CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

Published on April 10, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (1-1) @ KINSTON INDIANS (1-1)

Saturday, April 10, 2011, 1:30 p.m. ⌂ Grainger Stadium ⌂ Kinston, NC

Webcast available on www.wsdash.com 15 minutes before first pitch

Game No. 3 ⌂ Road Game No. 3 ⌂ 2011 Home Record 0-0 ⌂ 2011 Road Record 1-1

LHP Hector Santiago (-, -) @ RHP Clayton Cook (-, -)

Walking the Tightrope: The Dash picked up its first win of the season last night, a 3-2 triumph over the Indians in a game that lasted only eight innings because of rain. Winston overcame walking eight Kinston batters thanks to some clutch pitching performances in dicey situations. Dash pitchers held the K-Tribe to a .154 average (2 for 13) with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 men on base. Offensively, Jared Mitchell and Jose Martinez led the way. Mitchell hit a two-run home run in the first inning, his first professional long ball, while Martinez went 4 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. His four base hits tied a career high. Winston-Salem will go for the season-opening series victory in this afternoon's rubber game.

Hydro-Powered: Rain interfered with the Dash and K-Tribe for the second straight night, continuing a league-wide metrological trend. On Friday, the teams endured a 27-minute rain delay during the top of the ninth inning. Last night's precipitation was heavier and more persistent, lasting for more than an hour before the game was officially cut short. So far this season, six games of the eight scheduled have been affected by rain with three postponements.

We Went To Jared: After missing all of 2010 with an ankle injury, outfielder Jared Mitchell has not taken long to shake off the rust from his long layoff. After his home run last night, Mitchell is now 3 for 9 on the season with a single, a triple, a home run and four RBI. He is slugging .889 through two games. The fourth best prospect in the White Sox system according to Baseball America, Mitchell was drafted by Chicago with the 23rd overall pick in 2009. He was the MVP of the College World Series for national champion LSU that year and also won a BCS National Championship as a wide receiver on Les Miles' football team in 2008 (he caught 24 passes in his three seasons). Mitchell played in 34 games for Kannapolis in 2009, hitting .296 with 12 doubles and ten RBI.

Austin City Limits: Dash 3B Austin Yount made a good impression in his first game with the White Sox organization on Friday night. He hit a solo home run to spark the eighth inning rally that tied the game. It was Yount's first home run since August 30, 2009 when he was playing for the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League, a span of 586 days between homers. Yount signed as a free agent with the White Sox this past offseason after three years in the Dodgers system.

Tough Act to Follow: This year's Dash team will attempt to mimic the success enjoyed by the last few Winston-Salem outfits. Last year, the Dash finished 81-58, seven and a half games better than the next best Carolina League team. Winston won the Southern Division in both the first and second halves of the season and advanced to the Mills Cup Champion Series, where the team lost to Potomac three games to one. The Dash hit .288 as a team in 2010, the sixth best batting average in minor league baseball. Additionally, the team led the CL in runs scored, hits, home runs, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage. The Dash has finished with at least a share of first place in the Southern Division in the last four halves (going back to 2009), a feat that had not been accomplished since Wilmington last did it from 2001-02. The team has also made the playoffs in three consecutive seasons. Winston-Salem owns a league-record 11 Mills Cup Championships, but this season will be looking for its first since 2003.

Carmen Sandiego's kind of team: The Dash's opening day roster is strikingly diverse, geographically speaking. Winston's 25 players hail from 18 different states and five countries. The following states are represented by the Dash: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. The five countries represented are the United States, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela.

Me and Julio Down by the Ballyard: This series marks the full-season managerial debut for new Dash skipper Julio Vinas. The native Floridian returns to the organization that drafted him as an amateur 20 years ago when Vinas was a High School All-American. The White Sox selected Vinas in the 33rd round of the 1991 draft and he spent seven years in the Chicago system before finishing his playing career in the Orioles, Red Sox, and Indians organizations. Vinas spent eight years as a coach in the Orioles system, serving as both the team's field coordinator and hitting coordinator. He has previously managed on a fill-in basis for some of Baltimore's minor league teams in addition to teams in the Colombian and Venezuelan winter leagues. Vinas replaces former Dash skipper Joe McEwing, who won the Carolina League's "Manager of the Year" award in each of the last two seasons. McEwing is now managing the AAA Charlotte Knights. Vinas is joined on the coaching staff by pitching coach Bobby Thigpen (third season in Winston) and hitting coach Rob Sasser (fourth).

Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Clayton Cook, makes his Advanced-A debut this afternoon against the Dash. He is the youngest player on the Indians and will not turn 21 until July 23rd of this year. Cook is coming off a good 2010 season with low-A Lake County, his first year with a full-season team. He went 6-7 in 23 starts, but posted a solid 3.35 ERA (9th in the MWL) and held Midwest League batters to a .244 average. The Indians shut him down with a relatively minor shoulder injury in mid-August. Cook was 5-3 with a 2.79 ERA in 2009 with short-season Mahoning Valley, where he was a NYPL All-Star. He was selected in the ninth round of the 2008 draft out of Amarillo High School in Texas and reportedly signed for about $100,000 after he committed to the University of Oklahoma. He dominated in his final year of high school ball, striking out 170 batters in 98 innings while going 12-3 with a 1.98 ERA. He throws a four-seam fastball (91-93 mph), a two-seam fastball, a curveball, and a changeup.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from April 10, 2011


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