Baseball Summer Update: July 15, 2016

Among the highlights in the latest update of Bradley Baseball players past and present, three former Braves have changed pro teams in the last week

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 7/15/2016 8:56:00 AM

The progress of nine Braves in the Pros and 11 current Bradley Baseball players competing in summer collegiate leagues once again is tracked in the weekly Bradley Baseball Summer Update. Three of Bradley's Braves in the Pros have recently moved to new teams.

Braves in the Pros

Joe Bircher (2009-12), LHP
Sioux Falls Canaries, American Association of Independent Professional Baseball
After earning his first win of the season July 6 with six solid innings in a 7-4 win versus Kansas City, Bircher fell to 1-6 on the year by allowing four runs in the first 7.0 innings of an 8-1 loss Thursday at St. Paul. Despite his record, Bircher leads the Sioux Falls starting pitchers and ranks ninth among all AAIPB starters with a 3.50 earned run average. He also ranks ninth in the league with 52 strikeouts.

Matt Dennis (2014-16), RHP
Grand Junction Rockies (COL), Rookie Pioneer League
Dennis has not pitched since improving to 3-2 on the season by earning a relief win Saturday against Ogden. After working around a pair of hits during a scoreless ninth inning of a tie game, Dennis earned the W when Grand Junction walked off with the 7-5 victory in the bottom of the ninth. Although his ERA sits a 6.23, Dennis has not allowed a run in six of his first eight pro apperances and he boasts eight strikeouts in 8.2 innings to date.

Chris Godinez (2012-15), IF
Charleston RiverDogs (NYY), Class A South Atlantic League
Having played 15 games for the Class A Short Season Staten Island Yankees, Godinez was promoted to the Class A South Atlantic League Charleston RiverDogs Thursday. Although he hit just .189 at Staten Island, Godinez continues to find ways to get on base, reaching safely in six of his last seven games and in 11 of his 15 games overall this year.

Jason Leblebijian (2010-12), IF
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (TOR), Double-A Eastern League
Leblebijian did not let the All-Star Break cool his bat: he returned from the break by belting a first-inning home run and adding a 10th-inning sacrifice fly in Thursday's 6-4 win at Portland. In 34 games since his promotion to Double-A, Leblebijian is batting .322 with four home runs and 19 RBI's.

Tyler Leffler (2013-16), IF
West Virginia Black Bears (PIT), Class A Short Season New York-Penn League
In his first action in more than a week, Leffler was 1-for-3 with a run scored as the starting second baseman in a 5-3 win against Auburn Thursday night. In nine games so far this summer, Leffler is batting .194.

Max Murphy (2012-14), OF
Fort Myers Miracle (MIN), Class A Advanced Florida State League
Murphy has remained on the 7-Day Disabled List all week and has not played since going 2-for-4 with a home run July 1. In 35 games since his promotion to Fort Myers, Murphy is bating .289 with five home runs.

Cameron Roegner (2012-16), LHP
Helena Brewers (MIL), Rookie Pioneer League
Roegner was promoted to Helena July 7 and has made one appearance in his first week in the Rookie Pioneer League, suffering the loss as the starting pitcher in a 10-0 loss to Billings. Roegner surrendered three runs, two earned, on three hits and two walks in 3.0 innings Monday. Roegner made four relief appearances for the Arizona League affiliate, allowing just one run on four hits in 9.0 innings.

Rob Scahill (2006-09), RHP
Colorado Springs Sky Sox (MIL), Triple-A Pacific Coast League
Designated for assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates July 3 and ultimately placed on waivers, Scahill was claimed by the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday and assigned to the franchise's Triple-A affiliate in a familiar location, Colorado Springs. While coming up through the Colorado Rockies organization, Scahill pitched in parts of three seasons for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox from 2012-14 when the Pacific Coast League team was the Rockies top affiliate.

Scahill, who pitched at the Major League level in five consecutive seasons, made 15 appearances for the Pirates this year without registering a decision. He was 0-2 with three saves and a 4.00 ERA in 13 appearances for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians before being placed on waivers. He is 4-4 with a 3.89 ERA in 84 career appearances in the Big Leagues for the Rockies and Pirates.

Mike Tauchman (2010-13), OF
Albuquerque Isotopes (COL), Triple-A Pacific Coast League
In the first game coming out of the All-Star break, Tauchman was 1-for-4 with a triple and a walk in Albuquerque's 12-8 win agianst Memphis Thursday night. Batting .266 on the season, Tauchman has hit safely in each of his last eight starts.

Summer Collegiate Leagues
Bradley has three players competing on three different teams in the Coastal Plain League, but none of their teams have faced each other yet. The first potential meeting of Bradley teammates could happen Tuesday night, when Allan Beer's Florence Redwolves host Luke Mangieri's Martinsville Mustangs. Additional highlights for seven of Bradley's 11 summer league players may be found below:

Allan Beer, Jr., RHP/IF
Florence (SC) Redwolves, Coastal Plain League
Beer (1-1) earned his first win of the summer Thursday night (stats unavailable) in an 8-1 win versus Savannah. He also showed off his two-way skills last Thursday by going 1-for-4 with two RBI's as the starting second baseman and allowing only one hit in 3.0 scorelesss innings as a relief pitcher in the same game.

Nick Green, Sr., IF
Bloomington (IL) Bobcats, Midwest Collegiate League
Green is batting .250 in 17 games and he easily paces the Bobcats with 11 stolen bases in 12 attempts. In the final game before the league All-Star break Saturday, Green was 2-for-3 with a double and three stolen bases in a 6-0 win against the Southland Vikings.

Luke Mangieri, So., IF
Martinsville (VA) Mustangs, Coastal Plain League
Mangieri is batting .268 and he is third on his team with 15 RBI and 15 walks.

Ben Olson, So., LHP
North Adams SteepleCats, New England Collegiate Baseball League
Olson (2-1) turned in his best outing of the summer Wednesday night, leading North Adams to a 2-0 win against Upper by allowing only two hits in 7.0 scoreless innings. Olson struck out a season-best six batters while lowering his season ERA to 2.59 in six starts this summer. While Olson has limited the opposition to two runs or fewer in five of his six starts, the SteepleCats have scored more than three runs in only one of his outings.

Matthew Richey, So., RHP
Springfield (IL) Sliders, Prospect League
Richey is 3-0 with a 2.64 ERA in eight appearances this summer, including seven as a starter.

Eric Scheuermann, Sr., RHP
Edenton (NC) Steamers, Coastal Plain League
Scheuermann has pitched one inning of relief since the last update. For the summer, he is 1-2 with a 3.79 ERA in 11 appearances totalling 19.0 innings.

Andy Shadid, So., OF
Hays (KS) Larks, Jayhawk League
Since enduring a 5-game hitless streak, Shadid has bounced back by hitting safely in four of his last six games, including the last three in a row. During a 3-game series against Liberal that ended Thursday night, Shadid was 3-for-11 with a home run and six RBI's, helping the Larks to a 2-games-to-1 series win.

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