The player development process is moving along once again in the Rockies organization, but there’s a key part missing to the process for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox.
Anyone who recognizes the ambience of minor-league baseball, the overall feeling that makes that level of the game so enjoyable on those summer evenings, knows the importance of Rai Henniger to the Sky Sox experience. Sure, there’s the baseball part of it and watching the development of Ian Stewart, Joe Koshansky, Ubaldo Jimenez or the attempts to climb back to the major leagues of Ryan Spilborghs and Clint Barmes.
Henniger’s part of the overall experience was more of the off-the-field stuff, such as Wednesday night’s Bark in the Park promotion in which fans mingle with canines of all shapes and sizes. And of course, the fireworks displays that are sprinkled through the course of a game, just all of the things that make minor-league baseball fun.
The Sky Sox are much for the worse because Henniger is not at his post of senior vice president, a chair he has held for the Sky Sox for 17 seasons. Instead, he’s in Denver Health Medical Center for treatment of severe injuries suffered in the misfiring of a fireworks device he was setting up for a Sky Sox game.
His condition is serious and he faces months of medical care. His wife, Heather, is living at a Denver hotel. Their children, Grace, 10; Emma, 7; and Benjamin, 5; are being cared for by grandparents, but they are shuttling back and forth between Colorado Springs and Denver to see their parents.
The Sky Sox have established the “Rai Henniger Family Fund” to help offset the expenses the family faces in the future. The fund has been set up through the Security Service Federal Credit Union. Donations can be dropped off at any Security Service location in Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Denver or mailed to the Rai Henniger Family Fund, 1485 Kelly Johnson Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO, 80920.
The Sky Sox also are accepting donations at The Henniger Family, c/o Sky Sox, 4385 Tutt Blvd., Colorado Springs, Co., 80922.
Elsewhere in the organization, player development is at the forefront, with Tulsa of the Double-A Texas League and Asheville of the Single-A South Atlantic League leading their divisions.
Manager Joe Mikulik said he believes this edition of the Asheville Tourists will be well-represented on the conveyor belt going up to Double-A, Triple-A and the big leagues.
“We have some players here this year who are hungry and they’ll be knocking on the door of some players who are up above this,” Mikulik said. “We’re kind of a no-name group this year, but I’m not throwing these guys on the bus and saying they’re not prospects.”
Pitching always takes the spotlight when looking up and down the farm system, and Mikulik has a prime target in left-hander Keith Weiser.
Weiser is off and running in his first full minor-league season with a 7-0 record. But the statistics that really jump out are 35 strikeouts and just five walks in 50 1/3 innings. One concern: Weiser, a third-round draft pick in 2006, has surrendered six home runs.
Mikulik has been adding players to the bottom of the development chart for the Rockies since 2000. He has seen a number of future major-leaguers come through Asheville, including pitchers Aaron Cook and Manny Corpas and position players Brad Hawpe and Jeff Baker.
He said he has another top candidate to add to the pool of players that make shortstop one of the strengths of the organization. Mikulik missed Troy Tulowitzki on his climb to the Rockies’ infield, but he had Chris Nelson, a first-round draft pick in 2004.
Mikulik is touting Hector Gomez, signed as a free agent in 2004. Gomez is struggling offensively, hitting .234 in his first 36 games at Single-A.
But he’s 19, and Mikulik remembers having Stewart when he was 19 and adjusting to professional baseball.
“Hector Gomez is the total package,” Mikulik said. “I’ll be interested to look at his numbers three years from now.”
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
