SHAWNEE – The Hagerstown Suns, which was home to two former Bison baseball players, was vacated by those players via trade and promotion over the weekend.
Pitcher
Taylor Hearn was part of the Washington Nationals' deal that sent Felipe Rivero to the Pittsburgh Pirates for All-Star Mark Melancon at the Major League level. Hearn was assigned to Pittsburgh's Class A affiliate, the West Virginia Power.
Hearn, who was rated the Nationals' No. 27 prospect, is slotted early at No. 28 in the Pirates organization. The Pirates hope to make him a starter, but are ok with a fallback plan that would make Hearn a power arm out of the bullpen.
"We add a young, what we believe to be an under the radar, very athletic, very large, loose-armed, upside starting pitcher in
Taylor Hearn," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington told the media, regarding the trade.
Hearn's new team is in Hagerstown tonight, but Hearn isn't yet scheduled for a start.
Hearn's former Hagerstown teammate and former Bison NAIA Player of the Year Matt Page was promoted to Class A Advanced Potomac. In his debut with Potomac Monday, Page walked in his only plate appearance.
In AA, Julian Merryweather has found his stride again with the Akron RubberDucks in the Cleveland Indians' system, After a rough start after his promotion, Merryweather is 2-1 in his last three starts with a 2.11 earned run average. This season, the former Bison All-American is 11-5 with a 2.55 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 99 innings.
Nathan Thompson picked up his second win of the season and is now 2-0 with a save and a 3.05 earned run average and 20 strikeouts in 20.2 innings for the Rookie League Greeneville Astros.
Keach Ballard is batting .223 with two home runs and 17 RBI since being bumped up to Houston's Class A-Advanced Lancaster JetHawks.
In the Independent Leagues, Daniel Baptist hit .333 with a home run over the past week to raise his season average to .276 for the Sonoma Stompers. He has three home runs and 20 RBI this year. Chris Rogers is 4-2 with five saves, a 1.66 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 21.2 innings for the Alpine Cowboys.
