid if you get screwed on presents, “Did you get one, did you get two?”, I was fortunate because I didn’t get the short end of the stick, I usually got two presents from everyone.  So it’s kind of a cool feeling to share my birthday with that holiday.

Paneech: Living and growing up in California, tell me the differences you have noticed between home and Youngstown, Ohio.

Smith: It’s really green here [Youngstown] is the first thing I noticed, like all of the trees you see when you are driving.  In California, where I live,  there are more buildings and skyscrapers, and alot more people.  There’s a little bit of a homey feeling here.  Everything is a little bit slower and relaxed.  When I was younger, I went to the beach alot.  My uncle played volleyball on the APV tour so we used to go watch him alot.  My school was actually five minutes from the beach, so I would go there quite a bit growing up.

Paneech: Explain your injury and how it happened.

Smith: It’s a seperated shoulder, I seperated my AC joint.  I got a ground ball, it took a funny hop, I went down to pick it up and I should have just ate it and not thrown it, but I threw and tripped and jammed it [shoulder], all my body weight landed on it.

Paneech: Do you watch alot of baseball and who do you root for?

Smith: Yeah, I do, in fact, I watch a ton of baseball.  I’m a huge Dodgers fan.  My favorite player is Andre Ethier.

Paneech: What do you do with the limited spare time that you have?

Smith: Basically, just try to relax and get off of my feet.  I like to go and hang out by the pool a couple of times a week.  I like to watch movies, I watch a ton of movies.  I’ll go see a movie or watch a movie at home.  My favorite movie of all-times is Fight Club.

Paneech: Have you gotten used to staying with a host family yet?

Smith: Yeah, when I was 12, I played in the Cal Ripken World Series and that was my first host family experience.  This is actually my third experience with a host family.  It’s an uneasy feeling everytime because you are unsure of what you will get, but I have been really fortunate with all of the host families I have had, they have all been outstanding.

Paneech: Who have you gotten to be good friends with on the team?

Smith: Pretty much everybody.  We’re all pretty close.  Lately I have been pretty close with Jason Smit because we are both hurt, but also with Kyle Bellows and Jason Kipnis.

Paneech: Explain the experience of learning under Travis Fryman.

Smith: You can’t ask for a better first-year coach, I have really been spoiled.  He’s a former middle infielder who moved over to third base and I have benefited from him.  He has been in our situation before, so he knows what we are going through as first year players.

Paneech: Why have you selected the number 2?

Smith: My other number was retired.  Number 3 was retired and Timmy [Palincsar] took number 7 and I wanted to keep a single digit, so I selected number 2 because my mom wore that number.

Paneech: How long until we see Kyle Smith back on the field?

Smith: I’m going to take some kind of a treatment that is supposed to help close off my AC joint and test it Saturday.  If that goes well, I should be on the field in the next couple of weeks.

Paneech: Have you taken a liking to any particular restaurants in the area?

Smith:  I like Applebee’s alot.  Although the other day I had my first trip ever to a Steak And Shake and really liked it, we don’t have Steak And Shake back home in California, and it was really good.

One Word Answers

Favorite College Football Team:  USC Trojans 

Favorite Band:  Journey

After A Loss I Feel…  Angry

After A Big Win I Feel… Glorified

Favorite Boxer:  Roy Jones

Best Uniforms In Any Sport: Home Dodgers uniforms 

WWE or TNA?  Ultimate Warrior

Favorite Pitch To Hit: Fastball

Favorite Animal:  Dog

Smith came off as comfortable with his situation.  I sensed a minor bit of sadness due to his injury, but with the year he was having, who wouldn’t be sad.  It was ironic that Kyle declared USC to be his favorite college football team on the Scrappers college football night promotion.  90% of the people wearing a college football shirt were advertising Ohio State.

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 will be well represented at this year’s NYPL All-Star Game.  The game is going to be played on Tuesday, August 18 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, home of the State College Spikes. 

Travis Fryman and the staff of The Mahoning Valley Scrappers will serve as the coaching staff of the AL All-Star team.  By having the best record in their division, the Scrapper Coaching Staff is automatically named to coach the contest.

Five Scrapper players were named to the team. 

Pitchers Marty Popham, Clayton Cook, and Cory Burns, were all named to the piching staff.  Popham(4-1, 2.33 ERA) and Cook(4-2, 2.06 ERA) have turned in great start after great start all season.  Burns has been stellar in relief with 7 saves and an ERA of 2.00.

CF Jordan Henry is among the league leaders in stolen bases (15), runs (35), and hits (47).  Fryman has referred to Henry as “one of the best contact hitters with two strikes on him”, and maybe the best baserunner he has ever coached.

SS Kyle Smith is as tough of a defensive shortstop you will see at this level.  He is also among the league leaders in hits (47), and has provided spark in the clutch all season.

Tickets to the NYPL All-Star Game can be purchased by calling the State College Spikes Box Office toll-free at (877) 99-SPIKES.  Visit MILB.com for complete rosters for the contest.

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 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.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers returned home from a five game road trip to post a 4-0 victory over the Williamsport Crosscutters.  The first game of the short two-game homestand against Williamsport was highlighted by the great pitching of Scrapper starter Marty Popham.

Popham pitched five solid innings, racking up nine strikeouts and yielding only three hits, to lead the great pitching performance displayed at Eastwood Field.

The Scrappers got on the board in the third inning on an RBI-single from Kyle Smith and an RBI-double from Jason Smit for a 2-0 Scrappers lead. 

In the fifth inning, Chun Chen led off the inning with a double and would score on a Kyle Bellows RBI-double.  Ben Carlson’s single plated Bellows to close the scoring with the Scrappers in command 4-0.

Austin Adams and Cory Burns pitched the final four innings to preserve the shutout for Popham’s third victory of the 2009 season.    The Scrapper trio of pitchers ended the game with 13 strikeouts.

I have a nice profile piece on Scrapper starter Marty Popham to post, but I have to get a good picture of him to go with the piece.  That article will be up real soon.

Smit-O-Meter:  1-4, Double (7), RBI (18), Currently hitting .273