As the minor league season has ended, we’ll review how former Rutgers baseball players fared during the 2010 season:
* Jeff Frazier, a career minor-leaguer since 2005, finally received a call-up to the majors July 30 when he joined the Detroit Tigers. Frazier, a left fielder, hit .250 with a double and RBI in 23 at bats before he was reassigned to the Toledo Mud Hens on Aug. 15. His highlight came Aug. 3 when he robbed Mark Kotsay of a potential extra-base hit against the fence against the Chicago White Sox.
In Toledo, Frazier was named a league All-Star after he hit .256 wth 34 doubles, 25 home runs and 73 RBI. He is on Detroit’s 40-man Major League roster, but was not activated when rosters expanded Sept. 1. He helped Toledo win the West Division of the Triple-A International League, but the Mud Hens lost a five-game semifinal to Durham.
* The season for David DeJesus likely ended July 22 when he injured his right thumb attempting a catch against the New York Yankees. The injury came during a career season for DeJesus, as he was hitting .318 with 23 doubles and 37 RBI.
* Jeff Bergmann closed the Syracuse Chiefs’ season in fine form as the right-hander finished 6-4 with a 2.84 ERA and .221 opposing batting average in 43 games, all in relief. He completed his season by going 3-1 with a 0.73 ERA in his last 10 appearances for the Washington Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate.
* Jeff Egbert, who started the season in the New York Mets’ spring training camp, did not pitch during the season due to injury.
Members of the 2010 Rutgers squad included:
* Pat Biserta helped the Batavia (N.Y.) Muckdogs win the Pinckney Division of the New York-Penn League by hitting .281 with 26 RBI as a regular in 53 games. The outfielder may have made an impression with St. Louis’ Single-A club by his .346 average with runners on base. Batavia lost its semifinal series to Tri City on a 1-0 defeat in Game 3 of the three-game series.
* Jaren Matthews may have provded an all-around package in 29 games for Cincinnati’s Single-A club in the Arizona Summer League. Matthews, playing mostly as a designated hitter, batted .290 with five doubles, two triples and seven home runs. He drove in 22 runs, plus showed a tight eye at the plate by drawing 20 walks.
* Jayson Hernandez hit .207 with four RBI over 21 games for the Lowell (Mass.) Spinners, the Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
* After some early struggles, Casey Gaynor rebounded to finish 5-2 with a 4.04 ERA for the Mahoning Valley (Ohio) Scrappers, the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Two appearances in long relief boosted Gaynor toward four wins during the season’s final month, including a scoreless five-inning, seven-strikeout performance against Aberdeen on Aug. 9. He closed with a 5 1/3-inning scoreless start Aug. 23 to get the win against State College.