It’s Monday! That means its time for the news and notes from around the MiLB portions of the Diamondbacks organization.

• Reno Aces (AAA)
• The Reno Aces took on the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) and the Sacramento River Cats (Athletics) this week

• Mobile BayBears (AA)
• The BayBears finished up their series against the M-Braves (Atlanta) and played against the Blue Wahoos (Reds) and the Montgomery Biscuits (Tampa Bay Rays)

• The BayBears have a stacked pitching rotation, but there were a number of BayBears getting it done with the bat this week: Rossmel Perez (C) ended the week batting 0.364; David Nick (2B) at 0.372 and Matt Davidson (3B) at 0.462.
• Adam Eaton had also collected 6 stolen bases by the end of the week.
• Trevor Bauer collected his 3rd win of the year, but finally allowed an earned run, raising his season ERA to 0.57 – he also walked 5 during that start. His season line to this point: 3 game, 3-0 record; 15.2 innings, 8H, 12BB, 20K, 0.154 batting average against.

• Visalia Rawhide (A Adv.)
• The Rawhide took on Modesto Nuts (Rockies)  and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Dodgers)

•  There were 2 dominant pitching performances this week. David Holmberg got the win on April 10 for 7.0 innings of 2H, 1R, 0BB, 9K. He brought his ERA to 1.38 and collected the win to draw him to 1-1 so far this season. The second outing was Andrew Chafin. He improved to 2-0 on the season with a 0.82 ERA after throwing 6.0 innings of 3H, 0R, 0BB, 9K baseball.
• The outstanding offensive performances of the week went to Jonathan Griffin (1B) and Raywilly Gomez (C) who finished the week with batting average of .350 and .379, respectively.

• South Bend Silver Hawks (A)
• The team took on the Fort Wayne Tincaps (Padres) and Dayton Dragons this week (Reds).

• Yakima Bears (SS)
• The Bears will begin the season on June 15.

• Missoula Osprey (R)
• The Osprey will begin the season on June 18.

It’s Monday! That means its time for the news and notes from around the MiLB portions of the Diamondbacks organization. Now that the minor leagues are back in action, Minors Monday is back.

Today’s post has been brought to you by Wade Miley (2010 Visalia Rawhide and Mobile BayBears; 2011 BayBears and Reno Aces) - who pitched 4.0 innings of hitless relief for the Diamondbacks yesterday to hold the SF Giants at bay while the Diamondbacks staged an unlikely, messy comeback.

• Reno Aces (AAA)
• Opening day roster: HERE
• The Reno Aces took on the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (AAA Colorado Rockies) this week.

• Mobile BayBears (AA)
• Opening day roster: HERE
• The BayBears played against the M-Braves (AA Atlanta) this week and started their season 4-0.

• Highlights: To say that this team has strong starting pitching would be a bit of an understatement:
• Trevor Bauer (April 5) – 5IP, 2H, 0R, 3BB, 7K – WIN
• Charles Brewer (April 6) – 6IP, 4H, 1R, 1BB, 6K – No Decision
• Kevin Munson earned his first career hold by striking out 3 and walking 1 in 1.0 IP
• Derek Eitel (April 7) – 4IP, 4H, 0R, 2BB, 3K – No Decision
• Patrick Corbin (April 8th) – 6IP, 6H, 0R, 1BB, 5K – Win

•  Visalia Rawhide (A Adv.) 
• This week, they took on the Bakersfield Blaze (A Adv Cincinnati Reds), splitting the series.

• Yakima Bears (SS)
• The Bears will begin the season on June 15.

• Missoula Osprey (R)
• The Osprey will begin the season on June 18.

It’s Monday! That means its time for the news and notes from around the MiLB portions of the Diamondbacks organization.

The most important “news” of the week came out of big league spring training camp, where rookie hazing turned into medieval times! Check out the “Snakes on the Grass” recap of the pitching rookies heading to the renaissance festival.

• Reno Aces (AAA)
• The Aces helpfully collected some recent links at their official blog.
• There will be more televised Aces games this season.
• The team announced that a season pass is only $72 for 72 home games if you’re a full-time student. See this tweet for more info.
•  Mobile BayBears (AA)
• The team annouced the hiring of Justin Shackil as the team’s new Director of Broadcasting/Media Relations for the 2012 season.
• They also announced a “Golden Glovers” program. If you’re over the age of 60 and want to act as a ballboy (or girl), this could be the program for you.
• Visalia Rawhide (A Adv.)
• The team announced that, by liking them on Facebook, you could win prizes in a series of competitions.
• South Bend Silver Hawks (A)
• It’s next-to-impossible to top last week’s Mark Haley Miracle. So, we’ll mention it again. And, expect him at spring training!
• The Silver Hawks continued their local promotion by airing a few commercials during the Oscars. You can check them out at their youtube page.
• Renovations are getting underway at the park.
• Want to work at the park on game day? They’re looking for help
• Yakima Bears (SS)
• We’ll keep an eye out for next week!
• Missoula Osprey (R)
• We’ll keep an eye out for next week!

Well, that wraps up another edition of Minors Monday. See y’all next week.

It’s Monday! That means its time for the news and notes from around the MiLB portions of the Diamondbacks organization. Hopefully this will be the last slow news week for a while, now that things are kicking into gear.

Reno Aces (AAA)

• Aces players reported for ST yesterday, according to the official twitter account.
• The team started a Pinterest page

Mobile BayBears (AA)

• BayBear Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) was all over MiLB.com this week following an interview he gave where he talked about the wide variety of pitches that he possesses. He has NINE. And, from all accounts, it seems like it is both quantity AND quality. For more Trevor Bauer, here’s an interview he did earlier in this off-season.
• Starting February 20th, the BayBears are hosting a high school classic. Five days of baseball.

Visalia Rawhide (A Adv.)

• Other than also covering the Trevor Bauer article (since he played with the Rawhide as well this past season), the only other news from the Rawhide was a new edition of “This is Rawhide Baseball”.

South Bend Silver Hawks (A)

• The Silver Hawks announced that there are contests hidden in their TV commercials, so watch carefully to win a flat screen TV.
• And, in what was – by far – the biggest MiLB news this week, Silver Hawks manager Mark Haley gave a fantastic, revealing interview about his off-season health problems. Check it out. No really. We mean it. We’ll wait right here for you to come back when you’re done.

Yakima Bears (SS)

• There wasn’t any news from the Bears this week, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for the next edition.

Missoula Osprey (R)

• There wasn’t any news from the Bears this week, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for the next edition.

This would probably fit better on Minors Monday, but I can’t let the weekend go by until then without mentioning this.

The coach of the South Bend Silver Hawks, Mark Haley, was hospitalized earlier in this off-season (article here) and was incredibly ill. More ill than most casual observers would probably be able to appreciate.

If you’re unfamiliar with Mark Haley, there are 2 articles that are well worth a read (previously linked in a post here) to bring you up to speed. Briefly:

Mark Haley has been in the organization for 7 years (following 13 with the White Sox) and he was given the organization’s Player Development Person of the Year award before the 2011 season and got to coach in the major leagues for the first time in Septermber of this year, just in time for the post-season.

And, though the magic of a website called CaringBridge.org, we the fans were able to keep up with his progress through the generosity of his wife. And, as the weeks moved along, good news was almost a daily occurrence.

Last night, the Silver Hawks tweeted that Mark Haley did an interview with WSBT 960AM and it was re-tweeted by the owner of the Silver Hawks, Andrew Berlin, this evening.

==> Listen to the interview HERE <==

There’s nothing but good news in here, he’s very open and candid and thankful for everyone who supported him – especially his wife. This interview highlights just how ill he was this winter and is proof that there are miracles everywhere.

In baseball news, Silver Hawks fans will be glad to know that he’s going to be back on the bench in time for spring training. And, it is a very special thing that this news is the least special thing in this interview.

Mark Haley is witty and engaging and this is an interview that is well worth your time – no matter which team colors you wear during the year.

Welcome back, Mr. Haley. All the best to you and your family for the coming year.

It’s Monday! That means its time for the news and notes from around the MiLB portions of the Diamondbacks organization.

As everyone starts to get geared up for spring training, hopefully this will be the last slow news week we have to suffer through.

The big news this week was the release of the organizational preview, ranking the top 20 prospects in the system. If you missed it, check it out here. It is best summarized as “the Diamondbacks have got pitching”. For easy reference, the top 5 are:

And, for the weekly round-up.

Reno Aces (AAA)

• The team posted a “where are they now” entry at their official blog, highlighting former players.
• Wanna work in baseball? The Aces are hiring!

 Mobile BayBears (AA)

• There wasn’t any news from the BayBears this week, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for the next edition

• At the official site, you ca find info about registering to be the couple who gets married during the 3rd annual ballpark wedding.
• The team announced via twitter that catering for the team will get you free tickets, autographs and a meet and greet with the players.

• The Silver Hawks aired a commercial (locally, obviously), during the Super Bowl.
• The Silver Hawks announced a whole bunch of promos for this season.
• The new owner of the Silver Hawks took to youtube with a message.

• There wasn’t any news from the Bears this week, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for the next edition

 Missoula Osprey (R)

• There wasn’t any news from the Osprey this week, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for the next edition.

It’s Monday! That means its time for the news and notes from around the MiLB portions of the Diamondbacks organization. If you missed last week’s edition and you need a refresher on the teams, click HERE.

Reno Aces (AAA)

• It was announced that Reno will be hosting the 2013 All-Star Game. If you’re into early planning, mark this on your calendar!
• It was announced that Andy Tracy, who has spent 16 years in the minor leagues and who played with Reno last season will be starting his coaching career. He was previously offered a hitting coach job in the Dbacks organization, per this article, but is moving onward and upward. Best of luck to Mr. Tracy.
• The Aces began rolling out promos via twitter this week. I desperately want someone to go to garden gnome night on my behalf.

Mobile BayBears (AA)

• During the month of February, the Mobile BayBears are teaming up with BMW of Mobile and donating money to the Hank Aaron Childhood Home and Museum. So, if you’re in Mobile and you need a BMW, you know where you should go. (In all seriousness, though, this is a nice thing they’re doing.)
• A number of the BayBears are on prospect watch. As we’ve previously discussed, the most coveted prospects landed here in 2011.

Visalia Rawhide (A Adv.) 

• The Visalia Rawhide are hosting a charity poker game. Go here for more information.
• And, This Is Rawhide Baseball decided that they didn’t like the outcome of Groundhog day. So, this happened:

South Bend Silver Hawks (A)

• @SilverSwoop made a plea for 100 followers on twitter and then revealed his new look for the new season.
• The Silver Hawks announced a new president, a new owner and a new set of fan experiences. Definitely something to get excited about for 2012.

Yakima Bears (SS)

• There wasn’t any news from the Bears this week, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for the next edition.

Missoula Osprey (R) 

• For a round up of all the former Osprey that are headed to camp in the spring, you can need to head over here.

I have decided to make Mondays at “Snakes On The Grass” dedicated (at least in part) to the minor league system. But, because of some real-life shenanigans, this post couldn’t go up until today. So, let’s pretend it is Monday for a moment, shall we? Good.

So, welcome.

For the inaugural post, let’s start with the basics. These are the Arizona minor league affiliates.

	Reno Aces (AAA) Roster Mobile BayBears (AA) Roster Visalia Rawhide (A Adv.) Roster South Bend Silver Hawks (A) Roster Yakima Bears (SS) Roster AZL D-backs (R) Roster DSL Diamondbacks (R) Roster Missoula Osprey (R) Roster

• chart from here at milb.com