Independent Baseball Insider – Vol. 12, No. 35, December 11, 2014
By Bob Wirz
Dennis Raben’s name has been part of this column numerous times the last two years because of his 10 homers in only 23 games for Lincoln in ’13 and 31 dingers and 94 RBI this past season for the Los Angeles Angels’ Class A club in the California League.
The Angels jumped the first baseman two levels this fall to the Salt Lake roster, only one step below the majors. One can hope it was more than to give the team some protection from the draft, and that they feel the 27-year-old lefty hitter has still more potential.
Dodgers select Samson
This week’s Winter Meetings, which had lots of juicy offseason news for baseball-starved fans, produced a bit of Independent information during Thursday’s Rule 5 Draft when the Los Angeles Dodgers tabbed shortstop Nate Samson (Sioux City 2014, Winnipeg 2013).
(Bob Wirz provides supplemental stories about Independent Baseball on his blog, www.IndyBaseballChatter.com. The author has 16 years of major league baseball experience with Kansas City and as chief spokesman for two Commissioners, and lives in Stratford, CT.)
