August 28, 2022

By George Farelli

Canadian Baseball Network

Forget using an Uber app ... and Konner Piotto will pass on being on the taxi squad too.

Piotto, signed by the Texas Rangers as an undrafted free agent after the 20-round 2021 draft, turned pro to play. And after being on the Rangers’ major-league taxi squad — taxi squad for July 4-6 and July 21-31 trips — he had a chance.

Prior to arriving with the class-A Hickory Crawdads, he had played one game with triple-A Round Rock Express, one with double-A Frisco Roughriders and one game with class-A Down East Wood Ducks.

Off the taxi squad, Piotto (Abbotsford, BC) played seven games for Hickory, leading all Canuck hitters in RBIs. That effort earned him a share of the Canadian Baseball Network minor league Player of the Week honours for Week XX.

Piotto shared top spot with RP Nick Trogrlic-Iverson (Oakville, Ont.) of the class-A Peoria Chiefs. On August 17, Trogrlic-Iverson, the former Langley Blaze and FieldHouse Pirate, entered the game in the seventh inning with the slimmest of margins and put up three zeros as Peoria edged the Quad Cities River Bandits 2-1 before 1,024 at Dozer Park.

He allowed one single and struck out four in his 42-pitch outing -- 29 strikes (69%).

Three days later, he was back on the mound, working four scoreless in a 6-2 loss against Quad Cities in front of 4,004. He allowed two base runners -- one walk, one hit -- as Trogrlic-Iverson fanned five.

He had a 56-pitch outing, throwing 37 strikes (66.1%). The two scoreless outings also earned him MiBL Pitcher of the Week for the Midwest league.

* * *

Piotto knocked in the most runs and had the fourth-highest batting average, behind INF Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) who batted .474 (9-for-19) with one RBI with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons.

Next were INF Dylan O’Rae (Sarnia, Ont.), of the Rookie-class Arizona Complex League Brewers, at .400 (6-for-15), the former Great Lake Canadian who was the first Canuck selected in July, drove in three and OF Dasan Brown (Oakville, Ont.), of the class-A Vancouver Canadians, who hit .364 (8-for-22) with two RBIs.

How it went for Piotto, a former Abbotsford Cardinal and FieldHouse Pirate, who hit .333 (6-for-18) ...

_ Batting ninth and catching, Piotto was 1-for-3 knocking in a pair of runs in a 3-2 loss to the Asheville Tourists before 1,095 fans at L. P. Frans Stadium. Piotto doubled to right knocking in the only two runs of the game for the Crawdads.

_ Catching and batting ninth, he was 1-for-2 with an RBI as Hickory beat the Greenville Drive 7-4 in front of 6,115 fans at Fleur Field at the West End. He singled on a line drive to right in the fourth and hit a scoring fly ball in the seventh to give Hickory a 7-1 lead.

_ Batting ninth and catching, he was 1-for-2 and drove in a run in a 7-0 win against the Winston-Salem Dash in front of 1,115 fans at Frans Stadium. Piotto was hit by a pitch in the third and doubled to right knocking in a run in the five-run seventh.

_ Catching and hitting ninth, he was 2-for-5 with three RBIs as Hickory lost 10-8 to Winston-Salem in front of 1,126 fans at Fans Stadium. Piotto singled leading off the fifth, hit a two-run double to centre and grounded out in the ninth to drive home a run.

_ Catching and hitting ninth, he was 1-for-3 as the Hudson Valley Renegades beat Hickory 6-3 before 3,487 fans at Dutchess Stadium. Piotto led off the third with a single to right.

_ Hitting ninth and catching he was 0-for-3 in a 15-1 loss to Hudson Valley in front of 4,155 at Dutchess Stadium.

Best Offence

Player Class Team AB R H HR RBI AVG

Otto Lopez AAA Buffalo 19 7 9 - 1 .474

Dylan O’Rae Rookie ACL Brewers 15 4 6 - 3 .400

Dasan Brown A Vancouver 22 5 8 - 2 .364

Konner Piotto A Hickory 18 3 6 - 7 .333

Adam Hall AA Bowie 13 1 4 - 1 .308

David Calabrese A Inland Empire 20 6 6 - 2 .300

Ethan Hunt IND Trois-Rivieres 16 1 7 - - .438

David Glaude IND Quebec 26 8 9 2 7 .346

M.A. Lebreux IND Quebec 21 5 7 - 1 .333

Tristan Pompey IND Quebec 19 4 6 - 1 .316

(Minimum 10 ABs)

Best Pitching

Nick Trogrlic-Iverson RHP - A Peoria Chiefs

GM W SV ER ERA H IP K WHIP

2 - 1 - 0.00 2 7.0 9 0.428

In only his second season of pro ball, Oakville native Nick Trogrlic-Iverson has quickly become a mainstay in the Peoria bullpen, and this week he made two more excellent relief appearances. The first was on Aug. 17, in a 2-1 win over the Quad Cities River Bandits, when he gave up only one base hit, pitching three scoreless innings, while striking out four hitters, to secure his fourth save of the year. He followed that up Aug. 20, in a 6-2 loss to the River Bandits, in which he surrendered one base hit, while striking out five in four scoreless innings. He was not involved in the final decision. His overall record in 26 High A Midwest League pitching appearances, covering 55 1/3 innings, now stands at 2-3 with four saves and a 3.25 ERA.

In recognition of his fine performance, Trogrlic-Iverson was named by the Minor League Baseball Network as High A Midwest League Pitcher of the Week between Aug. 15-21. No doubt, the St. Louis Cardinals are very pleased with their decision to sign Trogrlic-Iverson as a free agent late in 2020.

Player of the Week

Week I - INF Charles Leblanc (Laval, Que.) Marlins

Week II _ OF Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) A’s

Week III _ OF Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.) Brewers

Week IV _ RHP Landon Leach (Pickering, Ont,) Braves

Week V _ RHP Indigo Diaz (North Vancouver, BC), Braves

Week VI _ OF Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) Cubs

Week VII _ C Bo Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) Guardians

Weej VIII _ RHP Noah Skirrow (Stoney Creek, Ont.) Phillies.

Week IX _ OF Tanner Kirwer (Spruce Grove, Alta.) Mariners

Week X _ 3B Damiano Palmegiani (Surrey, BC) Blue Jays

Week XI _ RHP Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) Mariners