2008 draft

My move to Lancaster County has prevented me from working on this site outside of the weekly updates. Those have been bleak as of late anyway. Wayne Franklin was sold to Tijuana where he struggled through three starts before being released. Ian Snell is on the disabled list with elbow trouble. Kevin Mench was sent back down to Triple-A. Cliff Brumbaugh is having a lackluster season for him over in Korea.

I had a request for more information on Bill Johnson, formerly of the Cubs. I hope to schedule an interview with him, the first for the site. But that is still going to be in the future.

Meanwhile, here's a look at the native Delawareans who were selected in this year's amateur draft. Also, I finally figured out who the other player asked about in the comments was. More on that in a second.

Derrik Gibson, a shortstop out of Seaford High School, alma mater of Delino DeShields was taken in the second round of the draft by the Boston Red Sox. This was the highest a native Delawarean had been drafted since Randy Truselo was taken by the Rangers in the second round of the 2000 draft. Gibson has committed to the University of North Carolina and at this time looks as if he will be going to college rather than signing.

Truselo played a couple seasons of minor league ball for the Rangers before injuring his rotator cuff. He missed two seasons recovering and then tried to come back and play for the independent Lincoln Saltdogs. Unfortunately, his shoulder was not up to the task.

Returning to 2008, Brett Oberholtzer worked the Robert Bryson plan to a T. Both players were drafted out of high school, Oberholtzer in the 47th round by the Seattle Mariners, but went to Seminole Community College in Florida, a top-notch baseball program. Oberholtzer was deemed by many the best left-handed junior college pitcher in Florida this season and the Braves agreed, nabbing him in the eighth round.

Theodis Bowe was the next Delawarean to go in the draft, being taken in the 21st round by the Cincinnati Reds. He, like Oberholtzer, has signed.

Daniel Richardson graduated from the University of Delaware, was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 38th round, and signed.

Dean Laganosky, a 45th round selection by the Cleveland Indians, is a draft and follow. The Indians think he has enough potential to want to keep their eye on him. Laganosky is currently having a tough time, however, playing with the Kutztown Rockies of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League.

Lastly, in the 47th round, the Seattle Mariners took Richard O'Donald out of Dickinson High School. O'Donald looks to be attending the University of Delaware in the fall and will likely not sign.

There you have it. Hopefully something to keep you interested until there is more for me to add.

Where have you gone, Randy Bush?

Ian Snell hit a double last night for his first hit of the season. This was the first time since 1981 that the season reached the month of May without a native Delawarean getting a base hit in the major leagues.

A little where are they now

Delaware Baseball is definitely a niche website. Until I become insanely clever and come up with a means to attract tons of traffic, I accept and appreciate that I have a limited audience. As such, I especially welcome comments and e-mails from people who enjoy the site and try to respond as best I can given life, the universe and everything.

Had a comment on the last post inquiring about whatever happened to a pair of former St. Mark's High School players, Mark Romanczuk and Tom Cochran. Romanczuk was a high profile player who pitched for the U.S. National Team. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the fifth round back in 2002 but opted instead to go to Stanford. The Arizona Diamondbacks took him in the fourth round in 2005 and he began his professional career.

Romanczuk's career was brief, however. He pitched 13 games for Missoula in the Pioneer League. The 2006 season was lost to injury and rehabilitation as Romanczuk had a irritated nerve removed in his elbow. He returned in 2007 and pitched effectively in relief for South Bend in the Class A Midwest League. This past March, however, the Diamondbacks decided that Romanczuk was no longer part of their plans and he was released. At this time, I have no other information.

Tom Cochran was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 18th round of the 2003 draft. He spent two seasons with Lowell in the New York Penn League. In 2005, it looked as if Cochran might be headed to pitch for the hometown Wilmington Blue Rocks but he instead was released. Undeterred, Cochran auditioned for Ohio Valley of the independent Frontier League. He will begin his fourth season in the league this May with the Worcester Tornadoes. He has pitched well in his previous three seasons, striking out over 300 batters in sixty starts.

The other player the commenter asked about, Trucela, I am not familiar with. Sorry.

Good vibrations

Welcome to another exciting season of baseball, especially Delaware baseball!!!

I haven't posted on the blog in a while but felt like I should do so based on a feeling and some research. As Ian Snell took Jeff Francoeur of the Braves to a 3-2 count after striking him out in the second inning, I got to thinking "Ian owns Francoeur. I bet if he gets him here that Francoeur will be his top strikeout victim in his career."

Now I loves me some Delaware baseball, but I don't go perusing the batter/pitcher matchups to know this stuff. It was just a vibe. Francoeur drew ball four and I started researching the issue. Turns out I was close. Francoeur is tied for second on Snell's all-time K victim list with six. Adam Dunn, Brad Ausmus and Ryan Howard all have been set down on strikes a half dozen times by Snell. Snell's favorite target has been Craig Biggio. Snell struck Biggio out 9 times in 25 at bats. I don't know if this played a part in Biggio retiring after last season but it probably should have.

Snell has a way to go before he can match the strikeout dominance that Chris Short showed over Lou Brock. Brock, despite hitting .298 against Short only drew two walks in 114 plate appearances against Short and struck out a total of 28 times.

Snell got the start on opening day. I talked about this a couple of years ago. Snell is the first native Delawarean since Chris Short to pitch the opener for his team.

Caught Stealing Home

Kevin Mench was caught stealing home last night. This was the eleventh time a native Delawarean has been caught stealing home since 1960. Meaningless, I know, but what the hey.

Mench, July 26, 2007 vs. Reds
Delino DeShields, July 28, 2002 vs. Cardinals
Chris Widger, May 10, 1999 vs. Diamondbacks
John Mabry, August 7, 1996 vs. Padres
Mabry, April 18, 1996 vs. Pirates
Mabry, June 29, 1995 vs. Cubs
DeShields, May 11, 1991 vs. Padres
Randy Bush, April 19, 1983 vs. Mariners
Dave May, August 25, 1972 (Game 1) vs. Red Sox
May, September 8, 1970 vs. Twins
May, August 22, 1969 vs. Athletics

By contrast, there have been only five successful steals of home by native Delawareans during that time. DeShields had one of them, Dave May the other four. That does make Delawareans a little more successful than your typical major leaguer. Since 1960, steals of home were successful about 27% of the time. Delawareans have a 31% success rate.

Ian Snell, damn fine pitcher

Ian Snell threw his first complete game in the major leagues, defeating the Texas Rangers 8-1. In addition to it being Snell's first complete game, the game was notable in that it was the first time a native Delawarean had defeated the Texas Rangers.

As it stands, there are still three teams who have not lost to a pitcher born in the First State. The Devil Rays, Marlins and Royals have all managed to avoid a loss. Not too surprising given the lack of wins during the expansion era.

With Bert Cunningham and Sadie McMahon, Delawarean pitchers compiled almost half of their victories before 1900 (343 of 708). What follows is the distribution of wins by decade:

1900-09: 44
1910-19: 0
1920-29: 22
1930-39: 47
1940-49: 4
1950-59: 0
1960-69: 138
1970-79: 28
1980-89: 47
1990-99: 0
2000-07: 35

Delawareans won a grand total of 27 games from the time Ian Snell was born in 1981 until he was drafted in 2000. Despite only pitching one full season (and three partial) in the major leagues, Snell has won 21 games by himself. There's not much question that Snell is on his way to becoming one of the best pitchers to come from Delaware.

The draft

This year, more so than other years (at least as far as this website is concerned) I was really looking forward to Major League Baseball's amateur free agent draft. 2007 has not been exactly a banner year for native Delawareans in the major leagues. Wayne Franklin joined Cliff Brumbaugh overseas. Chris Widger was not signed by anybody. John Mabry was released. Kevin Mench has spent more time on the bench in Milwaukee than the starting lineup. Only Ian Snell has been performing well in the majors this season, establishing himself as one of the better pitchers in the National League and getting a good start on being one of the best ever to hail from the First State.

The opportunity to get some fresh Delawarean blood in the minor league system and then hopefully the majors is exciting for me. I'd hate to think that in five years the only current updates to this site will be Snell's one or two starts a week. In terms of quantity, if not quality, the 2007 draft holds some promise compared to previous years.

The 2005 draft consisted of Delawareans John Dischert and Shane Erb. The highly touted Mark Romanczuk, commonly attributed to Delaware but actually a native of Pennsylvania, was also taken. Dischert opted to attend the University of Maryland where he pitched in 2006. He missed the entire 2007 season due to injury. Erb we will return to in a minute.

The 2006 draft was more sparse, with Robert Bryson being drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers out of William Penn High School. Bryson was a draft and follow and went to Seminole Community College in Florida. The Brewers signed him days before this year's draft and he will begin his professional career with the Helena Brewers in the near future.

2007 saw four Delawareans tabbed in the draft. The above mentioned Shane Erb was one, being selected by the Washington Nationals in the 38th round. Erb has been attending baseball factory Hillsborough Community College after playing his high school ball at Father Judge High School in Lewes.

Brett Oberholtzer was taken by the Seattle Mariners in the 47th round. Oberholtzer has already made his plans clear in that he intends to follow former high school teammate Bryson's path and go to Seminole.

The other two Delawareans to be drafted are Blue Hens. Pitchers William Harris and Charles Kerfoot were taken by the Phillies (25th round) and the Oakland Athletics (30th round), respectively. The pair were part of a record five University of Delaware Blue Hens to be drafted this year.

Suddenly Delaware has become a developer of pitchers which, given that the last native Delawarean to pitch in 150 games was Renie Martin, is potentially exciting for those of us who follow the baseball careers of those born in Delaware.