Former Providence High star Kris Honel has been dominating at Class A for the White Sox’s Kannapolis affiliate, but there are no current plans to move him up this season.
Honel, a Tribune All-Stater last year and the team’s first-round draft pick in June, is 2-0 with a 1.44 earned-run average over his last four starts, with an overall ERA of 2.54. He has 46 strikeouts with only 18 walks in 39 innings, ranking second in the South Atlantic League in strikeouts.
“It’s too early to look at him in terms of an accelerated pace to the big leagues,” Sox general manager Ken Williams said. “Let’s allow him to have success this year where he is.”
Mark Buehrle spent one year at Class-A Burlington and half a season at Double-A Birmingham before being called up to the Sox in mid-July of 2000. Honel is regarded as the top pitching prospect in the Sox’s system, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be on the same fast track as Buehrle.
“It depends on where you are as an organization, and how things fall in line with the different waves of prospects,” Williams said. “There may be a time to put him on that [accelerated] course, but he has to continue to perform. It’s only one month into the season. But the most encouraging thing is he’s a power guy who’s throwing strikes and not walking guys.”
Oscar season: Texas finished last in the American League with a 5.71 earned-run average last season. But the Rangers entered Thursday’s game ranked ninth in the AL at 4.59, despite having new ace Chan Ho Park available for only one start. Manager Jerry Narron credits former Cubs pitching coach Oscar Acosta for the statistical improvement.
“He has brought in a very positive attitude with these guys,” Narron said. “He wants our pitchers to be aggressive and throw strikes. He’s a very hard worker, very knowledgeable about pitching mechanics. He has done a very good job with our staff. Our numbers show we’ve pitched much better than a year ago.”
In his first year as Rangers general manager, John Hart overhauled the staff, adding Park, Dave Burba, John Rocker, Todd Van Poppel, Hideki Irabu and Ismael Valdes. After years of bouncing around, Irabu has evolved into a creditable closer under Acosta.
“Oscar spends a lot of time with these guys,” Narron said. “He’s a very sincere worker with all of them, and they know that and appreciate it. There’s nothing phony about him at all.”
The Cubs fired Acosta last September, largely because of a personality clash with manager Don Baylor. There were protests by starters Jon Lieber, Kerry Wood and Kevin Tapani. So far, the Cubs’ pitching numbers are better under new pitching coach Larry Rothschild.
The Cubs finished fourth in the National League last year with a 4.03 ERA, limiting opposing hitters to a .249 average. Before Thursday’s loss to Milwaukee, the Cubs ranked sixth in the league with a 3.58 ERA, holding the opposition to a .239 average.
Retro baseball: Sox bullpen coach Art “Cave” Kusnyer got a kick out of the news that the Colorado Rockies are storing baseballs in a humidor to keep them from drying out because of the low humidity in Denver. Scoring is down 35 percent in games at Coors Field this year.
When Kusnyer was bullpen coach for the Sox under manager Tony La Russa in 1980, former owner Bill Veeck made him store all the baseballs overnight in a freezer located in a dark and dingy room in the bowels of old Comiskey Park.
“That’s why they call him `the Cave,'” Kenny Lofton explained.
