Apr 11 2008
In the Pros
David Aardsmaa -
Aardsmaa spent his freshman year at Penn State in the spring of 2001 before trotting off to Rice to finish up a highly successful collegiate career. Aardsmaa was with the Chicago White Sox last season but was traded to the Red Sox over the winter.
Sean Stidfole -
Sean Stidfole was a 2005 14th round draft choice of the Toronto Blue Jays. He is currently still in the Toronto organization pitching for the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the Eastern League.
Alan Stidfole -
Alan Stidfole, Sean’s twin brother, signed a free agent contract with Toronto following his 2006 season at Penn State. Alan now plays for the Independent Washington (PA) Wild Things.
Matt Cavagnarao -
Matt Cavagnaro, a 2007 draftee of the Pittsburgh Pirates, spent last season playing for the hometown State College Spikes. Matt came out of spring training with a promotion to the Pirates full season A Hickory Crawdads.
Craig Clark -
Craig Clark was a 2007 14th round draft choice of San Francisco. Clark spent last season with the short season Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. This season Clark has been promoted to the full season A Augusta Green Jackets in the South Atlantic League.
Clayton Hamilton -
Clayton Hamilton, a 17th round draft pick of the San Diego Padres, spent the 2007 season playing for the Lynchburg Hellcats, the Pittsburgh Pirates A+ affiliate in the Carolina league. In the off season, he was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Texas Rangers. Coming out of spring training, Hamilton was still unassigned and his status for the season is still up in the air. Hamilton had a cracked rib last season that was misdiagnosed by the Pirate organization as a strain. The rib was removed in the off season and I’m speculating that Hamilton has still not recovered.
Scott Gaffney -
Scott Gaffney was a 12th round pick last year by the Cincinnati Reds. He pitched for the Billings Mustangs in the Pioneer League and has been reassigned to Billings for this upcoming season.
Gary Amato -
Gary Amato, a 2007 48th round draft pick by Pittsburgh, started last season with the Gulf Coast Pirates but eventually worked his way up to State College by the end of the season. Coming out of spring training Amato was again assigned to the Spikes. (NOTE: I’ve been alerted by a reader that Amato is now with Hickory along with Cavy).
Others of note:
Aaron Tressler, a 2004 32nd round draftee by Toronto, was released by Blue Jay organization last week. He had been with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
Scott Gummo, signed as a free agent by Tampa Bay last year, was released in November and failed to catch on with anyone over the winter.
Matt Ogrodnik pitched for the independent Washington Wild Things last summer but failed to sign with anyone in the off season.
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