April 19, 2009

Edwin Walker reporting for American Mercury

Tempe, AZ – It did not take long for Knights GM Van Hauter to bring Bryant Duncan to the big leagues.  Duncan will take the place of Domingo Cuna, who was placed on waivers after getting shelled in his only appearance of the season.  Van Hauter stated that Duncan will not be the closer, but instead will learn the ropes in the big leagues and will pitch in short relief with a very strict pitch count.  Duncan converted both of his saves while pitching for AAA Chandler.  Van Hauter was quoted as saying that he was sure that, "I am going to hear a lot of flak for bringing Duncan up and that I will ruin his arm and confidence.  I think that is ridiculous because the kid has the stuff."  Duncan's call up is a product of Tempe's bullpen, which was supposed to be its strength but has struggled in the early going.

In other news, Markus Hancock has won his first major league decisions and is proving all the "naysayers" wrong and that he belongs in the major leagues.  Hancock is 2-1 with an ERA under 3.00 and has looked dominant at times.  Patrick Hunter also is proving he belongs by posting a complete game shutout earning his first victory of the season.  Although Tempe is only 4-8, there are signs that this team is ready to turn the corner.  Van Hauter believes that Tempe needs a clubhouse leader who can fire up the team because he believes that Tempe needs to “know how to win”, and that the 4-8 record is deceptive because the team is playing really well but isn’t getting the breaks so far this year.

The Knights management is also very happy with the way Terry Thornton has started out the season.  Although he is only batting .240, he has hit two homeruns and scored eleven runs while also stealing two bases.  At his current pace Thornton will score one hundred runs and steal around 30 bases.  Van Hauter argues that, “People may have scoffed at us picking up Thornton but I guarantee no one will be laughing at the end of the year when scores a lot of runs, steals a lot of bases and saves a lot of runs with his glove.

Down on the farm, the Knights have promoted left fielder Jorge López to AAA after he batted .444 for the first two weeks of the season.  Knights’ management is hinting that, if Greg Craig keeps struggling, López will be called up to take his place.