2/21/2009

Who wants to be a LumberKing?

Dave Lezotte takes a run at a possible Clinton LumberKing roster at his new LumberBlog.

First up:
During our Hot Stove banquet in January, Mariners' special assistant John Boles didn't bring up a lot of names when it came to possible players, but did toss out two in specific, former Wisconsin Timber Rattlers outfielder Daniel Carroll and 20-year-old third-base prospect Mario Martinez.
Interesting.

Next:
Could Carroll be one of two former second-round picks roaming the Clinton outfield? Dennis Raben (second round in '08) had some nice power numbers from the left side of the plate last year in short-season Everett. He slugged five homers and drove in 14 RBI while hitting .275 (.560 slugging, .411 on-base) in 27 games. Bound to be a LumberKing? Hopefully.
What about pitching?
Could we see a third stint out of righty Nathan Adcock (2-5, 3.72 ERA in 2008), whose curveball was ranked the best in the system by BA? How about second seasons out of Donnie Hume (6-2, 2.44), Edward Paredes (7-11, 4.63) and Keith Renaud (1-5, 5.14), all who made at least 11 starts with Wisconsin last year?
I'll answer those in order with educated guesses: Maybe, No, Yes, No.
Or, it could be newcomers. Pulaski boasted solid arms like Nick Czyz (6-5, 4.08), Brooks Mohr (6-4, 3.27) and Fabian Williamson (4-3, 4.10) last season. In Everett, there weren't too many starters with ERA's under four, but Nolan Gallagher (1-1, 2.94), Bobby LaFromboise (2-2, 3.46) and Brett Lorin (1-0, 2.82) fared well in limited action. Lorin ended up making six starts with the Rattlers by season's end. Then there's high-rounders Ben Pribanic (1-2, 15.43 in AZL) and Steven Hensley (2-1, 5.22) who both struggled after being selected in the third and fourth rounds, respectively.
I'll only point out that Williamson is unlikely to be a LumberKing this season...or any season in the near future.
The Red Sox acquired left-hander Fabian Williamson from the Mariners in exchange for right-hander David Aardsma on Tuesday[, January 20].
The rest of those are possible.

Remember that the first time the Rattlers face the LumberKings is at the start of a series in Clinton on April 16.

2 comments:

baseball.fan887 said...

What do you think Carrolls chances are of being with the Lumberkings? I mean kid was doing awesome before he went on the DL...

Chris said...

Hello, California.

I would say that he is likely to be back in the Midwest League.

He did great with the Rattlers before the injury. When he was healthy and got back to playing, Seattle pushed him to the California League and he struggled.

Carroll righted the ship somewhat once he got back to the Rattlers. However, I don't think it was enough to get him on the Opening Day roster at High Desert.

Starting '09 in the MWL will not hurt his progress. It may even help down the line.

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