Amadeo Zazueta, shortstop the past season with the Coastal Bend Thunder, has been named one of the "Top 10 Talent" in independent league baseball by Baseball America.Although not selected among the Top 10, two other United League Baseball players, San Angelo third baseman Bryan Frichter and Amarillo pitcher Albert Ayala, were also among independent players named top talent by Baseball America.
Zazueta, 23, from Culiacan, Mexico, was originally signed by the Houston Astros. He played two years in the Venezuelan Summer League and was his team's Most Valuable Player in 2005.
He played with the Harlingen WhiteWings in 2008.
"He can flat play shortstop," declared veteran San Angelo field manager Doc Edwards. "Put him with a manager and he's got a chance to be a big league shortstop," Edwards said.
Frichter and San Angelo pitcher Brian Henschel, 33, Hartland, Wis., who was 11-3, with a 2.29 ERA. recently were named to the All Independent Team by Baseball America.
Frichter, 25, of Chalmette, La., was also named the ULB's Most Valuable Player for 2009. He batted .385 for the Colts and also was named Rookie of the Year in 2008.
Ayala, 23, a right-handed pitcher from Hialeah, Fla., , who joined the Amarillo Dillas late in the season, finished with a 2.09 ERA.
Players signed to affiliated clubs before the Aug. 13 deadline cutoff were not eligible to be named to the top talent.
That included Amarillo first baseman Trent Lockwood, who recently signed with the New York Yankees. The Waco native, who hit .315 for the Dillas last season, will report to the Yankees spring training camp in Tampa, Fla., next spring.
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