Morrison Can Move Quickly To Big Leagues

Spokane manager Jeff Garber can picture right-hander Robbie Morrison becoming the Kansas City Royals closer before long.

Last week, Morrison made a good impression in his first three appearances with the Indians. The 6-foot, 215-pounder is a second-round pick out of the University of Miami who made three appearances in the College World Series.

Through Wednesday, he had earned a win and two saves.

“Once he gets rolling, I think he’ll go (up) pretty fast,” Garber said. “I do think he’ll go to the big leagues pretty quickly once he gets his pitches.”

Garber likes Morrison’s curveball, but said the 21-year-old pitcher must work to get ahead of batters with his fastball.

“He’s just getting his feet wet the first week,” Garber said. “Any time you can get two saves and a win that’s what you want. I like his makeup. He goes out there and goes after hitters. He’s comfortable with his role as a closer.”

Boise

Right fielder Casey Child, out of the University of Utah, is playing his second season for the Hawks after starting the spring at Single-A Cedar Rapids. Child finished among the top 10 in eight Northwest League single-season hitting categories in 1997.

Before Childs went 4 for 4 in a 6-3 home win against Yakima on July 3, he was batting .164 for the Hawks with 16 strikeouts and 10 hits.

“I’m a streaky hitter,” said Child, who tries to get the clubhouse manager to buy him potato bread for luck. “I have hot streaks, and everyone has seen my cold streaks the last three months.”

Eugene

Scott Sobkowiak had a rough spring at Northern Iowa University.

There was turmoil in the program, mainly because of problems surrounding the coach.

Sobkowiak, a 6-5, 240-pound right-hander, went 1-6 with an 8.65 ERA in his last college season after averaging more than a strikeout an inning earlier in his career.

“You don’t have enough paper in that notebook to know what went wrong,” Sobkowiak told a reporter from The Register-Guard in Eugene.

He’s turned things around as an Emerald.

A seventh-round selection by the Atlanta Braves, Sobkowiak’s 28 strikeouts through his July 4 start led the league.

“I don’t know what happened there, but he’s obviously turned up the intensity level here,” Emeralds pitching coach Jerry Nyman said. “I do know that prior to the season, he was scheduled to be a high draft pick, so whatever happened cost him many dollars. We were happy to get him in the seventh.”

Everett

First baseman Shawn McCorkle has been out of action since June 22 with a hamstring injury. McCorkle hit .346 in eight games.

The AquaSox have won the first game of each series they have played.

Portland

Mark DiFelice’s name is finally being spelled correctly.

We think.

DiFelice’s 0.47 earned run average led the league through July 6, but nobody knew how to correctly spell his name. The Rockies and the league had three different versions in the first three weeks of the season.

Salem-Keizer

Thanks to a quirk in the Northwest League schedule, today’s game between the Volcanoes and Indians will be their last matchup of the season. Spokane and Salem-Keizer will have played all 10 games of their season series before the first half of the season has ended. Conversely, the Indians have yet to face Eugene, Southern Oregon or Yakima. The schedule has completed one season series for most teams in the league.

Southern Oregon

The Timberjacks matched their biggest run output of the year in a 14-0 win at Boise on Wednesday. Eugene has the league’s single game season-high for runs scored, having defeated Everett 20-8 at home on June 30.

Yakima

Lefty Ryan Moskau, a sixth-round selection out of the University of Arizona, has emerged as one of the league’s top pitchers. Through Tuesday, Moskau had allowed one run in 19 innings, dropping his ERA to 0.47. Entering Tuesday’s game with Everett, opponents were hitting .102 against him (5 for 49).

“Obviously, he’s doing a good job,” Bears manager Tony Harris said. “He’s been working with (pitching coach) Dan Hubbs and he’s taking that game plan out with him every start. He’s doing a good job keeping hitters off balance.”