JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here are your Players of the Day for Friday, Aug. 13, 2010.
It was a memorable day for Jewish pitchers in the minor leagues. Three had lengthy stints in which they gave up one or no runs and racked up multiple strikeouts without giving up a single walk:
- SP David Kopp of the “AA” Springfield Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals) struck out six and walked none in a 6-1 win over the Corpus Christi Hooks. A 24-year-old out of Clemson, Kopp got roughed-up during a mid-season stint in “AAA”, where he went 0-5 with an 8.63 ERA. He has fared far better with the “AA” Cardinals, going 10-3 with a 3.14 ERA.
- SP Dylan Axelrod of the “A-Advanced” Winston-Salem Dash (Chicago White Sox) gave up just four hits and one earned run over 7 innings, but the Dash gave up three runs in the 8th en route to a 4-3 loss to the Frederick Keys. Axelrod struck out nine batters while walking none. Since being promoted to “AA” earlier this season, Axelrod is 6-2 with a 2.20 ERA and a phenomenal strikeout-to-walk ratio of 68-10.
- RP Jason Markovitz of the “A” Clinton LumberKings (Seattle Mariners) pitched 3 innings of one-hit ball in a 15-4 loss to the Burlington Bees, striking out four and walking none. A 21-year-old who was drafted in the 13th round of the 2010 amateur draft, Markovitz was promoted to the LumberKings after just 11 games with the “A-short season” Everett AquaSox.
Two minor-leaguers hit home runs:
- 2B Jason Kipnis of the “AA” Akron Aeros (Cleveland Indians) went 2/5 with a HR and 2 RBIs in an 11-7 win over the New Britain Rock Cats. A second-round pick in the 2009 amateur draft, Kipnis is batting .333 with 8 HRs and 31 since being promoted to the Aeros mid-season. For the entire season, he is batting .318 with 14 HRs and 62 RBIs.
- 1B Nate Freiman of the “A” Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres) hit a three-run HR, accounting for all the TinCaps’ runs in a 3-2 victory over the Lake County Captains. A 6’7″ native of Wellesley, Mass., Freiman has four HRs in his past 10 games and is batting .301 with 14 HRs, 32 doubles and 73 RBIs.
Beset by injuries, Jewish major leaguers have not had much to report lately. But on Friday:
- 3B Danny Valencia of the Minnesota Twins went 2/4 with a ground-rule double and 2 RBIs in a 4-3 win over the Oakland A’s. The 25-year-old rookie is batting .318 but has been in a slump, hitting just .171 over his last 10 games.
###
