The Madison Mallards and their general manager Conor Caloia swept the postseason awards announced at the Northwoods League’s annual fall meetings, which wrapped up Friday in Mankato. Caloia was named as the Northwoods League Executive of the Year for 2011 while the Madison Mallards were honored as the 2011 Organization of the Year.
Another former Northwoods League player has made his Major League debut. Former St. Cloud River Bats pitcher John Gaub appeared last night for the Chicago Cubs in their 12-8 victory against the Reds at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. The 6-foot-2 left-hander entered the game to start the seventh inning. His first batter was former Battle Creek Bombers outfielder Dave Sappelt, and Gaub struck him out swinging on five pitches. A Joey Votto ground out and a Jay Bruce fly out ended the 1-2-3 inning. Gaub returned for the eighth and had a tougher time. The 26-year-old faced three batters, retiring one, before leaving. Both base runners scored on reliever Ramon Ortiz giving Gaub a final line of 1 1/3 innings, one hit, two runs, one walk and one strikeout.
Former Northwoods League players continue to break into the Major Leagues over the final stretch of the 2011 season. Former La Crosse Logger Jordan Pacheco made his Major League debut Tuesday night contributing to the Colorado Rockies’ come-from-behind 8-3 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pacheco, starting at third base and batting eighth, went 2-for-4 in the game and drove in two runs, including one on his RBI-single in the Rockies’ seven-run eighth inning.
Battle Creek Bombers right-handed pitcher Nolan Sanburn (Arkansas) was ranked as the top prospect in the Northwoods League this summer by both “Perfect Game USA” and “Baseball America”, who recently announced their annual prospect rankings. Perfect Gam ranked the Top 75 prospects from the Northwoods League while Baseball America ranked the Top 20 prospects from this past season in the NWL.
A former Northwoods League Most Valuable Player will soon be making his Major League debut for the Los Angeles Angels. Left-handed hitting first baseman Efren Navarro, who led the Rochester Honkers to the Northwoods League Championship in his MVP season of 2006, will be in uniform tonight for the Angels when they open a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins in Anaheim.
After six seasons in the minor leagues Neil Wagner can now call himself a Major Leaguer. The 27-year-old made his Major League Debut Tuesday night for the Oakland A’s in their 6-2 loss at Progressive Field against Cleveland. The 6-foot, 195-pound right-handed pitcher tossed a scoreless eighth inning, which started with a strikeout of Indians’ catcher Carlos Santana. Wagner’s top fastball in the inning registered at 98 MPH. In consecutive at-bats he faced two other Northwoods League alums. Jerad Head grounded out against Wagner and Jack Hannahan singled.
After a month of preliminary voting, Thunder Bay’s Port Arthur Stadium continues to gain support for title of “Canada’s Favourite Ballpark”. The home of the Northwoods League’s Thunder Bay Border Cats is currently in the finals of the online competition being conducted by Baseball Canada. One week remains in the voting between Port Arthur Stadium and Labatt Park of London, Ontario.
Another former Northwoods League player is now in the big leagues. Jerad Head made his Major League Debut Sunday afternoon for the Cleveland Indians in their 2-1 loss to Kansas City at Progressive Field. The 6-foot, 210-pound outfielder got the start in left field for Cleveland and batted ninth. The right-handed hitter picked up an infield single in the first at-bat of his career, sending a slow roller past Royals’ starting pitcher Bruce Chen towards the second baseman in the second inning. Head finished 1-for-3 in the game.
Mankato MoonDogs’ outfielder Shaun Cooper (Utah) continues to collect hardware. The Northwoods League’s Most Valuable Player in 2011 was recently named the Summer Player of the Year by Perfect Game USA. The baseball scouting service website considered players from more the 20 summer leagues for their postseason honors.
Former Northwoods League player Steve Edlefsen made his Major League Debut Sunday afternoon for the San Francisco Giants in their extra-innings 6-4 victory at Houston. The 6-foot 2-inch, 195-pound right hander struck out Clint Barmes, another Northwoods League alumnus, when he entered the game with two outs in the 5th inning. The 26-year-old pitched a hitless 6th inning as well to finish his debut with 1 1/3 perfect innings of relief with two strike outs.
