*** Around the Minors - August 19th ***

From The My Sportsbook

by Jonathan O'Konis, Minor League Baseball Editor

Hatboro, PA (My Sportsbook) - Kane County has been one of the most dominating teams in minor league baseball this season amassing a record of 74-45 and earning a playoff berth as the Midwest League's winner of the Western Division's first half. How have the Cougars gotten to this point? So far, they've used a pair of aces named Steve Bondurant and Brad Knox. Bondurant was recently promoted to the Texas League but for Kane County this season he was absolutely untouchable. He currently leads the Midwest League in wins with 14 and has the league's best ERA at 2.08. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was roughly 4:1 (132-27). Factor in Brad Knox and the Oakland front office just isn't being fair to the rest of the Midwest League. Knox's numbers for this season are a 13-4 record, second most wins in the league, with an ERA of 2.33, second lowest in the league, and 162 strikeouts, the most in the league. His strikeout-to-walk ratio of better then 8:1 (162-19) is simply phenomenal.

Bondurant, the Midwest League's Western Division All Star starting pitcher, has been successful everywhere he's pitched so far in his career. A 15th round draft pick by the A's in 2003, Bondurant was a stand-out starter for the University of South Carolina throughout his college career. During his stint there, South Carolina made the College World Series twice. A 24-year-old left hander, Bondurant got a late start to his pro career by staying in college to earn his degree in marketing and management. He's currently in graduate school working towards a master's degree in human resources.

Bondurant doesn't light up radar guns like some top prospects. To be successful he relies on excellent control and his ability to keep the ball inside the park . His fastball tops out in the high eighties and he uses an excellent change-up to keep hitters off balance.

In his first start since being promoted to Double-A Midland, Bondurant dominated throwing eight shutout innings, striking out eight and walking only one. Currently, he's 1-1 with an ERA of 4.50 in three starts. He's struck out 14 and walked six. For Kane County, Bondurant threw a ton of innings (125 2/3rd innings), to go along with a pair of complete games and a shutout.

To say that Knox has been as good as Bondurant to this point in his career would be misleading. To say he's been better would be absolutely correct. At only 22-years-old, the right hander's career numbers are quite impressive. His record is 21-10 with an ERA of 2.55. For even more astonishing stats, look at his strikeout-to-walk ratio: 6:1 (267-46).

Like Bondurant, Knox doesn't have an overpowering fastball. He instead relies on great control and a fastball in the high eighties to get batters out. He also can throw his changeup, slider, and curve for strikes anytime in the count.

Knox, a 14th round pick out of Central Arizona College in 2002, was part of the famed "Moneyball" draft. While most of "Moneyball" focused on the batters Oakland wanted to draft, Knox was a perfect example of the type of pitcher the Oakland front office has targeted. Young, college educated, healthy pitchers with no history of arm injuries who don't consistently light up radar guns but consistently throw strikes and throw lots of innings. The A's throughout the Billy Beane era have been about one thing: Pitching. You can't always bank on developing a Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, or a Barry Zito. Those guys are special pitchers who don't come along everyday. Where the A's continue to draw strength from is their farm system. They consistently develop pitchers such as Brad Knox and Steve Bondurant.