RHP Chris Leroux (Mississauga, Ont.) allowed 10 runs in less than two innings and the next day the Team Ontario grad was released by triple-A Buffalo Bisons.

Bad night on the mound turns into season-ending outing for Leroux

By Alexis Brudnicki
Canadian Baseball Network
Chris Leroux’s final outing in the Toronto Blue Jays organization was ugly.

He was just two starts removed from his best of the entire season, throwing 6 2/3 scoreless innings for the Buffalo Bisons against Rochester at home, allowing just three hits, walking two and striking out four.

“It’s a long season, so you have peaks and valleys,” Leroux said after that start against the Red Wings. “Hopefully I found something and I can end the season on a good note.”

That didn’t happen. The 32-year-old native of Mississauga, Ont., had had bad outings before, but his final start of the year is among the worst, and not just because of what happened on the mound.

Leroux took the hill to start the opening frame, again at home at Coca Cola Field, this time matching up against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the team with which he spent most of last season, and the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.

He had already thrown upwards of 60 more innings than he did last year, and the right-hander was approaching the point of hurling 40 more innings than he had ever thrown in any season in his entire career. With just one probable start remaining for the Bisons, he could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“This year’s been different because I’ve thrown 40 more innings than I ever have in my whole career for a season,” Leroux said before his fateful start. “It’s been different for me because my body’s tired, my arm’s tired, but the last couple of weeks have been good.

“I went through a little period where I really had to do some more work on my arm, to get massages and take a couple extra pills and all that stuff, but I think now I’ve kind of passed that.”

On the last Saturday night of August, he started the first inning with two quick groundouts. He hit the third batter, then allowed him to move after errantly throwing the ball away. A double followed, scoring one, and then a walk before another double scored two more. Leroux allowed a single, then another single, and finally a three-run home run before recording the final out of the frame.

The Bisons were behind by a touchdown before they even had a chance to bat. Jason Berken had begun to warm in the bullpen in the first, but Leroux would be sent back to the mound to start the second frame.

Maybe he was sent back out because it had happened before. The Pan Am Games gold medallist had allowed the Pawtucket Red Sox to plate seven runs in the third inning four starts earlier, and he eventually finished four frames, allowing those seven runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

“The other day, when we were in Pawtucket and I gave up seven runs in one inning, I felt good then too,” Leroux said, almost two weeks before the outing against Lehigh Valley. “I was making good pitches, and it was just a few unfortunate things that happened. I mean, I’ve been doing this a long time. I know that baseball can be crappy sometimes. You’ve just got to learn to roll with the punches.”

Saturday night against the Red Wings was different. Leroux didn’t have it, according to his teammates, and there was no way to roll with the punches. The right-hander couldn’t get out of the game quick enough.

In the second, he opened the frame by walking the first batter. He then induced a flyout before allowing a single, a run-scoring double, and another single, also plating an IronPig. The sixth batter of the inning popped up to second base for the second out, and at some point Leroux turned to the dugout and indicated that he should no longer be on the mound.

When Bisons manager Gary Allenson came to the hill for a mound visit, it appeared that Leroux had already made his own choice to leave the game, and he walked off the field. Berken came in with two runners on and allowed one to score, completing the starter’s line with 10 earned runs.

Buffalo’s bullpen was short that night. Bo Schultz had just been called up to the Blue Jays roster, another reliever was on Toronto’s watch list and they needed him to be available, Danny Barnes had thrown more than two innings the night before, and they needed Leroux to eat innings more than ever before.

He wasn’t the man for the job that Saturday night, and by the time the evening ended, he was a man without a job.

The Toronto Blue Jays released Leroux following the outing.

On Sunday, the Canadian national team hurler returned to the Buffalo clubhouse and made his way from locker to locker, former teammate to former teammate, issuing apologies all around. It certainly wasn’t he way he wanted to go out.

On Monday, Allenson was asked about the incident and Leroux’s release, and he opted not to comment.

Lefty Scott Diamond (Guelph, Ont.) a Team Ontario grad was a consistent starter at Buffalo this summer.

Diamond hopes his mid-season chance with the Blue Jays wasn’t his last
The final few weeks of the minor-league season became grind time in Buffalo.

With the Bisons out of playoff contention relatively early on, gears quickly shifted to thoughts of the off-season ahead, and September calls up to the big-league Blue Jays with roster expansions. Trying to stick to thinking about the current game at hand can easily go by the wayside.

“At this point, you’re thinking about everything,” Scott Diamond said before his third-to-last start with Buffalo. “You’re thinking about September, you’re thinking about the off-season, you’re thinking about next year, you’re thinking about what’s going on currently – it’s a wide range of things. It almost makes it a little more difficult coming down the stretch.”

Often, players who have spent time in the major leagues throughout the regular season have a better chance of being recalled in September. Diamond’s two days in Toronto, and one appearance out of the bullpen, were certainly not his best of the season, but still offer some hope that the man from Guelph, Ont., could find his way back to his home and native land when the Bisons are finished.

Through 27 starts with Buffalo, the 30-year-old southpaw has posted a 4.42 ERA over 161 innings with 30 walks and 96 strikeouts. If his six starts in the month of August are discounted, those numbers drop to a 3.42 ERA in 129 innings and 21 starts, with 21 walks and 70 strikeouts. In two days in Toronto, Diamond finished one frame. He walked the first two batters, allowed an RBI-double to the third, a run-scoring single to the next, and gave up one more run recording the inning’s three outs.

“That was my start day, and coming out of the ‘pen, the way I get ready for a game is completely different than that,” Diamond said. “I ended up getting there late, I had to stay at the hotel because they were still trying to make a [roster] move. So by the time I got to the field and tried to figure out what I was doing and what the routine was and get all my clothes and stuff, I felt a little unorganized.

“I talked to Dane Johnson, the bullpen coach, because at the time he was filling in for Pete [Walker, the pitching coach] and he told me that I would probably throw a ‘pen in the ninth if I wasn’t needed to come in behind [R.A.] Dickey that night.

“So I was anticipating that, and then when they called down in the ninth to tell me I was going in there, that’s when the heart rate increased and definitely the adrenaline kicked in. In the ‘pen I was throwing really well, and when I got out there I got out of rhythm and started overthinking, I couldn’t grip the ball for anything, and that was where my entire thought process was going rather than on executing. It made for a bad outing.”

Hoping for a chance to redeem himself, Dimond is positive that he will not run into the same kind of trouble in the future that he did in that ninth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies.

“That’s something you prepare for,” Diamond said of losing his grip. “You know going in that there might be a lot of rosin or mud rubbed up on the ball. I’m usually a guy who licks my fingers to try to get a little tack, and the combination of having a little nervousness, with cotton mouth, and then the loaded ball with rosin, makes for a good combo.

“So I walked [Carlos] Ruiz after being ahead 0-2, every pitch was up in the zone because I couldn’t stay on top of anything. By then it was just try to throw a strike, and I gave up a double in the gap, so not a good mentality, not a good place to be. But I know going back, if I had the opportunity to go back, I won’t make that mistake again.”

Content with his body of work for the season as an innings-eater, despite throwing more than ever and finding some difficulty when facing the same teams for the third or fourth time throughout the International League season, Diamond is looking forward to what the future may bring.

“Building off of last year, coming into this year, already being up with Toronto for two days, I would say my thought process is definitely different,” Diamond said of heading into free agency this winter. “I feel like I’m still competitive and have different roles that I could play if needed. Who knows? We have a ton of relievers here…anything could be happening.”

LHP Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, Ont.) an Ontario Prospects alumn is gearing up for postt-season play.

Kellogg continues college success in pro ball, despite differences in atmosphere
Playoff-bound with the South Bend Cubs in the Midwest League, the post-season is just the icing on the cake for Ryan Kellogg in his first full season of professional baseball.

Drafted by the Chicago organization in the fifth round last year after a successful collegiate career at Arizona State University, the 22-year-old left-hander helped South Bend on their dominant season run with a 3.18 ERA in 22 starts and 124 2/3 innings, walking 26 and striking out 101, and holding opponents to a .235 average.

“I feel like I’m starting to turn the page and get into it a little bit more and start to understand what I need to do out there,” Kellogg said. “I’m embracing my first full year in professional baseball and that transition.

“Last summer was nice to get my feet wet and go out and play in Eugene [with the short-season Emeralds team], but to have the full experience of this being my first full year, to go out there and make all your starts, be on that six-day rotation as opposed to the seven we had at school…and see what I need to do to keep myself prepared for every start has definitely been a growing opportunity for me.”

Kellogg has quickly seen differences between playing with the Sun Devils and venturing into the professional realm. While both have their benefits, there are occasionally some pieces of the college puzzle that the native of Whitby, Ont., misses in the pro atmosphere.

“I miss some of the guys,” he said. “The stuff you go through in college, you’re with those guys for so many hours every day and you’re all going through the same thing, whether it’s with all your schoolwork and practices, your early morning workouts, you do all these things that bring the guys together …

“Through college, you’re going to bond with those guys. Having that team atmosphere – obviously this is still a team game, but once you get to pro ball it’s a little bit more individualized, your stats versus the next guy, you’re still out there trying to compete the same way you were in college – it’s just the camaraderie.

“Those were the days, if you went out there and you pitched terribly but the team wins, obviously you’re a little upset but at the end of the day, the team got the win. Here, it’s like every day matters and every stat matters, and the atmosphere here is a little it more about the progression and the development.”

Aside from being away from the classroom – although not completely, with Kellogg currently working his way through his four final classes on his way to graduating in December with a degree in business management – life with the Cubs has definitely been enjoyable for Kellogg as well, living his dream of working his way up to the big leagues and continuing his baseball education along the way.

“I love being able to come out here every day,” the former Canadian Junior National Team member said. “This is the job, this is what we dreamed about growing up as kids. It may not be as glamourous as everybody thinks, but at the end of the day you’re out here playing baseball for a living. We get to come out here and compete every day. I can’t complain about that.

“It’s all part of the process and I’m grateful for now and taking full advantage of every opportunity I have here, meeting guys, seeing different walks of life. You have guys from different countries, Canada, USA, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican, Cuba, and just seeing how all these different guys play the game, learning what you can from these guys, having the ability to pick their brains about what they’ve learned in their countries, different pitches, you get to see their philosophies, so definitely a great way to learn about the game.”

Women’s National Team opens seventh World Cup against four-time defending champions
Team Canada opened play at the Women’s Baseball World Cup on Friday in Seoul, South Korea, with a matchup against the squad from Japan, also the team that walked away with gold medals at the last four WBWC competitions.

The Canadian women dropped their first game, but still have teams from India and Netherlands in their pool to play as they look to advance. Despite the loss, the squad’s manager Andre Lachance found positives in the outing as the team moves into its next game, facing India on Saturday.

“There’s little margin for error when you’re playing Japan,” Lachance told Baseball Canada. “If you give them the slightest bit of room, they normally take advantage of those types of situations and make you pay. There were a few situations like that tonight …

“We know we have to be mistake-free against them but they are beatable.”

Canada will be facing India for the first time in an international competition.

The Canadian squad features two women who have been a staple of the national team since its inception, with third baseman Ashley Stephenson and first baseman Kate Psota – both Burlington, Ont., residents – having participated at all seven World Cups, each in their 13th year in the program.

Team Canada is coming off a silver-medal finish at the Pan Am Games last summer, the first time women’s baseball was a part of a multi-sport event.

Rowan Wick (North Vancouver, BC) a former Vancouver Cannon has made a smooth conversion to the mound.

Arizona Fall League welcomes three players from north of the border
Three Canadians are headed to the desert this fall, with Eric Wood, Rowan Wick and Tyler O’Neill all selected by their organizations to play in the prospect-laden Arizona Fall League when their Double-A seasons come to an end.

In his second consecutive season with the Altoona Curve, Wood has posted a .253/.344/.453 slash line this season in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, to go with 16 home runs, five triples, 20 doubles and 50 RBI in 115 games. The 23-year-old Oshawa, Ont., native has a .947 fielding percentage in 945 2/3 innings at third base this season for the Curve. The former Ontario Blue Jays infielder was originally selected by the Pirates in the sixth round of the 2012 draft.

Outfielder-turned-pitcher Wick has been nothing short of dominant since making his way to the mound this season, after originally being selected in the ninth round in 2012 by the St. Louis Cardinals organization as a hitter. Before earning a promotion to Double-A Springfield, where the native of North Vancouver, BC has posted a 3.86 ERA in 20 games and 18 2/3 innings, holding opponents to a .194 average, the 23-year-old right-hander put up a 1.09 in Class-A Advanced Palm Beach over 23 appearances and 24 2/3 frames, walking just six batters, striking out 37, holding opponents to a .178 average and notching a 0.89 WHIP.

O’Neill, a 21-year-old outfielder from Maple Ridge, BC, has put together a campaign to remember for the Jackson Generals – an affiliate of the Seattle Mariners – this season, earning the team’s MVP award after hitting .295/.376/.512 with 24 home runs, four triples, 26 doubles, and driving in 101 runs in 128 Southern League games. After impressing on the Canadian Junior National Team during his high school and Langley Blaze years, O’Neill joined the senior squad at the Pan Am Games and Premier 12 last year, becoming a mainstay in an already-impressive lineup and earning a gold medal on home soil.

Brudnicki's Maple Nuggets: Diamond, Kellogg, Leroux, O'Neill, Wick, Wood