EVERETT — Friday night’s doubleheader against the Eugene Emeralds gave two players a chance to make their Everett AquaSox debuts as infielders Donnie Walton and Joe Venturino each started one game at second base for the Frogs.
Walton, the Seattle Mariners’ fifth-round pick in this year’s draft, joined the team after his Oklahoma State Cowboys were eliminated from the College World Series in late June. Friday was the professional debut for Walton, the son of former professional pitcher and current OSU pitching coach Rob Walton.
“A lot of kids don’t get to say they went to Omaha with their father, especially being on the same team and wearing the same uniform,” Walton said. “I couldn’t be more blessed and more lucky to share that opportunity with my dad.
“Being out here is awesome,” he continued. “It was a little bit of culture shock, but that’s part of baseball and it’s fun. We have a great team, great coaches and I couldn’t be more happy to be here.”
Walton started Friday’s opener and finished 0-for-2 in the seven-inning affair in which the AquaSox mustered only one hit.
The elder Walton spent four years as a pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles organization, reaching Double-A, but the pitching didn’t continue with Donnie.
“He told me, ‘You’re going to play at the next level as a player not a pitcher,’” Donnie said. “I didn’t have the arm that he did.”
Teammates in Little League now teammates in the minor leagues
Venturino, Seattle’s 36th-round pick out of Division III Ramapo College in New Jersey, had one of Everett’s four hits in the nightcap.
The New York City native isn’t the only AquaSox player from the borough of Staten Island. Right-hander Matt Festa, who pitched at D-II East Stroudsberg, is also from Staten Island. In fact, Festa and Venturino were Little League teammates about a decade ago.
“We’re on the same Little League team and of course God puts us on the same minor league team,” Venturino said. “It’s a small world and it’s crazy how it works. I feel comfortable having him here in the same place.”
Like Walton, Venturino is the son of a former professional pitcher. Venturino’s father, Phil, got as high as Class AAA with the then-California Angels organization.
The younger Venturino played in seven games with the Peoria Mariners of the Arizona League before joining the AquaSox.
“It’s definitely different from the Arizona League,” Venturino said. “There are fans here and it makes me feel at home. I’m away from my family back in New York and I’m far away from New York. But coming here and hearing these people root me on I feel right at home.”
Sticking with the process
The AquaSox are likely happy to see the backs of the Eugene Emeralds as they head out of town after beating Everett four times in the recently completed five-game set. That includes a doubleheader sweep on Friday.
“I think the one thing we can take from it is we need to stick with the process and stick with the approach that works for each individual player and trust it,” manager Rob Mummau said. “You’re going to lose four out of five no matter what team you are at some point during the season, and just trusting that process and not veering from it is key.”
The Frogs finished with just five combined in the two seven-inning contest and were outscored by a combined score of 16-0.
“We hit a bunch of balls hard last night and they didn’t fall in,” Mummau said. “That doesn’t mean we were doing anything wrong so to speak. They just didn’t fall in.”
Sunday’s game sold out
Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez will make a rehab start today before a sold-out crowd at Everett Memorial Stadium. Hernandez made his professional debut when he pitched for the AquaSox as a 17-year-old in 2003.
Is King Felix the biggest major-leaguer to rehab for Everett? Probably so — at least in the past two decades. The best comparison would be in 1996 when Randy Johnson made a rehab start with the Frogs and struck out five of the six hitters he faced in two perfect innings.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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