MSL to MLB: Local Products Playing Part in Baseball's Postseason
Former Schaumburg Star Hummel Wins Second Middle School State Baseball Title; Hersey Grad Harris Heads to Prestigious Arizona Fall League
Another Chicago baseball season will come to an end with both teams on the outside looking in at the postseason.
I was pulling for Mike Tauchman, a baseball and football star at Fremd, to get there in what had been a memorable season with the Cubs until they unraveled down the stretch and were officially eliminated from a playoff spot Saturday night. As for the White Sox, well, my favorite team was knocked out of contention sometime in spring training on the way to a miserable 100-loss season.
Fortunately, there are some local connections in this postseason worth following.
Start with the Atlanta Braves, whose 104 wins going into the season finale are the most in the big leagues. Catching coach Sal Fasano is truly one of the good guys in sports dating to his high school days at Hoffman Estates (where he was typically known as Sam).
Fasano has been the Braves catching coach since 2018 and had an 11-year MLB catching career with nine teams from 1996-2008. Fasano was a two-time Daily Herald All-Area catcher at Hoffman in 1988-89 and he could also get after it on the the football field as an all-Mid-Suburban League offensive tackle as a senior in 1988.
Jeff Pink, a 2001 Daily Herald All-Area pick at Buffalo Grove, is in his ninth year with the Braves organization and second year with the big club as their manager of clubhouse operations. Pink was part of the on-field National League East clinching celebration as he was also helping distribute championship swag to players and coaches.
Nicky Lopez, a 2013 Naperville Central graduate, got a worst-to-first reprieve when he was traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Braves on July 30. Lopez has hit .286 with a homer and 12 RBI in 25 games while playing all four infield spots and even making a couple of relief pitching appearances.
And the Braves manager, Brian Snitker, is connected to one of the state’s great stories as a player on central Illinois’ small-school Macon team that took second in the 1971 state baseball tournament and was chronicled in Chris Ballard’s great book, “One Shot at Forever.”
Ibach a Big Ray of Success: The Tampa Bay Rays have been one of baseball’s model organizations for sustained success and 1996 Hersey graduate Kevin Ibach has played a major role. Ibach is in his 11th season with the Rays and was promoted to vice president of player personnel last November, where he oversees the internal and external evaluation of pro players and helps lead the efforts on all player acquisitions.
Ibach, who also played Division I baseball at LaSalle and professionally for the Schaumburg Flyers, joined the Rays in October 2012 as a pro scout and moved up the ranks to director of pro scouting and senior director of pro personnel and scouting. Ibach also spent five years with the Marlins as a Midwest-area scout and seven years with the Orioles as a baseball operations coordinator. Ibach’s father Bob was the PR director for the Cubs when Dallas Green came over from the Phillies after the 1981 season to revamp the organization.
Paul a Nice Catch for Jays: Josh Paul is the catching coordinator for the Toronto Blue Jays organization and was a two-time all-area pick and Herald All-Area team captain in 1993. Paul’s nine-year MLB catching career with four teams from 1999-2007 included five years with the White Sox and a three-game stint with the Cubs.
Paul was also a major-league coach with the Yankees, Angels and Tigers and a minor-league catching coordinator with the Yankees. He is one of five catchers from the MSL to make the big leagues with Fasano, Dan Wilson (Barrington), Todd Hundley (Fremd) and Tom Lundstedt (Prospect).
Short’s Big Impact with Arizona: Rick Short has been with the Arizona Diamondbacks staff since June 2021 and is currently the assistant hitting coach and minor-league hitting coordinator. Short was an all-Upstate Eight Conference shortstop who led Larkin to the Class AA Elite Eight in 1991 and had a successful playing career where he hit .400 with 2 homers in 15 at-bats for the 2005 Washington Nationals, hit .319 in 11 minor-league seasons and also spent five years as a player in Japan.
Short joined the Diamondbacks big-league after a successful stint as a minor-league hitting coach. One of his current pupils is second-year starting center fielder Alek Thomas from Mt. Carmel.
Miller Time for Dodgers: Bobby Miller has made a big splash in his first season as a starting pitcher for the NL West champion Dodgers and will get some rookie of the year consideration. The hard-throwing 24-year-old righty who starred at McHenry and was born in Elk Grove is 11-4 with a 3.89 ERA in 21 starts. He had 115 strikeouts and just 31 walks in 120⅓ innings.
Stewart a Nice Relief for Twins: Brock Stewart’s season with the AL Central champion Twins might be emblematic of the challenges the Normal West and Illinois State product has faced in his career. The righty reliever came back from Tommy John surgery and this spring returned to the big leagues for the first time since 2019.
This past week he made his first two appearances in nearly three months because of elbow trouble but he was a key piece to the Twins’ bullpen at 2-0 with a save and 0.66 ERA. He has 38 strikeouts and 11 walks in 27⅓ innings. Stewart’s dad Jeff was the quarterback of Elk Grove’s 1972 mythical state championship team and Herald all-area football captain.
Jeff Stewart’s tenure as Illinois State’s head baseball coach (1989-2002) coincided with Collinsville star Kevin Stallings’ stint as ISU’s head basketball coach (1993-1999). Stallings’ son Jacob Stallings is in his eighth big-league season as a catcher and is hitting .193 with 3 homers in 88 games for the NL Wild Card qualifier Miami Marlins.
Hummel Brings Home Middle School State Title
Former Schaumburg star pitcher John Hummel has been a big part of the baseball success at Glenwood Middle School and Glenwood High School in Chatham, which is located outside of Springfield. Hummel, who is in his 12th year as head coach of the middle school team, just won his second Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) Class 3A state title Saturday 3-2 in 10 innings as hIs son Ashton, an eighth-grader, allowed 1 earned run in 3⅓ innings. Glenwood won its quarterfinal and semifinal games 1-0.
Hummel’s 2017 also won a title and he has a record of 151-59. He has been a world history teacher at the school since 2014 and he has also worked as an assistant in the high school program that has won two state titles, finished second three times and fourth once.
Hummel was the Daily Herald All-Area captain in 2002 as he led a Schaumburg team coached by Paul Groot and Tom Mueller to Mid-Suburban League and Class 4A sectional titles. Hummel was drafted in the 16th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates and spent three years in their organization and two seasons in independent ball, which included stints with the Schaumburg Flyers.
Hersey’s Harris Heads to Arizona Fall League
Hersey graduate Brett Harris has been one of the rising stars of the Oakland A’s organization. The third baseman starts play Monday with the Mesa Solar Sox in the prestigious Arizona Fall League for the game’s top prospects. The AFL season runs through November 11.
Harris split time this season between Class AA Midland (Texas) and Class AAA Las Vegas and had a slash line of .279/.383/.424 with 9 homers, 62 RBI, 63 runs scored and 10 stolen bases in 108 games.