Aldridge, two years younger, has only had five major league at-bats in his 13 professional seasons and they came with Atlanta<\/strong> <\/strong>way back in 2001.\u00c2\u00a0 A left-handed hitter just like Ryan, Aldridge has gone deep twice this spring, and is hitting .316 (6-for-19) while getting into 11 games (Ryan has played in eight).\u00c2\u00a0 Both players have on-base percentages topping .400.<\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> ADDED TO www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE? <\/strong><\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n D-Backs Give Bridgeport Shortstop Playing Time<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Another Independent position player, who has had only sparse major league playing time in his career, is now getting into a number of spring training contests. \u00c2\u00a0He is shortstop Ed Rogers, <\/strong>who was the Bridgeport<\/strong> (CT) Bluefish\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/strong>shortstop for 32 games just last summer.\u00c2\u00a0 Rogers, 31, has been used in 10 of Arizona\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cactus League <\/strong>contests so far, meaning he is getting a nice look.\u00c2\u00a0 The Dominican <\/strong>gloveman, whose 30 major league games came between 2002 and 2006 for Baltimore, <\/strong>has gone 2-for-12 (.167) with three runs scored.<\/p>\n The Diamondbacks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/strong>regular shortstop is Stephen Drew<\/strong>, who started his pro career in the Atlantic League (Camden, NJ).<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Umpire Calling Major League Spring Games<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Players are not the only \u00e2\u20ac\u0153uniformed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Independent leaguers reaching all the way to the major leagues.\u00c2\u00a0 Umpire Lance Barrett<\/strong>, who started in the All-American Association<\/strong>, is in his second season of working spring training games.\u00c2\u00a0 He is regularly assigned to the Triple-A International League.<\/strong><\/p>\n Kevin Winn, <\/strong>who supervises umpires in both the American Association <\/strong>and Can-Am League<\/strong>, also takes pride in the fact two of his graduates, Shaylor Smith <\/strong>and Thomas Newsom,<\/strong> are working affiliated minor league contests.\u00c2\u00a0 They are assigned to Lakeland<\/strong>, FL<\/strong> where they work with crew chief Art Thigpen<\/strong>, who once was in the Northeast League.<\/strong><\/p>\n (This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes on Independent Baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans may subscribe at www.WirzandAssociates.com, 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 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If we allow ourselves to dream once in a while why not conjure up a scenario where two former Independent Baseball players are competing for the same job in the major leagues. I cannot say that is the case because it is not possible to get all the way into Mike Scioscia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head.\u00c2\u00a0 But this […]<\/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],"tags":[3168,5198,4032,1804,5206,5203,5201,5204,493,5209,5202,5205,3170,5200,756,5210,5211,5208,5207,743],"class_list":["post-3585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-indy-baseball-insider","tag-angels-of-anaheim","tag-angels-outfield","tag-baseball-coverage","tag-baseball-players","tag-bridgeport-ct","tag-cactus-league","tag-cory-aldridge","tag-ed-rogers","tag-independent-baseball","tag-independent-position","tag-league-contests","tag-league-job","tag-los-angeles-angels-of-anaheim","tag-mike-scioscia","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-newark-nj","tag-nj-patriots","tag-professional-seasons","tag-somerset-nj","tag-sparky-lyle"],"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\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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/indylogo.png\" "\\"indylogo\\"")
<\/a>We talked in this space last week how Scioscia was praising Michael Ryan,<\/strong> the former Minnesota Twins <\/strong>outfielder who played in the Atlantic League<\/strong> for Sparky Lyle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Somerset (NJ) Patriots <\/strong>in 2008.\u00c2\u00a0 The 32-year-old Ryan is continuing to compete nicely for a major league job (7-for-18, .389, one homer, share of team lead with seven RBI), but along comes Cory Aldridge<\/strong>, who was with Newark<\/strong>, NJ<\/strong> <\/strong>in the same league in that \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc08 season.<\/p>\n