ABD ACADEMY
 
ABD ACADEMY HOME SITE
SOBOBA GAMES
ABD CLUB TEAMS
ABD ACADEMY PROGRAMS
COLLEGE COMMITMENTS
ABD NUMBER ROSTER
ABD NATIONAL TOURNAMENT HISTORY
ABD PLAYERS CURRENTLY IN COLLEGE
ABD PLAYERS IN THE MLB DRAFT
ABD PLAYERS IN PRO BASEBALL
USA BASEBALL PLAYER SELECTIONS
AFLAC ALL AMERICANS
ALL TIME ABD PLAYERS
ABD STAFF
COLLEGE RECRUITING
BASEBALL LINKS
ABD GOLF TOURNAMENT
ABD SPRING LEAGUE ROSTERS
NEWS ARCHIVE
Last updated
02-08-10 10:36 AM
Get Directions to ABD ACADEMYNorco Local Weather
ABD ACADEMY
CONTACT
951.340.4790
Fax: 951.340.4710
1217 6th St. Unit 1C
PMB #171
Norco, California
92860
Admin

 
ABD ACADEMY

ABD ACADEMY

 

ABD ACADEMY HOME 

ABD CLUB TEAMS 

3rd ANNUAL ABD GOLF TOURNAMENT 

                   ABD YOUTH                                   SPRING REGISTRATION OPEN                    

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE 

TRYOUT REGISTRATION 

ACADEMY ONLINE STORE 

COLLEGECAMP.ORG

2010 SPRING ABCL 


 
RAWLINGS LOGO
 

WHO IS #1?

ROUNDING THIRD

 

PG CROSS 2

 

18U TEAM NATIONAL RANKING

17U TEAM NATIONAL RANKING

16U TEAM NATIONAL RANKING

16U TEAM NATIONAL RANKING

 
TOS LOGO-1.jpg
TRINITY LOGO
2009 16U USA WEST NTIS LOGO
2009 16U USA EAST


 
 
 

OAKS COMPLEX

   

We will be hosting some games this Saturday, February 6th at "The Oaks at Soboba" in San Jacinto.  Players who are interested in participating should send a request to info@abdacademy.com.

SATURDAY'S GAMES - February 6th   CANCELED DUE TO RAIN 

 

We will have games next weekend.  Check on Monday for location & times

 



ABCL

   

We are currently looking to confirm players who will be participating in the 2010 Spring league.  If you have not yet confirmed, please send an email to info@abdacademy.com.  If you are a player and are interested and not sure, please do the same.  We are currently at 23 teams and look to have up to 40 teams this next Spring.  

 You can get more information on the league at http://www.abcleague.org  



Thursday, December 10
BLUE JAYS PLUCK ZINICOLA IN RULE 5 DRAFT

ZINICOLA PITCHING 09

ZECHRY ZINICOLA    ♦    ABD '03

By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Blue Jays have thrown another arm into the mix for a bullpen job this season, selecting right-hander Zech Zinicola in the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday at the Winter Meetings. Zinicola could be in the running for a late-inning role with Toronto.

"He was a really good guy to take a shot at to see if we can get a back-end piece for the Major League bullpen," said Dana Brown, a special assistant to Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos.

Brown, who left his position as the director of scouting with the Nationals earlier this offseason to join Anthopoulos' front office, was more than a little familiar with Zinicola. The reliever was a sixth-round pick by Washington in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft and Brown believes Zinicola could be on the verge of turning a corner in his career.

Brown noted that the 24-year-old Zinicola features a fastball that registers between 90-96 mph and a strong slider. Last season, Zinicola posted a 1.74 ERA in 17 games at Double-A Harrisburg in the Nationals' system before struggling with Triple-A Syracuse, where he finished with a 7.56 ERA across 26 games.

Zinicola's issues at Triple-A did not alter Brown's opinion of the pitcher.

"I think what it was, he had inconsistent command mixed in with a little bad luck," Brown said. "But stuff-wise, he's up to 96 with a plus slider. I think once he can get the command, get the ball down a little bit, I think he's going to have a chance to take off."

Overall, Zinicola finished with 47 strikeouts and 19 walks over 54 Minor League innings in 2009. He went 1-2 with a 5.33 ERA in 43 contests between his stops at Harrisburg and Syracuse.

Selecting Zinicola with the 10th pick in the Rule 5 Draft cost the Blue Jays $50,000 and the club is required to leave the pitcher on the active roster for the entire 2010 season. If Toronto decides against keeping Zinicola with the big league club, the Jays have to offer him back to the Nationals for a price of $25,000.

Beyond Zinicola, the Blue Jays also selected 22-year-old right-hander Ruben De La Rosa from the Nationals' system during the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft. De La Rosa spent last season with the Gulf Coast Nationals, striking out 44 hitters over 28 innings and finishing with a 4-1 record with a 0.96 ERA and three saves in 15 games.

"De La Rosa is a guy that we had multiple looks at," Brown said. "We also had some pretty good reports from our scouts in Toronto on him also. He's got a plus curveball. His numbers are really good. He pitched at a lower level, but he's up to 93 [mph] and he's a very competitive kid, too."



Wednesday, November 25
HANSON TOP RIGHTY ON TOPPS ROOKIE TEAM

HANSON 3

TOMMY HANSON    ♦    ABD '04

ATLANTA -- Tommy Hanson has been selected as the right-handed pitcher on the 2009 Topps All-Rookie Team.

Hanson lived up to tremendous expectations while going 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA in 21 starts for Atlanta this past season. The 23-year-old righty spent the first two months of this season with Triple-A Gwinnett.

Hanson led all Major League rookies in ERA (2.89), strikeouts-per-nine innings (8.18), WHIP (1.18) and opponent's batting average (.225). His 116 strikeouts and 11 wins ranked second among National League rookies to Phillies left-hander J.A. Happ, who compiled his 119 strikeouts and 12 victories over 38 1/3 more innings.

Dating back to his June 7 Major League debut, Hanson's ERA ranked seventh among all NL hurlers who compiled at least 100 innings over that span.

Hanson is the first Braves player to earn the honor since Jeff Francoeur and Brian McCann were both part of the 2005 Topps All-Rookie team.

Each of this year's winners will have a trophy placed on their 2010 Topps trading baseball card. The first series is scheduled to be released in January.



Monday, November 16
TOMMY HANSON FINISHES THIRD IN ROOKIE OF YEAR VOTING

TOMMY PITCHING 2009

TOMMY HANSON    ♦    ABD '04

 

2009 NL ROY VOTING

Player 

1st

 

2nd

 3rd  Points
Chris Coghlan  

17

 

6

 

2

 

105

J.A. Happ  

10

 

11

 

11

 

94

Tommy Hanson  

2

 

6

 

9

 

37

Andrew McCutchen  

2

 

5

 

x

 

25

Casey McGehee  

1

 

3

 

4

 

18

Randy Wells  

x

 

1

 

x

 

3

Garrett Jones  

x

 

x

 

2

 

2

Everth Cabrera  

x

 

x

 

1

 

1

Dexter Fowler  

x

 

x

 

1

 

1

Gerardo Parra  

x

 

x

 

1

 

1

Colby Rasmus  

x

 

x

 

1

 

1

 

ATLANTA -- Tommy Hanson lived up to tremendous expectations and helped the Braves remain in the postseason picture during the final week of the regular season. Among all the rookies who introduced themselves to the Majors this year, the impressive right-hander might be primed to have the finest career.

But when the balloting results for this year's National League Rookie of the Year were announced Monday afternoon, Hanson found himself in third place, behind Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan and Phillies left-hander J.A. Happ.

Coghlan received 17 of 32 first-place votes and tallied 11 more points than Happ, who received 10 first-place votes and was the only candidate included on every ballot. While finishing a distant third, Hanson drew two first-place votes and was excluded from 15 of the 32 ballots.

Hanson may have been hurt by the fact that he spent the first two months of this season with Triple-A Gwinnett. Coghlan made his Major League debut on May 8, one month earlier than Hanson, and drew the attention of voters while hitting .388 in the 59 games that he played after July.

Recognized as the game's top right-handed prospect entering this year, Hanson waited through two months with Gwinnett and then proceeded to go 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA in the 21 starts that he made for Atlanta.

Hanson led all Major League rookies in ERA (2.89), strikeouts-per-nine innings (8.18), WHIP (1.18) and opponent's batting average (.225). The 23-year-old Hanson's 116 strikeouts and 11 wins ranked second among NL rookies to Happ, who compiled his 119 strikeouts and 12 victories over 38 1/3 more innings.

Dating back to his June 7 Major League debut, Hanson's ERA ranked seventh among all NL hurlers who compiled at least 100 innings over that span.

In other words, he lived up to the great expectations that were created in 2008, when he concluded a successful Minor League season and then proved dominant enough to become the first pitcher named the MVP of the Arizona Fall League.

"It's pretty hard to live up to expectations when everybody is expecting a shutout every time you pitch," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "He lived up to it. That comes with makeup, his character and his abilities to fix things on the mound himself."

After surrendering three two-run homers in his debut against the Brewers, Hanson went 4-0 with a 0.78 ERA over his next four starts. The highlight of this span came during the final week of June, when he blanked the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Hanson limited the Yankees to four hits over 5 1/3 scoreless innings on June 23 and returned to the same Turner Field mound five days later to limit the Red Sox to two hits over six scoreless innings.

Although he completed over 50 innings more than he had during any previous professional season, Hanson finished the season strong, allowing one run or fewer in four of his past six starts



Monday, October 26
ABD MAKES WWBA FINALS A FAMILY AFFAIR

2009 WWBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2009 WWBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2009 WWBA WORLD - CAMARENA MVP 2009 WWBA WORLD - OWENS MVP PITCHER
CAMARENA
MVP
OWENS
MVP PITCHER
Jim Ecker
 
JUPITER, Fla. -- You probably won't see the Yankees and Phillies pose for a group photo after the final game of the 2009 World Series, but you saw something comparable after the last game of the 2009 WWBA World Championship Monday afternoon.
 
The winners and losers walked to center field, posed for pictures together, made plans to socialize once they return to California and had a joint post-game meeting with the winning and losing coaches. It sounds odd, but it all made perfect sense.
 
The ABD Academy made the championship game of the WWBA tournament a family affair Monday when the Braves Scout Team defeated the Orange County Boxers, 7-1, at Roger Dean Stadium behind a strong pitching performance by David Longville.
 
The Braves Scout Team and the Orange County Boxers came up with new names for the World Championship, but the players on both clubs belong to the vaunted ABD program of California and carry the ABD banner wherever they go. This time, they met in the championship game of the 85-team tournament and had a grand time.
 
"This is a family, in a sense," said Jon Paino, who coached the Boxers. "We play together all summer long, we work out together. These kids are friends, on and off the field. They all play in California together, they play on the same club teams, they play high school baseball against each other. We are kind of a second family, so this was a lot of fun."
 
The Braves Scout Team scored four runs in the fourth inning to grab a 6-1 lead and was never headed. They strung together five straight hits by Rouric Bridgewater, Brett Harrison, Jean Ramirez, Bryce Mosier and Josh Guerra to take control. Harrison and Guerra hit doubles and Ramirez, Mosier and Guerra had RBIs.
 
Longville pitched five solid innings for the Braves with five strikeouts. Henry Owens, who was named the Most Valuable Pitcher in the tournament, tossed the last two frames to end the tournament.
 
Ironically, the most talented team in the ABD program did not make the playoffs. The ABD Bulldogs, blessed with four Aflac All-Americans and other highly regarded players, did not win their pool and did not advance. Meanwhile, their buddies who play on other ABD teams competed for the trophies.
"It's always good when you get two teams like this in the finals. We feel pretty good about it," said Mike Spiers, the director of ABD baseball who coached the Braves here.
 
The players who compete for the ABD Bulldogs are all high school seniors. Most of them have already committed to Division I colleges and some of them will be high draft picks next June. The players on the Braves Scout Team, by contrast, are high school juniors with a couple of sophomores thrown in. They could be next year's Bulldogs, and they gave a good account of themselves in Jupiter this past week.
 
Danny Camarena, who pitched a two-hit shutout for the Braves with 12 strikeouts in the semifinals, was named the Most Valuable Player in the tournament. He got the save in a 4-3 victory in the quarterfinals on Sunday night, then tossed a complete game in the semifinals on Monday morning. He finished with a 2-0 record in the tournament with a 0.00 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings. He also played the outfield and had several big hits.
"I'm very excited. I mean, I never would have thought," said Camarena, a left-hander from Bonita, Calif. "You come here, I wanted to do good. Me and my brother (Louie) talked about it, but I never really expected this."
 
Owens, a 6-foot-5 southpaw from Huntington Beach, Calif., pitched nine innings in the tournament without allowing a run. He struck out 13 batters and allowed only four hits to earn the award as Most Valuable Pitcher.
 
Camarena and Owens both went home to California with handsome trophies for their individual awards. Another teammate had the championship trophy in his mitts and wasn't letting go. A member of the ABD program won the title, but it wasn't supposed to be the Braves.
 
"We weren't expected to do anything, but we knew we could go far. We weren't intimidated by them seniors," said Owens, smiling broadly.
The Braves and Boxers mingled in center field after the game, savoring a big moment for the ABD program.
 
"We all know each other, we're all good buddies," said Owens. "But once the game starts it's all business. And once it ends, it's all cool."


Monday, September 28
ABD WIN PG NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

2009 PG NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

2009 PG NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

2009 PG NATIONAL MVP - HARRISON 2009 PG NATIONAL MVP PITCHER - CUNEO
HARRISON
MVP
CUNEO
MVP PITCHER
The ABD Bulldogs won their third national/world championship of the past year, defeating the SE Texas Sun Devils 8-6 to win the Perfect Game/WWBA National Upperclass Championship in Tucson on Monday. 

ABD had previously won the WWBA World Championship (Jupiter) last October and followed that up with a win in the 192 team WWBA 17U National Championship in Marietta in July. But neither of those victories was as hard fought as this win, which saw the Bulldogs win all four of their playoff games in their final at bat, including an epic 11 inning victory over Trombley Baseball in the first round of the playoffs. 

The Bulldogs looked like they would make quick work of the Sun Devils in the finals, scoring four unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning to take an early lead. But SE Texas pitchers Ryan Bielitz and Taijuan Walker held the ABD bats quiet for the next four innings, enabling the Sun Devils to chip back and take a 6-5 lead. 

ABD 2B Andre Real led off the bottom of the 6th inning with a walk and moved into scoring position on a jam shot single that landed on the right field line by 1B Travis Harrison, his fourth hit of the game. SS Brett Harrison (no relation) followed with a game tying single scoring real and after an out, EH Brad Salgado singled in Travis Harrison with the lead run. LF Robby Witt provided an insurance run by doubling home Salgado. 

Things got interesting in the bottom of the 7th but RHP Ryan Keller got Sun Devils SS Gavin Cecchini to line hard to right field with 2 out and 2 runners on base to end the game. Cecchini, a 2012 prospect, went 3-4 in the final game. 

Travis Harrison was named the championship's Most Valuable Player, duplicating the honor he won at the WWBA 17U National Championship. Harrison, a 2011 grad, started at four different positions for the Bulldogs and batted leadoff, going 13-22 in 7 games with 12 runs scored and 8 stolen bases. 

ABD LHP Cameron Cuneo was named the Most Valuable Pitcher. The 2010 southpaw pitched 2 complete game victories, including a very strong effort in a 3-2 win over the SoCal Angels in the semifinals.
 


Monday, July 13
PARMELEE BOUNCES BACK FROM '08 INJURY


 C PARMELEE

     CHRIS PARMELEE      ABD '06

Parmelee gaining momentum at plate

BY CARL BLEICH • cbleich@news-press.com • July 13, 2009

As Chris Parmelee fielded a popup in foul territory as a member of the Midwest League's Beloit Snappers in 2008, he was hit with some bad luck.

As he went to field the ball Parmelee ran into a concrete wall, breaking a bone in his wrist and costing him the entire second half of his third professional season.  "I was trying to stop myself and I fractured a bone in my wrist," Parmelee said.  "It wasn't something I wanted to hear when the doctor told me it was fractured at the halfway point (of the season)."

Fast forward just about one year later and Parmelee feels no ill effects from the injury while playing for the Fort Myers Miracle.  Since the Florida State League All-Star game on June 20 at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Parmelee's bat has started to heat up.  The 2006 first-round pick of the Minnesota Twins is hitting .291 since the game and is tied for second in the FSL in home runs (11) and is alone in second with 46 RBI for the season.  Parmelee won the Home Run Derby prior to the All-Star game in front of the home fans and said that gave him a bit of confidence headed into the second half.

"I've just been seeing the ball real big lately," Parmelee said. "It's always cool to win something like the derby."  "He's got what it takes to be a good hitter," Miracle hitting coach Jim Dwyer said. "He's a lot better than he was in April but he still has a way to go."  Parmelee and Dwyer have been working together in the batting cages to try and shorten Parmelee's trigger on his swing so he has more time to get around on pitches.  "He's been working hard on trying to shorten that trigger so he has more time to hit the fastball," Dwyer said. "We are just shortening him up so he can hit better pitching."

"I am just working hard on my mechanics in the cage," Parmelee said. "We are just trying to fine-tune some things. I am just trying to shorten up the swing so I can be a little bit quicker to the ball."



Monday, July 13
ABD BULLDOGS RED WIN 17U 2009 WWBA CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

2009 BULLDOG WWBA CHAMPIONS

2009 ABD BULLDOGS '10

   


Sunday, July 12
TOURNEY QUIETLY BECOMING HUGE PART OF GAME

 

PG FIELDER NY POST 

PATH TO THE PROS: Prince Fielder, playing in a Perfect Game tournament as a 17-year-old, is one of many major leaguers to have played in the baseball recruiting event.

Posted: 4:22 am
July 12, 2009

MARIETTA, Ga. -- Before they were All-Stars, they played the Perfect Game. Football has the NFL combine. Basketball has its premier recruiting camps. Baseball has Perfect Game USA. And, in some ways, it's one of the best-kept secrets in the game.

The Perfect Game concept was created in Iowa in 1993, Jerry Ford's own Field of Dreams. It has grown into a remarkable success. Consider that in the June 2009 amateur draft, 1,191 of the 1,521 players drafted were Perfect Game participants.

In Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis, 11 of the All-Stars, many of the game's young stars including the Mets' David Wright, are Perfect Game alumni. And Perfect Game is growing more popular every year. In the Futures Game, 19 of the 25 players on the Team USA roster are Perfect Game participants.

More than 200 players in the majors have Perfect Game experience. Perfect Game has selected every Aflac All-American over the last seven years.

"I loved it," said Wright, who played in a number of Perfect Game events as a teenager. "Any chance I could get to play in front of college coaches or professional scouts, I wanted to showcase everything I had because that's the way you get seen as an amateur player. You really match your talent up against some of the best talent in the country. It's one thing to be one of the top players in your city or your county or your district; it's a completely different thing to test your talent against some of the best talent in the country. Those tournaments give you that opportunity."

This week those major league and college scouts that Wright is talking about are swarming the East Cobb Baseball Complex, which has four beautiful brick-walled diamonds. The scouts also are at the satellite fields, where 192 teams from around the country are participating in the 17U Wood Bat Association National Championship, the largest full-field tournament in history.

Come late October in Jupiter, Fla., 80 elite qualifying teams will compete in the WWBA World Championship tournament, the premier scouting event in the country with more than 600 scouts attending. Dodgers All-Star right-hander Chad Billingsley played in Jupiter.

"A lot of guys who are in the big leagues I played against in that tournament," Billingsley said. "You certainly had the top amateur players in that event."

You can find everyone from Dylan Bundy, a right-handed pitcher from Sperry High School in Sperry, Okla., and the No. 1 ranked player in the Class of 2011, to Joe Jackson, the great-great-great nephew of Shoeless Joe Jackson, on Perfect Game diamonds. Sports Illustrated cover boy Bryce Harper, who would love to be a Yankee, first appeared in a Perfect Game pre-high school showcase as a sixth-grader.

David Rawnsley, Perfect Game's national scouting coordinator, has seen every young star from Alex Rodriguez to Justin Upton and said of Harper last August: "Harper's baseball tools are at a completely different level."

Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer has been going to Perfect Game events from the beginning and loves the East Cobb and Jupiter tournaments because they are not just showcases, they are games, and you get to see how a player performs in the heat of competition. Perfect Game runs many showcases, too, but these two events really bring out the best or worst in players.

"These tournaments are a must for us to scout," Oppenheimer said. "To me, the tournaments have more value than a showcase. Jerry does a terrific job with everything."



Tuesday, July 7
STARTING HAS SUITED ROLE-PLAYER DOBBS

 

DOBBS CELEBRATING 09

GREG DOBBS   ABD '96

07/07/09 1:59 AM ET

PHILADELPHIA -- Greg Dobbs couldn't have expected to match the production of Raul Ibanez, who was having a career year before straining his left groin.

But Dobbs sure is filling in admirably.

The left-handed-hitting half of Phillies manager Charlie Manuel's platoon system should be in left field against the Reds and their righty starter, Aaron Harang, at Citizens Bank on Tuesday night. (Youngster John Mayberry Jr. has been playing against lefties.)

Dobbs was hitting just .172 (10-for-58) with a .556 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging percentage) before Ibanez was placed on the 15-day disabled list June 18. Dobbs had played in 50 games, but only started seven.

Now thrust into a bigger role, Dobbs has thrived. He is hitting .421 with three homers and nine RBIs in 14 games (10 starts) since Ibanez went down. That includes a career day on Monday, when he matched a career best with four hits and launched a two-run homer in the Phillies' 22-1 win over the Reds.

"Yeah that's a good thing, of course," Manuel said before Monday's game. "Dobbs needs at-bats. It's very important that during the summer that he gets some at-bats."

The Phillies know what he can do off the bench and in the fall. Last season, he was 22-for-62 (.354) with two home runs and 11 RBIs as a pinch-hitter. He also picked up seven hits in 14 postseason at-bats.



Tuesday, June 9
MIER SELECTED FIRST ROUND BY ASTROS

AFLAC MIER

JIOVANNI MIER

ABD '09

 

RD

POS

PLAYER SCHOOL ORGANIZATION

1

SS

* Jiovanni Mier Bonita HS (CA) Houston Astros

S1

3B

* Matt Davidson

Yucaipa HS (CA) AZ Diamondbacks

2

RHP

* Brooks Pounders Temecula Valley HS (CA) Pittsburgh Pirates

2

3B

* Nolan Arenado El Toro HS (CA) Colorado Rockies

4

SS

* David Nick  Cypress HS (CA)  AZ Diamondbacks 

6

RF

* KC Hobson Stockdale HS (CA) Toronto Blue Jays

8

LHP

*  Colton Cain Waxahachie HS (CA) Pittsburgh Pirates

9

RHP

* Preston Guilmet University of Arizona  Cleveland Indians

10

RHP

* Aaron Norhcraft Mater Dei HS (CA) Atlanta Braves

12

RHP

* Brett Gerritse Pacifica HS (CA) New York Yankees

13

RHP

* Justin Jamison Strongsville HS (OH) Texas Rangers

14

OF

* Sequoyah Stonecipher Grossmont JC (CA) Florida Marlins

17

LHP

* Paul Strong Marina HS (CA) Texas Rangers

17

RHP

Chad Thompson El Toro HS (CA) New York Yankees

20

LHP

Sam Spangler University of Hawaii Pittsburgh Pirates

28

OF

* David DiNatale University of Miami Colorado Rockies

34

OF

Arby Fields Los Osos HS (CA) Atlanta Braves

38

OF

Anthony Hutting Tesoro HS (CA) Texas Rangers

40

RHP

* Jesse Simpson College of Charleston St Louis Cardinals

40

RHP

James Dykstra Rancho Bernardo HS (CA) Boston Red Sox

49

C

Zach Fisher AB Miller (CA) Kansas City Royals
    * SIGNED    
AFLAC DAVIDSON

MATT DAVIDSON

ABD '09



Wednesday, June 3
HANSON TO MAKE BRAVES DEBUT SATURDAY

 

TOMMY PITCHING 2009

TOMMY HANSON   ABD '04

06/03/09 8:45 PM ET

ATLANTA -- It has been common knowledge throughout the Braves organization that Tommy Hanson's much-publicized ascent to the big leagues would culminate in Atlanta sometime this season. It was only a matter of when he would get the call.

That question has been answered, as the 6-foot-6 right-hander will make his Major League debut for the Braves on Saturday against the Brewers. Scheduled starter Kris Medlen, Hanson's good friend and roommate, will be moved to the Atlanta bullpen.

"We felt like Tommy Hanson has continued to dominate," said Braves general manager Frank Wren. "There was never really a bad report. Our fans want to see wins, and they want the team to be in a playoff hunt, and we felt like we had the best chance to do that with a guy like Tommy Hanson."

It was a busy Wednesday for Wren and the Braves. Atlanta released iconic southpaw Tom Glavine and acquired All-Star center fielder Nate McLouth from Pittsburgh for three prospects: outfielder Gorkys Hernandez and pitchers Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke.

Hanson's performance at Triple-A Gwinnett this season has been nothing short of dominant. He has struck out 90 batters in just 66 1/3 innings while posting a 1.49 ERA.

 



Friday, May 8
XAVIER PAUL CALLED UP BY DODGERS TO REPLACE MANNY

 

XAVIER PAUL 09

XAVIER PAUL   ABD '03

05/08/09 12:15 AM ET

LOS ANGELES -- When Triple-A Albuquerque outfielder Xavier Paul received a phone call at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, he was greeted with great news -- he was getting called up to the Majors for the first time in his career.

But what Paul didn't find out until he arrived in Los Angeles from Oklahoma City was that Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games for use of a performance-enhancing drug.

Paul, who was batting .344 with nine doubles, two homers and 14 RBIs in 25 Minor Leagues games, said he was surprised by the news, but that it also allows him a chance to make an impact at the Major League level.

"It's sad for me under these circumstances, but it's also an opportunity to take advantage of it as best as I can and as long as I can," said Paul, who hit .308 with a home run and 12 RBIs in 33 Spring Training games

 



   
   
PG CALIFORNIA BANNER LOGO





 
 

ABD ACADEMY

 

Web Sites Instruction Community  
Local Sites
Spotlight Sites
Build a Web Site
Tips and Drills
Sport Tip Email
Customer Support
News & Updates
Bulletin Boards
Camps & Clinics
Tournaments
Coaches' Corner


"Perhaps the single most important element in mastering the techniques and tactics of racing is experience. But once you have the fundamentals, acquiring the experience is a matter of time." - Greg LeMond
Powered By
Copyright © 2010, eteamz.com, Inc
User Agreement