Hendricks, the lone player from the Crimson’s 2003 campaign currently in the minors, was assigned to the Diamondbacks short-season A ball affiliate Yakima Bears of the Northwest League after being selected in the 24th round by Arizona.
Hendricks is hitting a respectable .252-4-13 in 111 at-bats for the Bears, but struggling defensively with nine errors in 29 games while splitting time between first and third base.
Joining Hendricks on Yakima’s roster is former Princeton fireballer Ross Ohlendorf, the fourth-round selection of the Diamondbacks. Ohlendorf, however, joined the team late after signing just this week and has yet to pitch.
BEN CROCKETT ’02
The most high-profile of Harvard’s prospects, Crockett was assigned to the Visalia Oaks, the high-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies to open his third season of professional baseball. But after a very impressive showing at low-A Asheville (10-9, 2.49 ERA) that could have earned him a spot on the Rockies’ AA squad this spring, Crockett has struggled in the California League, posting a 2-9 record and a professional worst 6.26 ERA.
He has, however, once again proved his durability and usefulness as an inning eater, leading the staff with 109 1/3 innings pitched in 18 starts this season for the last place Oaks.
His best start of the season may have been his most recent. The 2002 Ivy Co-Pitcher of the Year allowed only four hits in the first six innings of Monday night’s game against Stockton, prompting Visalia manager Stu Cole to say he was “very pleased” with Crockett’s performance, despite the 24-year-old eventually being tagged with the loss.
Crockett was a third-round selection of the Rockies in the 2002 Amateur Draft, and in two years of minor league ball entering this season was a combined 14-16 with a 3.42 ERA over three levels while.
JOHN BIRTWELL ’01
Though not as well-known in baseball circles as Crockett, Birtwell is the former Harvard ace putting up the best numbers in the minor leagues.
In his first three minor league seasons in the Detroit Tigers organization, Birtwell was 12-8 with a 2.25 ERA while being used almost exclusively out of the bullpen. After earning recognition as the organization’s co-Pitcher of the Year in 2002, however, Birtwell pitched much of last season in pain with a frayed labrum that forced him to undergo corrective surgery last fall.
Birtwell, 25, was forced to sit out the beginning of the season, before making his debut for the high-A Lakeland Tigers of the Florida State League in mid April.
Birtwell has been as consistent as always, going 1-2 with a 2.67 ERA while striking out 21 batters in 27 innings of relief work.
AROUND THE HORN
Brian Lentz ’02-’03 is hitting .246-2-12 with 25 strikeouts in 69 at-bats for the Mariners high-A affiliate Inland Empire of the California League. He has spent most of the season backing up the more highly-rated 20-year old catching prospect Rene Rivera, prompting Lentz to tell the Press-Enterprise, “It’s tough. You’re not getting to play every day so you can’t see where you’re at as a player”….Kenon Ronz ’03, a first-team All-Ivy pitcher two seasons ago, is struggling in the Detroit Tigers farm system, posting a 1-5 record and 5.68 ERA despite a trademark stellar strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 4-to-1….rising junior Frank Herrmann is playing both ways for the NECBL’s Berkshire Dukes, posting a 2-1 record and a 2.38 ERA while also hitting .260-4-11 in 50 at-bats…The Ivy League’s top draft pick this season, Princeton outfielder B.J. Szymanski, is hitting .295-3-12 in just 45 at-bats for the rookie-level Billings Mustangs since signing with the Cincinnati Reds earlier this month. After about five weeks of negotiating, the Reds inked their second-round selection for a $750,000 signing bonus. Szymanski celebrated the signing by buying a new truck and then hitting a home run in his first professional game.
—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.