We are a month into the Pioneer League season and the Idaho Falls Chukars are in last place of the South division at 11-17.  The pitching staff has had their ups and downs initially but have had some very strong performances lately.  The team has made some roster moves in the past couple weeks moving Luis Cota and Paul Raglione to the Burlington Bees both were former propects that are coming off season ending injuries.  Cota should settle into the Bees rotation with Rags joining the bullpen.  Up from the Burlington, NC Royals is Tim Huber.  He has settled into the bullpen and is being used as one of the closers.

The Rotation consists of a 3 man core with a committee taking the other starts.  Casey seems to have become the ace of the staff.  You can't argue with a team leading 27.2 innings pitched with an ERA of 1.95.  His BB/K is a little high and he has given up 3 longballs in 6 outings.  But, for free agent signed out of a Community College, this is a good start and if it continues we may see him in Wilmington next season.  Hodgson, a 2007 draft pick, and Toribio, a free agent signed in 2007, round out the core.  Both have given up alot of runs, 18 and 14, in 27 and 20 inning respectively.  Their BB/K ratios are a little high as are their ERAs.

Rotation: W  L  ERA  G  GS  CG  SHO  SV  IP  H  R  ER  HR  HB  BB  SO  WHIP  HLD  GF 

Bryan Casey 1 1 1.95 6 6 0 0 0 27.2 18 6 6 3 1 12 21 1.08 0 0
Ivor Hodgson 1 3 4.00 6 6 0 0 0 27.0 28 18 12 0 1 15 26 1.59 0 0
Aneidy Toribio 0 3 5.40 6 5 0 0 0 20.0 21 14 12 1 1 13 25 1.70 0 0

The Bullpen has had some great outings this month.  Justin Garcia continues to have a good BB/K ratio.  Those 2 BB coming in his last two appearances.  He looks like another good college free agent pick up in the Greg Holland mold.  James Thompson continues his strong early performance with a 1.64 ERA in 11 innings.  Like Garcia, he has and excellent BB/K ratio.  He is another small college free agent signing and at 6'3" and 195 lbs he has the physical potential to become a good sleeper pickup.  What can you say about Saito?  He continues to show the flamethrower arm and decent control.  They are using this 16th round pick sparingly and it may be to reduce the chance of an injury.  The new guy in the pen Tim Huber, has been with the team only a short time.  He has 3 appearances and recorded 2 saves.  In six innings he hasn't given up a run while striking out 5 and walking 3.  He was born in Omaha, and was signed out of that baseball powerhouse Nebraska Omaha.  He may become my fan favorite.  The comeback award goes to Colby Beach.  After some disasterous appearances early he has rebounded with a dominant show stopping game.  In his last outing he picked up the win with three innings of shut out ball while striking out 5 with no walks.  It good to see him turning it around.  He is another of the southern college free agents.  The rest of the bullpen is listed below.   As usual, IDF has a couple of promising pitchers that will probably be playing on the east coast next year.  I will add more towards the end of the season.

Bullpen:W  L  ERA  G  GS  CG  SHO  SV  IP  H  R  ER  HR  HB  BB  SO  WHIP  HLD  GF 

Justin Garcia 3 0 2.20 8 0 0 0 1 16.1 16 6 4 1 0 2 16 1.10 0 5
James Thompson 1 0 1.64 8 0 0 0 1 11.0 9 3 2 0 0 3 13 1.09 0 5
Derrick Saito 0 2 3.24 6 0 0 0 0 8.1 9 5 3 1 1 6 14 1.80 0 0
Tim Huber 0 0 0.00 3 0 0 0 2 6.0 4 0 0 0 0 3 5 1.17 0 2
Colby Beach 1 2 6.94 6 0 0 0 0 11.2 15 10 9 1 0 6 17 1.80 1 0

The rest...W  L  ERA  G  GS  CG  SHO  SV  IP  H  R  ER  HR  HB  BB  SO  WHIP  HLD  GF 

Gary Novakowski 0 1 3.60 6 0 0 0 0 15.0 19 8 6 2 1 9 11 1.87 0 3
Ryan Morgan 0 1 6.39 5 1 0 0 0 12.2 19 11 9 4 0 7 11 2.05 2 0
Orlando Rada 0 1 5.11 6 0 0 0 1 12.1 16 8 7 0 2 6 13 1.78 0 2
 Blaine Hardy 1 0 6.55 6 0 0 0 1 11.0 14 8 8 2 0 4 7 1.64 0 3
John Foster 0 0 5.06 9 0 0 0 0 10.2 11 6 6 2 1 8 13 1.78 1 7
Steve Miller 0 1 9.00 6 1 0 0 0 10.0 10 14 10 1 1 12 7 2.20 0 0
Stephen Gilgenbach 0 0 9.31 7 0 0 0 0 9.2 12 13 10 1 0 10 10 2.28 1 1
 Jesse Carver 2 0 10.13 5 0 0 0 0 8.0 12 9 9 2 0 5 9 2.13 0 0
 Brandon Sisk 0 0 3.00 2 0 0 0 0 3.0 1 1 1 1 0 1 3 0.67 0 0