Mike Gipson went 3-1 in 12 appearances for Staten Island before earning a promotion to Charleston. (Photo provided by Staten Island)
Gipson's going places
Former Owl Friday: The Yankees' organization saw enough from Mike Gipson in his 12 appearances at Class A Staten Island to move him up a level for the final weeks of the season.
Originally published on
8/27/2010
by
Chuck King
Staten Island manager Josh Paul found a way to soften the blow when taking Mike Gipson out of the game early last week.
Gipson had allowed four runs on four hits and was struggling to get out of the third inning on Aug. 19 when Yankees’ manager Paul went to the mound for the ball.
“I was about to run back into the dugout and (Paul) said, ‘Where are you going? Come back. You are going to Charleston,’” Gipson recalled.
It only took 12 appearances for short season Class A Staten Island for the Yankees organization to promote Gipson to Charleston of the Class A South Atlantic League.
The ace of an FAU staff who pitched the Owls to the NCAA’s Gainesville Regional final in June, Gipson posted a 3-1 record with a 4.42 ERA in Staten Island.
“It was a blast,” Gipson said of his Staten Island stint. “The atmosphere up there is a pretty crazy. You get a lot of fans every game. When we played Brooklyn, there were 10,000 fans.”
Gipson believes the transition from NCAA to the pros has come fairly easily, though he does notice the difference in the quality of hitters.
“No matter how hard you throw you can’t blow it by anybody,” he said. “You are pretty much facing everybody’s 3-4-5 hitter in college every at- bat. You have to make pitches in every at-bat. You can’t take any at-bat off”
Gipson started and relieved an equal number of games for Staten Island, but he will likely only be used as starter in Charleston. He allowed three runs in three innings in Monday’s debut as a RiverDog before leaving after reaching his maximum pitch count. The righthander is slated to take the mound again on Saturday against the Savannah Sand Gnats, a team that features fellow former Owl Travis Ozga.
“I had a lot of strikeouts in Staten Island,” said Gipson, who fanned 50 batters in 38 2/3 innings. “(At this level) I made some pretty good pitches that their guys laid off in 0-2 and 1-2 counts.”
Stepping up: Reliever Jeff Beliveau improved to 4-1 on the season for the high Class A Daytona Cubs with a win on Wednesday. He’s sporting a 1.26 ERA in his last 10 games – a span of 14 1/3 innings. …Travis Ozga is hitting .400 (8-for-20) with a home run and three RBI since coming off Savannah’s Sand DL on August 19. His strained back muscle seems to be fine. …Mickey Storey hasn’t allowed a run in August, a streak spanning eight appearances (13 innings) for the Class AA Midland RockHounds.
Low and away: Alex Pepe’s recent consecutive scoreless appearances for the GCL Blue Jays only lowered his ERA to 10.50. …Justin Phillabaum failed to record an out for the Class A Potomac Nationals while allowing two earned runs on Monday. He’s 0-4 with a 6.06 ERA on the season.
Indy ins and outs: Chris Salberg keeps winning for the American Association’s Sioux Falls Pheasants. In his last outing he allowed two earned runs on five hits in six innings. The downside: he walked six and hit a batter.