TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Naturals Aim to Continue Mastery of Hooks

Published on July 3, 2011 under Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


SPRINGDALE, AR - In each of the first three years of the team's existence, the Naturals posted an 8-4 record against the Corpus Christi Hooks. After a strong start to the year against Corpus Christi, the Naturals have a chance to better that mark in 2011.

The Naturals faced the Hooks at Arvest Ballpark during the first homestand of the season and won all three games, notching a pair of one-run victories before a 14-4 blowout in the series finale. One week later, the Naturals took two of three down at Whataburger Field, finishing the first half 5-1 against the Hooks.

As this series begins, the Naturals will look to build on momentum from Saturday night's 4-1 win over the San Antonio Missions that snapped a seven-game losing streak. Will Smith set the tone early with a four-pitch third inning, going on to fire 6 2/3 frames of one-run ball with a season-high nine strikeouts. Wil Myers delivered what proved to be the winning run with an RBI double in the fifth, while Salvador Perez launched his fifth home run of the season to provide an insurance run.

It has been nearly three months since the Naturals and Hooks last squared off, and as such, Corpus Christi's roster has a different look to the one that visited Arvest Ballpark back in April. One of the biggest additions to the club is perhaps the smallest man in all of minor league baseball, infielder Jose Altuve. Generously listed at 5'7", 170, Altuve joined Corpus Christi at the beginning of June after hitting .408 for the Lancaster JetHawks over the season's first two months. Since arriving in the Texas League, Altuve has hit a robust .367 with eight doubles and four homers. A great contact hitter, Altuve has only struck out 10 times in 120 Double-A at bats.

Another one of Houston's prospects that has made the jump to Double-A in recent weeks is shortstop Jonathan Villar. Hitting .211 through 23 games with the Hooks, Villar has not had the immediate success of Altuve, but the 20-year-old native of the Dominican Republic has plenty of time to develop. Villar is thought to have gold glove potential at short, although he has struggled in his professional career to date, leading Class-A in errors last season. Offensively, the Hooks' have struggled at times this season, though Jimmy Paredes (.268, 16 2B, 24 SB), Jimmy Van Ostrand (.298, 18 2B, 7 HR) and J.D. Martinez (.329, 18 2B, 6 HR, 48 RBI) have all had solid campaigns.

The series gets underway on Sunday with the opener set to start at 6:00. Left-hander Edgar Osuna (6-3, 7.36) will look to recapture the form he had in mid-June, when he fired two consecutive scoreless outings of five innings or more. He'll oppose former Arkansas Razorback Dallas Keuchel (6-6, 2.72), who finds himself near the top of the Texas League leaderboard in ERA.

On Independence Day, Manauris Baez (1-0, 4.84) will make a spot start for the Naturals against the Hooks' Xavier Cedeno (4-5, 3.54), who racked up a whopping 14 strikeouts against Frisco in his last start. The Naturals handled Cedeno in two previous outings.

The series and homestand conclude on Tuesday night, as Chris Dwyer (2-8, 6.16) is set to start for the Naturals against right-hander Jonnathan Aristil (3-6, 5.88).

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark, located in Springdale. Visit our website, nwanaturals.com, for information on season tickets and ticket plans.

Check out the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Statistics

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Texas League Stories from July 3, 2011


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