Archive for the ‘Scrappers’ Category

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers will not be playing a game anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that there has not been a ton of things going on in the busy Scrapper offices.  Here is a rundown of some news from Eastwood Field.

• HWS Baseball announced that Jordan Taylor will be promoted to Vice President-HWS Baseball effective immediately. Taylor will continue his duties as General Manager of the Scrappers as well as have increased involvement in the other teams owned by HWS Baseball.

HWS Baseball owns and operates four baseball franchises. In addition to the Scrappers, the HWS family includes the Mobile BayBears (Class AA Affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks), Modesto Nuts (Class A Affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, and the Columbia Blowfish (Summer Collegiate Coastal Plain League). “Jordan has done a great job as General Manager the past 3 seasons,” Michael Savit, Managing Partner of the HWS Group said. “Last season, in particular, we had our highest average attendance since 2008, and a 10% attendance increase overall. He is highly deserving of this promotion.”

•  The Mahoning Valley Scrappers and M.V.P.B.A. Scrappers Backers with media partner Sports Radio 1240 are pleased to announce that they will be hosting a Hot Stove Banquet Thursday, January 30^th from 6-8 pm at Ciminero’s Banquet Center in Niles.  The event will feature several top prospects from the Indians’ organization.  Tickets may be purchased for $35 for adults and $25 for children twelve years of age and under at the Scrappers Eastwood Field Box Office, Scrappers Holiday Store at the Eastwood Mall or by calling (330) 505-0000.

• The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are pleased to announce a bus trip ticket package to the Cleveland Indians Home Opener against the Minnesota Twins on Friday, April 4, 2014.  The cost of the trip is $68 per person and includes the bus trip and upper reserved seat ticket to the game.

  The bus will leave Eastwood Field a few hours before first pitch and return after the conclusion of the game.  The Scrappers will contact all ticket purchasers with a departure time when the April 4^th game time is announced.  Seating is limited to the first 50 people.

  For more information, contact the Scrappers Front Office at (330) 505-0000 or visit www.mvscrappers.com for a registration form.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers used the momentum of a ninth inning comeback one night earlier to win their second in a row, a 6-1 conquest of struggling Hudson Valley.  With the win the Scrappers improved to 22-28, inching closer to the .500 mark.  Hudson Valley tallied six errors to help the Scrappers come away with a win.

Dace Kime (bottom photo) got a plethora of run support that the Scrappers have failed to give starting pitchers all year.

Hudson Valley hit the scoreboard in the top of the first inning.  Ariel Soriano doubled down the left field line to start the game.  He would score later in the inning on a single off the bat of Darryl George.

In the bottom of the first, the Scrappers responded with three runs of their own.  Joel Mejia reached safely on a throwing error.  Mejia stole second and then advanced to third when Hudsn Valley’s catcher, Omar Narvaez, threw the ball away on the steal attempt.  Mejia would score the Scrappers first run on a clean single from James Roberts.

Nellie Rodriguez then followed the Roberts single with his own one-bagger to put runners on first and second.  Roberts and Rodriguez both scored when Friday’s hero, Paul Hendrix, tripled to make it 3-1 in favor of Mahoning Valley.

The Scrappers would take a 4-1 lead when they tacked on a run in the fourth.  Cody Ferrell singled with two outs.  Ferrell advanced to second on a fielding error, the fifth of the game for the Renegades.  Mejia then knocked in Ferrell with a single.

The Mahoning Valley offense continued to produce in the bottom of the seventh inning.  Roberts and Rodriguez both had RBI singles for the Scrappers.

Kime picked up his first win of the season despite having a decent 2.87 ERA coming into the game.  Kyle Blair and Trevor Frank pitched solidly in relief.  All three Scrapper pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts.

The Scrappers and Renegades play one more game on Sunday to close out the series.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers season has been a roller coaster ride.  Unfortunately, Ted Kubiak and company seem to spend more time in the valleys than the peeks.  Friday night was another spent anticipating the thrills that would not come offensively until the ninth inning.  Paul Hendrix doubled home the winning runs in the bottom of the ninth to boost the Scrappers to a 3-2 victory.

In the third inning, Hudson Valley touched Scrapper starter Caleb Hamrick (above) for a run.  James Harris hit one to deep right field to put the Renegades ahead 1-0.  The home run was the only damage Hamrick would surrender through five innings before being replaced by Ben Heller.

In the bottom of the sixth and trailing 2-0, the Scrappers got something going.  Renegades starter Chris Hirsch put up goose eggs until the Scrappers touched him for a run.  Cody Ferrell started the frame with a clean single.  Ferrell advanced to second on a wild pitch.  James Roberts singled to right plating Ferrell to make it a 2-1 Hudson Valley lead.

As has been the pattern all season, the Scrappers did just enough to beat themselves, but escaped thanks to Hendrix.  The most costly mistakes in this game were Roberts getting picked off at first and the usually reliable Claudio Bautista throwing the ball into right field allowing the second run to score.

In the ninth, Roberts got his third single of the night to start the inning.  Nellie Rodriguez then singled to put runners on first and second.  Paul Hendrix then doubled home both Roberts and Rodriguez for the win.

Ferrell finished the game with a pair of singles in three official at-bats for the Scrappers.  Roberts was 3-4 with three singles, and Bautista had a nine-game hitting streak broken with an 0-4 night.

The Scrappers currently sit in fifth place in the Pinckney division, and they will have to really strap ’em up if there will be a playoff run.The chances are not probable, but possible.

Before the game Friday, the Scrappers (21-28) inducted their inaugural Hall of Champions class.  Honored during the pregame as charter members to the new society were former Scrapper players Victor Martinez and CC Sabathia.

Figure this one out… The Mahoning Valley Scrappers tied the mark of futility with their tenth straight loss Friday, a 2-1 setback to Tri-City.  It is the tenth loss in a row for the Scrappers tying the all-time consecutive loss record set in 2001.

Here comes the twist, attendance is up about 400 fans a game this season.  Credit Scrappers GM Jordan Taylor and staff for keeping their nose to the grindstone and performing.  It is hard to put bodies in seats when the home team has a batting average of .185.

Friday night the people showed up to enjoy fireworks after the game.  They showed up to admire Luke Holko’s progress as the youngster threw out the opening pitch.  They showed up for the mystery ball auction.  Saturday they will show up for Victor Martinez bobblehead night.  Martinez, a Tiger these days, was a Scrapper in those days.

They had a chance.  Martin Cervenka started the inning with a single.  Robel Garcia was called upon to pinch-run for Cervenka.  Garcia moved to second on a Josh McAdams sac bunt.  A wild pitch advanced Garcia to third.  With two outs, Claudio Bautista came to bat with the tying run 90 feet away.  Unfortunately, Bautista struck out to end the game – it’s how things go during a ten game losing streak.

Luis Lugo is having a decent year. Most of the Scrappers starting pitchers have fared better than the other facets of the team.  Lugo pitched five complete innings for the Scrappers giving up two runs, one earned.  Lugo threw 78 pitches, 47 were strikes.  He lowered his ERA to 2.08.  He, again, got no run support.

James Ramsey reached first trying to move the runner with a bunt for Tri-City.  Conrad Gregor then walked to make it first and second with one out.  Michael Martinez hit a ball to Scrappers shortstop Juan Herrera threw away, allowing Ramsey to score and put the Valley Cats ahead, 1-0.  Ryan Dineen then hit a ground rule double to plate Gregor.

Lugo then clamped down to shut Tri-City out for the rest of his start.  Manuel Carmona started the sixth and pitched two scoreless innings for the Scrappers.  Ben Heller finished the game for Mahoning Valley.

For Tri-City, Michael Feliz was tough on the Scrappers bats.  Every time Mahoning Valley would get someone on base, the Scrappers seemed to squander the chance to score.  Feliz threw 77 pitches in his five innings of work to get the win.

Nellie Rodriguez took some frustration out with a high blast that cleared the left field wall in the eighth, but the Scrappers could not muster more in the loss.

So the all-time mark in futility has been tied with ten consecutive losses.  I believe in Ted Kubiak.  I believe him when he says that these kids are out there trying every night.  I believe that the people will keep coming no matter how many losses in a row.

Come Saturday….  Victor Martinez bobble heads (below) are limited to the first 1,000 fans, and I would bet my bottom dollar that Taylor and the Scrappers staff can keep ’em coming.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers committed three more errors, making it the fourth game in a row with three plus errors.  State College blew a close game wide open in the sixth inning, and took advantage of the errors, on their way to a 12-3 pasting of the Scrappers.

Luis Lugo (above) started the game for the Scrappers and took the loss, falling to 1-2 on the season.  Lugo, however, left the game after throwing five innings and his team trailing 4-3.  Harold Guerrero and Manuel Carmona could not keep it close and the defense did not help.  Carmona did pick off a Spikes baserunner in the seventh.

Offensively,  the Scrappers collected seven hits and scored all three of their runs in the third inning.  Juan Romero had two of the seven hits and Juan Herrera collected a pair of RBI’s on a double.

The Scrappers will try again tomorrow to halt the losing streak, which now stands at five defeats in a row.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers 3rd round draft choice, Dace Kime, made his professional debut.  Kime only worked two innings and gave up an earned run.  The two-inning effort would not qualify Kime to figure in the decision.  The Scrappers kicked the ball around frequently in losing this one, -3, to the Williamsport Crosscutters.

Kime walked Williamsport leadoff hitter, Gustavo Martinez.  He recovered nicely to strike out the next two Crosscutters batters.  Zach Green sent up a welcome sign in the form of an RBI-double to make it 1-0 in favor of the visitors.

The Scrappers responded with their own first-inning outburst.  Crosscutter starter Shane Martin also walked the leadoff hitter, Cody Ferrell, to start the traffic on the bases.  Paul Hendrix doubled Ferrell home to tie the game.  That set the stage for Nellie Rodriguez (below).  The Scrappers first basemen got all of a Martin fastball and deposited it over the centerfield fence to make it 3-1 in favor of Mahoning Valley.

With a two run lead, the Scrappers let the Crosscutters back into the game with a couple of errors.  Robel Garcia let a grounder get through at third base and Hendix dropped a pop-up that he was set to catch in foul territory.  The errors allowed two unearned runs to cross the plate and create a tie game at 3-3.

The generosity continued in the top of the sixth.  Scrappers catcher Sicnarf Loopstok attempted to throw out Dylan Cozens stealing second but the ball bounced past the bag and into center.  Cozens wound up at third and scored on a Logan Pierce double down the first base line.

A wild pitch and a passed ball and a hit batter allowed more Crosscutters to advance.  The result was Williamsport taking a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the sixth.

Alexis Paredes started the seventh inning on the hill in relief of Matt Whiteside, who pitched well but didn’t get any help from the offense or defense.  Paredes got away with a wild pitch and hit batter to avoid putting the Scrappers further in the hole.

The Indians released a pair of Scrapper players after the July 4th game.  RHP Josh Nervis and OF Tyler Booth are now free to explore other career options.  The moves free up the necessary roster space to get Kime on the active roster.

Kime is the third local product to wear a Scrappers uniform this season.  LF Brian Ruiz and INF Nick Hamilton went to high school in Cleveland.  Kime is a Defiance, Ohio native who played his college ball at the University of Louisville.

Impressive statistic of the night – despite all of the wild pitches and errors, the Scrappers pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers welcomed Cleveland Indians Brett Myers and Blake Wood to Eastwood Field to do some rehab work and pitch an inning each against live hitting.  Neither pitcher factored into the decision, as the Scrappers fell 2-1 to the Auburn Doubledays.

Scrappers Manager Ted Kubiak started a reliever, Alexis Paredes.  Then Myers and Wood pitched an inning each.  Rob Whitenack, the scheduled starter, entered the game in the fourth.  Scrappers catcher Martin Cervenka had a lot on his plate for the first four innings, having to adapt to each pitcher.

Myers (top photo), who has racked up eleven years of Major League experience, has been on the  DL since April.  He worked a scoreless second inning and recorded a strikeout.  Indians Manager, Terry Francona, said upon his return to the big team, Myers will pitch out of the bullpen.

Righty Blake Wood (below), who is on the 60-Day DL, worked a scoreless third inning for the Scrappers.  After the first two Doubleday batters reached base, Wood got out of a jam with the help of a double play.

The Doubledays put up a run in the first inning.  Alexis Paredes gave up a double to Isaac Ballou.  The Doubledays’ David Masters then moved Ballou to third on a groundout.  Ballou would score when Jordan Poole slapped a single to right.

The Scrappers tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning.  Juan Romero collected his second hit of the night, a double.  Romero moved to third on a wild pitch from Doubledays reliever, Todd Simko.  Robel Garcia bounced one into right field to make it a 1-1 game.

Auburn regained the lead in their very next at-bat.  James Yezzo singled to right to lead off the inning.  Yezzo got to third courtesy of a wild pitch and a flyout to right.  Jean Carlos Valdez then singled to left to plate Yezzo and hand Auburn a 2-1 lead.

The Scrappers had some action in the bottom of the seventh inning.  Josh McAdams hit a ground rule double and moved to third on a single by Nick Hamilton.  Romero was unable to capitalize for the Scrappers as the inning ended with a harmless groundout.

David Napoli pitched a strong eighth inning that saw the Scrappers manage to get a baserunner via hit-by-pitch, but struck out Nellie Rodriguez to end the threat.

Whitenack took the hard-luck loss for the Scrappers, who did not provide much in the way of run support.  The Scrappers mustered six hits but the situational hitting was poor.

These two teams will hook it up again for the series finale on Tuesday.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers opened their 15th season of existence on Monday night at Eastwood Field.  The Jamestown Jammers didn’t give the Scrappers much to celebrate in handing the home team a 5-0 setback in front of a good crowd of 5,531.

Scrapper starter Luis Lugo (below) pitched five innings scattering five hits, one of them a home rub to Dan Collins to start the second inning.  That run would be all that Lugo would yield, yet exited the game trailing 1-0.

The Scrappers had a chance to hit the scoreboard in the third inning with runners at first and third with nobody out.  Jamestown starter Isaac Sanchez was able to wiggle out of the inning without giving up a run.  Sanchez struck out Juan Romero for the first out.  Scrapper leadoff hitter, Tyler Booth then tried to lay down a squeeze bunt that resulted in an inning-ending double play as Martin Cervenka was thrown out at home after starting the inning with a double (top photo).

Jamestown put together a productive seventh inning.  Jin-De Jhang reached when Scrapper left fielder, Josh McAdams, dropped a fly ball.  Jhang advanced to second on a wild pitch by Scrapper reliever James Stokes.  Jhang later scored on a clean single to center by Edwin Espinal to make it 2-0 Jammers.  The Scrappers were fortunate to escape the seventh giving up just the single, unearned run.

In the bottom of the seventh, Juan Herrera doubled to start the frame.  He would advance to third on McAdams infield single.  Ryan Battaglia drew a walk to load the bases.  Robel Garcia popped out to third for the first out.  Battaglia was then picked off of first base by the Jammers catcher Jhang.  Cervenka struck out to end the inning.

Joshua Nervis relieved Stokes for the Scrappers in the eighth inning and Rafael Homblert threw the ninth.

Elvis Escobar had three singles to lead the Jammers 14-hit attack.  In the eighth inning, he reached on his third single.  He would score on a double by Harold Ramirez.  The Jammers went ahead 4-0 when Jhang singled home Ramirez.  Jamestown would tack on another in the ninth to round out the scoring.

The Scrappers (0-1) and Jammers (1-0) will play Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at Eastwood Field to complete the season-opening three game set.

As a new year of Mahoning Valley Scrappers baseball gets ready to move forward each season, a whole new cast of characters appears, usually in the form of players.  Minor League Baseball is the melting pot of sports.  There are plenty of Latino prospects mixed with the Americans.  There is an Australian catcher – it is the usual array of language and customs being assimilated in the Youngstown area.

Scrappers Manager Ted Kubiak (above) has some additional pieces of the puzzle to assemble this season.  Last years hitting and pitching coaches, Tony Manzilino and Greg Hibbard, have been reassigned by the Indians organization.  Enter Shaun Larkin and Scott Erickson as the new hitting and pitching coaches.

Erickson spent last season at the AA level for the Indians in Carolina.  Erickson was a very successful big league pitcher who threw for 15 years.  He came up with the Minnesota Twins, and later pitched for the Baltimore Orioles.  He has a World Series title and a wealth of experience to offer the Scrappers.

“I am happy to be here”, said Erickson.  “This is going to be a little different in the sense that when I was at Double A last season, the pitchers thought they were good enough to be that high.  Obviously, they aren’t in the majors yet, so they needed some work.  At this level, it is going to be more of a teaching process.  Once we analyze what the pitchers are good with, we can focus on their weaknesses and make them better.”

“Scott is a great addition to the staff”, said Kubiak.  “He is a great pitching coach and we are lucky to have him here.  He will be a great supervisor of our pitching staff this season and I think the players will benefit from what he will offer.”

Shaun Larkin is no stranger to Eastwood Field.  Larkin was a Scrapper and played here in 2002.  This will be his first shot at coaching and he is happy that it is in a familiar surrounding.

“Ted didn’t know it was me on the phone”, recalled Larkin.  “I called to let him know that the Indians organization was offering me a chance, and he was very surprised, but warm to the idea.  He is a great manager and I got to play for him here in 2002.”

“Coach Larkin will do well with us”, declared Kubiak.  “He is a positive presence and has already offered good input through our meetings.  He will do just fine.”

So Kubiak faces all of the changes with open arms and knows that this team will be exciting.

“They will play hard, they will not showboat, and will want to win”, said Kubiak.

With a new season coming fast, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers are making a push to get some odds and ends squared away.  One of the big challenges every season is finding host families to house players.

If you were to agree to be a host family, you would receive complementary tickets to each home game, discounts on team merchandise and more. Scrappers host families share their home with a Scrappers player from June through mid-September. The schedule of only 38 home games, practice, and other player obligations result in the player spending minimal time in the host family home. Families wishing to be considered for the host family program are required to fill out a questionnaire.

The Scrappers are also holding tryouts to sing the National Anthem.  The tryout date is this Wednesday, May 29th, between 5:30-7:30 p.m.  Anyone is able to try out and must sing the entire National Anthem to a panel of judges.  The contest is open to instrumentalists, as well as vocalists, of all ages.  If selected, the successful auditioner will be contacted by the Scrappers and assigned a date.

If you would like more information about becoming a host family or auditioning to sing the National Anthem, please contact the Scrappers at (330) 505-0000 or email at tpozsgai@mvscrappers.com.