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Frontier League Regular Season Wrap Up – Draft Class, Aussies and Evansville

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The Frontier League regular season has officially ended, and the post season begins with Wild Card games on Tuesday.
In this post, I wanted to give updates on how the draft class and the Aussies in America fared this season along with an update on the Evansville Otters.

Draft Class (Update Part Five)

I last updated on the 2015 Frontier League Draft Class at the beginning of August – HERE. Since then, two more players are no longer playing in the league.  One player, Nick Grim, was released by the Rockford Aviators on August 10th, and another, John Fidanza, was placed on the DL by the Washington WildThings on August 17th and went home.

Of the hundreds that tried out, 34 players were given invites to spring training. 15 of those players were signed and started the season on opening day rosters. Three more players who were originally drafted and released before the season were re-signed during the season. At the end of the regular season, 11 players from the 2015 Frontier League draft remained on a roster.

Here are the final regular season updates for the draft class:

  • Kevin Jefferis, RHP, Normal, R1 – Activated from suspended list on August 5th. Has appeared in 8 games with a 2-0 record. In 18 IP, he has 18 K, 1 save and a 2.50 ERA.
  • Scott Harkin, RHP, Gateway & Southern Illinois, R2 – Has pitched in 34 games with a 3-5 record. He has a 3.88 ERA with 44 K and 1 save in 46.1 IP.
  • Ty Nelson, OF, Lake Erie & Schaumburg, E – In 277 total AB, he has an overall average of .209 with 6 HR, 28 RBI and 4 SB.
  • Joe Iorio, RHP, Washington & Southern Illinois, R1- Has appeared in 26 games with 32 K in 32 IP.  His overall ERA is 6.75 with a 0-1 record.
  • Kyle Bogese, RHP, Frontier Greys, R2 – Has pitched in 30 games (6 starts) with a 2-7 record. In 56.1 IP, he has 49 K and a 5.75 ERA.
  • David Russo, LHP, Rockford, R2 – Has appeared in 34 games with a 2-1 record. In 33.1 IP, he has 27 K and a 5.94 ERA.
  • Jack Clearly, C, Joliet, E – Has a .247 average with 32 RBI in 219 AB. He was also selected to the mid season Frontier League All-Star game.
  • Jordan Kraus, RHP, Frontier Greys, R1 – Has started in 17 games with a 2.98 ERA and 5-5 record. He has 80 K in 102.2 IP.
  • Ernie Zaragoza, RHP, Washington, R1 – Has made 16 starts with a 6-7 record and 1 complete game. In 81.2 IP, he has a 4.18 ERA with 50 K.
  • Brodie Liebrandt, LHP, Evansville – Has appeared in 6 games. In 11 IP, he has 11 K, and a 0.00 ERA.
  • Collin Shaw, RHP, Gateway, R1 – Has appeared in 6 games (2 starts). In 13.1 IP, he has 16 K with a 8.77 ERA and a 0-1 record.

Four players will be playing in the Frontier League post season – Kevin Jefferis (Normal), Scott Harkin and Joe Iorio (Southern Illinois) and David Russo (Rockford).

Aussies in America (Part Five)

This season, I covered two Australians in the Frontier League, Luke Wilkins and Ben Lodge, who were both playing professional baseball in America for the first time.

Luke finished the season leading the Washington WildThings pitching staff in wins and strikeouts. In 20 starts, he finished with a 8-5 record and a 3.31 ERA.  In 125 innings pitched, he had 77 strikeouts. In his last start of the season, Luke pitched a complete game in Washington’s 7-1 win over the Windy City Thunderbolts.

Ben played in 53 games for the Frontier Greys. In 195 at-bats, he had a .215 batting average with 13 RBI.

Evansville

Earlier this season, I reported that the Evansville Otters were caught with an ineligible pitcher, Will Oliver. The Frontier League then ruled that the Otters would be forced to forfeit ten games – all the games that the Otters won with Oliver pitching. Although the Otters did appeal, it was too late in the season, and they did give up ten wins.

Despite losing ten games in the standings, the Otters were in a three way tie for the final two wild card spots leading up to the last series;  However, the Otters were swept by the River City Rascals in the final series and ultimately lost their spot in the playoffs by one game.

Otters fans (and players) are furious with how the Frontier League went about their decision and the amount of time that it took.  They blame the league for the issues and still believe that they should be the ones in the playoffs.

Independent Ball

Matt Chavez Becomes First Pacific Association Player to Sign Affiliated Contract

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matt chavez

(California Winter League)

In the four year history of the Pacific Association, no player had signed a contract with an affiliated club until now.  Matt Chavez, first baseman for the San Rafael Pacifics, was signed by the San Diego Padres organization on August 18th and sent to High A Lake Elsinore.

Chavez was drafted in 2010 by the Chicago White Sox but elected to continue playing at the University of San Francisco.  After his senior season in 2012, he went undrafted and was unsure if he’d ever get a chance to play professional baseball.

In 2013, he made the decision to attend the instructional California Winter League.  After being noticed in the CWL, he had the opportunity to play with the Prescott Montezuma Federals of the Freedom Pro Baseball League. He earned the FPBL triple crown by batting .430 with 18 HR and 49 RBI.

Then last year, Chavez went on a wild ride through baseball.  His numbers from the FPBL helped him get noticed, and he was signed by the San Francisco Giants for spring training. Chavez played the month of April with their Single A affiliate in Augusta, but was released after batting .194 in 10 games.

After being released, he signed with the Frontier Greys, the road team in the Frontier League.  In June, he was traded to the Fort Worth Cats in the now defunct United League. After a month with the Cats, he was released. Days later, he was signed by another United League team, the San Angelo Colts, where he remained for only another month.

The California native ended the season by heading back home to the west coast with the San Rafael Pacifics in the Pacific Association.  In the last two weeks of the season, he was able to make an impact on the team and help lead them to the Pacific Association Championship over the Vallejo Admirals.

After several offers from higher independent leagues for 2015, Chavez ultimately decided to stay on the west coast and play for San Rafael again this season.  He dominated the league while batting .383 (2nd best in the league) 31 HR (a new league record) and 85 RBI (the next closest has over 20 less) in 66 games.

However, the one night a Padres scout was in attendance, Chavez didn’t even get to showcase his hitting ability.  He was in the lineup, but seven consecutive at bats resulted in a walk.

“If anything, it might have played in my favor,” Chavez told the Marin Independent Journal. “The scout comes and the guys don’t even want to pitch to me. That’s a pretty good thing.”

The scout was impressed by his numbers and the fear he struck in opposing teams, and signed Chavez earlier this month. He is now splitting time between playing first base and DHing with the Lake Elsinore Storm. In eight games, he is batting .267 with one home run.  He hopes to make the most of the remaining weeks in the season and get an invite to spring training with the Padres next year.

*Update: 3/23/16* It was recently brought to my attention by the Vallejo Admirals that Chavez was NOT the first Pacific Association player to get signed. According to Tim Fitzgerald, Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations, “Our leader in HRs, RBIs and OPS in ’13, Nathan Tomaszewski, was signed to Pirates rookie ball from us. He retired after that season and now works for Scott Boras.”

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