Tag Archives: James McArthur

Three from New Braunfels on the rise in the American League

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Notable: Former New Braunfels High School and Texas A&M pitcher Bryce Miller is scheduled to start tonight in Arlington for the Seattle Mariners against the World Series champion Texas Rangers.

Miller is off to a fast start in his second season in the major leagues.

The 6-foot-2 righthander has been nearly untouchable in April. This month, he’s 3-0 in three starts, winning on the road at Milwaukee and at home against the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds. In his three April outings, Miller has yielded only one earned run in 19 and 1/3 innings.

Elsewhere:

Two former University of Texas players, Kody Clemens and Bryce Elder, took full advantage of promotions to the major leagues recently.

Clemens belted a three-run homer for the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night in his first MLB game of the season. He was called up from Triple A in the wake of Phillies’ star Bryce Harper’s absence on paternity leave. Clemens, 27, started fast this spring, hitting .270 with three home runs and 11 RBI at Lehigh Valley.

Elder started and pitched the Atlanta Braves to a 3-0 victory against Miami. He yielded eight hits in 6 and 2/3 scoreless innings his first MLB start this season. The right-hander struck out four and walked none. Elder pitched in 41 games for the Braves over the past two seasons but didn’t make the squad out of spring training. Last season, he was 12-4.

Getting another chance, he made a statement about his professionalism.

“It says a lot about him,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said in an Associated Press story. “The dedication, the focus — everything. When we sent him down, he said, ‘I’ll be ready when you need me.’ And he was. He had really good command of all of his pitches. We’ve seen him do that before.”

September to remember: James McArthur finds his groove with the Kansas City Royals

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By Jerry Briggs
Special to The JB Replay

The professional baseball career of former New Braunfels High School pitcher James McArthur has taken a few unexpected twists and turns over the past four months. He has been traded and he has been hit hard. He’s bounced back and forth from the minor leagues to the majors.

Adversity? Coming off elbow troubles last year, McArthur has seen his share of it, for sure. But that was then, and this is now. And right now, he apparently has packed away all his troubles, setting the stage for a strong finish as a Kansas City Royals rookie.

Four months after a trade sent him from the Phillies to the Royals, McArthur clearly has found a groove. He hasn’t allowed an earned run — or even a run, period — in seven appearances out of the Royals’ bullpen this month.

After adding a slider to his repertoire, the 6-foot-7 righthander has thrown one-hit ball over 9 and 2/3 scoreless innings in September.

In his last two appearances, both at home, he earned his first major league win against the Houston Astros last Friday night, followed by his first save against the Cleveland Indians on Monday.

As the Royals beat the Indians 6-4 at Kauffman Stadium, McArthur finished the game — three up three, three down — to earn mention Tuesday morning on the MLB network highlights.

All told, he threw only 17 pitches in retiring Bo Naylor, Myles Straw and Steven Kwan, lowering his WHIP to a microscopic 0.10 for the month. Highlighting the outing, McArthur unleashed a nasty slider to strike out Straw swinging.

Not too bad for a guy who was battling an elbow problem as a Phillies minor leaguer last summer. Eventually, he moved past the sore arm, but the defending National League champions had other plans for him.

In May, the Phillies dealt McArthur for outfielder Junior Morin and cash. The former 12th-round draft pick by the Phillies went to the Royals, who assigned him to Triple-A Omaha.

By the end of June, he got the call to the majors. But in keeping with the crazy summer, his callup was hardly the stuff of Hollywood. Once in the big leagues, he got bombed in his Royals debut on June 28 against the Indians, giving up seven runs in one inning. Two days later, he was sent back to the minors.

Through August, he moved up and came back down to the minors a few more times. On Sept. 1, though, the Royals recalled him again. He’s been stringing zeroes on the scoreboard ever since.

Notable

McArthur is the third former New Braunfels High School ball player to reach the major leagues this season. Earlier, Bryce Miller made the Seattle Mariners and Jordan Westburg was called up to the Baltimore Orioles. All three athletes played collegiately in the Southeastern Conference, Miller at Texas A&M, Westburg at Mississippi State and McArthur at Ole Miss.