AFLers rack up K's for Joe Niekro Foundation
Yesterday was a really good day for the Joe Niekro Foundation in the AFL.
As a reminder, the Arizona Fall League is teaming up with the Joe Niekro Foundation for a great fundraiser/awareness-raiser this week. Any pitcher from one of the seven organizations Joe Niekro pitched for who strikes out a batter this week helps raise money for aneurysm awareness and research. Four sponsors have agreed to donate $36 (Niekro's number during his playing days) per strikeout. That's $144 per K.
It got more interesting when the Cubs' VP of Player Personnel Oneri Fleita stepped up to pledge he'd make a donation if his Cubs pitchers struck out the most batters for the week. I'm still hoping others from the other clubs will do the same and I'll update on here if/when they step up like Fleita did.
So lets take a look at yesterday's strikeout action. Something tells me the Cubs will be moving up the standings we've been running.
Andrew Cashner, Cubs (Solar Sox) -- 4 K
Steve Hirschfeld, Twins (Solar Sox) -- 2 K
Brandon Gomes, Padres (Saguaros) -- 2 K
Craig Kimbrel, Braves (Saguaros) -- 2 K
Zach Kroenke, Yankees (Rafters) -- 2 K
Steve Garrison, Padres (Saguaros) -- 1 K
Lee Hyde, Braves (Saguaros) -- 1 K
Michael Dunn, Yankees (Rafters) -- 1 K
Day Total: 15 K x $144 per K = $2160
Grand Total: 32 K = $4608
Those 15 K's are the highest day total of the three and nearly doubled the overall total of funds raised for the week. Nice going to this group of arms. Today, the Astros' Wilton Lopez starts for the Saguaros. Here are the team standings after yesterday's games:
Tigers -- 7 K
Twins -- 7 K
Cubs -- 5 K
Yankees -- 4 K
Astros -- 3 K
Padres -- 3 K
Braves -- 3 K
As for Star of the Day, I think I need to just stop it and rename it the Grant Desme Award.
And give it to the A's outfielder every day. He hit two more homers yesterday. That 10 in his last 10 games. He's only four off the record, set by Brandon Wood in 2005. I wonder if B-Wood, a Scottsdale native, will go to the game when his record is broken. Baseball hasn't been so good lately with people showing up for their records being broken. Hank Aaron didn't want to come to watch Barry Bonds; Ty Cobb wasn't there for Pete Rose's hit (I'm sorry, what's that? He wasn't alive? Had been gone for years? Umm, never mind).
Anyway... Desme now leads the AFL in pretty much everything: Average (.469), OBP (.544), SLG (1.143), OPS (1.687), HR (10), RBI (22), Runs (19), Hits (23), Total Bases (56). Yes, it's just 12 games, but what a dozen it's been!
While Aaron Crow made a pretty decent AFL debut yesterday, Andrew Cashner has to be the top pitcher, not only for adding four strikeouts to the Joe Niekro Foundation total, but for tossing four hitless innings.
As for Crow's outing, he started strong, then faded a tiny bit. That's to be expected in that he'd pitched in a handful of instructs outings and hadn't gone more than two innings. After walking the first batter he faced, he retired eight in a row and was extremely pitch efficient. Then he gave up a single run in the third and fourth innings. Final line: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. He got six ground ball outs, a good sign for sure. The Pitch FX on Gameday had the 12th overall pick of the 2009 Draft throwing his four-seam fastball in the 90-94 mph range, while he threw a slider around 84-86 mph, a changeup in roughly the same range, and something identified as a sinker (was it a two-seamer?) at 90 mph. He threw 59 pitches, 38 for strikes.
As a reminder, the Arizona Fall League is teaming up with the Joe Niekro Foundation for a great fundraiser/awareness-raiser this week. Any pitcher from one of the seven organizations Joe Niekro pitched for who strikes out a batter this week helps raise money for aneurysm awareness and research. Four sponsors have agreed to donate $36 (Niekro's number during his playing days) per strikeout. That's $144 per K.
It got more interesting when the Cubs' VP of Player Personnel Oneri Fleita stepped up to pledge he'd make a donation if his Cubs pitchers struck out the most batters for the week. I'm still hoping others from the other clubs will do the same and I'll update on here if/when they step up like Fleita did.
So lets take a look at yesterday's strikeout action. Something tells me the Cubs will be moving up the standings we've been running.
Andrew Cashner, Cubs (Solar Sox) -- 4 K
Steve Hirschfeld, Twins (Solar Sox) -- 2 K
Brandon Gomes, Padres (Saguaros) -- 2 K
Craig Kimbrel, Braves (Saguaros) -- 2 K
Zach Kroenke, Yankees (Rafters) -- 2 K
Steve Garrison, Padres (Saguaros) -- 1 K
Lee Hyde, Braves (Saguaros) -- 1 K
Michael Dunn, Yankees (Rafters) -- 1 K
Day Total: 15 K x $144 per K = $2160
Grand Total: 32 K = $4608
Those 15 K's are the highest day total of the three and nearly doubled the overall total of funds raised for the week. Nice going to this group of arms. Today, the Astros' Wilton Lopez starts for the Saguaros. Here are the team standings after yesterday's games:
Tigers -- 7 K
Twins -- 7 K
Cubs -- 5 K
Yankees -- 4 K
Astros -- 3 K
Padres -- 3 K
Braves -- 3 K
As for Star of the Day, I think I need to just stop it and rename it the Grant Desme Award.
And give it to the A's outfielder every day. He hit two more homers yesterday. That 10 in his last 10 games. He's only four off the record, set by Brandon Wood in 2005. I wonder if B-Wood, a Scottsdale native, will go to the game when his record is broken. Baseball hasn't been so good lately with people showing up for their records being broken. Hank Aaron didn't want to come to watch Barry Bonds; Ty Cobb wasn't there for Pete Rose's hit (I'm sorry, what's that? He wasn't alive? Had been gone for years? Umm, never mind). Anyway... Desme now leads the AFL in pretty much everything: Average (.469), OBP (.544), SLG (1.143), OPS (1.687), HR (10), RBI (22), Runs (19), Hits (23), Total Bases (56). Yes, it's just 12 games, but what a dozen it's been!
While Aaron Crow made a pretty decent AFL debut yesterday, Andrew Cashner has to be the top pitcher, not only for adding four strikeouts to the Joe Niekro Foundation total, but for tossing four hitless innings.
As for Crow's outing, he started strong, then faded a tiny bit. That's to be expected in that he'd pitched in a handful of instructs outings and hadn't gone more than two innings. After walking the first batter he faced, he retired eight in a row and was extremely pitch efficient. Then he gave up a single run in the third and fourth innings. Final line: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. He got six ground ball outs, a good sign for sure. The Pitch FX on Gameday had the 12th overall pick of the 2009 Draft throwing his four-seam fastball in the 90-94 mph range, while he threw a slider around 84-86 mph, a changeup in roughly the same range, and something identified as a sinker (was it a two-seamer?) at 90 mph. He threw 59 pitches, 38 for strikes.
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