Minor League Update: Glendale Community College products on a roll of success
The following are updates on local baseball players at the minor league level.
Ryan Sherriff (Glendale Community College, 2011) Springfield Cardinals: As June concluded and July commenced, the left-handed reliever was mired in a slump, giving up seven runs in a span of five appearances and 8 2/3 innings.
Sherriff, playing for the double-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, has since done an about-face.
Beginning July 19, Sherriff started a span in which he’s allowed no runs and just two hits over five appearances and 5 2/3 innings. On Thursday, in a 6-2 loss to Arkansas, Sherriff tossed 1 1/3 innings of perfect ball with two strikeouts.
So far this season, Sherriff has appeared in a team-high 35 games out of the bullpen. He has a 2-5 record with two saves, a 2.42 earned-run average over 52 innings with 37 strikeouts to 17 walks and a 1.25 walks/hits per innings pitched.
Springfield was 17-23 in the second half of the season going into Friday, tied for third in the Texas League North standings, five games behind first-place Arkansas.
Michael Noteware (Glendale Community College, 2011) Gulf Coast League Yankees2: Life as a reliever can play tricks on a player’s earned-run average.
In Noteware’s case, he’s sporting a 3.86 ERA through 11 appearances in his rookie season as a professional. All seven runs Noteware’s allowed have come in two appearances, with two runs given up in an inning of work on July 23 and five runs allowed during a bumpy two-inning appearance on July 8.
Other than those two troubled spots that spoiled his ERA, Noteware has been outstanding.
On Thursday, he was perfect over 1 1/3 innings against the Gulf Coast Yankees1 in a 4-3 win, as he notched his third save of the season in the process.
Over his last three appearances, Noteware hasn’t allowed a run, has tallied two saves and given up just two hits and no walks in three combined innings of work with three strikeouts.
Noteware’s season line heading into play Friday sees him sporting a 1-0 record with three saves, a 3.86 ERA over 11 appearances and 16 1/3 innings to go along with19 strikeouts to just three walks.
Noteware’s Yankees2 squad leads the Gulf Coast League Northeast standings with a 21-15 record heading into Friday.
Fernando Valenzuela Jr. (St. Francis High, 2000) Leones de Yucatan: The former Golden Knight and Glendale Community College player is red hot right now south of the border.
Heading into Friday, Valenzuela, the son of the Los Angeles Dodgers icon, was eight for 13 in his last three games with three runs batted in and a run scored. Over his last 10 games, Valenzuela’s average continued to climb, as the left-hander is hitting .405 (15 for 37).
On the season, Valenzuela is hitting .312 (92 for 295) with 25 runs, 47 RBI, 14 doubles and seven home runs.
Starting at first base and hitting third on Thursday, Valenzuela accounted for both of his team’s runs in a 2-0 victory over the Piratas de Campeche. Valenzuela went three for four with a rare triple, scored a run and drove in a run. The win broke a mini losing skid of two games for Yucatan, which improved to 42-56 and climbed out of last place in the Mexican League North standings by half a game with the win. Heading into Friday night action, Yucatan was 42-56.
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Follow Grant Gordon on Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon.