\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 How do you figure this game?<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 James Leverton <\/strong>was 10-1 with a 2.75 earned run average in his third season in the Chicago Cubs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/strong>system in 2010, earning mid-season all-star status in the Midwest League<\/strong> and finishing the year in Class AA.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, he was released out of spring training.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What my eyes showed me this week was a stylish left-hander, yet it was in the Can-Am League (New Jersey, Little Falls)<\/strong>, not in a major league organization.\u00c2\u00a0 Aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pitchers to be prized, especially if they are lefties?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I asked New Jersey Manager Joe Calfapietra <\/strong>what he has seen after three starts by Leverton:\u00c2\u00a0 He praised the 25-year-old\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153presence on the mound; command of all his pitches.\u00c2\u00a0 He carries himself well and he competes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Leverton, a former Texas Tech <\/strong>position player, is 1-1, 2.50 for the Jackals.<\/strong><\/p>\n After Broken Elbow, Delabar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Star Keeps Rising<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, pitching is still in demand.\u00c2\u00a0 Records maintained by the Independent Baseball Insider<\/em> show 14 players who started this season in Independent leagues have been sold to major league organizations already and 12 are hurlers.\u00c2\u00a0 Right-handers account for seven of the signings.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The hottest of the hurlers seems to be tall right-hander Steve Delabar, <\/strong>who Seattle <\/strong>signed in April and promoted from the Class A California League <\/strong>to Jackson, TN <\/strong>late last month.\u00c2\u00a0 The 6-foot-5 hurler still has not been scored on in seven appearances for the Generals <\/strong>with his June log showing six innings spread over five games in eight days without allowing a hit.\u00c2\u00a0 He has issued three walks and struck out seven in that span, dropping the combined batting average against him in the Double-A league to .105.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A Kentucky <\/strong>native, Delabar, who turns 28 next month, spent more than four years in the San Diego <\/strong>organization, then worked in Indy leagues at Florence, KY (Frontier League) <\/strong>and Brockton, MA (Can-Am) <\/strong>before a broken right elbow appeared to end his career in 2009.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 When he asked if he would be able to pitch again \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they never really gave me a straight answer, but you could tell what they thought\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, he told The News-Enterprise <\/em>in Elizabethtown, KY.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Cramer Back in Oakland<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 It will be interesting to see if Bobby Cramer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/strong>role changes now that Bob Melvin <\/strong>has taken over as manager of the Oakland Athletics.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>The southpaw, who spent 2008 in the Golden League (Orange County, Fullerton, CA)<\/strong>, just returned to the injury-depleted American League <\/strong>staff this week and lowered his season\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ERA in four appearances to 1.93 with a scoreless inning against Baltimore.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Cramer, 31, given a chance to start in spring training, had been starting games since going down to Triple-A Sacramento, <\/strong>posting a 4.03 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning for his six outings.\u00c2\u00a0 Surprisingly, he did not have any decisions.<\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE?<\/strong><\/p>\n www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> AND www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n Go, Governor Christie<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 One has to like what New Jersey<\/strong> Governor Chris Christie <\/strong>is doing to promote the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s six minor league teams, four of which are Independent.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The official state web site (www.state.nj.us<\/a>) includes baseball as one of its featured revolving photos on its home page, and there is a logo linking to a feature on the New Jersey Jackals <\/strong>and Newark Bears (Can-Am League) <\/strong>and the two Atlantic League <\/strong>teams, the Camden RiverSharks <\/strong>and Somerset Patriots<\/strong>, <\/strong>plus the affiliated teams in Lakewood <\/strong>and Trenton.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>Once there, visitors can see a video feature of more than three minutes plus a photo gallery and the web site of each team.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans may subscribe at newly reduced rates at <\/a>www.WirzandAssociates.com<\/a>, enjoy his blogs, www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> and www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a>, or comment to RWirz@aol.com<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 The author <\/strong>has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)<\/em><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 How do you figure this game? \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 James Leverton was 10-1 with a 2.75 earned run average in his third season in the Chicago Cubs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 system in 2010, earning mid-season all-star status in the Midwest League and finishing the year in Class AA.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, he was released out of spring training. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":452,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4746,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-indy-baseball-insider","category-minors"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}