FUENMAYOR’S STREAK HITS 14 IN MEXICAN LEAGUE

First baseman Balbino Fuenmayor, who first played at Laredo in 2013 when that city had an American Association team, is back in the city and making plenty of noise with his bat for the now Mexican League team.

He has hit safely in all 14 games he has played, a robust .380 (19-for-50) with four doubles, three home runs and eight runs batted in.  Now 28, Fuenmayor is getting on base at a .448 clip and has a 1.088 on-base plus slugging (OPS) average.

Guerra Sharp for Brewers

Junior Guerra (Wichita ’11, ’13) has not wasted any time since Milwaukee brought him back from Class AAA, winning his first start and hurling 5.2 innings of shutout ball the next time out although the Brewers did not score until after he departed so he ended up with a no-decision in the 2-0 win.  The right-hander, the Opening Day hurler one year ago, has 11 strikeouts in as many innings and an 0.82 ERA.

Tommy John Surgery Looms But This AA Grad Lands Managing Job at 25

 It is well known that only a fraction of professional baseball players get to live out the dream of becoming a major leaguer.  Injuries come along or the talent is not sufficient.

But many a hopeful can parlay their playing experience into an opportunity elsewhere in the game.

That is the case for Jared Gaynor, a pitcher who came out of South Mountain Community College (Phoenix, Ariz.) and George Mason University (Fairfax, Va.) and got his first taste of the professional game in the American Association at Wichita and Grand Prairie in 2014 and at Lincoln for part of the next season.

Gaynor had talent as proven by 24 collegiate victories and making the Atlantic 10 All-Conference team for George Mason.  Then it happened.

Still only 25, the left-hander learned–as many do–that he needed Tommy John (elbow) surgery, which virtually guarantees at least a year on the sidelines for recovery.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever pitch professionally again in my life, but for the first time I’m okay with that,” he told the Lima (Ohio) News recently.

Young Gaynor, a certified personal trainer who only pitched professionally 34 times with a single victory (1-4 record), knows his career in the game is continuing.  He is the pitching coach at Arizona Christian University and he recently was named the head coach of the Lima Locos of the Great Lakes Collegiate League.

“I’m excited for this opportunity (and) where it could lead,” he told the newspaper.  “Not even a week after I found out I need surgery, I received a phone call (from the Locos).  “After a couple of interviews I accepted the head coaching job.”