Greensboro: Ben Holmes, LHP

[emkayseven]

loading up on lefties!
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Oregon State ace Ben Wetzler faces two misdemeanor charges for breaking the window of a Corvallis home, apparently thinking it was his own residence.

Corvallis police took Wetzler, whose legal last name is Holmes, into custody early Saturday morning. The left-hander pitched eight innings Friday night, allowing two earned runs and striking out eight in No. 2-ranked Oregon State's 4-2 victory over UCLA.

Corvallis police say Wetzler was intoxicated when he was booked into Benton County Jail on first-degree criminal trespass and second-degree criminal mischief, both misdemeanors. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 9.

Wetzler is 9-1 and leads Division I with a 0.94 ERA.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...2-misdemeanors
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Phillies 5th round pick last year. MLBN has been talking about him all day saying he would have been higher if not for the DUI

[tjfla]

Now here is a Senior I am fine with taking. Let's just hope he is OK taking drug/booze tests

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wetzler

[emkayseven]

Wetzler used an agent for negotiations, against National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules, but "something that reportedly happens all the time". When Wetzler chose to return to Oregon state rather than sign, the Phillies reported Wetzler's violation to the NCAA.

per Wikipedia

[dim]

I like this pick.

Little reason behind it, I just like it.

[Mainge]

per Wikipedia

What dicks

[tjfla]

I like this pick.

Little reason behind it, I just like it.

Senior(Has No leverage and DUI brings price down more)
Talent(5th Rd Pick last year)
Starting LH

Excellent Pick

[Big Z]

Scott Olsen let's go!

[emkayseven]

Ben Wetzler spent Friday in front of his MacBook, watching the MLB draft's second day unfold online.

As morning plodded into afternoon, the former Oregon State ace grew impatient. He saw less accomplished players' names move across the MLB.com draft tracker. He wondered why teams were passing on the nation's ERA leader.

A year earlier, after a less-distinguished season, Wetzler had been a fifth-round selection. Through the eighth Friday, he had not heard his name called. So he sat in his Corvallis living room, eyes boring in on the computer screen, index finger dancing as he refreshed the page.

The wait ended around 2:45 p.m, in the ninth round. The Miami Marlins, an organization Wetzler's friends had spoken highly of, took the Beavers' all-time winningest arm No. 257 overall.

Moments later, Wetzler received a text message from his high school baseball coach reminding him about the special fan guiding his path. The Marlins, they agreed, were the right fit.

*********

Jake was 4 when he started attending Clackamas High School varsity baseball practices with his dad, Cavaliers coach John Arntson.

At first, his parents let him stop by only at the end. After 18 months or so, Jake was on the diamond almost as much as the players. When Jake wasn't halting drills with spontaneous fits of laughter, he was building a dirt pile next to the field.

Wetzler, Clackamas' jovial junior left-hander, viewed him as a little brother. He giggled when Jake rode his miniature electric motorcycle over the freshly manicured mound, much to the dismay of pitching coach Tom Bohlman. Wetzler admired his unbridled joy, the way he met each day with a smile.

Jake loved playing with toy trucks, devouring Oreos, doodling cartoons and fighting off villains with imaginary super-hero friends. But his default mode was standing, bat in hand, as he stared down a ball lobbed toward him by his adoring dad. His jersey number of choice in T-ball -- and soccer, basketball and flag football -- was 9, John's college number.

"It'd be the middle of football season or basketball season," John recalled recently, "and he wanted to hit balls in the garage with me."

Before each practice, Wetzler greeted the kindergartener with a hug. Jake, unable to pronounce the Cavaliers star's last name, called him "Sweats." The nickname stuck.

After workouts some days, Wetzler invited Jake to his family's farm just past the outfield fence. They visited the sheep and cattle, whom Jake later described to John as "Sweats' brothers and sisters."

When John needed a babysitter, Jake lobbied for Wetzler. Those nights, Wetzler's high school stressors -- girls, recruiting, exams -- evaporated as Jake launched into elaborate stories about other galaxies and magic racecars. Reluctant to return to reality, he often chose to hang out with Jake for at least an hour after John and his wife, Tracy, returned home.

"We developed a bond," Wetzler said. "It was really cool."

When he left Clackamas to join the home-state Beavers in 2010, they kept in touch, Jake and John grabbing a meal with Wetzler whenever he returned home on breaks. During Wetzler's first two college seasons, father and son trekked to Goss Stadium eight or nine times.

Once, during Wetzler's sophomore year, the Arntsons toured the locker room and coaches' offices. Director of baseball operations Ron Northcutt handed Jake an OSU hat -- orange bill, white crown and black panels.

"I don't want it!" the 6-year-old shouted as he chucked the gift to the floor.

John, livid, demanded his only son pick up the hat and thank Northcutt. Later, when they were alone, Jake muttered a few words while fighting back tears.

"Ben's is all black. I want to be like Ben."

*********

It was New Year's Eve 2012, and Wetzler was celebrating with a handful of former Cavaliers teammates at his Clackamas home. They gathered around a small bonfire, chuckling as they reminisced.

Wetzler's phone buzzed. The voice on the other end was slow and somber. It detailed the basics: John had hit a patch of ice while driving back with Jake from visiting family in Montana. His truck had crashed through a guardrail, plunging into the Columbia River.

John survived. Jake's body was found in the frigid waters, still inside the truck. He was 7.

The phone pressed to his ear, Wetzler sank into his chair and began to sob. He had experienced death before, years earlier, when a couple of Clackamas classmates passed. But this was a new kind of pain.

"It was so surreal," he said. "I kept thinking I'd wake up and it wouldn't be true."

Wetzler wanted to honor Jake. In the ensuing days, a plan came to mind. He would write "Jake 9" on his OSU cap's underbill and on each of his baseball cleats. He would wear a white, long-sleeve "Jake 9" shirt to the locker room before every game. He would don a gray wristband with his favorite Jake quote -- "Today is going to be my best day!" -- whenever he toed the slab of white rubber.

And, of course, he would change his jersey number from 28 to 9. Senior first baseman Danny Hayes, who had worn the Beavers' No. 9, agreed to the switch. But the OSU equipment staff couldn't find another jersey that fit Hayes' lanky frame in time for the season opener. Wetzler would have to wait until his senior year to wear 9.

"He did everything he possibly could to help the Arntsons through unimaginable grief," Bohlman, Clackamas' pitching coach, said.

Several months after Jake's death, about midway through Wetzler's junior season, John visited his son's tombstone to read a bedtime story. It was a nightly ritual, a way to maintain a glimmer of normalcy in a year wrecked by tragedy.

Lying in front of the tombstone, surrounded by flowers, was a message: "Love you little man. I'll never forget all the laughs we had, and how much fun we had playing with all your toys."

It was handwritten, in black marker, on the underbill of an all-black OSU hat.

*********

In late March this past season, John's Clackamas team finished a tournament in southern Arizona a day before Wetzler was scheduled to start against the Wildcats in nearby Tucson. So the Cavaliers flocked to Hi Corbett Field, eager to see their program's brightest star.

As Wetzler strode to the mound in the bottom of the first inning, John put on his sunglasses.

It was his first time watching Wetzler wear the No. 9. He didn't want his players to see their 41-year-old coach cry.

"The fact that he would do that," John said, "I can't tell you what this means to me."

Whenever he began an inning the past two seasons, Wetzler would remove his hat and glance at the "Jake 9" scribbled on his underbill. For a brief moment of reflection, he remembered Jake and his love for life. Then he started his windup.

At times, the approach extended beyond the diamond. Wetzler glanced at the initials -- as well as the gray wristband -- often during his two suspensions this year. They put his problems in perspective.

"Everything happens for a reason," Wetzler said. "Sometimes you can't explain it, but you just look at little things, and it's pretty special."

Friday afternoon, Wetzler was frustrated. He had watched UC Irvine dog-pile near the Goss Stadium mound four days earlier, rejoicing as Wetzler endured the sting of a record-setting college career cut short in the Corvallis Regional. And now he was staring at his MacBook, wondering where he would go next.

Then, after the Marlins' pick in the ninth round, nervous anger gave way to contentment. He looked down, and chuckled as he read John's text.

"Jake had his hands on it again."

http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/in...zler_comf.html

[emkayseven]

signed for $30,500, slot was $151,700

Former Oregon State ace Ben Wetzler signed with the Miami Marlins in Corvallis on Wednesday morning, his agent, Nik Lubisich, announced in a news release.

Wetzler, 22, will report to the Marlins' spring training site in Jupiter, Fla., on Monday.

"He has yet to receive his assignment," Lubisich wrote in the release, "but it looks as if he has a chance to move quickly through the organization."

Wetzler told The Oregonian that he agreed to a $30,500 signing bonus with the Marlins. That means he lost a hefty sum by spurning the Philadelphia Phillies, who drafted him in the fifth round in 2013 and reportedly offered him a signing bonus in the $350,000 range.

Wetzler returned to Corvallis for a senior year with designs on leading the Beavers to their first national title since 2007. No. 1 OSU's offense sputtered in the Corvallis Regional, though, and UC Irvine ended its season June 2.

"I have no regrets," Wetzler said.

After leading the nation with a 0.78 ERA in 2014, Wetzler was widely considered a third-to-fifth-round prospect. The first-team All American fell to the ninth round, No. 257 overall. It was his third time getting drafted, having gone to Cleveland in the 15th round in 2010 and to the Phillies in the fifth round last year.

Wetzler went 12-1 this past season, allowing just 49 hits off him in 104 innings for a nation-best .143 batting average against. He allowed two earned runs in a game just twice, and shut out opponents over at least seven innings of work six times. He finished with four complete-game efforts, including his last three starts, and tallied three shutouts.

Wetzler, who plans to return to OSU in the fall to finish his Sociology degree, is the Beavers' all-time leader in wins (36) and innings pitched (369 1/3). Over his last two seasons, he was 22-2.

In February, the NCAA suspended Wetzler for 20 percent of the season for using a financial adviser while negotiating a contract with the Phillies. Last month, coach Pat Casey suspended Wetzler for five games after he allegedly broke the window of a house he was trying to enter while intoxicated hours after pitching for the Beavers.

http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/in...00_signin.html

[Big Z]

The kid talks and looks like he's smoked way too many cigarettes in his life.