{"id":16754,"date":"2011-09-16T13:11:25","date_gmt":"2011-09-16T20:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seamheads.com\/?p=16754"},"modified":"2011-09-16T13:11:25","modified_gmt":"2011-09-16T20:11:25","slug":"steve-delebar-dylan-axelrod-make-news-for-indy-leaguers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/16\/steve-delebar-dylan-axelrod-make-news-for-indy-leaguers\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Delebar, Dylan Axelrod Make News for Indy Leaguers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well-traveled veteran Joey Gathright<\/strong>, who has played in three leagues in the last two summers, became the record-tying poster boy as the 40th <\/sup>Independent player to wear a major league uniform this season, but the speedy outfielder will have to do something truly special for the Boston Red Sox <\/strong>if he is to take the spotlight away from recent call-ups Dylan Axelrod <\/strong>and Steve Delabar.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>While the record still can be broken as more affiliated playoffs end, the 40 Indy players in the majors in a single season equals what is believed to be the all-time high for any year, pulling even with 2003.<\/p>\n

Gathright started his 10th<\/sup> professional season with 21 appearances and a meager .190 batting average for defending American Association <\/strong>champion Shreveport-Bossier, LA<\/strong>, then the 29-year-old stole 20 bases and hit .347 in 61 games in the North American League (Yuma, AZ) <\/strong>before the Red Sox bought his contract and put him in four games in Pawtucket, RI <\/strong>before bringing him to Fenway Park.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n

www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> ADDED TO www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Delabar Gets First Victory; Axelrod Deserved One<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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First-time major leaguers Dylan Axelrod (Chicago White Sox) <\/strong>and Steve Delebar (Seattle)<\/strong> have given Independent Baseball another big dose of national publicity in the last 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Axelrod, only two seasons removed from pitching in the shadow of Chicago <\/strong>for the Windy City ThunderBolts (Crestwood, IL) <\/strong>of the Frontier League<\/strong>, did more than his share to end Detroit’s<\/strong> longest winning streak in 77 years by limiting the postseason-bound Tigers <\/strong>to six hits and two runs while striking out eight in six innings during his first major league start Wednesday.  Departing with a 5-2 cushion, the White Sox’s bullpen coughed up the lead and lost 6-5 in 10 innings.<\/p>\n

Hours later on the West Coast<\/strong>, Delebar<\/strong>, fully recovered from a career-threatening injury suffered in the second of his two seasons at Brockton<\/strong>, MA <\/strong>in the Can-Am League<\/strong>, got his first major league victory, slowing down the latest march to the playoffs of the New York<\/strong> Yankees.  <\/strong>Delebar, who also pitched in the Frontier League (Florence, KY)<\/strong>, worked a scoreless 12th<\/sup> inning and benefitted from Luis Rodriguez’s <\/strong>walkoff home run.<\/p>\n

 <\/strong>The 10th<\/sup> and 11th<\/sup> innings for Seattle, also hitless frames against the Yankees, were hurled by Tom Wilhelmsen<\/strong>, whose five-year layoff from baseball ended when he worked for Tucson<\/strong>, AZ<\/strong> <\/strong>in the Golden League <\/strong>in 2008.<\/p>\n

Only five months removed from substitute teaching and helping coach a high school team, Delebar may be starting to make a statement in the majors.  Only five of his 25 pitches so far have been out of the strike zone.  “For it to go the way it has, I just tell people it’s awesome,” he told ESPN.com.<\/em>  “That’s the word I tell people—awesome, great, amazing.  I love it.”<\/p>\n

      Veteran catcher A. J. Pierzynski <\/strong>was among those praising the 26-year-old Axelrod, who is expected to get another start against Cleveland<\/strong> <\/strong>Tuesday.  “He’s a smaller guy, but he creates a good angle to make the ball sink and cut,” Pierzynski told The Chicago Tribune.<\/em>  “And he throws strikes and works fast, and that’s what you are looking for.”<\/p>\n

Atlantic League Celebrates Its 25,000,000th<\/sup> Spectator<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/strong>This will be a huge weekend for the Atlantic League<\/strong> as it wraps up the regular season.  Attendance for the 14 seasons will reach the 25 million plateau, with our unofficial count showing this very night (Thursday) started only 5,039 shy of the happy number.<\/p>\n

Long Island<\/strong>, NY<\/strong> <\/strong>recently marked its 600th<\/sup> sellout, one more reason to earn a tip of our hat.<\/p>\n

(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.  Fans may subscribe at www.WirzandAssociates.com<\/a>, enjoy his blogs, www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> and www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a>, or comment to RWirz@aol.com<\/a>.  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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well-traveled veteran Joey Gathright, who has played in three leagues in the last two summers, became the record-tying poster boy as the 40th Independent player to wear a major league uniform this season, but the speedy outfielder will have to do something truly special for the Boston Red Sox if he is to take the […]<\/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-16754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-indy-baseball-insider","category-minors"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t