Opponent: Spokane Indians.
When: 6:30 p.m.
Where: Avista Stadium, Spokane.
Radio: KRKO (1380 AM).
Probable starters: Everett right-hander Natividad Dilone (0-2, 4.70 earned run average) vs. Spokane TBD.
Frogs play musical chairs with rotation
The AquaSox are making the first changes to the rotation when they head to Spokane for their five-game series beginning Wednesday.
Right-handers Ricky Orta and Bryan Ball are moving into the rotation, taking the places of right-hander Doug Fister and left-hander Greg Nesbitt, respectively. That means Orta will start Thursday and Ball will start Friday.
The changes are not performance based. Both Fister (1-2, 0.95 earned run average) and Nesbitt (1-1, 3.79) performed well as starters. However, they’re also coming off busy college seasons.
“They’ve thrown a lot of innings in college,” Everett pitching coach Juan Alvarez explained. “We only want to throw them about 40 innings. They’re at about 20 right now, so we want to get another 20 out of them in the bullpen.”
Orta, the highest-drafted player on the roster having been taken in the fourth round this year, has made two relief appearances for the Sox, giving up three runs in 32/3 innings. Ball also has made two relief appearances for Everett, giving up two runs in two innings.
“Ricky’s a pretty hard thrower, anywhere between 89-94 (mph),” Alvarez said. “He’s got a good fastball, curveball and a good changeup. Ball’s more of a sinker/slider guy. He’s got good movement down in the zone with his fastball, a very sharp slider and he’s got a changeup.”
Both Orta and Ball will be brought along slowly. They’ll begin by being limited to the three-inning, 50-pitch range before building their arm strength to where they can go deeper into the game.
Meanwhile, Fister and Nesbitt are moving to the bullpen, where they’ll be scheduled to throw twice a week.
And Fister in particular may be a key component to replacing closer Brian Kappel, who was promoted to Wisconsin of the full-season single-A Midwest League on Saturday.
“Fister, we’d like him to close, so the days he’s live he might be the closer,” Alvarez said. “We’ll see what happens, but they’ll both be live twice a week. They’ll know when they’re pitching.”
Promoted: Saydel Beltran will be coming off the disabled list, but he won’t be doing so for Everett.
The left-handed relief pitcher, who was placed on the seven-day disabled list on July 4 for undisclosed reasons, was promoted to Inland Empire of the full-season single-A California League.
Beltran, who was on the same boat with Seattle Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt when they escaped from their native Cuba, appeared in five games for the AquaSox, going 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA. In 42/3 innings he gave up nine hits, one walk and struck out six.
With Beltran gone Everett’s pitching staff, which ballooned to 19 at one point, was back to a more-manageable 16.
Short hops: Today is the first off day of the season in the Northwest League. This season there are four off days instead of the usual three. The extra off day was just a result of the they way the schedule fell. … Washington governor Christine Gregoire attended Monday’s game. Her appearance came in conjunction with an event involving Washington’s Lottery. Gregoire’s husband, Mike, played baseball at Everett High School and threw out the first pitch.
Nick Patterson, Herald writer
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