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KEIZERTIMES.COM
Best of the rest: Players
that just missed the cut
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The Keizertimes Top 20
Volcanoes players of all time
series began in September
and will come to a conclu-
sion next week. Before we
publish the fi nal installment
of the series, featuring the
#1 player on the list, we take
a look at fi ve players who
just missed the cut — the list
is based on players’ success in
the major leagues.
EMMANUEL BURRISS
Burriss attended Kent
State University and was
selected by the San Francis-
co Giants in the fi rst round
of the 2006 Major League
Baseball (MLB) Draft as a
middle infi elder. He played
for the Volcanoes in 2006
and batted .307 with 22
RBIs and 11 extra-base hits
in 65 games.
After two seasons in the
minors, Burriss was called up
to join the Giants on April
20, 2008. In 95 games with
San Francisco, Burriss batted
.283.
Burriss was named the
starting second baseman to
begin the 2009 season and,
early in the season, had the
game-winning RBI in the
300th career victory for
Burriss
MLB legend Randy John-
son. However, after batting
.238 in 61 games, Burriss
was optioned back down to
Triple-A.
After an injury-shortened
2010 season, Burriss played
in 59 games for the Giants in
2011 and 60 games in 2012.
Burriss became a free
agent at the end of the 2012
season and signed a minor
league deal with the Cin-
cinnati Reds. The following
year, Burriss went to the
Washington Nationals on a
minor league deal. Burriss
spent all of 2014 in the mi-
nors and only appeared in
fi ve games for Washington in
2015.
In 2016, Burriss fi nished
his seven-year MLB career
with the Philadelphia Phil-
lies, appearing in 39 games.
He is now the hitting coach
for the Oklahoma City
Dodgers, a Triple-A affi liate
of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
BOOF BONSER
Bonser grew up in Flor-
ida and was selected in the
fi rst round of the 2000 MLB
Draft by the Giants. He
made his professional debut
later that summer for the
Volcanoes at the age of 18.
Bonser pitched 33 innings
for the Volcanoes, going 1-4
with a 6.00 ERA. The fol-
lowing year, however, Bons-
er improved greatly, posting a
16-4 record and a 2.49 ERA
with 178 strikeouts for the
Hagerstown Suns in 2006 —
he was named the South At-
lantic League’s Most Valuable
Pitcher.
After reaching Triple-A
at the end of the 2003 sea-
son, Bonser was traded to
the Minnesota Twins along
with fellow former Volca-
Bonser
noes players Joe Nathan and
Francisco Liriano.
Bonser spent a little more
than two years in the Twins
minor league system before
being called up on May 21,
2006. In his debut, Bons-
er pitched six innings and
gave up only one run while
striking out eight against the
Milwaukee Brewers.
Even though he was sent
back down to Triple-A in
July, Bonser was called back
up to join the team in Au-
gust. After multiple inju-
ries and poor performances
by the Twins pitching staff,
Bonser proved to be reli-
able enough to be selected as
the team’s #2 starter on the
postseason roster after being
named the American League
(AL) Rookie of the Month
in September. In his only
playoff appearance, Bonser
pitched six innings and al-
lowed two runs.
Bonser ended his rookie
season with a 7-6 record in
100.1 innings.
In 2007, after beginning
the year as the second starter
in the rotation, Bonser went
8-12 with a 5.18 ERA. He
was moved to the bullpen
during the 2008 season, but
his ERA climbed to 5.93 for
the year.
Bonser missed the 2009
season after undergoing sur-
gery to repair his labrum
and rotator cuff. His fi nal
year in the majors would be
in 2010. Bonser made two
appearances for the Boston
Red Sox before being re-
leased. He was picked up by
the Oakland A’s in late-July
and pitched 23 innings in 13
appearances.
CHRIS STRATTON
The Giants drafted Strat-
ton in the fi rst round of the
2012 MLB Draft. In eight
games with the Volcanoes,
Stratton posted a 2.76 ERA
and struck out 16 in 16.1 in-
nings. In 2013, he was named
the Giants third best prospect
by Baseball America.
Stratton spent three sea-
sons in the minors before
being called up to the Gi-
ants on May 30, 2016. Even
though he was primarily
used as a starter in the mi-
nors, the Giants elected to
Stratton
bring Stratton out of the
bullpen.
Stratton threw a per-
fect inning in his debut and
struck out two of the three
batters he faced. He earned
his fi rst MLB win on June
11, 2016 against the Dodg-
ers.
Stratton split time be-
tween the Giants and Tri-
ple-A in 2017, and was
moved back into a starting
role. With the Giants, Strat-
ton was 4-4 with a 3.68
ERA in 13 games.
Stratton made 26 starts
for the Giants in 2018, win-
ning 10 games and posting
a 5.09 ERA. His best start
of the season came on Sept.
13 when he threw a com-
plete-game shutout against
the Colorado Rockies.
The Giants traded Strat-
ton to the Los Angeles An-
gels in 2019. Stratton only
played with the Angels for a
little over a month before he
was traded to the Pittsburgh
Pirates.
The Pirates moved Strat-
ton back to the bullpen and
used him as their setup guy.
He made 28 appearances for
the Pirates and had a 3.66
ERA in 46.2 innings.
In the shortened 2020
season, Stratton appeared in
nearly half of the Pirates total
games, posting a 3.90 ERA.
EHIRE ADRIANZA
Adrianza became a star
infi eld prospect in Venezu-
ela and began playing pro-
fessional baseball in America
for the Giants organization
in 2008 — he played one
TOP 20
20
summers in college and was
named an all-star in 2013.
After college, Slater was
drafted by the Giants as
an outfi elder in the eighth
round of the 2014 MLB
Draft. Slater played 29 games
for the Volcanoes in 2014
and led the team in batting
average (.347) and on-base
percentage (.417).
Slater made his MLB de-
but with the Giants on June
2, 2017 and recorded his fi rst
hit and RBI. He remained
with the Giants for the rest
of the season, batting .282
with three homers and 16
RBIs in 34 games.
Slater went back and forth
between the Giants and Tri-
ple-A during the 2018 and
2019 seasons.
However, Slater made the
Giants opening day roster
in 2020 and had a fantastic
Volcanoes
players
of all time
strain on Aug. 22, and when
he returned to the team on
Sept. 5, his production wasn’t
nearly on the same level.
Slater still fi nished the year
with a .282 average and fi ve
homers.
FOLLOW THE
KEIZERTIMES ON:
Slater
start to the year. Through 19
games, he was batting .347
with a .458 on-base percent-
age. On Aug. 8, Slater blasted
two homers off of Dodgers
lefty Clayton Kershaw in the
Giants 5-4 win.
But Slater was placed on
the disabled list with a groin
Adrianza
game for the Volcanoes.
After steadily progressing
through the Giants system,
Adrianza received the call-
up on Sept. 8, 2013, becom-
ing the 300th Venezuelan
player to reach the major
leagues. On Sept. 22, Adrian-
za hit his fi rst career homer
against the New York Yan-
kees off of Andy Pettitte. His
second career homer came
early in the following season
against Dodgers ace Clayton
Kershaw.
In his two seasons with
the Giants, Adrianza ap-
peared in 105 games with
the Giants, primarily as a
middle infi elder.
The following year, Adri-
anza signed with the Twins,
playing in 70 games for Min-
nesota in 2017 and batting
.265 with a pair of homers
and 24 RBIs.
In 2018, Adrianza was a
regular starter in the Twins
infi eld, playing in a ca-
reer-high of 114 games. He
batted .251 with six homers
and 39 RBIs.
Adrianza hit .272 the
following season with the
Twins, helping them win
the AL Central division title.
In 2020, Adrianza’s average
dipped to .191.
AUSTIN SLATER
Slater was a star player at
the Stanford University for
three seasons, batting .310
with 72 RBIs in 113 games.
Slater also played in the
Cape Cod League for two
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