Cruz rejoins Intimidators

By Bill Kiser
Kannapolis Citizen
The Kannapolis Intimidators picked up two players from their sister team in Winston-Salem, and had two players reassigned to rookie-level teams in roster moves made last week.
The Intimidators picked up outfielders Lee Cruz and Anderson Gomes from the Warthogs — the Chicago White Sox’s Advanced-A level Carolina League team — with infielder Luis Sierra and outfielder Lyndon Estill sent to rookie-league teams in Bristol (Tenn.) and Great Falls (Mont.), respectively.
Cruz, picked in the 10th round of the 2006 draft by the White Sox, played for Kannapolis last season, hitting .277 with 31 doubles, 10 home runs, 56 RBI and 55 runs scored in 108 games.
He opened the 2008 season with Winston-Salem, but hit just .196 in 56 games. However, nearly half of his hits went for extra bases, with 16 doubles and two home runs among 38 total hits.
Gomes, a free agent signee by the White Sox at the end of the 2005 season, also played for the Intimidators last season, hitting .300 in 79 games, with 17 doubles, seven home runs, 50 runs scored and 47 RBI.
Like Cruz, Gomes opened the 2008 season with Winston-Salem, but also had his struggles at the plate. He hit just .196 in 42 games, with seven doubles, four home runs and 14 RBI.
Sierra, a free agent signee by Cincinnati in 2004, was picked up by the White Sox in 2007. He joined the Intimidators just three weeks into the season after a stint with Chicago’s extended spring training program, but hit just .174 in 26 games with Kannapolis.
Estill, an eighth-round pick by the White Sox in the 2007 draft, joined Kannapolis after spending the opening month at Chicago’s extended spring training program. But he hit just .197 in 21 games, with just four doubles and 37 strikeouts in 76 plate appearances.

North wins South Atlantic All-Star Game
Hagerstown (Md.) first baseman Bill Rhinehart went 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs to lead the North Division to a 13-4 win over the South in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game last week.
The North squad pummeled the South for 18 hits, including three two-run homers, at NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro.
Kannapolis relief pitcher Henry Mabee pitched one inning for the South squad, entering in the fourth inning. But he gave up two runs (both earned) off five hits, with one strikeout.

Who’s hot, who’s not
HOT: First baseman Lee Fleisher — Went 2-for-3 in Monday’s loss to West Virginia to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Over the streak, he’s 14-of-31 (.452) with six doubles, two home runs, seven runs and 13 RBIs.
NOT: Catcher John Curtis — Is hitting .194 in 39 games (24-of-124), with nine RBIs. Curtis has picked it up in his last 10 games, but only slightly — 7-of-32, for a .219 average, with one RBI.
HOT: Mabee — The lone Intimidator named to play in the SAL All-Star Game picked up three saves in the last seven games to push his season total to 17, fourth-best in the South Atlantic League.
NOT: The Intimidators — They’re ranked near the bottom of the South Atlantic League stats in team batting average (.247, 13th in the league) and team ERA (4.53, 13th in the league).