Scott Diamond CBN POW, Week III

LHP Scott Diamond (Guelph, Ont.) who pitched during his formative years for Team Ontario and coach Danny Thmpson had a two-win week for the triple-A Durham Bulls to earn Canadian Baseball Network Player of the Week honors in Week III.

Scott Diamond knows his way around the ball field, the park, the yard or whatever you want to call it.

Especially that highest part of the diamond — the mound.

Diamond (Guelph, Ont.) owned the mound, when he was on it, this week picking up a pair wins for the triple-A Durham Bulls. They were two outings which would have made Crash Davis proud. Instead it was catcher Curt Casali, who caught both games.

With the two wins — and one earned run in 12 innings — Diamond was selected Canadian Baseball Network Player of the Week for Week III as the best of the 47 Canadians who have appeared in a minor-league game this season.

He beat out the likes of Phillippe Aumont (Aylmer, Que.) five scoreless, triple-A Lehigh Valley; Eric Wood (Pickering, Ont.) double-A Altoona two RBIs, .333;Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) class-A Bakersfield .300, two homers, six RBIs and Chris Leroux (Mississauga, Ont.) 3 1/3 scoreless triple-A Colorado Springs

A former Team Ontario lefty, Diamond pitched five scoreless in a 5-2 win over the rival Charlotte Knights before 7,979 fans at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Not the park where the movie Bull Durham was filmed it’s a new yard with a new diamond although the bull survived.

He allowed five hits: one single, in the first, two in the second — quickly followed up by a room service double play ball — one in the third and a lead-off double in the fourth but the runner was quickly erased after hitting a man when a grounder forced the lead runner at third. He worked a 1-2-3 fifth.

Diamond didn’t walk a man and struck out two in his 69-pitch (48 strike) effort.

Ex-Jay Eugenio Velez, who made it to class-A Lansing in 2005 before being claimed by the San Francisco Giants in the Rule V draft had two hits and knocked in a run in support of Diamond. DH J.P. Arencibia was hitless in four at-bats with four strikeouts and a walk.

Five days later Diamond pitched seven innings on the way to beating the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in front of 7,420 fans at Coca-Cola Park.

Diamond allowed four singles and two doubles. Edgar Duran doubled leading off the sixth, Diamond fielded Darin Mastroianni comebacker and threw out Duran at third. Mastroianni stole second and scored on a Tyler Hensondouble.

The lefty fanned four and threw 79 pitches (55 for strikes).

BEST OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCES FOR WEEK III
Player / Class / Team AB R H HR RBI AVG
Eric Wood – AA Altoona 15 4 5 – 2 .333
Pete Orr – AAA Colorado Springs 26 4 8 – 5 .308
Tyler O’Neill – A Bakersfield 20 3 6 2 6 .300
Stephen Wickens – AA Chattanooga 10 2 3 – 3 .300
Wes Darvill – A Myrtle Beach 15 2 4 – – .267
Jamie Romak – AAA Reno 20 2 5 – 1 .250
Taylor Green – AA Biloxi 20 2 5 – – .250
* Minimum 10 AB’s required to make list.

BEST PITCHING PERFORMANCES FOR WEEK III
PHILLIPPE AUMONT RHP – TRIPLE A LEHIGH VALLEY IRON PIGS
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
1 5.0 3 – – – 2 1-0 – 0.60 0.00
Although he’s made five game appearances so far this season the game on April 26th, a 3-1 victory over Buffalo Bisons, was Aumont’s first start of the season. He pitched five strong innings, gave up only three base hits and no runs, while striking out two Bison batters, to earn his first win of the year. Ironically, the losing pitcher in this game for Buffalo was his Canadian colleague Andrew Albers (North Battleford, Sask.), who also had an excellent game. Aumont’s current record with triple-A Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs now stands at 1-0 with a 1.06 ERA.

CHRIS LEROUX RHP – TRIPLE A COLORADO SPRINGS SKY SOX
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
1 3.1 2 – – 2 4 1-0 – 1.29 0.00
An off season free-agent signing by the Milwaukee Brewers, Leroux is currently working out of the bullpen with the Sky Sox. On April 27th he had a very good outing in a 7-0 victory the Iowa Cubs, he pitched three and a third scoreless innings, gave up just two base hits while striking out four Cubs batters, to earn his first win of the 2015 season. His current triple-A Pacific Coast League record is now 1-2 with a 4.15 ERA.

ETHAN ELIAS RHP – SINGLE A KANE COUNTY COUGARS
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
1 3.0 3 – – 1 4 1-0 – 1.33 0.00
A recent free-agent acquisition by the Arizona Diamondbacks out of the Indy Frontier League, Ethan Elias is taking advantage of his second chance with an affiliated team. On April 26th in a 3-2 victory over Cedar Rapids Kernels, he made a relief appearance in which he tossed three scoreless innings, surrendered just three hits and while striking out four Cedar Rapids hitters, and picked up his second win of the season. His overall record with Single A Kane County in the Midwest League is now 2-0 with a perfect 0.00 ERA.

SCOTT DIAMOND LHP – TRIPLE A DURHAM BULLS
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
2 12.0 11 1 1 – 6 2-0 – 0.92 0.75
With one simple goal in mind, which of course is getting recalled to the big Leagues, Diamond had a great week with Durham and picked up two wins in the process. On April 23rd in a 5-2 victory over Charlotte Knights he pitched five scoreless innings, gave up five hits and no runs, while striking out two Knights batters, to earn his first win of the season. On April 28th, he followed that up with another excellent start in 3-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, as he tossed seven strong innings, surrendered six base hits and only one earned run while striking out four Lehigh Valley hitters, to pick up his second win of the week. His record with the Bulls in the triple-A International League is now 2-0 with an excellent 1.29 ERA.

COLIN KLEVEN RHP – SINGLE A CLEARWATER THRESHERS
APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA
1 6.0 8 3 2 1 3 1-0 – 1.50 3.00
On April 24th in an 8-4 victory over Lakeland Tigers, Colin Kleven made his third start of the young season for Clearwater. He pitched six innings, gave up eight base hits and just two earned runs while striking out three Tigers hitters, to pick up his first win of the year. His record with the Single A Threshers in the Florida State League is now 1-1 with a 6.35 ERA.

Player Movement and Transactions Week III
OF Michael Saunders (Victoria, BC) – Called up to Major League Roster by Toronto Blue Jays, from rehab assignment at Single A Dunedin Blue Jays.

RHP Jim Henderson (Calgary, Alta.) – On rehab assignment, moved by Milwaukee Brewers to Double A Bilxoi Shuckers from Single A Brevard County Manatees.

INF Skyler Stromsmoe (Etzikom, Alta.) – Activated by the San Francisco Giants at Triple A Sacramento River Cats.

LHP Rob Zastryzny (Edmonton, Alta.) – Activated from the disabled list by the Chicago Cubs at Double A Tennessee Smokies.

RHP Brock Dykxhoorn (Goderich, Ont.) – Moved by the Houston Astros to Rookie Class Gulf Coast Astros, from Single A Quad Cities River Bandits.

LHP Evan Grills (Whitby, Ont.) – Placed on the temporary Inactive List by the Houston Astros at Single A Lancaster JetHawks.