Kings in Spring (Pt. 3)

I’ve been slacking on the “Kings of Spring” updates, but let’s catch you up in case you aren’t perusing the box scores daily.

All kinds of recent LumberKings have been popping up in Major League games for the Texas Rangers this spring.  Not just your Jose Vallejo’s, Justin Smoak’s and Neftali Feliz’s.  Guys like Ian Gac (’05-’08), Mitch Moreland (’08), Engel Beltre (’08), Chad Tracy (’07), Marcus Lemon (’07), David Paisano (’07-’08) etc. have been popping up in the box score lately.

In fact, Tracy belted a grand slam on March 21 in his as-of-yet only at-bat with the big club.

While its unlikely that most of your favorite LumberKings from the last several seasons will be making the Opening Day roster for the Rangers, here’s what every former King (who has not already made a big-league debut) has done in Surprise this spring:

 

Justin Smoak (’08):  .261, 2 2B, HR, 3 R, 4 RBI in 19 games

Jose Vallejo (’06-’07):  .083, RBI in 9 games 

Manny Pina (’07):  0-for-6 in 6 games

Emerson Frostad (’05):  2-for-5, RBI in 6 games

Craig Gentry (’07):  1-for-5, run in 6 games

Casey Benjamin (’04-’05):  0-for-4 in 3 games

Adam Fox (’05):  1-for-4, HR, 2 runs, 2 RBI in 3 games

Pictured Left:  John Whittleman (’06-’07):  1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI in 3 games

Engel Beltre (’08):  0-for-3 in 2 games

Ben Harrison (’05): 1-for-3, 2B, 2 runs in 4 games

Marcus Lemon (’07):  0-for-2 in 2 games

Mitch Moreland (’08):  0-for-2 in 2 games

Renny Osuna (’07-’08):  1-for-2, run, RBI in 2 games

Ian Gac (’05-’08):  1-for-1, RBI in 1 game

Grant Gerrard (’06-’07):  0-for-1 in 1 game

Mauro Gomez (’07):  1-for-1, 2B, RBI in 1 game

Derek Holland (’08):  Yes, he got an at-bat…0-for-1 (strikeout) in 1 game

David Paisano (’07-’08):  1-for-1, run in 1 game

Pictured Right:  Chad Tracy (’07):  1-for-1, Grand Slam, 4 RBI in 1 game

 —

Pitching-wise, former LumberKings have been less numerous:

Neftali Feliz (’08):  0-0, 5.63, 11 SO/5 BB in 8.0 IP

Derek Holland (’08):  1-0, 4.91, 7 SO/3 BB in 7.1 IP

Pictured Below:  Omar Poveda (’06-’07):  0-0, 9.00, 4 SO/1 BB in 4.0 IP

John Bannister (’05):  0-0, 3.38, 2 SO/1 BB in 2.2 IP

Thomas Diamond (’04):  0-1, 22.50, 3 SO/6 BB in 2.0 IP

Andrew Laughter (’07):  0-1, 27.00, 0 SO/2 BB in 0.1 IP

Zach Phillips (’06-’07):  0-1, 108.00, 0 SO/2 BB in 0.1 IP

Brennan Garr (’07):  0-0, HR allowed in 0.0 IP

 —

The next most likely former LumberKing to make a Major League debut this year?  Potentially still John Mayberry, Jr. (’06), who has put up three homers and 10 RBI in addition to a .279 average, .323 OBP and .525 SLG in 61 at-bats with the Philadelphia Phillies.  He’s second on the entire roster in total bases with 32, trailing only Ryan Howard’s 33.  Pretty impressive.

The folks over at USSMariner.com have projected the Seattle pitching staff for this year, and former King Roy Corcoran (’02) is sitting in middle relief according to the article.  Read it here.

I’ve been plugging USSMariner quite a bit because I’ve been doing a lot of research there, but I’ve also started to look around Mariners Minors and Lookout Landing.  If you’re looking for some great in-depth analysis of the Seattle Mariners organization that I can’t quite provide yet, check out some of those blogs. 

-DL