Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

Delmarva’s rotation has changed, as noted below, since this preview was first posted.

South Atlantic League baseball

Coming up

Lexington Legends vs. Delmarva Shorebirds

What: Four-game series

When: Monday through Thursday (7:05 each night)

Where: Arthur W. Perdue Stadium (Salisbury, Md.)

Probable pitcher (Legends listed first): Monday, RH Kyle Greenwalt (7-7, 3.30) vs. LH Nathan Moreau (2-2, 4.32); Tuesday, LH Brad Dydalewicz (5-3, 3.24) vs. LH Cole McMurray (3-7, 3.75); Wednesday, LH David Duncan (1-0, 9.00) vs. RH Ryan O’Shea (5-5, 3.75); Thursday, RH Robert Bono (8-5, 2.58) vs. RH Oliver Drake (4-6, 4.03).

Shorebird to watch: All-star RF Ronnie Welty (6-foot-2, 180 pounds, from Gilbert, Ariz.) leads Delmarva with a .301 batting average, 82 hits and 115 total bases, and shares the team lead of 40 RBI. He also has six homers, five stolen bases and 41 runs scored, with no errors, over 76 games. He is hitting .395 against left-handers, .265 versus righties. Originally drafted by the Angels in 2006 out of Mesquite High School (37th round), Welty instead played two seasons for Chandler-Gilbert Community College, then signed with Oral Roberts University. He wound up being selected by the Orioles in the 20th round of the 2008 draft. Playing for the rookie-league Bluefield Orioles last season, he hit .314 with three homers and 34 RBI over 55 games en route to earning Appalachian League post-season all-star honors.

Chris Jackson

Legend to watch: SS Chris Jackson (5-11, 185, from Midlothian, Va.) joined the Legends last week after starting the season with the High-A Lancaster JetHawks of the California League. Over 58 games, Jackson hit .183 with a homer and 15 RBI, so he traded roster spots with Legends IF Ronnie Ramirez. In his first three games of the season with the Legends, Jackson is 4-for-10 (including a triple) with a run and an RBI. Selected by the Astros in the 29th round of the 2008 draft, out of Virginia Commonwealth University, Jackson broke in last season by playing 22 games with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League. There, he hit .257 with a homer and nine RBI. He was promoted to the Legends, where he hit .244 over 23 games, notching a homer, seven RBI and six stolen bases. He closed the season with eight hits in his last 16 at-bats.

Radio: WLXG AM-1300

Ashton Mowdy

The Lexington Legends, 9-5 winners over the Savannah Sand Gnats on a beautiful Thursday night at Applebee’s Park, lost one of their top relief pitchers after the game.

Kirkland Rivers

RH Ashton Mowdy has been promoted to High-A Lancaster of the California League. RH Kirkland Rivers comes off the temporary inactive list to fill Mowdy’s spot.

Kyle Miller

A day earlier, IF/DH Kyle Miller was sent down to rookie-league Greeneville. His spot was filled Thursday with the activation of RHP Kyle Godfrey, up from Tri-City.

Two players made their Legends season debuts Thursday — shortstop Chris Jackson and winning pitcher David Duncan. Jackson, down from Lancaster, traded places with Ronnie Ramirez. Duncan, up from Tri-City, took the roster spot that was empty due to RHP Jose Trinidad’s second stint on the disabled list. Trinidad (labrum) likely will miss the rest of the season.

David Duncan in his Lexington debut. (Photo courtesy of Legends)

Mowdy leaves Lexington with no decisions, three saves, six holds and a 1.72 ERA. He appeared in 26 games, all in relief, spanning 36 2/3 innings. He struck out 33, walked eight and held opponents to a .157 batting average.

Rivers last pitched June 15. He has no decisions over six relief outings and 7 1/3 innings, with a 2.45 ERA. He has struck out seven and walked five.

Miller played in 32 games for the Legends, batting .213 with two homers, 10 RBI and six runs scored.

Chris Jackson

David Duncan

Jackson went 2-for-4 with an RBI via a sacrifice fly Thursday night. He also committed a fielding error.

Duncan gave up five runs and nine hits over five innings but got the win. He walked three and struck out five.

For more information about Jackson and Duncan, as well as Ramirez and Trinidad, see earlier blog entries: ramirez-promoted and gnats-visit-legends.

Thanks to Mary Lay for Legends individual head photos.

South Atlantic League Baseball

A changing of shortstops came to the Lexington Legends on Wednesday.

Ronnie Ramirez has been promoted to the High-A Lancaster JetHawks of the California League.

Taking his spot is Chris Jackson, who played for the Legends last year, and returns from Lancaster.

Jackson, 22, is a 5-foot-11, 185-pounder out of Virginia Commonwealth, selected by the Houston Astros in the 29th round of the 2008 draft. He split the 2008 season between Tri-City (22 games) and the Legends (23 games), hitting a combined .250 with two homers and 16 RBI over the 45 games.

This season, he struggled with Lancaster, hitting .183 with a homer and 15 RBI over 58 games. In June, he batted .113 (7-for-62).

Ramirez played second, third and short for the Legends. Over 52 games, he hit .248 (38-for-153) with three homers and 13 RBI.

Meanwhile, Lexington’s rotation for the four-game series against Savannah has been changed: Ross Seaton, rather than Kyle Greenwalt, going in the series finale.

Coming up

Lexington Legends vs. Savannah Sand Gnats

What: Four-game series

When: Wednesday through Saturday (7:05 each night)

Where: Applebee’s Park

Tickets: Call       (859) 422-7867      

Probable pitchers (Legends listed first): Wednesday, LH Brad Dydalewicz (4-3, 3.46) vs. RH Kyle Allen (5-4, 4.35); Thursday, LH David Duncan (0-0, 0.00) vs. RH Jeurys Familia (6-5, 2.75); Friday, RH Robert Bono (8-4, 2.45) vs. RH Chris Schwinden (5-4, 3.77); Saturday, RH Ross Seaton (6-7, 2.64) vs. LH Robert Carson (6-6, 2.22). 

Wilmer Flores

Sand Gnat to watch: SS Wilmer Flores (6-foot-3, 175 pounds, from Valencia, Venezuela) is rated by Baseball America as the No. 2 prospect in the New York Mets’ minor-league system. Through 72 games, he is hitting .284 with two homers, 22 RBI and 24 runs. He has come on strong since hitting .235 in May. He hit .309 (29-for-94) in June and is off to a .321 start (9-for-28) in July. The Mets signed him in 2007 for $750,000 and, last year, became short-season Brooklyn’s youngest player ever, 16. He played at three levels last season, hitting .310 over 59 games with Kingsport of the Appalachian League; ,400 in one game with the Sand Gnats and .267 over eight games with Brooklyn of the New York-Penn League. His combined totals for the season: .307, eight homers, 42 RBI, 40 runs and 68 games.

Legend to watch: LHP David Duncan (6-9, 230, from New Richmond, Ohio), up from Tri-City of the New York-Penn League, is scheduled to make his Legends debut Thursday. He takes the roster spot of RH Jose Trinidad, who is on the disabled list for the second time this season due to a sore labrum. Ricky Bennett, assistant general manager and director of player development for the Houston Astros, said Duncan will stay in the rotation, but the five starters who have been here all season will not be moved. Details were still being discussed after Tuesday’s game, but Bennett said you can expect a “modified six-man rotation.” Trinidad likely is finished for the year. Selected by the Astros in the fifth round of the 2008 draft, out of Georgia Tech, Duncan went 3-4 with a 4.88 ERA over 14 starts for Tri-City last season. He began this season with High-A Lancaster, getting starts in 10 of his 11 appearances. With an 0-9 record and 8.51 ERA, he was demoted to Tri-City, where he seems to have rediscovered his form. In three starts for the ValleyCats, Duncan went 0-1 with a 3.10 ERA. Working 20 1/3 innings, he struck out 17 and walked three.

Radio: WLXG AM-1300