By George Farelli
Canadian Baseball Network
Each major league organization has four affiliated teams in action.

Each team has had roughly 13 position players step to the plate, multiplied by 120 minor-league affiliates and we have a ball park number of 1,550 position players.

And the best slugger of them all is INF Jamie Romak (London, Ont.) of the El Paso Chihuahuas. Heading into Wednesday’s play Romak had 10 homers in 70 at-bats three more than Ian Happ of Iowa Cubs and Alex Jackson of the Florida Fire Frogs. 

Romak played for Mike Lumley’s London Badgers before he was drafted in the fourth round of the 2003 draft by Atlanta Braves scout Lonnie Goldberg, now the Kansas City Royals scouting director.

This week, he hit .448 (13-for-29) to earn Canadian Baseball Network minor league player of the week hitting five homers with eight RBIs. Romak won the same honor in Week I.

Leading every hitter in the minors allowed him to finish ahead of Brett Siddall (Windsor, Ont.) of the class-A Stockton Ports (Athletics); RHP Nick Pivetta (Victoria, BC) Triple A  Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (scheduled to make his major league debut Sunday for the Phillies at Dodger Stadium) and RHP Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) class-A Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres). 

The top five with ties
Name Age Team League Level HRs Org ABs OPS
1. Jamie Romak 31 El Paso PCL AAA 10 SDP 70 1.249
(Drafted by Braves 4th round 2003 from London Badgers)

2, Ian Happ 22 Iowa PCL AAA 7 CHC 79 .887
(Drafted by the Cubs in the 1st round, ninth over-all, in 2015 from University of Cincinnati

3. Alex Jackson 21 Florida FLOR A+ 7 ATL 74 1.039
(Drafted by the Mariners in the 1st round, sixth over-all in 2014 draft from San Diego HS

4. O’Koyea Dickson 27 Oklahoma City PCL AAA 6 LAD 67 1.029
(Drafted by the Dodgers in the 12th round in 2011 MLB from Sonoma State University.

5. Ibandel Isabel 22 Rancho Cucamonga CALL A+ 6 LAD 61 .928
(Free agent signed by the Dodgers in 2013)

6.Bradley Jones 22 Lansing MIDW A 6 TOR 69 1.168
(Drafted by the Blue Jays in the 18th round in 2016 from College of Charleston).

7. Carlos Rincon 19 Great Lakes MIDW A 6 LAD 62 1.138        
(Free agent signed by the Dodgers in 2015)

How the week that was went for Romak:

_ Playing first base he singled in a 9-4 win over the Tacoma Rainers before 7,120 fans at Southwest University Park in the west Texas town of El Paso. LF Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) singled and walked for Tacoma. 

_ DHing he hit a solo homer off in the second inning in a 6-5 loss to Tacoma in front of 7,406 at Southwest University Park. Romak homered to left centre off a light tower -- his sixth of the season -- facing Dillon Overton for a 4-0 lead. O’Neill singled in the four-run seventh.

_ Playing first he went 4-for-5 with two homers -- No. 7 and 8 -- and four RBIs in an 11-8 loss to Tacoma before 8,672 fans at Southwest University Park. Romak hit a two-run homer to right off Brett Ash in the third for a 4-2 lead and again went deep to centre in the ninth with another two-run shot off Nick Hagadone. He also singled in the first and singled to centre in the eighth. O’Neill singled and stole two bases for the Rainers. 

_ Playing first he had two more hits including a solo homer and two RBIs in a 7-1 win over the Reno Aces before 9,054 at Southwest University Park. Romak hit his ninth homer, this one to left centre, in the seventh off Kaleb Fleck giving El Paso a 6-1 lead.   

_ At first base, he was 1-for-3 with a double, his fourth, in a 4-3 loss to Reno with 7,058 on hand at Southwest University Park.   

_ And in the finale, Romak was 3-for-5 including a double and a homer in a 7-2 win against Reno with 5,980 fans watching at Southwest University Park. He hit a line drive homer to left, his 10th, in the first as El Paso went up 1-0 facing Frank Duncan. He then singled leading off the third and doubled, his fifth, in the fifth and scored for a 6-0 lead. 

Romak also won Pacific Coast League Player of the Week honours. In six games, he hit .478 (11-for-23), tying for the lead in pro ball in home runs, total bases (28), while pacing Minor League Baseball’s highest classification in slugging (1.217), OPS (1.737) and runs scored (nine). Further, Romak got on-base at a .520 clip, drove in nine runs and walked twice compared to four strikeouts.

BEST OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCES
Player / Class / Team    AB    R    H    HR    RBI    AVG
Brett Siddall - A Stockton    20    5    9    1    3    .450
Jamie Romak - AAA El Paso    29    9    13    5    8    .448
Josh Naylor - A Lake Elsinore    30    8    12    2    8    .400
Vladimir Guerrero - A Lansing    25    6    10    1    4    .400
Daniel Pinero - A West Michigan    10    3    4    -    1    .400
Jacob Robson - A West Michigan    28    5    10    1    4    .357
Demi Orimoloye - A Wisconsin    28    9    9    2    5    .321
Jesse Hodges - A Myrtle Beach    22    4    7    1    5    .318
Gareth Morgan - A Clinton    16    2    5    -    2    .313
(Minimum 10 AB’s required.)     

                   
 
BEST PITCHING PERFORMANCES
NICK PIVETTA  RHP - AAA LEHIGH VALLEY IRON PIGS
APP  IP  H  R  ER  BB  K  W-L  SV  WHIP  WK ERA
1   6.0  4  1   1    1  11  1-0   -    0.83    1.50
 
For the third straight week, Nick Pivetta made an outstanding start for the Iron Pigs. On April 20th in a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Clippers, he pitched six strong innings gave up only four base hits and one earned run while striking out 11 Columbus hitters, to earn his third win of the season. This outing improved his Triple A International League record with Lehigh Valley to 3-0 with a 0.95 ERA, and it has earned him a call up to the Majors by Philadelphia Phillies. It’s not confirmed yet, but he’s slated to make his big league debut on Sunday April 30th. 

CAL QUANTRILL RHP - A LAKE ELSINORE STORM
APP  IP  H  R  ER  BB  K  W-L  SV  WHIP  WK ERA
1   5.1  5  2   1    -   6  1-0    -    0.98    1.76
 
To no one’s surprise, Cal Quantrill is fulfilling expectations in his second pro season with Single A Lake Elsinore. This week the highly touted Padres prospect had an excellent outing on April 20th in a 5-3 win by the Storm over the Inland Empire 66’ers, as he threw 5 1/3 innings gave up five base hits and only one earned run, while striking out six batters, to earn his second win of the new season. He improved his Single A California League record to 2-1 with a 4.11 ERA.
 
TRAVIS SEABROOKE  LHP - A DELMARVA SHOREBIRDS
APP  IP  H  R  ER  BB  K  W-L  SV  WHIP  WK ERA
2   10.0 11  2   2    6   8     -   -    1.70    1.80
 
Travis Seabrooke made two excellent starts this week for the Shorebirds, the first of which was on April 19th in a 6-1 win over Greensboro Grasshoppers. He pitched 5 2/3 innings, gave up five base hits and one earned run, while striking out six Greensboro batters, but was no involved in the decision. He followed up on April 24th in a 4-1 victory over Lakewood BlueClaws when he tossed 4 1/3 innings, gave up six base hits and only one earned run while striking out two Lakewood hitters, but again was not involved in the decision. These two outings improved in record with Delmarva in the Single A South Atlantic League to 1-1 with a
3.45 ERA.
 
DYLAN RHEAULT  RHP - A SAN JOSE GIANTS
APP  IP  H  R  ER  BB  K  W-L  SV  WHIP  WK ERA
3   3.1  2   -   -    3   3     -   -    1.61    0.00
 
A Free Agent, Dylan Rheault signed a Minor League contract with the San Francisco Giants in the off season, and is now working out of the bullpen for their Single A affiliate in San Jose, and proving that they made a wise move. This week he made three relief appearances, the first of which was on April 19th in a 3-0 loss to Visalia Rawhide, he pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, gave up zero hits while striking out one Visalia batter, but was not involved in the decision. On April 22nd in 7-0 loss to Stockton Ports, he threw one scoreless inning, gave up two base hits, while striking out two Stockton hitters but again, was not involved in the decision. His last appearance of the week, another scoreless outing, was on April 25th in a 9-1 loss to Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, when the tossed 2/3 giving up no hits and no runs, but for the third time was not involved in the decision. The three outings improved his bullpen record with San Jose Giants in the Single A California League to 0-0, with one save and a 1.93 ERA.

PLAYER MOVES AND TRANSACTIONS      
OF Jim Adduci (Burnaby, BC) - Called up to big league Roster by the Detroit Tigers from Triple A Toledo Mud Hens.
 
RHP Nick Pivetta (Victoria, BC) - Called up to big league Roster by Philadelphia Philles from Triple A Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.
 
LHP Evan Rutckyj (Windsor, Ont,) - Activated from Disabled List by New York Yankees at Double A Trenton Thunder.
 
LHP Connor Lillis-White (Toronto, Ont.) - Moved by Los Angeles Angels to Single A Inland Empire 66’ers from Rookie Class AZL Angels.
 
RHP Brock Dykxhoorn (Goderich, Ont.) - Moved by Houston Astros to Single A Tri City Valley Cats from Double A Corpus Christi Hooks.

2017 Canadian Baseball Network Players of the Week

Week I _ INF Jamie Romak (London, Ont.) El Paso.

Week II _ RHP Nick Pivetta (Victoria, BC) Lehigh Valley.

Week III _ INF Jamie Romak (London, Ont.) El Paso.