9-News: 37.079 – Colon, Fernandez Lead September Call-ups

[RonCo]

Nine Brass Also Sign Ortiz



With the calendar setting on September first and the Games Out of a Wild Card slot set on 4.5, the few YS9 fans for whom the expectation of seeing the team in the post season is still at thing are looking anxiously to the club’s farm system for encouragement. It’s coming in the form of five players, one of whom is a new signee in veteran Jorge Ortiz.

The most intriguing of this collection is perhaps 22-year-old starter Luis Colon, who is coming straight from AA Santa Cruz. Colon, who came to the organization in 2031 as a youthful scouting find out of Chile, is a tall, athletic hurler whose star was considered bright after posting a solid 3.69 ERA in Fort Worth the year before, but his numbers in Santa Cruz aren’t quite as comforting unless you trust in park effects and whatnot. Scouts say his fastball/changeup combination will get major league hitters out, and his curveball is solid enough to mean he’ll be able to go later into games. Embedded in is numbers this year includes the fact that he bumped his K/9 rate from 7.1 in A-ball to 7.8 in AA. With three-fifths of the starting rotation in shambles at this point of the season, the club expects him to start a few games this September, and possibly fill a slot at the bottom of the rotation next year.

Another interesting addition is infielder Miguel Fernandez, another 22-year-old phenom. Fernandez, from Georgia, was drafted in the third round back in 2034, and has hop-skipped his way through every level of the Nine organization, showing his bat can play anywhere, but (tell me if you’ve heard this before) raising questions about his allergy to leather. He’ll likely DH against left handed pitchers for the rest of this year, something fans will enjoy watching if he can come anywhere close to his 42 double, 18 homer, .306/.372/.520 slash in Indianapolis this year (good for 4.8 minor league WAR). The club is a bit clogged in the position, but there’s some chance that he could stick at DH or 1B next year, but he has some flexibility in that he can at least manage second base.

In the bullpen, the team has recalled Brian Soper, who was up earlier this year and had streaks of being okay, and also brought up 24-year-old Luis Moredia, who has proven he can get right handers out, and will likely be used in tough spots as a ROOGY. The future is probably brighter for Soper overall, but now that Moredia’s 40-man clock is started, several of the team’s baseball people think he could be on a three-season shuttle between Yellow Springs and Indianapolis for use in specific situations.

Finally, the Nine front office announced the late-season signing of 34-year-old Jorge Ortiz, a veteran of 12 seasons—most with New Orleans. Most people close to the team believe he was signed as a special envoy to Bret Richards, and a sidekick to pitching coach Dan Walker. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Ortiz never got in a game,” said one baseball man. Ortiz, however, brings an approach and intelligence to the game that the team’s pitching staff doesn’t have now, and the hope is that he could rub off on the Nine’s top pitchers. “He knows how to pitch,” said Frankie Franklin, one of the voices of the Nine. “We’ll see if he’s much of a teacher.”

The club faces Boise in four critical games this week, probably needing to win at least three to keep their slim post season hopes alive, and in truth probably needing a sweep in order to make them more sensible. “The word ‘if’ is a harsh buzz,” said Franklin when asked about the impact these players might have.