Just wanted to pass along the happy news that Jeff Fiorentino has been called up by the Baltimore Orioles and will be in uniform for todays game!
Also former FAU pitcher Tim Harikkala has been called up yesterday by the Oakland A's and former FAU closer Nick Mattioni has been promoted to take Harikkala's place with the Oakland's AAA team.
Great to see so many former FAU players doing so well!!
Awesome news.
I don't follow MLB enough to really know why, but I never understood why UCF has only had 1 pitcher really succeed in the majors, Mike Maroth. What ever happened to Pope and Arnold...and will Fox and Bono get stuck in the minors too?
I had heard that outfielder Clay Timpner had a lot of spring success with the Giants, but no news recently.
Its so hard to say who is going to make it to the big leagues and who will not. Carmen Cali was considered to be FAU's #3 starter(behind Dan Jackson and Todd Moser) when he was at FAU but he is the one who has made it to the majors first with the Cardinals. Of course after the Reds Adam Dunn hit a monster home run off him in the ninth last week he was returned to triple A a few days ago, but they believe he will be back soon-just needs a little more seasoning.
Tim Harikkala has bounced between the majors and AAA forever with many teams and being a middle reliever when teams have injuries will be his role.
Fiorentino is different-he will likely be the first player to become a star in the majors from FAU. He will likely be going back to the minors as soon as Sammy Sosa is healthy again and the Orioles injury problems clear up, but they wanted to give him a taste of the majors even though he's a year or two away from being ready to start in the majors.
The Orioles website just posted this transaction today so now it is official for Jeff:
5/11/05 Purchased the contracts of C Sal Fasano from Triple-A Ottawa and OF Jeffrey Fiorentino from Single-A Frederick; Transferred RHP Jason Grimsley from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list.
Placed CF Luis Matos on the 15-day disabled list with a fracture of the right ring finger and optioned RHP Rick Bauer to Triple-A Ottawa.
Cool stuff. I've been following Fiorentino's career since he signed and he has been impressive with the way he has moved through the system. Hope he continues to do well.....although we miss him big time!
Yeah we do miss him big time-LOL . Its hard to believe he had eligiblity left here at FAU and could have been playing for FAU tonight against FIU. Something tells me he has no regrets about being at Camden yards today instead of at FIU!
Congrats Jeff!
Jeff Fiorentino got into tonights Orioles game against the White Sox. Although the Orioles lost 3-2 Jeff went 2 for 2 and can now say hes batting 1000 in the majors!!
Jon Garland got the win for the White Sox and improved to 7-0(The only 7 game winner in the AL) on the year so Fiorentino wasn't facing a stiff tonight! Keep up the good work Jeff!!