{"id":5591,"date":"2010-06-04T14:14:33","date_gmt":"2010-06-04T21:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=5591"},"modified":"2010-06-04T14:14:33","modified_gmt":"2010-06-04T21:14:33","slug":"recent-indy-grad-rene-rivera-only-hitter-to-take-stephen-strasburg-over-the-fence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/04\/recent-indy-grad-rene-rivera-only-hitter-to-take-stephen-strasburg-over-the-fence\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Indy Grad Rene Rivera Only Hitter to Take Stephen Strasburg Over the Fence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rene Rivera <\/strong>is one of only a dozen and a half baseball players in the Independent leagues who has had his contract purchased by a major league organization in this still young season.<\/p>\n

The stocky catcher has a unique distinction, though, not only among the privileged group that has moved one step closer to the major leagues but among all professional players.\u00c2\u00a0 And I do mean every player, affiliated or not.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rivera can explain what it feels like to hit a home run off Stephen Strasburg<\/strong>, who will take his act as the minor leagues\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 No. 1 poster boy to the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s capitol Tuesday to debut for the parent Washington Nationals <\/strong>and satisfy the frenzied baseball throngs who have followed his every move since he left San Diego State <\/strong>one year ago.<\/p>\n

Rivera\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s top home run production in 10 professional seasons has been nine.<\/p>\n

But he is entitled to his day in the sun for his solo shot on a 3-2 count off a 99-mile-per-hour Strasburg fastball over the right-center field fence in Syracuse<\/strong>, NY<\/strong> <\/strong>which happened when most of us were at whatever we were doing on Memorial Day <\/strong>weekend.<\/p>\n

After all, Rivera has been granted free agency at the end of the last three seasons, and he was catching for the Camden (NJ) Riversharks <\/strong>of the Atlantic League <\/strong>until Jorge Posada <\/strong>went onto the disabled list, Chad Moeller <\/strong>was added as backup insurance with the New York Yankees <\/strong>and that organization needed catching protection at Triple-A Scranton\/Wilkes-Barre, PA. <\/strong>His contract was purchased only eight days ahead of the milestone homer.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The kid throws hard,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rivera said to MLB.com <\/em>of Strasburg, who ran his Triple-A record to 4-1, 1.08 Thursday.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expecting to hit a home run.\u00c2\u00a0 He has the best stuff I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever seen in the minor leagues\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. \u00c2\u00a0Rivera is hitting .273 (6-for-22) with the one home run, three doubles and four RBI in seven games in Class AAA.<\/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

Outstanding Major League Performances<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What a last few days Independent graduates have had in the major leagues, with Travis Schlichting, Max Scherzer <\/strong>and Eliezer Alfonzo <\/strong>all returning with outstanding performances.<\/p>\n

Schlichting is the most recent success story with the onetime Kansas City (KS) T-Bones<\/strong> reliever, who only had three previous major league innings, blanking Arizona<\/strong> <\/strong>in innings 11 through 14 Wednesday until the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/strong> could muster a run to give the 25-year-old his first National League <\/strong>victory, 1-0.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Schlichting pitched his tail off,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Manager Joe Torre <\/strong>told The Los Angeles Times <\/em>after the three-hit performance.\u00c2\u00a0 The onetime infielder told Dylan Hernandez <\/strong>of The Times <\/em>he had not gone four innings since high school except for once two years ago in the Arizona<\/strong> Fall League.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scherzer obviously learned a valuable lesson about his delivery when he was demoted to Toledo<\/strong> because after he came back to the parent Detroit Tigers<\/strong> all the former Fort Worth, TX (American Association)<\/strong> hurler did was get 14 of 17 outs (5.2 innings) on strikeouts while holding Oakland <\/strong>scoreless (two hits).\u00c2\u00a0 His earned run average had been 7.29 when he went to the Mud Hens.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alfonzo celebrated his return to the majors\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand his first game with Seattle<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwith a three-run homer and a run-scoring hit (2-for-5).\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He stepped right in and hit the ball extremely well,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mariners skipper Don Wakamatsu <\/strong>told MLB.com<\/em>, which might have been understated since Seattle dropped a 9-7 decision to the Angels.<\/strong> The onetime St. Paul (MN) Saints <\/strong>catcher has hits in five of 10 official plate appearances over three games, and has scored three runs.<\/p>\n

3,223 Welcome Baseball Back to Pittsfield<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A different sort of debut took place on Memorial Day <\/strong>in quaint Wahconah<\/strong> Park <\/strong>in Pittsfield<\/strong>, MA<\/strong>. <\/strong>This was the return of professional baseball to the Berkshires<\/strong>, and with 3,223 fans looking on in the 91-year-old stadium, onetime major league pitcher Matt White <\/strong>came back from a one-year layoff with six sparkling innings as the Pittsfield Colonials <\/strong>topped the New Jersey Jackals, <\/strong>3-0, in a Can-Am League <\/strong>game.\u00c2\u00a0 Pittsfield had been without a professional team since 2003.<\/p>\n

<\/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

?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rene Rivera is one of only a dozen and a half baseball players in the Independent leagues who has had his contract purchased by a major league organization in this still young season. The stocky catcher has a unique distinction, though, not only among the privileged group that has moved one step closer to 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],"tags":[1804,7891,7889,6795,7892,853,7116,5196,495,7887,444,7894,7890,7895,5208,7888,362,7893,1152,4738],"class_list":["post-5591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-indy-baseball-insider","tag-baseball-players","tag-camden-riversharks","tag-chad-moeller","tag-class-aaa","tag-day-in-the-sun","tag-field-fence","tag-independent-leagues","tag-jorge-posada","tag-league-organization","tag-memorial-day-weekend","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-poster-boy","tag-privileged-group","tag-professional-players","tag-professional-seasons","tag-scranton-wilkes-barre","tag-strasburg","tag-syracuse-ny","tag-washington-nationals","tag-wilkes-barre-pa"],"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