Tuesday, February 2, 2010

More News (Matt Ray/Kevin Melillo)

Matt Ray who played for the Cougars in 2008 and 2009 was released by Oakland. He was mainly a second baseman, but spent a lot of time the last two years on the disabled list.

He was able to play in 105 games in 2008, hitting .251 with 93 hits. Last year he played in 54 games, hitting .222. In 2008 he spent awhile on the disabled list with a strained left shoulder. Last year he had a hairline fracture in his hand after being hit by a pitch.

Ray was a 18th round pick by Oakland in the 2007 draft out of Middle Tennessee State.

Kevin Melillo had one plate appearance with Oakland in 2007 in which he drew a walk. Last year he spent the year in AA Huntsville for the Milwaukee Brewers. He hit .249 in 113 games with nine homers. Before that he played most of the 2008 season with Syracuse, and the rest in Sacramento.

Melillo spent 2007 and 2008 with Sacramento. In 2005 and 2006 he spent in Midland. 2005 he was in three diffrent spots in the Oakland system. He started the year with the Cougars and played 78 games, hitting .286.

He was picked by Oakland in the 5th round of the 2004 draft out of the University of South Carolina.

Ex Cougars in the Caribbean World Series

There are four ex Cougars in the Caribbean World Series this year.

Alex Valdez is playing for the Dominican Republic. He played for the Cougars in 2007, hitting .264 with 10 homers and 60 runs batted in.

Stephen Morales is playing for Puerto Rico. He played for the Cougars in 1999 and 2000 when they were with the Marlins. He was the back up catcher both years. He hit .271 in 99 and .219 in 00.

Raul Padron and Gregorio Petit are playing for Venezuela. Raul Padron played for the Cougars in 2005 and 2006. He hit .260 and .242 in those years. Gregorio Petit, has played in the majors with the A's for parts of the last few years.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Kevin Millar (94) signs with Cubs

Kevin Millar signed a one year minor league contract with a spring training invite with the Chicago Cubs. He will fight to be on the bench for the Cubs this year.

Last year he played for the Toronto Blue Jays hitting .223, which was the lowest he has ever hit in a 12 year major league career. He also had his lowest amount of games played as a major leaguer with 78. He hit 7 homers and had 29 runs batted in.

The previous three years he played in Baltimore where he was a designated hitter and first baseman.His average has fallen every year in the major since he hit .297 in 2004 to help lead the Boston Red Sox to their first title in 86 years.

He played in Boston from 2003 thru 2005, before that he was in Florida, where he hit a career high .314 in 2001.

Kevin is one of the few to have come out of the independent leagues and stay in baseball for a long major league career. He started out playing in 1993 for the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League. Cougar fans will remember him for his 1994 season in Geneva in which he played in 135 games and hit .302 with 19 homer and 93 runs batted in.

After that he played in 95 in Brevard County, then spent two years in both Portland, Maine and then two years in AAA for the Marlins. One in Charlotte and one in Calgary.

He is going to be 38 this year. He was orginally purchased by the Marlins from the Saints in September of 93. In 2003 he was purchased from Florida from Boston. In 2006 he signed a free agent contract with Baltimore and in 2009 with Toronto.