MINOR LEAGUE UPDATE:
GLENDALE — The following are updates on area athletes playing minor league baseball.
Trevor Bell (Crescenta Valley, 2005) Rancho Cucamonga Quakes pitcher: In a season full of ups and downs, Bell recently made news, not with his right arm, but with his generosity, as the 21-year old donated a check for $2,500 to the Red Cross in Iowa for flood-relief efforts.
“This is the least I could do,” Bell told The Gazette, a paper that covers the Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Eastern Iowa areas, early last week. “Especially for a city that’s done so much for me.”
Bell, who began the year with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Class-A Advanced squad in Rancho Cucamonga, was sent down to play for the Cedar Rapids Kernels in mid-June. He excelled there, going 1-0 with a 2.12 earned-run average. The exclamation point came on Tuesday, when he tossed a complete-game gem, notching the victory against Wisconsin.
On Thursday, Bell was called back up to the Quakes, where he had tallied a 5-6 mark and a 5.08 ERA in 13 games prior to going back to Cedar Rapids.
Sunday saw his return to the mound for the Quakes, as he came on in relief to start the seventh inning against High Desert with a 3-2 lead. After retiring the first two batters, he gave up two doubles, a triple and the lead in the process.
The Quakes came back in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead and Bell followed with a scoreless eighth en route to a Rancho Cucamonga win and evening his record at 6-6.
The Quakes are now 6-4 in the second half of the season, good enough for second place in the California League South Division.
Marco Estrada (Glendale Community College, 2003) Columbus Clippers pitcher: The 24-year-old starter turned in his best performances thus far for the Washington Nationals’ Triple-A squad, tossing six scoreless innings on Saturday in a 13-1 victory against Indianapolis. The former Vaquero allowed six hits, walked none and struck out three batters, while also knocking in three runs offensively on a two-run single and a bases-loaded walk.
In three games with Columbus since getting called up from Double-A Harrisburg, Estrada’s gone 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA in 18 innings pitched, having struck out 12 and walked three.
Columbus is now 44-37, and in second place in the International League West.
Michael Valadez (Glendale Community College, 2006) Lake County Captains catcher: The Class-A backstop was ejected, along with both squads’ pitchers and managers in a 4-3 loss to Hagerstown on Sunday.
Valadez, who went 0 for one with a run scored in the loss, was hit by a pitch in the sixth, leading to a bench-clearing incident — he wasn’t the first batter hit in the game.
Lake County, the Cleveland Indians farm club which is currently 4-7 in the second half of the season and in sixth place in the South Atlantic League Northern Division, was the first-half division winner.
Valadez, 22, is hitting .234 (25 of 107) on the season with 15 runs and 12 runs batted in. Over his last 10 games, he’s 11 of 33 (.333 avg.) with six runs, four RBI and three of his four season doubles.
Jason Hirsh (St. Francis, 2000) Colorado Springs Sky Sox pitcher: Hirsh’s journey back to the Majors continues to be a bit of a rough one.
Hirsh, 26, was charged with the loss on Thursday at Portland, giving up three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings pitched, as he struck out five, allowed five hits and walked four.
Hirsh has pitched in six games for the Triple-A Colorado Rockies affiliate, which is 41-41 and in last place in the Pacific Coast League Pacific North.
He has an 0-2 record with a 5.65 earned-run average, as he’s played the entire 2008 season in Colorado Springs after starting the year on the disabled list.
Eddie Camacho (Glendale Community College, 2002) Binghamton Mets pitcher: The former Vaquero gave up a run in one inning’s worth of work on Saturday for the New York Mets’ Double-A squad.
Binghamton is 45-36 in the Eastern League Northern Division.
For the year, Camacho has been borderline outstanding, going 3-2 in 27 games, tallying a 2.22 ERA in 44 2/3 innings.