Athletes Beyond Bartow: Southpaws Anderson and Howard productive, Schiltz makes pro debut
This week's 'Athletes Beyond Bartow' update features the five professional baseball athletes with Cartersville ties.
Minor league pitchers Elliott Anderson and Sam Howard had productive performances on the mound and Cartersville native Luke Schiltz made his professional pitching debut,
Anderson has yet to allow an earned run since his assignment to the Rookie Advanced Appalachian League Burlington Royals while Howard made two scoreless relief appearances for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes. Schiltz made a ninth inning appearance for the AZL Rangers in the Rookie Arizona League.
L-R: Luke Schiltz, Anthony Seigler, Elliott Anderson, Connor Justus, Sam Howard
ELLIOTT ANDERSON — Burlington Royals (1st yr. pro; LHP; Rookie Advanced Appalachian League; Kansas City Royals’ organization; Auburn; Cartersville HS)… picked up his first professional save and his first hold in a busy week of work that included four appearances. He worked a scoreless ninth inning last Wednesday at home against the Princeton Rays to collect his first save. Anderson issued a walk, but retired the three other batters he faced in Burlington’s 7-4 win. Sunday, Anderson made his longest pro appearances and was credited with a hold as the Royals beat the Danville Braves 3-1. The southpaw entered with two outs in the seventh inning and retired five of the eight batters he faced, working into the ninth inning. He did allow a walk and two hits in the scoreless appearance, but also had one strikeout. Thursday, he was inserted with two outs in the ninth inning of an eventual 7-5 loss to visiting Pulaski. Anderson allowed an inherited runner to score on a single, but followed that with a strikeout to end the frame. In a home, ninth inning appearance last Monday (July 1) he was touched for a base hit but retired the other three batters faced for a scoreless frame in a 3-0 loss to Princeton. Through five relief appearances totaling five innings, he has five strikeouts and is yet to allow an earned run. Burlington (9-10) is in third place in the Appalachian League East Division trailing the Bluefield Blue Jays by two games.
SAM HOWARD — Albuquerque Isotopes (6th yr. pro; LHP; Triple-A Pacific Coast League; Colorado Rockies’ organization; Georgia Southern; Cartersville HS)… made two relief appearances last week without allowing an earned run. Wednesday at Sacramento, Howard allowed a pair of singles in an eighth inning appearance but got a flyout and a groundout double play in the ‘Topes 1-0 loss. Sunday at home against Las Vegas, Howard was called on in the sixth inning where he struck out the first batter faced but again allowed a pair of singles before getting out of the inning with a pair of force outs. For the season, he is 1-1 in 32 relief appearances across 40 innings. Howard has a 4.24 ERA and has recorded 50 strikeouts. Albuquerque (37-53) remains in last place in the PCL’s Pacific Southern Division. The Isotopes are 18-1/2 games behind first place El Paso.
CONNOR JUSTUS — Mobile BayBears (4th yr. pro; Inf., Double-A Southern League; L.A. Angels’ organization; Georgia Tech; Cartersville HS)… went 1-for-13 with a walk in five games last week as his season batting average slipped to .182 through 75 games and 220 official at-bats. He drew a walk as a pinch hitter last Monday in a loss at Biloxi and had a one-out double to right field in the seventh inning of Thursday’s 4-2 win over visiting Jacksonville. Defensively, Justus carries a .943 fielding percentage in 262 total chances. He has split time between second base, third base, and shortstop with 43 of his 74 games at shortstop. Mobile is 8-10 in the Southern League’s second half schedule, trailing Jacksonville by two games. The BayBears are 35-51 for the overall season.
LUKE SCHILTZ — AZL Rangers (1st yr. pro; RHP; Rookie Arizona League; Texas Rangers’ organization; Cartersville native; Stoneman Douglas (Fla.) HS)… made his professional debut last Friday in the Rookie Arizona League with a ninth inning appearance during a 10-5 loss to the AZL Indians Blue. Schiltz got a pop up to his catcher in foul territory for the first out of the inning, but that was followed by a solo home run to right field by Aaron Bracho. He then got a ground out and a fly out to end the frame. The AZL Rangers are 11-6 in the West Division and trail the AZL Padres 1 by 1/2 game.
ANTHONY SEIGLER — Charleston RiverDogs (2nd yr. pro; C; Class A South Atlantic League; N.Y. Yankees’ organization; Cartersville HS)… In six games last week, Seigler was 3-for-21 with four walks and two RBI. He also scored a run. Through 21 games since joining the RiverDogs, he has a .224 batting average and six RBI in 67 official at-bats. He has drawn 19 walks and has one stolen base. Defensively, the catcher has committed two errrors in 123 total chances for a .984 fielding percentage. He has thrown out 6-of-18 stolen base attempts. Charleston is 8-10 in the South Atlantic League’s second half. The RiverDogs are in fourth place in the Southern Division trailing the Augusta GreenJackets and the Rome Braves by two games. Overall, Charleston is 45-43 for the year.
