Locals ready for upcoming minor league baseball season
By RON MOSHIER Observer-Dispatch

APPLETON, Wis. -
Russ Morgan's first spring training experience with the Seattle Mariners had its ups and downs.

In the end, though, the former Notre Dame High School and Purdue University pitcher landed on his feet.

"It was pretty overwhelming at first because you see the big leaguers a lot, all the guys you see on TV all the time are around," said Morgan. "That's pretty neat.

"But when it gets toward the end, it gets very stressful," he said. "You get a little nervous, wondering whether you've got a job or not."
And Morgan does.

The 23-year-old, left-handed relief pitcher from New Hartford begins his first full season of Midwest League baseball today when the Mariners' Class A affiliate, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, meet Beloit in their opener.

Morgan, signed as a non-drafted free agent last June, appeared in 12 short-season "A" games - all in relief - for the Arizona League champion Peoria Mariners last season. He was 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in 20‡ innings, and he walked only three and struck out 29.

He also earned a late-season promotion to Class AAA Tacoma for one Pacific Coast League game, allowing five runs on three hits in 1ß innings.

"Decent" is how Morgan describes his spring training performance this past month in Peoria, Ariz.

"Not the best, but I did decent when the right people were watching me," he said. "That's when I did the best.

"It's all performance-based, and you have to show that you have something to contribute to the organization."

Pitching in relief was new to Morgan last year. Now, it looks as if he is ticketed for more long-relief duty with Appleton's Timber Rattlers.

"It took me a while to learn how to get loose in a hurry. Once I learned that, I didn't mind it," he said. "I think a left-hander coming out of the bullpen is the quickest way to get to the big leagues.

"An organization will find a place for you to play if you're a left-hander who can pitch against left-handed hitters in crucial situations."

Morgan, who spent part of last season on the disabled list with tendinitis in his shoulder after "trying to throw too hard, too soon," still has a fastball in the mid-80s.

His best pitch, however, is a "circle-change," and after meeting Seattle Mariner starters John Halama and Jamie Moyer - both big-league lefties with below-average fastballs - he has learned that his best bet to get batters out is to concentrate on location.

"Location," Morgan said. "That's all it is."

KERNER BACK IN VERMONT FOR NOW: Morgan thought he might be facing close friend Craig Kerner of Whitesboro this season, because he believed the Montreal Expos were sending Kerner to the Clinton

LumberKings of the Midwest League. But according to a LumberKings official who said Wednesday that the former Cortland State star was not among the players assigned to the Clinton, Iowa team, Kerner is headed back to the Vermont Expos of the Class A, New York-Penn League.

Kerner, an NCAA Division III All-America at SUNY Cortland and a 13th-round draft pick last June, spent all of the 2000 season with the Vermont Expos.

The 22-year-old outfielder appeared in 33 NY-P games and batted .269 with a double, two triples, 11 RBIs and 12 stolen bases.

Utica native Dave Cash makes his full-season, Class A managerial debut Friday when his Frederick Keys open the Carolina League season at home against Potomac.

Cash, 52, is in his fifth season in the Baltimore Orioles organization. This is his first year as Frederick's manager after spending the last four seasons as a coach at Class AAA Rochester.