MWL1 Beloit Sky Carp

Injuries Played Key Role in '08

Published on September 4, 2008 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Beloit Sky Carp News Release


Entering the 2008 season, the Snappers were primed for a very successful year. Considered by many to repeat as Western Division Champs, at the very least, Beloit's Opening Day roster had 11 returning players from the '07 team. Two of the 11 included 2006 first-rounder Chris Parmelee and '06 second-rounder Joe Benson, a couple of the Twins' highest rated prospects in their farm system.

Under new manager Nelson Prada, the Snappers got off to a surprising 2-7 start and finished the month of April with a record of 10-16. What looked like a promising season, started off on the wrong foot. Enter Ben Revere.

April 28th proved to be the most important day in the Snappers' season and maybe the most important day in the entire Midwest League. The Twins' sent their 2007 first-round draft pick Ben Revere to Beloit to begin his first full minor league season, and boy did the Snappers need it.

Ben struggled in his first game as a Snapper, committing a fielding error, misplaying another ball and going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against the South Bend Silver Hawks on April 28th. From that point on, the rest has been history.

The Snappers went 28-17 from the moment Revere was added until the end of the first half, finishing just three games out of a first half playoff spot. Still, the emergence of Revere and the Snappers had fans holding high hopes for the second half.

The Snaps got out to a fast start in the second half, winning seven of their first eight games. However, June 28th would mark the beginning of the end for the defending Western Division Champs. Chris Parmelee, Joe Benson and Jair Fernandez were all placed on the disabled list with injuries, forcing each one of them to be done for the season.

Beloit went 9-9 from that point until July 18th, when another big injury would end the season for the Snappers' biggest power threat. Deibinson Romero fractured his right leg on the 18th making a spectacular catch while falling into the home dugout. Romero's injury not only ended his season, but it also sent the Snappers into a downward spiral, something they would struggle to get out of for the remainder of the season. The Snappers lost eight of their next ten games to fall back to .500 (19-19) and in sixth place in the Western Division.

The Snaps hung around the .500 mark for the next couple weeks until a 2-6 road trip (8/16 - 8/24) sent them back in the standings and virtually out of second half playoff contention.

Beloit finished the second half right at .500 (35-35), five games out of the second half wild card spot. This season marked the first time since the Snappers have been affiliated with the Twins that they failed to reach the postseason. They did, however, finish with a 71-67 overall record, their third straight season of winning baseball.

All in all, the Snappers had 16 different injuries to deal with on top of seven promotions of their players to the Twins' High A Affiliate Fort Myers Miracle.

The '08 Snappers did have an impressive year on the individual side of things. Mike McCardell was the Twins' Minor League Player of the Month (June) for going 4-0 with a 2.45 ERA and David Bromberg ended up as the MWL leader in strikeouts with 177.

Statistically, everything seemed to take a back seat to Ben Revere's unbelievable run. The '07 first-rounder flirted with the .400 mark all season long and ended up with more awards than he could count. The speedy outfielder was awarded the following:


- Midwest League MVP
- Midwest League Prospect of the Year
- Midwest League All-Star
- Midwest League Post-Season All-Star
- Best Batting Prospect (Baseball America)
- Best Strike Zone Judgment (Baseball America)
- Fastest Baserunner (Baseball America)
- Most Exciting Player (Baseball America)
- Topps Co-Midwest League Player of the Month (May)
- Minnesota Twins Minor League Player of the Month (May)
- Brodie Trophy Player of the Year

The Snappers also had eleven MWL All-Stars:


- Steve Singleton
- Garrett Olson
- Danny Lehmann
- Ben Revere
- David Bromberg
- Spencer Steedley
- Steven Hirschfeld
- Matt Williams
- Chris Cates (replacement)
- Jair Fernandez (replacement)
- Loek Van Mil (replacement)

The most interesting story of the season, however, may have been the fact that the shortest and tallest players in all of professional baseball were teamed up together on the Snappers. Chris Cates (5'2 ½) and Loek Van Mil (7'1) made up for the largest height differential among teammates in all of professional sports. The two were featured in local publications around Beloit, the Minnesota Twins monthly magazine, Sports Illustrated and even made an appearance on ESPN's popular morning show "First Take." (click link below)

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3433976&categoryId=2378529

Final individual player statistics:


- Joe Benson hit .248 with 16 doubles and 17 stolen bases.
- Jeanfred Brito hit .234 with 37 hits and 15 runs.
- Chris Cates batted .252 with 103 hits and 39 RBIs.
- Estarlin De Los Santos hit .242 with 33 runs and 15 steals.
- Allan de San Miguel hit .269 with 22 runs and 25 RBIs.
- Mark Dolenc batted .260 with 101 hits and 31 stolen bases.
- Jair Fernandez hit .283 with eight doubles and 20 RBIs.
- Paul Kelly batted .321 with nine hits in seven games.
- Danny Lehmann hit .240 with 25 hits and 13 runs.
- Rene Leveret hit .286 with 52 hits and 34 RBIs.
- Ozzie Lewis batted .218 with 10 doubles and 23 RBIs.
- Garrett Olson hit .247 with 11 doubles and 32 runs.
- Chris Parmelee hit .239 with 14 home runs and 49 RBIs.
- Ben Petch batted .224 with 15 hits in 21 games.
- Ben Revere hit .375 with 129 hits and 44 steals.
- Juan Richardson hit .206 with 12 runs and 10 RBIs.
- Deibinson Romero batted .268 with 40 hits and 18 RBIs.
- Ramon Santana hit .241 with eight home runs and 26 RBIs.
- Eric Santiago hit .190 with four hits in six games.
- Andrew Schmiesing hit .230 with 41 hits and 22 RBIs.
- Steve Singleton hit .302 with 71 hits and 32 RBIs.
- Yangervis Solarte batted .218 with four doubles and 16 runs.
- Greg Yersich hit .225 with eight home runs and 36 runs.


- Mike Allen went 1-0 with a 1.75 ERA in 14 appearances.
- Chris Anderson was 2-0 with 17 strikeouts in 25 innings.
- Santos Arias went 5-6 with a 3.27 ERA and four saves.
- Danny Berlind was 4-4 with a 4.47 ERA in 52.1 innings.
- David Bromberg went 9-10 with 177 strikeouts in 150 innings.
- Blair Erickson went 1-3 with a 3.38 ERA in 18.2 innings.
- Danny Hernandez was 0-2 with a 7.98 ERA in 26 appearances.
- Steven Hirschfeld went 10-5 with a 3.30 ERA in 109 innings.
- Shooter Hunt was 1-4 with a 5.46 ERA in 31.1 innings.
- Brian Kirwan was 4-4 with a 4.98 ERA in 12 starts.
- Blake Martin went 1-2 with a 3.18 ERA in 28.1 innings.
- Mike McCardell was 9-4 with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP.
- Charles Nolte went 4-3 with a 2.05 ERA in 70.1 innings.
- Henry Reyes went 3-3 with a 5.04 ERA in 17 games.
- Dominique Rodgers was 0-0 with a 2.61 ERA in 10.1 innings.
- Spencer Steedley went 5-3 with a 2.14 ERA in 46.1 innings.
- Michael Tarsi was 6-11 with a 5.13 ERA in 131.2 innings.
- Brad Tippett went 2-1 with a 4.24 ERA in 17 innings.
- Loek Van Mil went 2-2 with a 3.22 ERA in 44.2 innings.
- Matt Williams was 2-0 with a 2.09 ERA and seven saves.

Check out the Beloit Sky Carp Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from September 4, 2008


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