Your 2007 WV Power: Latest -- Steve Chapman Video

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Link while active, text follows:

 

http://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=8&cat=40&id=1045921&more=0

 

Green's bat puts charge in Power lineup

http://web.bcnewsgroup.com/portals/uploads/courtenay/.DIR288/green__070817.jpg

COURTENAY'S (British Columbia, Canada) TAYLOR GREEN continues to give South Atlantic League chuckers fits. He is seen here at historic Golden Field. PHOTO submitted

By Earle Couper

Record Staff

Hard-hitting third baseman Taylor Green is showing no signs of cooling off as he patrols the hot corner for the West Virginia Power.

With the South Atlantic League regular season winding down, the Comox Valley Baseball Association grad and Single A rookie is third in league batting with a hefty .352 average.

Through 95 games, Green had 12 homers, 24 doubles, a triple and 75 RBI. His .509 slugging percentage is among the tops in the league. "Taylor's agent has informed us that he is the youngest player (at age 20) to have accomplished this kind of offensive production in the South Atlantic League since Chipper Jones did it a number of years ago (1991) before becoming a perennial Major League all-star with the Atlanta Braves," said Taylor's dad, Bill Green.

The Power, the Single A affiliate of the MLB Milwaukee Brewers, will be starting their playoff run in early September. After that, Green has been invited to the Instructional League in Phoenix, Arizona where he and other top prospects for the Brewers will work with Major League coaches until the end of October.

He will be home for the offseason until early February, when he will attend early spring training. "In the offseason, Taylor will be available to work with young baseball players who want to improve their knowledge and skills in the game," Bill Green said.

As he continues to lead the Power to SAL success, Green has been following in some big footsteps. Recently, West Virginia was playing the Columbus Catfish at historic Golden Field in Columbus, Georgia.

"It is an amazing facility in that just about every Major League baseball player has played there," said Bill Green. That list includes such luminaries as Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Cal Ripkin Jr., Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Ferguson Jenkins and Frank Thomas.

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Videos from the Power:

Great job by the West Virginia staff with these --

 

Player Profile: Taylor Green

 

Player Profile: Brent Brewer

 

Player Profile: Andrew Lefave

 

Player Profile: Kenny Holmberg

 

Player Profile: Chuckie Caufield

 

We featured the Power mascots and their own videos in the Milwaukee "In-Game-Thread" of Saturday August 18th in the IGT Forum.

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Taylor Green the lone West Virginia rep on the Sally League Postseason All-Star Squad

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Link while active, text follows:

 

http://www.puyallup-herald.com/sports/story/9264222p-9179100c.html

 

Lidyard rides rookie year roller coaster

Cascade Christian grad experiences the normal ups and downs of first pro baseball season

Sean Janssen of The Puyallup (WA) Herald

 

While spring training may have seemed like one big high, the first full season of professional baseball is more the typical story of highs and lows for Cascade Christian product D.J. Lidyard.

 

In March, Lidyard showed great things with his slider and sinker, allowing him to skip rookie league ball in Arizona or Helena, Mont., and jump straight to the Class A long-season West Virginia Power in Charleston, W. Va.

 

"Our first-year guys usually go to the Arizona rookie league or our rookie team in Helena, but we felt he was ready for that challenge," said Jim Rooney, the Milwaukee Brewers' roving minor league pitching instructor. "We knew that it was going to be a challenge because it's a big leap from college ball to facing better hitters. When you come into pro ball, there's going to be some ups and downs."

 

His greatest success has actually come, for the right-handed reliever, against lefties, shutting them down to the tune of a .241 batting average and compiling a 2.25 ERA against southpaws. He has also fared much better at night than during day games, with a 4.33 ERA aganinst 8.25.

 

A breaking ball that wowed in March, according to Brewers scout Brandon Newell, tailed off into a soft curveball for a time, Curtis said.

 

"That breaking ball was one of the most impressive things about him that we saw in spring training," he said. "It went in and out. The last month or so, he's coming back to where he was, delivering a better baseball."

 

As the regular season winds down, Curtis is looking toward what Lidyard can show in a postseason situation.

 

Whether he returns to West Virginia next summer or moves up the ladder to a team like the advanced Class A Brevard County (Fla.) Manatees or AA Huntsville (Ala.) Stars will largely be determined in next year's spring training camp.

 

"That's where guys come in and start competing for those jobs," Rooney said.

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Link while active, text follows:

 

http://www.dailymail.com/story/Sports/2007090417/Powers-LeFave-wins-Sally-League-batting-title/

 

Power's LeFave wins Sally League batting title

Christopher Wade

For the Charleston Daily Mail

Through the early parts of the season, some people called West Virginia Power first baseman Andrew LeFave a nobody.

 

He wasn't a first-round or even a high draft pick. In fact, the 23-year-old LeFave signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers' organization as an undrafted free agent.

 

LeFave, however, has certainly made a name for himself this year, winning the Class A South Atlantic League batting title this season --the first Charleston franchise player to do so in 21 seasons in the SAL.

 

The 5-foot-10, 205-pound LeFave batted .345 with 17 home runs and 79 runs batted in. His batting average was 12 points higher than Greensboro's John Raynor, who hit .333.

 

Neither LeFave nor Raynor played in the regular-season finale at Appalachian Power Park on Monday afternoon as the Power defeated Greensboro 10-4.

 

The victory also marked the 500th career professional victory for Power Manager Mike Guerrero.

 

With LeFave's batting title, he became the first Charleston player in 24 years to achieve the feat. Infielder Jack Perconte was the last to do so, for the 1983 Charleston Charlies in the final Class AAA International League season here. He hit .346.

 

The question about LeFave is regarding the SAL playoffs. The Power opens the best-of-three Northern Division series Wednesday night at Hickory, and LeFave hasn't played in the Power's final five regular-season games due to a pulled ligament in his left wrist.

 

"It's a great honor for me, but especially for the team too," LeFave said of winning the batting title. "We've all did so much this year and had a lot of accomplishments, making the playoffs as a team, and individually with (Steve) Chapman setting the (franchise) home run record (24)."

 

Being an undrafted free agent has made the accomplishment even greater for LeFave. That proved to be a great motivational tool.

 

"All season long, I've gone out with a chip on my shoulder," LeFave said. "People look at you and are like 'you're a free agent, you're a nobody.' That fuels the fire to prove everybody wrong and that I can play at this level."

 

While LeFave's season may have surprised many, it didn't to himself or Power hitting coach Corey Hart.

 

"From his first at-bat, he's been impressive," Hart said. "It was an eight-pitch at-bat and he hit an opposite field home run. All season, he's been solid. He has a great swing."

 

The only surprise LeFave has seen in his game is in home run total (17). Last season, playing rookie ball in Arizona, LeFave batted .353 but only had one home run in his 136 at-bats.

 

"My average has always been pretty good," LeFave said. "My game plan was to be as consistent as possible. The goal was to get at least one hit a game and if I was able to get another, that's a bonus."

 

While it wasn't LeFave's goal to win the batting title, it became clear to him midway through the season that it could become a reality.

 

"About halfway through the season, I had started to establish myself and was hitting around .290," Lefave said. "Once I went over .300, I knew I wouldn't drop underneath.

 

"I started to get in a rhythm and just ran with it. It's all about determination and confidence and both has been pretty high."

 

While LeFave's regular season has been nothing short of spectacular, his postseason remains a question mark.

 

As the Power opens at Hickory, LeFave hopes to get back in the lineup.

 

"We are trying to give it some extra time to get better and get me ready for the playoffs, so we'll see," LeFave said.

 

After that, it's home to Anacortes, Wash., for LeFave. In the offseason, he's a commercial fisherman for the giant Dungeness crab, in business with his father.

 

However the postseason plays out for LeFave and the Power, the new SAL batting champ hopes to continue the success he's had this season and one day make it to the Major Leagues.

 

"I'd like to make it to the Majors but my number one priority is to be successful at every level where I play," LeFave said. "I don't like to look ahead."

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Video Salute to Charleston HR King Steve Chapman:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=873767716601280361