You may have seen the lastest Gatorade commercial during Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game. If not you can view it on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqJz0NgnnE&feature=related. The Tacoma Rainers batter in the commercial is Brent Johnson. He played for the Madison Mallards in 2001. The commericial itself is ficitional, but an at-bat between Johnson and the pitcher Victor Santos would have taken place on April 17th in either the second or fourth inning when the Fresno Grizzlies hosted Tacoma in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. The commercial says that the at-bat happened in the 7th inning and the stat line posted for Johnson was also fictional. In fact, Johnson has played the bulk of the season at Double-A in Jackson, Tennessee with the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx of the Southern League. There he is hitting .314 in 45 games with 15 doubles, two home runs, and 21 RBI.

The Philadelphia Phillies recalled 2003 Duluth Huskies pitcher Joe Bisenius. He made the opening day roster with the Phillies in 2007 and appeared in only two games. He has not been in the big leagues since. The Phillies resume play tomorrow with a series in Florida against the Marlins. Bisenius has spent most of the season at Double-A where he is 2-3 with a 3.62 ERA pitching out of the bullpen for the Reading Phillies of the Eastern League. He had recently been promoted to Triple-A. Read more here.

Last week the San Diego Padres outrighted OF Paul McAnulty to Triple-A, which removed him from San Diego’s 40-Man Roster. He cleared waivers and accepted his assignment with the Portland Beavers. In his first five games he is 10-for-18, which is a .556 batting average. McAnulty shared the outfield with Detroit Tigers OF Curtis Granderson with the Mankato Mashers in 2001. Read more here.

Alexandria Beetles 2001 LHP Josh Newman experienced a similar fate to McAnulty last week. He was designated for assignment by the Colorado Rockies. Unlike McAnulty, Newman didn’t clear waivers. He was claimed by the Kansas City Royals, placed on their 40-Man Roster, and assigned to Triple-A Omaha. Read more here.

Alexandria Beetles 2002 RHP Carlos Muniz took advantage of the latest Pedro Martinez injury. Muniz pitched two scoreless innings of relief on Saturday when Martinez left after four innings with shoulder stiffness. The Mets had the lead through four innings and won the game 3-0 against Colorado, thus giving Muniz credit for his first Major League win.

A few NWL alumni re-joined active Major League rosters yesterday.

Former Austin Southern Minny Stars OF Josh Willingham was activated from the disabled list by the Florida Marlins. He’d been out of action for nearly two months with a lower back strain.

Former Alexandria Beetles RHP Carlos Muniz got another callup by the New York Mets. Claudio Vargas was designated for assignment after allowing four runs in the sixth inning of last night’s lopsided 11-0 defeat to the Seattle Mariners. That opens the door for Muniz who’s up for the third time this season.

Former Wisconsin Woodchucks SS Ben Zobrist has been recalled by the Tampa Bay Rays for what could turn out to be a short-term fix. Tampa Bay’s everyday shortstop Jason Bartlett is leaving the team for a couple days to be with his wife for the birth of their first child. Meanwhile, Tampa’s second baseman Akinori Iwamura is about to serve a three-game suspension. Zobrist is expected to see time at both shortstop and second base during the other players’ absence.

Former Kenosha Kroakers and Waterloo Bucks INF Clint Barmes was activated from the disabled list on Sunday by the Colorado Rockies. He’d done an admirable job for about a month filling in for injured Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki before injuring himself near the end of May. Barmes missed one month with a sprained knee. Both players have returned to the lineup so Barmes will compete for time at second base with Jeff Baker. Barmes leads the Rockies in hitting with a .338 batting average.

Former La Crosse Loggers RHP Max Scherzer was demoted to Triple-A about ten days ago. Soon thereafter he was placed on the minor league disabled list with a sore right shoulder.

Former Waterloo Bucks C Curtis Thigpen was demoted to Triple-A about ten day ago when starting C Greg Zaun returned to health. In limited action, Thigpen went 1-for-6.

RD - OVERALL - TEAM- NAME - COLLEGE - POSITION - NWL TEAM
7 - 214 - Oakland - Brett Hunter - Pepperdine - RHP - Alexandria ‘06
7 - 219 - Toronto - Eric Thames - Pepperdine - LF - La Crosse ‘07
8 - 246 - Minnesota - Jeff Lanning - New Orleans - C - Waterloo ‘06-07
8 - 248 - Milw. - Erik Komatsu - Cal St Fullerton - LF - Brainerd ‘06-07
8 - 251 - Chi. Cubs - James Leverton - Texas Tech - LHP - St. Cloud ‘06
8 - 253 - Detroit - Andy Dirks - Wichita St - CF - Brainerd ‘06-07
8 - 257 - Colorado - Kurt Yacko - Chapman - RHP - Green Bay ‘07
9 - 268 - Florida - Dan Jennings - Nebraska - LHP - Waterloo ‘06-07
9 - 269 - Cin. - David Sappelt - Coastal Carolina - OF - Battle Creek ‘07
10 - 306 - Minnesota - Evan Bigley - Dallas Baptist - LF - La Crosse ‘07
10 - 313 - Detroit - Robbie Weinhardt - Okla. St - RHP - St. Cloud ‘07
10 - 317 - Colorado - Stephen Dodson - Georgia - RHP -Madison ‘06
10 - 327 - San Fran. - Justin Fitzgerald - UC Davis - RHP - Wisc. ‘07
11 - 331 - Wash. - Marcus Jones - NC State - CF - Thunder Bay ‘06
11 - 332 - Houston - Jacob Priday - Missouri - RF - Eau Claire ‘05
12 - 362 - Houston - Jeff Hulett - Okal. Walt. - SS - St. Cloud ‘07-08
12 - 367 - LA Dodgers - Austin Yount - Stanford - 3B - St. Cloud ‘05
12 - 381 - Cleve. - Guido Fonseca - North. Iowa - RHP - Waterloo ‘06
13 - 402 - Seattle - Ryan Royster - UC Davis - CF - Brainerd ‘07
13 - 404 - NY Mets - Scott Shaw - Illinois - RHP - Waterloo ‘06-08
13 - 411 - Cleveland - Adam Abraham - Michigan - 3B - Mankato ‘07
14 - 417 - San Francisco - Caleb Curry - Iowa - CF - Alexandria ‘06-07
14 - 418 - Florida - Bryan Evans - UC Davis - RHP - Brainerd ‘07
14 - 425 - St. Louis - Charlie Cutler - California - C - St. Cloud ‘06
14 - 435 - San Diego - Rob Musgrave - Wichita St - LHP - Duluth ‘06
14 - 439 - LA Angels - Reyes Dorado - Arizona St - RHP - Rochester ‘07
15 - 447 - San Fran. - Daniel Cook - Florida Atlantic - 2B - Duluth ‘06
15 - 461 - Chi. Cubs - Casey Coleman - Fla. Gulf Coast - RHP - Alex. ‘07
16 - 476 - Balt. - Bobby Stevens - Northern Illinois - SS - Madison ‘07
16 - 496 - Phila. - Troy Hanzawa - San Diego St - SS - La Crosse ‘07
17 - 516 - Minnesota - Blake Martin - LSU - LHP - Wat./Wisc. ‘05, 07
18 - 535 - KC - Carlo Testa - Belmont - CF - Thu. Bay/Mad. ‘07-08
18 - 542 - Houston - David Flores - Cal St Sac. - 3B - Rochester ‘07
18 - 564 - Pitts. - Jason Haniger - Georgia Tech - C - Duluth ‘06-07
19 - 569 - Cincinnati - Mace Thurman - Baylor - LHP - Rochester ‘08
19 - 570 - Chi. Sox - Justin Kuehn - Santa Clara - RHP - Green Bay ‘07
19 - 575 - St. Louis - Xavier Scruggs - UNLV - 1B - Brainerd ‘07
19 - 587 - Colorado - Ben Orloff - UC Irvine - 2B - Brainerd ‘07
19 - 590 - NY Yankees - Mitch Abeita - Nebraska - C - Wisconsin ‘07
20 - 602 - Houston - Shea Robin - Vanderbilt - C - Waterloo ‘06
20 - 606 - Minn. - Aaron Barrett - Wabash Valley - RHP - Duluth ‘08
20 - 613 - Detroit - Ryan Lollis - Missouri - CF - Duluth ‘06
20 - 616 - Phila. - Eryk McConnell - NC State - RHP - Madison ‘06-07
20 - 620 - NY Yank. - Pat Venditte - Creighton - RHP - Wisconsin ‘07

Through 20 rounds that’s unofficially 64 players, which puts the Northwoods League on pace to have 160 of its alumni drafted this year.

I’m going to have to duck out of the draft shortly and begin to make my way to my cousin’s wedding tomorrow in Fargo, North Dakota. I’ll continue to add more picks to the blog this weekend if time allows.

Curt Carstensen
Director of Operations
Northwoods League

RD - OVERALL - TEAM- NAME - COLLEGE - POSITION - NWL TEAM
1A - 33 - NY Mets - Brad Holt - UNC Wilmington - RHP - La Crosse ‘07
3 - 78 - Tampa Bay - Jake Jefferies - UC Davis - C - Eau Claire ‘07
3 - 82 - San Fran. - Roger Kieschnick - Texas Tech - RF - St. Cloud ‘06
3 - 89 - Texas - Tim Murphy - UCLA - LHP - Duluth ‘06
3 - 98 - Seattle - Aaron Pribanic - Nebraska - RHP - Brainerd ‘07
3 - 111 - San Diego - Sawyer Carroll - Kentucky - RF - La Crosse ‘07
4 - 117 - San Francisco - Brandon Crawford - UCLA - SS - Mankato ‘05
4 - 120 - Chi. Sox - Drew O’Neil - Penn State - RHP - Battle Creek ‘07
4 - 132 - Seattle - Steven Hensley - Elon - RHP - Duluth ‘06
4 - 137 - Color. - Ethan Hollingsworth - W. Michigan - RHP - Alex. ‘08
4 - 141 - Cleve. - Dave Roberts - Long Beach St - RHP - Green Bay ‘07
5 - 154 - Oakland - Jason Christian - Michigan - SS - Mankato ‘07
5 - 155 - St. Louis - Jermaine Curtis - UCLA - 3B - Alexandria ‘06
5 - 156 - Minnesota - Nick Romero - San Diego St - 3B - La Crosse ‘06
5 - 161 - Chi. Cubs - Justin Bristow - East Carolina - RHP - Madison ‘07
6 - 173 - Tampa - Shane Dyer - Sth Mountain - RHP - Eau Claire ‘07-08
6 - 180 - Chi. Sox - Kenny Williams - Wichita St - CF - Duluth ‘05
6 - 183 - Texas - Richard Bleier - Fla. Gulf Coast - LHP - Alex. ‘07-08

Today and tomorrow are two of my favorite days of the year, at least as Northwoods League activities go. Today the 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft begins (1:00 PM Central on ESPN2). When it comes to the players in the Northwoods League, one of the League’s main objectives is to get these guys the experience in a minor league atmosphere to improve their draft status and accelerate their ability to succeed at the professional level. Today we’ll begin to see some of the success stories. It seems that year after year, more and more NWL alumni get selected in the early rounds. The NWL anticipates a very good first five rounds for it’s alumni.

Watch for these names in the early parts of the draft today and tomorrow. They played in the NWL for at least one season from 2005-2007. Each of them was listed in “Baseball America’s” Top 200.

Roger Kieschnick, OF, Texas Tech, St. Cloud River Bats
Brett Hunter, RHP, Pepperdine, Alexandria Beetles
Tim Murphy, LHP, UCLA, Duluth Huskies
Aaron Pribanic, RHP, Nebraska, Brainerd Blue Thunder
Eric Thames, OF, Pepperdine, La Crosse Loggers
Brad Holt, RHP, UNC Wilmington, La Crosse Loggers
Jason Christian, SS, Michigan, Mankato MoonDogs
Jake Jeffries, C, UC Davis, Eau Claire Express
Brandon Crawford, SS, UCLA, Mankato MoonDogs
Steven Hensley, RHP, Elon, Duluth Huskies
Justin Fitzgerald, RHP, UC Davis, Wisconsin Woodchucks
Xavier Scruggs, 1B, UNLV, Brainerd Blue Thunder
Bryan Evans, RHP, UC Davis, Brainerd Blue Thunder

Stay up to date with this year’s draft and the Northwoods League alumni getting picked right here on “The Hot Corner”.

Curt Carstensen
Director of Operations
Northwoods League

I try on a daily basis to check the Major League Baseball transaction wire. With the start of the Northwoods League season I’ve been focusing my time elsewhere and haven’t checked it in almost a week. Well, I was very pleased when I looked today.

Danny Herrera, known as Danny Ray Herrera to many, had his contracted “selected” today by the Cincinnati Reds. Less than three years ago he was pitching for the La Crosse Loggers. In 2005, the 5′8″, 145 pound (that’s not a misprint) left-hander joined the Loggers in early July. He appeared in seven games in the second half of the season going 5-1 with a 3.13 ERA.

Herrera was drafted by the Texas Rangers and quickly became one of their top prospects. He was traded to Cincinnati this offseason in the deal that sent American League Triple Crown and MVP contender Josh Hamilton to the Rangers.

With the call up of Herrera, 47 Northwoods League alumni have suited up in the Major Leagues.

For more on Herrera click here.

Several other NWL alumni have been listed in the transactions the last week or so. Blue Jays C/1B Curtis Thigpen was called up when Greg Zaun was placed on the DL. Rays SS Ben Zobrist had been activated from the disabled list but he has since been sent to AAA. Mets RHP Carlos Muniz was up and is now back down when the Mets activated Pedro Martinez over the weekend. Phillies OF T.J. Bohn is back in the minors after his second stint up with the big club. Rockies LHP Josh Newman had been up for a few weeks but was sent down recently. Twins RHP Pat Neshek was transferred from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list. He’s likely to miss the rest of the year with an arm injury. Rockies SS Clint Barmes, Blue Jays RHP Jeremy Accardo, Marlins OF Josh Willingham, and Blue Jays LHP Casey Janssen all currently are on the disabled list.

Overall there is more bad news than good news there with the majority of players being hurt or sent down. Still, especially in the last week or two, to see so many NWL alumni scattered on the MLB transactions means that a lot of players have made it already. Herrera becomes the first from the class of 2005.

Curt Carstensen
Director of Operations
Northwoods League

Former Alexandria Beetles RHP Carlos Muniz was called up by the New York Mets Tuesday. Muniz, who spent his 2002 summer in Alexandria, is back to the big league roster for the second time this season. He takes the place of Mets pitcher Matt Wise who hit the disabled list with a shoulder injury. Muniz made his Major League debut on September 25, 2007. He has a 2.84 ERA in five career relief appearances. In his first stint with the Mets in 2008, Muniz pitched in three games and didn’t allow a run in four innings of work.

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080527&content_id=2781571&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym