Kintzler, Faris talk Fall League
John Steinmiller is still hard at work in Arizona, filing updates to the Brewers’ front office MLBlog John & Cait… Plus Nine. Follow the links for more, but here are some highlights from Thursday that you may have missed while the Brewers were introducing Ron Roenicke at Miller Park.
Reliever Brandon Kintzler is still riding high at the end of a dream season. The former Independent Leaguer made his big league debut in September and is continuing to log innings in the AFL.
“This year has been a dream,” Kintzler said. “I set goals for myself and after I had surgery in 2006, I set a goal to be in the Fall League in 2007. I know it’s three years later that I am here, but it really has been a great year for me professionally. The fact that I was in the Big Leagues this year and I’m on the 40-man is great. I’m in a good position for next year and being here in the Fall League is really helping continue to develop.”
He credited pitching coach Rick Peterson for some mechanical adjustments that improved his velocity in September, and is working on another tweak this fall. Click over to John’s blog to read about it.
There’s also the story of infielder Eric Faris, one of the players using the Fall League to make up for time lost to injury. He missed three months of 2010 after a collision at home plate.
“Eric had a frustrating regular season,” said Mike Guerrero, the Surprise Rafters manager. ”For him to make that jump was great and then to have that injury was a blow to the work he put in to move up in the organization. Luckily he is here, healthy and performing.”
Guerrero’s presence in the clubhouse has helped Farris adapt to the Fall League.
“Mike makes things comfortable for me,” Farris said. ”I played for him a couple of seasons ago. He knows me and I know him which is great. He really pushes us to make the most out of this experience here. It has been a good thing having him here for me and the other Brewers guys on the team.”
Keep checking John’s and Cait’s blog for more updates from the AFL this week. It sounds like John is cooking up an interesting piece about Tony Diggs, one of the unheralded members of the Brewers’ player development operation.
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Adam McCalvy
