The first professional baseball stop for former Chase Collegiate and Clark University star Kyle Bonicki places him in California.
Bonicki signed with the Bakersfield Train Robbers of the Pecos League of Professional Baseball Clubs on June 19. The Pecos League has teams in cities from California to Texas and includes Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas in between.
Bonicki, listed as a second baseman, has played in three games for Bakersfield. In nine at bats, Bonicki has three hits, two RBI and a run scored. Bonicki drove in both of those runs in an 8-3 win over the High Valley (California) Yardbirds on Saturday. He was 2-for-4 and scored a run in the victory.
Connor Fitzsimons
The former Bristol Eastern and Central Connecticut State University backstop has added another location to his professional baseball journey within the Los Angeles Angels organization.
Fitzsimons is a catcher for the Burlington Bees, and no, he’s not playing in Burlington, Vt. The Burlington Bees are located in Burlington, Iowa, and are part of the Class A Midwest League. Burlington plays a full-season, or 140-game, schedule.
Fitzsimons is batting .276 with three home runs, three doubles, seven RBI and eight runs scored. He has played in 17 games and had 58 at bats. Fitzsimons put together a pair of solid games in a three-day stretch earlier this month. On June 9 against the Beloit Snappers, he was 3-for-4 with a run scored. Fitzsimons went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored against Beloit in the second game of a June 11 doubleheader. One of his two hits in that game was a home run, his third of the season.
Fitzsimons played his first two pro seasons with the Arizona League Angels, a Rookie level affiliate.
Manny Cruz
The former Wilby, Wolcott and Southern New Hampshire University standout also landed in a new destination this season. Cruz is playing for the Evansville Otters of the independent Frontier League. He has appeared in 32 of the 37 games and is hitting .257 in 101 at bats. Cruz has scored 16 runs to go along with three doubles, two sacrifice flies and four stolen bases.
Cruz has also moved around on defense for Evansville. Of the 32 games, he has played 18 at second base, 13 at third base and one at shortstop. Cruz has made just one error in 96 chances.
Like Fitzsimons, Cruz also started his professional career in the Arizona League, where he played for the Reds in 2016. He began 2017 with the Billings Mustangs, the Rookie Advanced affiliate of the Reds. He was released by Billings, then picked up by the Puerto Rico Islanders of the independent Empire League. Cruz ended the 2017 season with the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks of the American Association, another independent league.
Cruz was traded from Fargo-Moorhead to Evansville on Feb. 1 of this year.
Matt Blandino
The former Bristol Central and Felician University standout most recently pitched for the Sussex County Miners of the independent Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, better known as the CanAm League. Blandino pitched 1 2/3 innings and picked up the win for Sussex County on June 20 in his lone appearance before being released by the club.
Blandino spent the 2016 and 2017 with minor league affiliates of the Cincinnati Reds. He was 8-5 in 26 games (21 starts) over those two seasons with a 4.24 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 119 innings.
