Chukars Corner

This week’s Chukars Extra starts off with a feature on left-handed pitcher John Lamb (a 2008 5th-round pick who’s overcome a freakish injury to get here), moves on to Carlo Testa’s hot hitting and tries to make sense of all of the roster moves.

And, as always, you’ll find our players of the week and a breakdown of the week gone by below. On to the jump.

It was February. John Lamb was driving back to Laguna Hills High School in California from lunch break. He stopped at a stoplight. Another student rear-ended him.

It wasn’t a serious crash. Both drove away fine. That was until Lamb went to baseball practice that afternoon and something felt wrong in his elbow.

He stopped throwing and figured he’d see how it was the next day. Still, it didn’t feel right.

His dad pulled him out of school and took him in for an X-ray, which revealed a ligament not separated from the bone, but pulling it unnaturally, and a hairline fracture.

“They couldn’t tell me exactly how it happened,” Lamb said. “It could have been from the accident and the shock, or it could have been baseball.”

Either way, three days before the start of his senior season in high school, the prospect major league clubs were drooling over was suddenly damaged goods.

He spent the next six weeks in a cast and it was only five days before the 2008 draft when he started throwing from 45 feet. That piqued the interest of several clubs. He worked out with the Phillies and threw in front of the Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix. So many teams requested workouts in so close the draft, he turned a few down.

Come draft day, he had no idea what team would select him and where, or even if he would be drafted.

But the connection that proved fruitful was his experience with the Royals’ scout team in Southern California. The Royals first invited him when he was 14 to play with other prospects as old as 18 the club was scouting. He continued to play with them, and other scout teams, until his senior year.

The Royals selected him in the fifth round even though everybody knew he would need another year of rehab before he could start pitching again.

“We were well aware of the injury,” said Scott Sharp, the Royals’ director of minor league operations. “John hadn’t pitched (his senior year) or he might have gone a lot higher. But he can flat pitch. He’s a left-hander that throws up to 93, he’s got a curveball and a changeup and he knows how to pitch. He’s extremely mature on the mound. He’s got a very bright future. I think it’s an outstanding pick for where we got him.”

Lamb didn’t pitch competitively until opening day, June 23, 2009, for the rookie-level team just below Idaho Falls in Burlington, N.C. He admits he wasn’t 100 percent until two or three starts into the season but finished his time in North Carolina 2-2 with a 3.95 ERA and a 25-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 27.1 innings.

Sharp was on hand for Lamb’s last start Tuesday where he pitched seven, two-hit innings without allowing an earned run that confirmed he was ready for a promotion. He joined the Chukars on Thursday.

“I saw a guy that knows exactly what he’s doing on the mound,” Sharp said. “For a 19-year-old pitcher, he showed three average to above average pitches and knows how to use them.”

Chukars manager Darryl Kennedy, who last saw Lamb in extended spring training, echoed Sharp’s enthusiasm and said he’ll fit nicely into the spot left by Ivor Hodgson, who was promoted to Low-A this week.

“He’s not your touch-and-feel lefty,” Kennedy said. “He’s got a good fastball, good breaking stuff and competes out there. It won’t be much of a loss with Ivor with what I’ve seen out Lamb.”

TESTA’S TIME OFF: Whatever Chukars outfield Carlo Testa did while sitting out with a slight hamstring pull, he should keep doing it.

Since returning to the lineup, Testa has hit .318 with two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBIs in the past six games. The three home are his first home runs of the season.

“I think just resting my body helped a lot and just watching game, not being so into it,” Testa said. “It really showed how to slow the game down a lot and slow each pitch down individually.”

While the hits have come all season for Testa —he’s collected a hit in 15 of his 17 games — he’s started stringing them together. Two of his three multi-hit game came Tuesday and Thursday.

Kennedy said that’s a result of Testa finally getting regular playing time. He started the year playing sparingly, but has started six of the past seven games. He’s become the fourth outfielder, spelling guys on a day off or serving as the regular designated hitter.

“What I told him is to be patient getting into lineup,” Kennedy said. “Once the season starts, things always happen. After the first day, (Shawn) Griffin went up, (Julio) Aparicio got banged up and Testa got in there. Then (Allen) Caldwell got banged up and he got in there.”

PARRAZ’S STAY SHORT: Everybody knew outfielder Jordan Parraz’s time in Idaho Falls would be short. Parraz, a AA all-star in his first season with the Royals, joined the Chukars on Tuesday on a rehab assignment with a hamstring injury.

And, according to Sharp, he’ll rejoin Northwest Arkansas today or Monday, barring any setbacks.

“We sent him (to Idaho Falls) both to get a rehab assignment and to help out Idaho Falls a little bit, put a bat in the lineup,” Sharp said. “We recognize the teams that are potentially going to be in the playoffs, and you try to help them a little bit when you can.”

Parraz is 5-for-17 (.417) with three doubles, three RBIs and three runs in three games with the Chukars.

MORE ON THE WAY? While the Chukars are set to lose Parraz, they may soon be gaining another bat.

Ben Tschepikow, the University of Arkansas middle infielder the Royals drafted in the 17th round this year, is set to make his first appearance in a game this weekend in Arizona, Sharp said.

The Royals originally put Tschepikow on the Idaho Falls roster, but started his professional career in the Royals’ training facility in Arizona rehabbing a broken ring finger suffered in the College World Series. He’s no longer on the Chukars roster.

Sharp wouldn’t commit that Tschepikow will still come to Idaho Falls with all the shuffling in low minors.

“We’ll see where the first couple games, as he’s rehabbing, where that takes him,” Sharp said.

Fellow Arkansas middle infielder Scott Lyons, selected in the 15th round this year, is also in Arizona, rehabbing a shoulder injury.

Chukars record

Overall: 17-10
First half: 17-10
Second half: 0-0
Last 10: 5-5
Home: 8-4
Away: 9-6
Extra innings: 1-1
Day games: 3-1
Night games: 14-9
vs. South Division: 9-4
vs. North Division: 8-6
vs. Casper: 5-1
vs. Ogden: 0-0
vs. Orem: 4-3
vs. Missoula: 4-3
vs. Helena: 4-3
vs. Billings: 0-0
vs. Great Falls: 0-0
Take first lead: 10-3
Opponent takes first lead: 7-7
Lead after six innings: 11-4
Trail after six innings: 1-5
Tied after six innings: 5-1
One-run games: 7-5
Chukars score 5+ 10-3
Vs. RH starters 8-6
Vs. LH starters 9-4
Longest winning streak 4
Longest losing streak 2
Runs scored: 162
Runs allowed: 129
Run differential: +33

Week in review

Record: 4-2
July 18 vs. Missoula W 2-1
July 19 vs. Missoula W 3-2
July 20 vs. Missoula L 3-2
July 21 vs. Missoula W 13-3
July 22 Off
July 23 at Orem W 11-7
July 24 at Orem L 5-1

The arms:

Nick Wooley, RHP: The Royals management has brought Wooley along slowly to start the season, limiting his pitch counts more than his fellow starters due to a heavy college workload. But Wooley’s stretched out now as he threw six scoreless innings Tuesday in a 13-1 blowout against Missoula to end a seven-game homestand.

6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K

The bats:

Carlo Testa, OF: Since coming off a hamstring injury and finding regular playing time, Testa is regaining the form that made him one of the Chukars’ best hitters last season. Include in this past week is a pair of multi-hit game and two early-inning home runs that proved to be game-winners.
6-for-19, 2 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI

Coming up
Today: at Ogden, 4 p.m.
Mon: at Ogden, 7 p.m.
Tue: vs. Orem, 7:15 p.m.
Wed: vs. Orem, 7:15 p.m.
Thur: vs. Orem, 7:15 p.m.
Fri: vs. Ogden, 7:15 p.m.
Sat: vs. Ogden, 7:15 p.m.