RRS solid, Oeltjen hits again

Ryan Rowland-Smith made his 6th start of the season today, against the Yankees at Seattle. Facing up against veteran lefty Andy Pettitte was a tough matchup for the Mariners, and a challenge for RRS against the AL-East leading lineup. However, he was solid - going 7 innings and giving up only 3 hits and 2 earned runs. He struck out 5 while walking 2. Unfortunately, the Yankees staff was equally effective, and the Mariners could not get enough runs to win the game. The Yanks scored a couple off the Mariners' bullpen, and eventually New York went on to win 4-2, with RRS getting a no-decision.

With the Mariners trading away Jarrod Washburn, and with Erik Bedard suffering ANOTHER injury, Ryan is now effectively the third member of the Seattle rotation. It is great to see him finding some form again after being on the DL for so long. His next start is on Thursday (Friday in Oz) at Detroit, where he will matchup against Washburn. Should be a good battle!

Meanwhile, in Arizona, Trent Oeltjen got another hit (he was 1-for-4 on the day). This time against the Dodgers. The D-Backs won the game 4-1. Trent will line up for the D-Backs again tomorrow, as Arizona face off against Hiroki Kuroda. You can watch the game live on One HD.

Also, here is a bit of linkage for some articles about Trent - there are plenty of them at the moment:

• Sydney's Daily Telegraph features the Wizard of Oz
• The Phoenix New Times profiles Trent and has some good photos
• Ninemsn details Trent's call up to the Bigs
• Trent made it to the SMH's Fitz Files
• He will feature on This Week in Baseball this week (on air at 7pm Monday AEST)
  

Trent Oeltjen: hottest rookie in years?

So, Trent Oeltjen did it again today, going 4-for-4, and falling a homerun short of hitting the cycle. He had 2 singles, a double, and a triple, and also had a sac bunt, and a real solid catch.


After five starts, he is now hitting .500 (12-for-24) with 2 doubles, a triple and 3 home runs.

Wow! That is amazing.

Looking back at the start from recent Rookie of the Year winners, Oeltjen stacks up well. After 5 games he seems to be well ahead of the pack when it comes to the well renowned rookies of recent years.

For comparison purposes, lets compare how Oeltjen is doing against how some recent ROY winners did after 5 games:


This speaks for itself and is completely full of awesome. The issue of course will be how long Oeltjen can keep up his run, and whether he can balance out to post any sort of decent numbers in the long term.

Also worth noting is the fact that Oeltjen has hardly faced top of the league pitching. In his five games he has faced off against two widely recognised terrible teams in the Pirates and the Nationals, and another team rapidly descending into farce: the Mets. Now, I have nothing against Kevin Hart, Collin Balester, JD Martin, Mike Pelfrey and Livan Hernandez, but this is not exactly an allstar lineup. This weekend the D-Backs face LA before heading to Philadelphia next week; so Trent is likely to face some better pitching. These games are likely to give a fairer insight in to his abilities.

That said, someone like Oeltjen seems to be just what Arizona needs right now. For that matter, he could be just what Australian baseball needs right now too. It has been a pretty forgettable season for Arizona, they are well under .500, have been hit with some key injuries and dismissed their manager. But they have seemed to turn a corner of late; they have won 7 of their last 10 games, and have one 14 out of 25 games since the All Star break (.560). Realistically they have barely the slightest of chances of making the playoffs this year. All this explains perhaps why Oeltjen has been received so well.

And why wouldn't he be received well. He plays hard, can hit for contact and smack homeruns, can throw and catch, is quick as lightning, and plays the game with a smile on his face. Twitter is all a fluster with Arizonan women swooning over him. He has all the makings for being a superstar if he can keep the numbers game going.

And for Australian baseball, this would be another great shot in the arm. The Aussie team, which Oeltjen played a key part in, had some moderate success at the World Baseball Classic this year; there is talk of a new national league in Australia; and Major League Baseball finally has a home on free to air TV. With other sports like NRL constantly under criticism and bad press; and with the Aussie cricket team losing some of its aura, the time is ripe for baseball to grow into a power house sport again. Oeltjen could just be the man to head up this charge.

So, it remains to be seen whether he will live up to the early hype, but it is clear that this is a heck of an opportunity for Oeltjen, and for Australian baseball.

Trent Oeltjen making waves for the D-Backs

Trent Oeltjen has burst onto the MLB scene with a bang!


After being called up last week when the Diamondbacks placed regular outfielder Justin Upton on the DL, he has gone an amazing 8-for-20 with 3 homeruns, a double, and two stolen bags. Plus he picked up an outfield assist in his first game, throwing out Delwyn Young at second base.

It's a pretty hot start! And well deserved. Oeltjen has slogged it out in the minors for 9 years, in recent times having some pretty solid seasons at AAA for both the D-Backs affiliate Tucson Sidewinders/Reno Aces.

It is fantastic to have an Aussie positional player in MLB again. It has been more than a year since an Aussie position player had a game at MLB level; the last being Justin Huber for the Padres on 15 June 08. While it is nice and all to have a few pitchers doing the rounds, its great to see someone getting a start close to every day. And with Upton injured, and Chris Young dropped to AAA, this looks like a sweet opportunity for Oeltjen to make a good impression and land a spot for the future. It is clear that he has worked hard over the past few years, and you can tell from the smile on his face that he is happy to be in the big show.

"The last couple of days, I have to wake up and pinch myself," Oeltjen said. "They are getting to see highlights back home. I'm getting a lot of phone calls and messages. Everyone here has made me feel comfortable. I'm glad I can go out and help the team win a few games."

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Oeltjen's parents are looking to head over to the States to join in the fun. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but SMH reported that Oeltjen's dad John said that his debut was statistically the best debut since 1954.

You can watch an interview with him after today's win against the Mets, during which he smacked his third homer here. Funnily enough, he chose the classic Down Under by Men at Work to be his welcome music. Nice one.

With a bit of luck and more hard work, hopefully Oeltjen can cement a spot on the D-Backs roster.



To keep up with all the latest Aussie MLB news, it is well worth subscribing to Baseball Australia's The Pitch. You can do so by emailing majorleaguebaseball AT bigpond DOT com.

Three Aussies make opening day rosters, Balfour picks up first save

After all the challenges and preparation of spring, three Aussies made it onto opening day rosters in the Bigs - and all three are pitchers:

Balf picked up a save already, going 1.1 innings and striking out one against the Red Sox. Rowland-Smith is due to start tomorrow (just a few hours away) against the A's.

Eight Aussies in action today; Snelling, Moylan solid

A whopping eight Aussies appeared in spring training games today! Big effort.
It was a bit of a mixed bag though. Chris Snelling was good, hitting a three-run double and scoring a run for his new team the Padres. Also, Peter Moylan picked up a win, after not giving up any hits in one inning of work. Also appearing were Trent Oeltjen, Rich Thompson, Luke Hughes, Brad Harman, Grant Balfour and Scott Campbell. You can find links to the relevant box scores at the right of this page!

Interestingly Luke Hughes, who has usually played third base for the Twins, had a game a second base today. This could be a promising sign for him, as the Twins recently signed Joe Crede to play third, perhaps they are checking out whether Hughes can cut it at second? He is getting the job done with the bat though - he went 2-for-3 today and is batting .444 through spring training.

And yes, I have said nothing about the Aussies' loss to the Mexicans the other day. I'm hanging out for the 2013 Classic!

Ryan Rowland-Smith snaps M's losing streak, picks up two hits

Ryan Rowland-Smith pitched a solid 4 innings, giving up 5 hits and 2 runs, while striking out 3 and walking none, as the Mariners beat the Rockies 10-5. What's more, taking his first at bats in nearly ten years, Rowland-Smith went 2-for-2!

Fantastic.

Check out his second hit in the video below, and for more info check out the Seattle Times blog, which includes some commentary and an interview with Ryan.

Chris Snelling signs with the Padres

After a pretty solid WBC performance, Chris Snelling has signed a minor league deal with the Padres. Its a similar move to the one the Friars made last year with Justin Huber. The Padres are looking pretty woeful this year. Apparently Snelling will be given a chance to make the MLB roster. Their outfield is crowded, but you wouldn't say it is filled with stars. Fingers crossed he can replicate some of the pop he had at the WBC and at the Phillies last year.