Miners Acquire Cunniff from River City
August 3, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, IL - The Southern Illinois Miners announced today the trading of reliever Albert Ayala to the River City Rascals for reliever Brandon Cunniff.
"Brandon has been one of the premier relievers in our league this was an opportunity we didn't want to miss", Miners manager Mike Pinto said. "A power arm with the strikeout stuff helps the back end of our bullpen as well."
Cunniff, drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 27th round of the 2010 MLB Draft, was in his second season with the River City Rascals. This season, Cunniff is 2-0 with a 1.83 ERA in 28 games played. He recorded 14 saves in 34.1 innings pitched. He gave up 31 hits, 10 runs (seven earned), walked 11 and struck out 55 batters. Last season for River City, Cunniff finished at 4-0 with a 1.54 ERA in 44 games and recorded nine saves. In 46.2 innings pitched, he gave up 34 hits, 10 runs (eight earned), 24 walks and struck out 53 batters.
In 2010, Cunniff played for the Jamestown Jammers (A-, Marlins) of the New York Penn League and the GCL Marlins (Rk). For Jamestown, he pitched in one game. He pitched 2.2 innings, gave up three hits, one walk and allowed one run. He struck out four batters. For the GCL Marlins, He appeared in 18 games and went 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA. He recorded 5 saves in 34.2 innings, which he gave up 29 hits and 11 runs (nine earned). He walked six batters and struck out 36.
Ayala began the season with the Miners as the set up man to closer Max Peterson. Once Peterson's contract was sold to the Chicago White Sox, Ayala took over as the closer. He was 0-0 with 8 saves on the season. In 30 games he posted a 1.91 ERA and gave up seven runs. He registered 33 innings, gave up 19 hits, 14 walks and struck out 20 batters. Ayala played three seasons with the Worcester Tornadoes of the Can Am League prior to joining the Miners. Ayala began his professional career with the River City Rascals back in 2007 as a starter. He went 5-5 in 16 games with a 6.46 ERA.
In another move, the Miners signed right handed reliever Reese McGraw of Creighton University. "Reese has had success closing out games for Creighton against some of the top college hitters in the country as we expect he will have success in our bullpen as well", Miners manager Mike Pinto stated.
McGraw appeared in 4 games with the Abilene Prairie Dogs of the North American League. He threw 2 innings, gave up seven hits and four runs. He walked one and struck out two batters. McGraw is a product of Creighton University. This past season, McGraw was 4-6 with a 3.80 ERA. He appeared in 32 games and recorded 5 saves in 45 innings. He gave up 41 hits and allowed 24 runs, 19 of which were earned. He walked 12 batters and recorded 38 strikeouts.
The Miners have also released right handed reliever Ross Davis.
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