A pair of former Bradley Baseball teammates, outfielder Dan Brewer and pitcher Rob Scahill, were impressive in their new professional assignments last week, highlighting today's edition of the Braves in the Pros Update. Both players were eighth-round selections in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, Brewer by the New York Yankees in 2008 and Scahill by the Colorado Rockies earlier this month.
Following his appearance in last week's South Atlantic League All-Star Game as a representative of the Single A Charleston RiverDogs, Brewer was called up to the Class A Advanced Tampa Yankees in the Florida State League. He has hit safely in his first three games in Tampa, starting with a red-hot .500 (6-12) batting average for his new team while raising his overall season batting average to .333.
After singling in his first at-bat for Tampa Thursday, Brewer was 5-for-8 in Sunday's doubleheader split versus the St. Lucie Mets. St. Lucie held on for a 5-4 win in the opener when Brewer just missed a game-tying, two-out, two-run home run in the seventh inning, instead settling for an RBI ground rule double. In Tampa's 3-0 win in the nightcap, Brewer singled in the third, stole second and scored what proved to be the game-winning run on a single to right field.
An entertaining story of Brewer's promotion to Tampa can be read on the website of the Yankees' minor league affiliate: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090629&content_id=5595126&vkey=news_t587&fext=.jsp&sid=t587
Across the country in Pasco, Wash., Scahill made his pro debut Wednesday for the Tri-City Dust Devils by tossing 3.0 perfect innings to start a 2-1 victory versus Vancouver. Scahill faced the minimum nine hitters in his three-inning debut, striking out four. He struck out the leadoff hitter in each of his three innings and got four groundouts, meaning only one Vancouver player managed to get one of Scahill's pitches out of the infield.
Brewer has company in the Florida State League, where another one of his former Bradley teammates, second baseman Ryan Curry, plays for the Florida Marlins affiliate Jupiter Hammerheads. Although 0-for-4 Sunday, Curry did draw a walk and has reached base safely in five straight games for the Hammerheads. Bradley's all-time hits leader is batting .245 in 49 games at Jupiter.
Also playing at the Single A Advanced level, catcher Ryan Eigsti is batting .220 for the Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks in the Carolina League. Eigsti was 1-for-2 with two walks Sunday at Frederick and helped the Blue Rocks complete a big comeback in a 7-6 victory. He singled during a four-run eighth-inning outburst, then walked and scored the winning run to cap a three-run rally in the top of the ninth.
At the Double A level, pitcher Brandon Magee fell to 6-7 on the season by suffering the loss in a Thursday start for the Toronto Blue Jays affiliate New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Magee owns a 4.84 earned run average in 67.0 innings so far this season.
Elsewhere, former Bradley pitcher Brian Shouse remains on the disabled list for the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays, while rookie Collin Brennan is still looking for his first decision after two starts for the Gateway Grizzlies in the independent Frontier League.
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