It’s been quite a month for former Illini shortstop Brandon Wikoff.  First, he hit two homeruns in two games last week.  Then he was honored by the Astros organization getting the Minor League Defensive Player of the Month award for his team.

Now it looks like he’s moving up to AAA ball!

Wikoff will be joining the Triple-A Oklahoma City RedHawks in the Pacific Coast League.

Wikoff was recognized for his glove work by the Astros for the month of August.  For the year, he’s posted a .980 fielding percentage at 2B, SS and 3B and has helped turned 37 double plays.

Congrats, Brandon!  Hud is tapping his feet and waiting.

Brandon Wikoff hit his second homerun in as many days last Wednesday.  Unfortunately, it was in a losing cause as his AA Corpus Christi Hooks lost 3-2.  But Brandon’s effort’s were rewarded with a leading photo of him on MiLB’.com’s game wrap-up page.

For the year, Wikoff is hitting .308 with 3 homeruns.

Closer to home in Gary, Indiana, two alums had good games on Thursday.  Pitching for the Gary Southside Railcats, Scott Shaw pitched a gem, allowing only one hit on six hits. That gives him 11 wins on the year which is the highest on the Railcats’ squad.

Former Illini teammate Mike Rohde had Shaw’s back, it seems. In the 12-1 win over the Lincoln Saltdogs, Rohde collected three hits including a double.  That double adds to Rohde’s single season club record.

The Railcats are in a tight race right now for first place in the Central Division in the American Association.  With one game left in the season, they are one game behind the Wichita Wingnuts.

Good luck guys!

Former catcher Lars Davis (left with Illinois) had a fantastic game with the Double-A Tulsa Drillers’ record setting 17-5 performance at their new ONEOK Field.  He hit two homers and went three for four.

Don’t look now but Davis is hitting .304 with six homers for the AA Drillers.  He is showing some power that we’re used to seeing from him at Illinois Field.

I hope Davis had a chance to talk to the shortstop of the opposing team, the Corpus Christi Hooks.  He’s none other than former Illini shortstop Brandon Wikoff.  The two played together for a couple years at Illinois Field.  Wikoff was one for two in the game and is having a great year for the Hooks.  He’s batting .351 with  26 runs scored.

Also, former firstbaseman (and occasional color man in the booth during Illini games) Mike Rohde displayed some fireworks during the 4th weekend.  He knocked hone the winning run for the Gary Southshore RailCats in their win against the Sioux Falls Pheasants.  The RailCats are in first place in their division thanks in part to Rohde who is hitting a nifty .284 with 4 homeruns.

Good luck to all three!

The Daily Illini has a nice article on the Parr brothers not to mention Dad Cam who we find out was a shortstop himself at Huntington University.

Speaking of shortstops, former Illini shortstop Brandon Wikoff (left, during his Illini days) has been doing quite well in AA ball. Brandon is playing for Corpus Christi with the Houston Astros organization.  I won’t jinx him by quoting his numbers but you can check them out for yourself.  By the way, it was nice to see Brandon’s mom make it to Friday’s game.

Interesting stat of the day:  Illinois has a better record when they give up two or more homers (2-1) than when they don’t give up any at all (12-17).   Unfortunately, today was the exception.

Today was the first day of the University of Illinois baseball Orange and Blue World Series.  It was a nice mild October afternoon day for a baseball game and it was nice to see a few fans out at Illinois Field to watch the guys play ball. 

It may be a “World Series” but most of the pomp and circumstance you have with a regularly scheduled baseball game are thrown out the window for these games.  No national anthem, no working scoreboard, no announced lineups… just hard working ballplayers showing up to play a baseball game.  And for me who hasn’t seen an Illini game since May, that was fine with me.  

Here are some photos I took.  Above, John Anderson got in a few innings for the Orange team.

I saw a few visitors at the park today.  I met pitcher Rob McDonnell’s father, Dan, who came down from the suburbs.  Also, it’s always nice to see Peggy Libby who came down to see her son, Tanner pitch.

But the real surprise was seeing former Illini shortstop Brandon Wikoff (above) who is speeding his way up the Houston Astros organization.  He just finished a Triple-A season this year.

We got a chance to see freshman pitcher Luke Joyce in action.  He’s 6’3” and check out the stride on his delivery!

OF Wille Argo looks to be in good shape for the ‘11 season.

Argo hasn’t lost any speed either.  Here he forces a wild throw on a steal attempt.

Chris Pack is another new pitcher for the Illini.  He’s listed as a senior and came over from Villanova. 

Senior outfielder Pat Sheehan makes his way to third on a hit. 

I have a few more photos at the photo gallery.

Two more games are scheduled for the Orange and Blue series.  They will be Tuesday and Wednesday at Illinois Field.  Gametime is around 4:30pm or whenever they get around to it. 

Not to take anything away from Brandon’s promotion (because he certainly deserves it) but I wonder if the injury to Houston Astro rookie Tommy Manzella has anything to do with it.  With Manzella’s injury, he’ll be out 6 or so weeks.  With his absence, the Astros are already calling up from AAA.   

Regardless, it’s a good jump for Wikoff, who is a Peoria, Illinois native.  He’ll now be playing for the Round Rock Express of the Pacific Coast League.  Incidentally, Round Rock, Texas is known for being the home of Dell Computers hence the name of their stadium, Dell Diamond. 

This will be only Brandon’s second year in the minors after getting drafted by the Astros in the 2009 MLB draft.  He’s done well so far, hitting .280 in the bush leagues. If you want, take a look at his college and minor league stats at The Baseball Cube.

Good luck to Brandon in his new digs.  He’s in new territory now.  Make the most of it!

First of all, Wikoff has been promoted to the Astros’ Class A team the Lexington Legends.  Congrats Brandon! 

Once there, he hasn’t looked back.  Instead of the usual transition period where a player is getting used to the pitching at the higher level, Brandon is showing the fans at Lexington what he can do.  Through four games with Lexington, he is 9 for 16 with three runs and four rbis. 

For the month of July, Wikoff had 9 multi hit games culminating in last night’s 4 for 5 performance against Charleston. 

Good luck in Lexington, Brandon!

So when it was twittered (by @IlliniBaseball in case you’re wondering) that Brandon Wikoff was mentioned on one of my favorite web sites that mostly focuses on major league issues, I went to check it out. 

The Hardball Times was taking a look at fielding stats for college shortstops.  Sure enough, Brandon landed on their top ten list for the 2009 draft class:

Grant Green was the only college shortstop selected in the top 100 picks of this year’s draft. There’s little question he was one of the top available prospects with the bat, but it will be interesting to see how his glove measures up in the pros. Here are some of the top 2009 picks who were above the 800 BIP threshold in each of the last two college seasons:

Player          School                  +/-
Shields Robbie  Florida Southern         26
Orloff Ben      Uc Irvine                16
Jackson Ryan    Miami (Fl)                9
Dozier Brian    Southern Mississippi     -1
Karcich Jon     Santa Clara              -2
Prince Josh     Tulane                   -2
Wikoff Brandon  Illinois                 -3
Smith Kyle      Cal Poly                 -4
Green Grant     Southern California      -4
Greer Brent     Western Carolina        -11
Wade Chris      Kentucky                -13

Illini grad Wikoff is currently playing for Class A TriCity ValleyCats, a Houston Astros affiliate in the NY-Penn League.

Well, Brandon Wikoff is off to a hot start for the Tri-City ValleyCats in New York State.  After last night’s two-hit performance, Wikoff is 5-15 through his first three games.  Rumor has it he’s played some good D including three double plays in last night’s game.

Dominic Altobelli’s road trip to Idaho Falls was off to a rocky start but it wasn’t his fault.  His team bus broke down en route to the ball field according to his father.  No worries, they got their in time to play.  Dom even got hit in his first pro game.  Unfortunately, it was one of only five of Casper Ghosts hits of the game as Idaho Falls defeated them 10-1. 

Joe Bonadonna has gotten a hit in each of his three games for the AZL Rangers.  No surprise, he stolen 2 bases and scored 2 runs too.  Bonadonna is listed at 3B for the Rangers, by the way.

First Inning

By the way, if any of you are fanatical about keeping up with Illini players (or anyone) in the minors, try out FirstInning.com.  If you register, you can keep a list of “favorite” players on one page that gives you a quick glance on how they’re doing in minors.  Each player is linked to a more detailed stats and bio page and the games in their game log are linked to MiLB’s box scores.  Very handy!

Good luck to our Illini!

Wikoff is a lefthand-hitting shortstop who batted .373 in 228 at-bats for Illinois, with 17 doubles, five triples and four homers, 56 runs and 41 RBIs.

Until the Astros sign No. 1 pick Jiovanni Mier — and if Mier is assigned to the ’Cats, Wikoff will likely share the shortstop duties with 9th-round pick Ben Orloff.