Area Baseball Players Return to Minor Leagues

The local area has been known to produce baseball players who have gone on to play at the college level and now it's becoming known as an area for minor league and major league players.

There have been eight players that have been in everyone's sight. Newton High School graduate Ross Wolf headed last year to South Korea where he pitched for SK Wyverns. But now, Wolf is back in the states and was signed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers.

The 32-year-old went to college at Wabash Valley and was drafted in 2002 by the Florida Marlins and has played for Florida, Oakland and Texas. He finished 2-2 in South Korea with four saves. He's now at Triple A Round Rock and is part of their starting rotation.

Effingham St. Anthony graduate Daniel Winkler, a right-handed pitcher, is 25 and was drafted by Colorado in 2011. He's currently with the Atlanta Braves organization and is assigned to the Tulsa Drillers. He had moved up to Double A and was zipping right along with a 5-2 record and a 1.41 ERA. He has a 33-22 record during his minor league career with an overall ERA of 3.35.

But Winkler was injured and underwent Tommy John surgery last June. He is currently focused on his rehab.

Derek Hankins is a member of the Double A Erie SeaWolves. The right-handed pitcher is 31 and graduated from Altamont High School. He attended Olney Central College and Memphis. He was drafted by Pittsburgh in 2004.

Hankins also competed in South Korea and came back to play for Triple A Toledo and is now a part of the Detroit Tigers organization in Double A. He has a 1-3 current record with a 4.38 ERA. He's in the starting rotation for Erie.

Effingham High School graduate Chad Green was drafted by Detroit in 2013 and is still with the Tigers organization. He is assigned to the Double A Erie SeaWolves along with Hankins. He has an 0-3 record at this point. But he went 6-4 with a 3.11 ERA in his first full season as a pro at Single A West Michigan. He made the Midwest League All-Star team.

This year he's part of the starting rotation for the SeaWolves.

Another EHS graduate is Nick Gardewine who is a right-handed pitcher with the Hickory Crawdads in the Class A South Atlantic League, part of the Texas Rangers organization.

Last year he started 15 games for Class A Spokane and went 6-3 with 4.56 ERA. So far this year he has a 2-1 record and 2.20 ERA.

Derek Thompson was drafted by Texas in 2013 and is still with that organization. He's competing for the Spokane Indians in the Class A Northwest League where his season begins in June. He went 4-6 last season with a 3.21 ERA. He finished with 73 strikeouts and only 15 walks.

Thompson is a 22-year-old, left-handed pitcher and a graduate of Teutopolis High School and John A. Logan College.

Spencer Patton, a 27-year-old graduate of South Central High School is currently pitching in the Major Leagues for the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers called up Patton May 4 to work out of the bullpen. Patton has made one appearance, allowing two runs in an inning of work, giving up one hit and one walk while fanning two batters.

The 27-year-old Patton pitched for the Rangers late last season after being acquired in a trade with the Kansas City Royals. He pitched in nine games and threw 9-1/3 innings, allowing just one run on six hits, walking two and fanning eight.

He began last year in the Kansas City Triple A Omaha organization but was traded to Texas in July. He was a relief pitcher in 15 appearances and was called up to the Major Leagues where he fashioned a 1-0 record and 0.96 ERA in nine appearances. He is a right-handed pitcher.

Stewardson-Strasburg's Phil Wetherell was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2011. Last season he started at Single A Tampa where he had a 0.39 ERA in 18 appearances. He was promoted to Double A Trenton where he had a 4.25 ERA in 27 appearances. The 25-year-old was released this year in April.