Sioux Falls GM and owner Jordan Gillis had nothing but praise to say about Copeland, it was only bad luck that he was on the wrong end of a bad deal, however he mentioned lots of changes would be taking place and they did quickly.  Not a day later Gillis head a team meeting, thanked the team for a great season, but mentioned that losing this way is unacceptable, and that moving forward everyone must be playing for their spot at all times. After the meeting individual meetings were held and River Gordon, Kun Kwan, Santiago Silva were among those let go. Changes are being made in Sioux Falls, however that does not replace the feeling the fans in Sioux Falls have right now after watching their Uber Giraffes go out again without much of a bang.

At the recent press conference announcing the pending milestone, Bandits’ owner David Hepler had this to say, “The Redbank organization is very proud to be the first to reach this number in one city. VC Memorial will be the only CBU ballpark to have reached that number. The community should be honored for the amazing support they have show this team.”

While VC Memorial Park will be the first to reach 10-million payed visitors, the Honolulu/Nashville franchise surpassed that total earlier this season. Most of those came before the new ownership group moved the team from Nashville to Honolulu.

When asked about the future of his franchise, Hepler said, “The support for this team here in Redbank is amazing! I have absolutely no plans of moving the team and I hope to someday be celebrating the 100-millionth visitor to VC Memorial Park.”

A small pre-game celebration has been planned for the special visitor. The electronic turnstiles will automatically shutdown when number 10-million is counted. This is to allow the lucky fan to be identified and escorted to the field. The lucky fan will also receive a pair of season tickets for the 2012 season.

Cap Holroyd

(PRINCETON, NJ) – The Princeton Black Squirrels introduced Erik “Cap” Holroyd, the #3 overall pick in the 2011 CBU amateur draft, to their medical team over the last couple of days leading up to his selection as Princeton’s first pick in the draft.

While most players in the draft ballroom feared being selected by the Black Squirrels as a sign that their career would be one of unrealized potential and numerous painful injuries, the rodents thought they’d get the process started early once they realized that Carson City was going to take Mt. Verson High School’s 18-year old lefty Steve Bradley, and division rival Akron had zeroed in on the #4 overall draft prospect according to BNN, hard-throwing lefty Mike Berry out of Owasso High School.

Holroyd, the third straight high school pitcher selected at the beginning of the draft, posted a career record of 6-8 with a 4.23 ERA in 26 starts on a below-average Menchville HS team. What most piqued the interest of Princeton GM Jim Fillmore was Cap’s impressive 165 strikeouts against 29 walks in 134 innings pitched. Right now Holroyd is mostly a fastball/splitter pitcher and can hit 95-97 MPH on the radar gun according to most scouts. He’ll need to incorporate a breaking pitch into his repertoire in order to be a starter at the CBU level and he seems to have the baseball smarts to be able to do so. A naturally charismatic figure in the clubhouse, he was the first right-handed pitcher selected in the CBU draft. While some question his commitment to weight training and extra practice, with the right amount of nurturing Holroyd could be a true superstar in the making.

Dr. Fred Eaton, Director of Medical Services for the Black Squirrels, is equally happy to have Cap on board. He had a few comments after Holroyd met the medical staff:

“We noticed going through his records that Cap’s already had some back spasms back in 2009 when he was just 15 or 16 which is very rare for a young athlete,” Eaton began, “that’s usually fantastic groundwork towards developing lifelong back troubles. We could easily see more frequent and more severe spasms as he matures physically, especially if we overuse him, in addition to chronic back pain and soreness which could potentially keep him out of the rotation for months at a time. I believe this is a win-win situation for everyone.”

Holroyd, a native of Norman, Oklahoma, was a little underwhelmed with his selection:

“I mean, it’s good to come to Princeton right now because if you can play halfway decent you’ll probably become the team’s career leader,” Holroyd said after his pick became official, “but it takes a lot to change a culture of losing. I think most players were nervous about coming here but if the team can improve and build around guys like Jack Jarvis and Juan Rodríguez, and it looks like they may be able to with some of the solid young talent here, I think they’ll be okay.”

Couture (.339/12/42)

The ink was not even dry on Gaston Couture’s new $62 million contract before he broke a bone in his elbow – landing him on the DL for the next 8 months.  Losing a year of his prime is not exactly what the ownership had in mind when they guaranteed him almost $21 million per year over the next three years.  Couture’s spot in the order and the field will be taken by Bobby Moore, the young outfielder acquired in the off-season in the Cruz deal.

Baker (.339/15/42)

Four days after Couture went down, CF Randy Baker went down with a hip strain that landed him on the 5 week DL.  Unfortunately, in an odd turn of events, the next day he strained his oblique – adding an additional 8-9 weeks to his DL stint.  This is Baker’s eighth and ninth trip to the DL, respectively.

“We’ve been down before this year, we’re just going to have to dig a little deeper and continue battling for next few months.  Randy will be back this year and we plan on being in contention when he returns. That will give us a nice boost as we hope he will be able to continue his productive season.  We’re in a good position and we have a lot of depth as well as strong pitching staff.  We’ll be fine,” said GM Rob Carlson in a prepared statement.

Carlson also stated that angry outfielder Nick Steele will see some additional playing time. “We never like to see our players taking their frustrations out through the media, but he will not be going anywhere, the rumors are false.  We’re not paying him $10 million per year for nothing.  Now is the time for him to prove himself.”

Jack Jarvis

Things took a bad turn right from the start as superstar Jack Jarvis got himself suspended for 13 games on Opening Day for starting a bench-clearing brawl with Gustavo ‘Drummer’ Díaz of the Whitehorse Blue Dogs after Díaz hit Jarvis with a pitch. Jarvis, known for being as delicate as Glass Joe, didn’t take kindly to being plunked because of the injury risk and rushed the mound. The 13-game suspension is a Princeton Black Squirrels record. For the record, Jarvis hasn’t apologized for the incident.

Since he has been back in the familiar orange and black, Jarvis has been his typical self at the plate, hitting .358 with a .977 OPS in 95 at bats. But his clutch production has been down from his usual pace as he has 3 home runs, 10 runs scored, and 14 RBI in his 27 games played. It has been a bit tough going for Jarvis without the protection of Leonard Walker in the lineup. After being recalled from the disabled list in mid-April, Walker lasted all of 6 games before a torn thumb ligament knocked him out for 3-4 more weeks.

The continued injuries to Walker forced Black Squirrels General Manager Jim Fillmore to go out and bring in a free agent first baseman, and Fillmore signed 31-year old left-handed hitting Okura Seki to a one-year, $2.7 million contract. Seki, who spent the last two seasons with the Akron Dandies and has some pop left in his bat, was thought of as decent interim cover especially with the short right field porch at the Princeton Fieldhouse. But Seki has been underwhelming – while he has 5 home runs he only has 8 RBI – and the fact that his 5 home runs leads the team tells you a bit about the troubles the Black Squirrels are having this year.

Walker and promising second baseman Mike Anderson should both be returning from the Disabled List next week as long as everything remains on schedule with their rehab which will be a nice boost to the lineup.

Kip Robinson

An emerging story on the team is that of 27-year old outfielder Kip Robinson. Called into the line of fire last season to cover for various injuries, Robinson has really been impressing with his hustle and gritty play. Despite his solid 2010 year for the club, Princeton management sent him down to AAA to start the 2011 campaign with the Woodbridge Ratdogs. Robinson responded by hitting .366 with 3 home runs, 2 triples, and 11 RBI in 10 games, including going for the cycle against the Windsor Watchdogs on April 15. He made his recall to the CBU-level club an inevitability and he’s now back for the foreseeable future.

Bartolo Ramírez

On the pitching end of things, there is more bad injury news for closer Bartolo Ramírez. Ramírez missed 2 months last season with shoulder inflammation, and 4 months in 2009 with a partially torn labrum. This time he tore a flexor tendon in his elbow and will be lost for the season. All of this at just the age of 24 makes you wonder if the former All Star will ever be back on the mound for the Black Squirrels, or, as with injured teammate Albert Meyer, if perhaps his time in Princeton simply needs to come to a merciful end. There’s only so much the human body can take and forcing these men beyond the limit is not in line with the mission of the Princeton Black Squirrels team charter.

28-year old Iowan José ‘Prowler’ López, who was a workhorse out of the bullpen for Princeton last year with 73 appearances, has taken over the closing duties for the time being and has 4 saves and a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings thrown.

Otherwise it is what you might expect from a young pitching staff – flashes of brilliance marred by stretches of inconsistency. 26-year old Juan Rodríguez, who had 11 innings in Princeton back in 2009 and is basically a rookie this season, is tied for third in the Giamatti League in strikeouts with 53. A strikeout pitcher is exactly what the Black Squirrels’ rotation needs playing in the cozy confines of the Princeton Fieldhouse, and Rodríguez is proving to be just that in his first full season in the CBU.

Dong-hee Chang, the 29-year old right handed South Korean pitcher originally slated to be continuing the transition from reliever to starter this year, has been pressed back into the bullpen with the injuries to Meyer & Ramírez. 25-year old lefty Jesús Viera, who has started 43 games for Princeton over the last two years, has spent the entire 2011 season in the bullpen to some mixed results. The consensus seems to be that Viera is better suited for the bullpen at this point in his career.

In what has been an improbable rise through the system, Garcia has managed to bypass both AA and AAA to make the major league squad. The Lions liked what they saw out of Garcia towards the end of the 2010 season in Coos Bay and decided to invite the 22 year old to spring training.

Nobody in the Lions organization expected Garcia to have much of a chance for the final roster spot, given that SS Kang-Il Mun and 2B Jamey Browne were both major league ready and were older and more experienced and Lee Miles had already claimed the back up outfielder spot.

But Garcia outplayed both Mun and Browne in spring training. He hit .280 /.333/.560 in spring training, and stole 3 bases. Given the performance, the Lions decided to keep Garcia as a 5th outfielder.

So far this season Garcia has not disappointed. He has hit .296/.406/.481 over his first 27 at bats and has stolen 2 bases. Lions manager Stanley Conrad has him penciled in as the starting rightfielder vs. lefties in place of Felix Moran. The Lions like his speed and defense off the bench. Garcia is a useful pinch runner in close and late situations, and this is probably the primary reason he made the club out of spring training. Coupled with 2B Fernando Montero, the Lions have 2 speedsters they can use for late inning pinch running.

Nobody could have expected that Garcia would have advanced so quickly after posting a .263/.343/.415 line at Coos Bay in 2010. Rarely does a player bypass both AA and AAA and manage to stick in the major leagues, but Garcia, at least through the first month of 2011, has. Garcia’s tenure with Portland hangs on a thread, and he will most likely be sent down should he slump. But for now, Garcia is enjoying the ride.

SP Will Hill

On January 15, 2010, the Redbank Bandits thought Will Hill would be their Ace and veteran, staff anchor. They had just signed the free agent to a four year, $66 million deal. Exactly three months later however, the training staff wasn’t sure if he would ever pitch again.

After pitching just 1/3 of an inning, Hill was removed from the 2010 season opener due to a partially torn Ulner Collateral Ligament in his throwing arm. At age 32, Hill was scheduled to undergo Tommy John surgery and there was no guarantee he would recover.

Flash forward 12-and-a-half months, and Hill looks to be in peak form. Hill has started 7 games through the first month of the 2011 season and there seems to be no stopping him. Hill has compiled a 5-0 record and 3.25 ERA in 44.1 innings pitched.

While the surgery may have taken a little movement from his pitches, it has not diminished his ability to work the corners of the plate and keep the ball down. Hill has also taken over the role as veteran leader of the staff. He routinely can be found offering advice and guidance to a young staff that has shown glimmers of success, but has been unable to put it together all at the same time.

Owner/manager David Hepler attributes Hill’s locker room presence as a major factor in the Bandits 23-9 start. He recently had this to say, “The difference this year is Will. Absolutely…he is the reason the team is playing like one. His leadership has unified the starting pitchers, the relievers, everybody. Don’t tell his agent I said this, but you can’t put a price on that!”

After 9 months of intense rehab and another 3 months of baseball workouts, Hill was just happy to take the mound again. After 7 starts, the fans in Redbank never want to him to come off.

So said two-time manager of the year Stanley Conrad after his team’s latest defeat sent them to 12-13 on the season and 5 games back of the Whitehorse Blue Dogs. Some Portland fans consider the rough start reminiscent to the start the Lions had in 2009, when the team started off 20-29 and 11.5 games back of Colorado on June 1st. That year the Lions ended up winning the division by 9 games, making up 20.5 games in 3 months.

Still, the start has  some fans worried. The team is losing close games it was winning in 2009 and 2010, and the offense is failing in the clutch. Portland fan Stephanie Roberts sees a clear lack of chemistry in this years bunch. “The magic just doesnt seem there anymore. Last year they were coming from behind and pulling out a lot of games late. This year they just dont seem to have the same killer instinct”, Roberts said.

But despite the worry theyre getting from the fan base, Conrad and the Lions’ players dont seem to be too concerned about the rough start.

“Things havent been clicking for us yet”, said Lions outfielder Lee Miles, “but we know what type of team we have. If we find the right mix this team is capable of running away with it again.”

“We’re still confident. Nothing has changed”, said 3B Harrison Swain. “It just hasnt been working out for us. We haven’t been catching the breaks. That could change. Thats baseball.”

It’s hard to find the culprit in the rough start for the Lions. The starting pitching and bullpen has been effective, and the lineup has had significant contributions from all of the starters. Looking at the lineup, despite a 2-19 slump by Leon Medine over the last two weeks, the Lions have had solid and above average contributions from all of their starters as well as good bench play.

If anything has been missing, it has been power out of the big men in the middle of the lineup. The #4 and #5 starters, Swain and 1B Henry Swanson, have a combined 2 HR’s, both coming from Swain. Still, Swanson has hit .349 with an OBP of .425 with 7 doubles and a triple for a slugging percentage of .492, hardly bad numbers from the 5th hole. Swain has posted a fairly respectable .281/.414/.438.

“We’re just not clicking yet”, said RF Felix Moran. “The numbers are there. We’ve been getting hits and pitching well. But it seems when we hit we dont pitch, and when we pitch, we dont hit. We’re not synchronized as a team just yet.”

Manager Stanley Conrad is not hitting the panic button about the teams rough start. “We have so many weapons that can beat you. If we get it going to where we’re clicking together as a team again, we could run off more 20 win months like we had in 2010.  Things are slightly off, but we feel we can get back on the right track.”

Getting “back on the right track” might mean moving Henry Swanson to the bench and starting 1B Alfredo Garcia again. Perhaps Garcia provides better range at 1B and adds balance to the lineup. The addition of Swanson to the lineup might be throwing both the offense and defense off.

“We’re going to get back to the basics. Throwing strikes and catching the ball. Basically, defense”, Conrad said. This could mean Garcia heads back to 1B. With SS Roderick Lawrence back from injury, the Lions have stellar defense at every position but Swanson at 1B.

Many in Portland circles believe the key is getting the top of the lineup going.  Leadoff hitter Pepe Moya has an OBP of .308, and hasnt been on base enough to score many runs. Lawrence is back, but despite getting on base 11 times his first week back, scored only 3 runs. Perhaps moving Carrier to the #2 hole again and inserting Miles in for Moya will get the offense rolling again.

Whatever the problem in Portland is, the team certainly has enough weaponry to make a run for the division. At 5 games back on May 2nd, there certainly is no reason to panic.

Defensively the Giraffes are still best in class as the pitchers are working with a opponents BABIP under .270. Hitting they are crushing the ball as well. Nick Donovan, Andrew Scott, and Ruggiero Masini have mashed 6 home runs a piece. Bryan Wigmore is holding steady, but had an April to forget as he was suspended for bumping and umpire, and hit under .300.

Rookie short stop Juan Ortiz suffered a strained oblique and is out for 6 weeks. In the meantime utility man Zak Simpson has stepped in and hit .291 including 8 doubles and a homer in 55 at bats over the last two weeks of April. Finally River Gordon looks all but done as he only managed 2 extra base hits over the month and showed lack of ability defensively numerous times.

Santiago Silva, Javier Esquivel you ask? They both hit like they always do. The club leads in hitting in most categories, also strikes out more than any team. Silva has an OPS of .924, but has struck out in a 3rd of his at bats.

The rotation has been much better this season. Ramon Cruz is 4-0 in 5 starts, Matt Kearns 3-1 in 5 starts, Salvador Roman 4-1 in 5 starts, Kun Kwan 2-2 in 5 starts, and Mike Hamilton is 2-1 in 4 starts. Cruz won the Landis League pitcher of the month award tossed 30 K’s while walking only 4 batters in his 32 plus innings. Kwan is the only struggling starter as he was prone to giving up the long ball with serving up 6 souvenirs.

Overall the Giraffes are tied for a division lead with the Oshawa Generals, but the tough first month schedule was little resistance to Sioux Falls’s overwhelming talented team.

Here is a quick look at the made over lineup and their early returns on the season so far;

C – Angel Cruz – Age 25 – .254/.362/.356 – Angel is looking to build off of last seasons .313/.412/.545 line he posted last season in 393 ab’s.  His bat is all gravy as Angel was a Brooks Robinson award winner in his first full season in the bigs.

1b – Angel Vasquez – Age 25 – .429/.513/.673 – Angels big bat is found squarly planted in the cleanup spot in the batting lineup.  While his hot start has exceeded expectations thus far it’s hopefully a glimpse of what’s in store for the season.

2b- Jeff Cooper – Age 29 – .307/.373/.547 – Cooper was brought in as a veteran bat that would add stability and leadership to the lineup.  Despite the fact that his previous #’s were generated in the rarified air of Colorado Cooper has delivered so far in every aspect.

3b - Jose Estrada – Age 25 - .297/.434/.407 – Big swinger who’s sitting at #3 in the lineup.  While Estrada has been great with the bat he’s struggling mightily with the glove with 4 errors at the hot corner already this season.  Management will watch close to see if a position change might be in order.

SS – Tim Stewart – Age 25 – .306/.366/.469 – Stewart looks comfortable with big league pitching  as there were concerns that he was rushed last year making the jump all the way from AA.  Stewart has made his way around the league already as he was drafted by Redbank, traded to Colorado, and then packed his bags to Burlington.  Here’s hoping he sticks.

LF –   Tom Stewart – Age 23 – .355/.382/.488 – In an effort to beef up the lineup management brought in Stewart this offseason from Souix Falls in a trade that brought some groans from fans.  The team had ballyhood Hamilton SP for awhile and to see him shipped out in a trade for a relative unknown in Stewart raised some eyebrows.  Stewart however has delievered thus far showing some of the hitting prowess that the team had hoped although he’s still yet to hit his first HR for his new team.

CF – Pat Lewis – Age 29 – .280/.378/.560 – Lewis was the afterthought in the deal with Colorado that brought Jeff Cooper to the team.  When Ed Bryant went down with injury early in the year Lewis was slotted in the lineup and has performed admirably thus far.  When Bryant returns from injury it’ll be interesting to see how management divies up the at bats.

RF – Kader Runako – Age 25 – .380/.437/.620 – Kader, who hails from Ghana, showed tremendou promise last season with New Orleans by hitting .401/.475/.690 in 187 ab’s.  Enough promise in fact that Mexican Hat traded promising SP David Rodriguez in order to get him.  Kader hasn’t disappointed thus far as he’s raked from the start of the year.  Defensive liabilities aside, Runako looks like the real deal.