The Eugene Emeralds finished the first half of their short season as the leaders of the Northwest division, although they tied Vancouver with identical win/loss records, because of a winning head to head battle. Their 24-14 record was a first for Eugene and they were paced by the outstanding performance of first round draft pick Cory Spangenberg, their second baseman.

Spangenberg posted a .384/.545/.535 line with ten doubles, a homerun and twenty RBI with 31 BB and 15 SO. He also succeeded in 10 of 14 stolen base attempts and had only four errors.

He was promoted to Fort Wayne after the break.

Zach Kometani, the first baseman for Eugene and the 21^st round pick for the Padres, also had a good first half and is currently the team leader with a .264/.344/.373 line with nine doubles, a homerun and 23 RBI.

Second baseman Travis Whitmore and shortstop Jace Peterson have also put up good numbers  with Peterson the team leader with four triples and they have 13 and 14 RBI respectively.

The team leader in homeruns is outfielder Lee Orr with four and he has the lead in RBI with 24. Kometani is second in RBI with 23. Ott also leads in strikeouts with 50.

Juan Herrera, a 19 yr old product of the Dominican facility, has a 2-2 record and 3.16 ERA over 37 IP. He started his Padres career in 2008 in the Domincan league and came to the US in 2010 for the AZL Padres.

Johnny Barbato, who just turned 19, has a 1-2 record and 4.01 ERA in 42.2 IP with 21 BB and 43 SO. He was selected in the 6^th round of last year’s draft even though he was considered a second round talent. His commitment to Florida was not thought to be an easy buyout so the Padres accomplished a bit of a coup to get him. This was the player they went after hard when Karsten Whitson failed to sign, so there is a lot of attention being given to his development.

At the age of 17 yrs old he had a low 90’s fastball with movement and two fairly advanced breaking pitches with one of them being a good change.

Remember his name as we will be following his development closely.

Other notable pitchers include  third round 2011 pick Matt Andriese, who is 3-1 with a 1.77 ERA in 35.2 IP with 10 BB and 36 SO  as a 22 yr old out of UC Riverside.

Colin Rea was the 12^th round 2011 pick who is 3-2 with a 1.03 ERA in 35 IP with 11 BB and 27 SO.

All four of these right-handers are starters.

Reliever Greg Gonzalez was the 15^th round pick for 2011 with a 3-1 record and 1.27 ERA with 7 BB and 24 SO. He is a 23 yr old out of Fresno St.

Additions to the roster since the beginning of the season include pitchers-

Kyle Brule  RHP  6-2  185 lb  22 yr old drafted in the 32^nd round of 2011 from Oklahoma. He began his season with the AZL Padres with a 2.03 ERA in 10 games.

Cody Hebner  RHP  6-0   175 lb   20 yr old,  4^th round pick for 2011 out of Washington. Although small for a power pitcher, he has a chance to stay a starter because of his unorthodox deliver, power fastball and potential for two plus breaking balls. He had the same high school coach as Tim Lincecum.

Mark Pope  RHP  6-2  203 lb   21 yr old drafted in the 5^th round of 2011 out of Georgia Tech. The Friday night starter who bumped fellow pitcher Jed Bradley to Saturday, Pope is a ground ball pitcher with a slider and a change he can throw for strikes. His confidence and poise is advanced and may keep him a starter as a pro. He started with the AZL Padres and was promoted recently and has begun pitching as a reliever.

James Needy  RHP  6-6   205 lb  20 yr old drafted in the 6^th round of the 2009 draft out of Santana High School. He bypassed going to USD to sign with his hometown team for $100,000 above slot. He signed late and did not play in 2009 and suffered from a knee injury in 2010. This is his first professional season and is working as a starter. He has a mid 90’s fastball, good downward plane on his pitches with a work- in- progress slider and good change.

Catcher Cole Tyrell   R/R   6-0   185 lb   23 yr old drafted in the 42^nd round of 2010. Has played in AZL, Fort Wayne and Eugene over the past two seasons.

Outfielder Justin Miller   R/R   5-9   190 lb   22 yr old drafted in the 30^th round of 2011 out of Southeastern Oklahoma St. Recently promoted from the AZL Padres, he has played in eight games for the Emeralds. In his 17 games with the AZL team he batted .407.

Eugene is eight games into the second half of the 2011 short season with a 4-4 record and one game back of the leaders. In losing their best player at the half they will need others to step up and make up the slack.

We will check back in at the end of their season and look at whether anyone was able to accomplish that goal.