This may be but a ripple, but the MLBPA took the rare stance of standing up for future members by rejecting MLB’s 10-round proposal for the 2020 draft. While this does not preclude MLB from merely going with five rounds—the minimum negotiated last month—it may represent some dissension in MLB’s ranks, as clearly some teams would prefer more rounds, no doubt because it seems that very few draft picks will refuse to sign.
Durham 7 Syracuse 1 — 2013
• Maya (L, 0-3) 5⅔ IP, 5H, 5R, 5ER, 3BB, 2K, HR
• Abad ⅓ IP, 2H, R, ER, BB, 0K, 2-2 IR-S
• Perez 2-4, R, SB
• Rahl 1-3, 2B
Poor pitching from an aging veteran? Check. Too little offense? Check. Rinse, lather; repeat. With a 7-1 defeat to Durham, Syracuse lost for the 7th time in its last eight games and 12th time in 15 home games. Starter Yunesky Maya allowed five runs on five hits and three walks over five and 2/3rds innings to suffer his third loss in five starts. Eury Perez led the Chiefs hit column with a pair of singles, scoring the lone Syracuse run on Jeff Kobernus’s 8th-inning double that prevented back-to-back shutouts by Durham pitchers. 2013 would be the final year of the disaster known as Yunesky Maya, who finished 8-8 with a 3.87 ERA for the Chiefs and made his final MLB appearance later that month, coughing up two runs in the bottom of the 10th after Rafael Soriano’s third (of six) blown saves. Maya would kick around affiliated ball until 2016 and has been pitching in the Mexican Leagues since 2017.
Bowie 3 Harrisburg 2 – 2016
• Williams (L, 0-4) 5⅔ IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 4BB, 6K
• Glover 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Bautista 2-4, RBI
• Bostick 2-4, R, 2B
The Senators came up one vot..er, run short again as they were edged again by the BaySox, 3-2. Austen Williams rebounded from back-to-back poundings to toss five and 2/3rds innings of two-run ball, giving up six hits and four walks while striking out six, but lost for the fourth time. Down 3-1 in the 9th, Chris Bostick doubled and scored on a Neftali Soto single to left that turned into a Little-League two-bagger with an error. Soto would be stranded as a flyball and two whiffs ended the Harrisburg threat. Bostick and Bautista both went 2-for-4 to pace the Harrisburg offense. Koda Glover hit 99mph on the stadium gun while 86’ing two batters in his AA debut. While Glover’s rise from Potomac to Washington in a single season was not unprecedented, it was perhaps the first not borne out of desperation (*cough*)John Lannan(*cough*). Alas, injuries would soon come and he’d become the relief analog to Shawn Hill: unable to pitch in both April and September for the same team. He retired this past December at the age of 26.
Potomac 5 Winston-Salem 4 – 2015
• Bacus 4IP, 5H, 0R, 0BB, 5K
• Johansen (W, 1-1) 3#&8532; IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 6K
• Wooten 4-5, 2B, E(4)
• Perez 2-5, 2R, HR, RBI
The P-Nats got both timely hitting and took advantage of sloppy Dash defense in a three-run 6th, which proved to be the difference as they held off two late charges to win, 5-4 and stop a five-game losing streak. Dakota Bacus started and posted four goose eggs on the scoreboard before turning it over to Jake Johansen in the 5th. The Nats top pick in 2013 hit a bump in the 6th with two runs but finished with six whiffs over three and 2/3rds innings to earn the win. John Wooten led the hit parade with a 4-for-5 game while Stephen Perez homered scored twice in his return to High-A. The “Whitewall Ninja” would spend parts of four seasons with Potomac, with 2015 his last season pitching more innings as a starter than a reliever. Alas, there are no uniforms that look like dirty, sun-beaten vinyl or peeling paint, so he was unable to repeat the shtik at the Pfitz.
Hagerstown 4 Rome 2 – 2011
• Selik (W, 3-0) 6IP 8H 1R 1ER 0BB 7K
• Brown (S, 2) 3IP 1H 1R 1ER 1BB 2K
• Martinson 2-4, R, 3B, RBI, E
• Harper 1-3, R, HR, RBI
• Taylor 1-4, 2 OF assists (2B, HP)
Cameron Selik saw his scoreless inning streak stopped at 26 with a fourth-inning run by the Rome Braves, while Bryce Harper went deep for his organization-best sixth HR as the Suns beat the Braves 4-2. Harper’s big fly was the first peg in the picket fence the Suns posted on the scoreboard from the 6th to 8th innings, turning a 1-1 tie into a 4-1 lead. Every Hagerstown batter had a hit as the Suns pounded out 10 for the night and left only five men on base. Michael Taylor gunned down runners at second base and home plate as the RF while Harper played CF for the fifth time this season, collecting his 9th putout in as many chances.
The month of April 2011 may have been the pinnacle of Selik’s professional pitching career, as he went 3-0 with an 0.31 ERA and 30K in 29IP. He would pitch a career-high 120⅔ IP that season, but multiple injuries (shoulder, elbow) ended his playing career. He has since been coaching at the collegiate level, currently for Cal State San Bernadino.