By: David Heck

After flirting with perfection in his first start in the Rockies organization, Drew Pomeranz likely won’t be able to make another appearance this season for Double-A Tulsa.

The Drillers announced after Saturday’s game that MLB.com’s No. 31 prospect underwent an emergency appendectomy that is expected to end his season.

Rockies top prospect Drew Pomeranz underwent an emergency appendectomy Saturday. He had gone 4-3 with a 1.84 ERA across two levels this season. (David Crenshaw/Tulsa Drillers)

Pomeranz arrived at ONEOK Field complaining of abdominal pain, according to a source close to the team. After meeting with the trainer, he was taken to a medical center, where he was diagnosed with appendicitis. Pomeranz was transported to another facility, where he had successful surgery and was expected to remain overnight.

Officially traded to the Rockies on Tuesday as the player to be named later in the July 30 deal that sent Ubaldo Jimenez to Cleveland, Pomeranz will miss the rest of the season, the Drillers said.

Major Leaguers Matt Holliday and Adam Dunn also underwent emergency appendectomies earlier this year but were able to return to their teams within 10 days. The situation is different with Pomeranz because pitching puts a greater strain on the abdominal muscles. Additionally, the Rockies likely will play it safe with their new prospect, especially with Tulsa’s season concluding on Sept. 5. The Drillers are five games out of a Texas League playoff spot.

Reached for comment on Pomeranz’s status, Rockies vice president of communications Jay Alves said, “We’re aware of the situation.”

After posting a 1.98 ERA across two levels with the Indians, Pomeranz made his Tulsa debut on Wednesday and took a perfect game into the seventh inning. The fifth overall pick in the 2010 Draft ended up allowing two hits over seven shutout frames.

Pomeranz would be the second Top 50 prospect in three days to go down with a season-ending injury. Bryce Harper, MLB.com’s No. 2 prospect, strained his hamstring while running the bases for Double-A Harrisburg on Thursday and is expected to be shut down by the Nationals.

At this point in the season it is often the case that major league parent clubs often “raid the pantry” from their minor league teams, moving top prospects to make an impact at the major league level.

Well for once, the Colorado Rockies have supplied the Drillers with a few players that could easily have an impact on the team winning the second half of Texas League north division and make the playoffs.

With that said, it was no secret that over last weekend that the Rockies traded All-Star and former Driller, Ubaldo Jimenez to the Cleveland Indians for four top prospects.

Over the next few days, I’ll give you a little background information on the prospects, and where they figure in both the Drillers and Rockies plans throughout the rest of this year, and the foreseeable future.

RHP – Joe Gardner

A native of Fremont,California, Joe Gardner was a third round pick by the Cleveland Indians in the 2009 Major League

On Friday August the 6th, Gardner made his Drillers and Rockies organizational debut at ONEOK Field. After allowing a home run in the first inning, Gardner shut-out the Springfield Cardinals over his final 5 1/3 innings.

Baseball First-Year Player Draft.Gardnerwas drafted after his junior year at UC Santa Barbara.

Gardner signed late in 2009, postponing his professional debut till 2010, and he didn’t disappoint. Over Low and High-A baseball Gardner was a combined 13-6, with a 2.75 earned run average over 28 starts.

Gardner is known as a hard-thrower, and it can be evident with his 142 strikeouts over 147 innings in 2010.

So far in 2010, Gardner has had a hard time adjusting to Double-A baseball, as most pitchers do. Single-A to Double-A is often regarded as the biggest jump for pitchers, as he has had his struggles in Akron, the Indians Double-A team.

* Click on Picture for complete Milb.com stat page*

Here is a look at Joe Gardner’s 2011 stat line for the Akron Aeros:

W         L          ERA      G          GS        IP         H          R          ER        BB        SO

7          8          4.99     19        19        97.1    108       73        54        47        60

At this point in the season it is often the case that major league parent clubs often “raid the pantry” from their minor league teams, moving top prospects to make an impact at the major league level.

Well for once, the Colorado Rockies have supplied the Drillers with a few players that could easily have an impact on the team winning the second half of Texas League north division and make the playoffs.

With that said, it was no secret that over last weekend that the Rockies traded All-Star and former Driller, Ubaldo Jimenez to the Cleveland Indians for four top prospects.

Over the next few days, I’ll give you a little background information on the prospects, and where they figure in both the Drillers and Rockies plans throughout the rest of this year, and the foreseeable future.

RHP – Alex White

After playing four years as a pitcher/shortstop at Conley High School in Greenville, North Carolina, White was drafted in

White has missed 11 weeks with a torn tendon pulley in his right middle finger, the same injury that sidelined Jorge De La Rosa for 13 starts in 2010. White will make his Tulsa Drillers debut today, where he's expected to make four starts in anticipation of joining the Rockies' rotation in September.

the 14th round of the 2006 June First-Year Player Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. White did not sign with the Dodgers in 2006 and chose to attend the University of North Carolina.

White was eventually drafted by the Cleveland Indians after his junior year at North Carolina, as the 15th overall selection in the first round in 2009.

White did not pitch in the Indians organization in 2009, but had a terrific 2010 season. Over High-A Kinston and Double-A Akron, White was a combined 10-10 with a 2.45 earned run average in 150.2 innings, walking 46, but striking out 117.

In 2011 White made four starts with Triple-A Columbus before being called up to make his major league debut with the Indians on April 30, 2011. Even though White has been on the disabled list the last two months, he had three impressive starts at the major league level.

With Ubaldo Jimenez leaving, White will have some big shoes to fill in the Rockies rotation, but many in the organization and media expect him to fill them. White is a sinker ball pitcher that has a good chance of benefiting from the National League and Coors Field.

Currently White is scheduled to make five rehab starts in the minors before making his Rockies debut later in the season, with four of those coming with the Drillers.

Alex White’s current 2011 stat line:

              W    L  ERA        G  GS     IP    H        R     ER    BB       SO

CLE(ML)   1     0   3.60     3      3     15       14     7        6        9       13

COL(INT) 1     0   1.90     4      4     23.2    19     7       5        5       28

           2     0   2.59     7      7     38.2   33   14    11       14      41

Former first-rounder finding success in Drillers’ bullpen

By: Todd Traub (Special MiLB.com Contributer)

Some things haven’t changed since Joe Torres first started playing in the Minor Leagues. Tulsa’s left-handed reliever can still look out on the field and see Brandon Emmanuel, with whom he once toiled as an Angels farmhand, and former coach Todd Takayoshi.

Except Emmanuel is now pitching coach and Takayoshi the manager for the rival Arkansas Travelers. Torres, on the other hand, is still in uniform as a player after 10 professional seasons.

“It’s kind of funny to see those guys and recognize their faces more than the players,” said the 28-year-old Torres, who was drafted by the Angles out of high school in 2000.

Torres was once a whip-armed youngster who threw a no-hitter for Gateway High School, located close enough to the Houston Astros’ Spring Training complex in Kissimmee, Fla., that the high school team held its tryouts there.

“When you see those fields, you never want to get off them again,” Torres said.

It was fair for Torres to assume he would be walking plenty of big league fields after the then-Anaheim Angels took him 10th overall and signed him for just over $2 million. But Torres is still looking to crack a Major League roster.

“I’ve come a long way,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of injuries. I’ve endured a lot.”

Torres looked to be well on his way to the Angels when, at 17, he went 4-1 with a 2.54 ERA with the short-season Boise Hawks of the Northwest League. But he never got past Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga in the Angels system, dealing with arm trouble that cost him all of 2004 as he underwent Tommy John surgery.

His comeback did not go well as he went 0-4 with a whopping 18.00 ERA at Rancho Cucamonga in 2005 and 1-6 with an 8.50 ERA with Class A Cedar Rapids. He returned to the Kernels in 2006 and went 2-4 with an 8.14 ERA, and the Angels chose not to re-sign him.

“The first year I had a lot of issues with the elbow. The second year it was a big mental block, a big mental struggle,” Torres said. “It was one of those things — my time was up with [the Angles]. They said, ‘You know what, we gave chances with you and it’s time to move on.’ ”

The Chicago White Sox signed Torres before the 2007 season, and he found new life under pitching coach J.R. Perdew, reaching Double-A with the Southern League’s Birmingham Barons in 2008.

“It was a good time to just get away and start fresh. That’s kind of where I feel like my career started almost, in ’07,” Torres said.

He was 3-1 with a 2.68 ERA in 59 appearances in Birmingham and pitched solidly in Minor League stints with the Rangers and Dodgers in 2009 and again with the White Sox last year before catching on with the Colorado Rockies, who sent him to Tulsa to start the season.

No longer the loose-armed slinger, Torres has improved his velocity and, with a recently developed cutter to complement his slider, curve and two-seamer, he is 3-1 with a 2.58 ERA and 12 holds as a middle reliever. He’s also a Texas League All-Star after filling in for injured teammate Stephen Dodson late last month.

“It’s a little thing to take away at the end of the day, saying, ‘Hey look, I’ve bounced back from some really bad things. This is pretty positive,'” Torres said.

Tulsa’s Tim Wheeler and Mobile’s Paul Goldschmidt sit atop the Minor League Baseball home run standings with 29 each with about six weeks left in the regular season and in the race for the Joe Bauman Home Run Award, presented by Musco Sports Lighting.

Tulsa outfielder Tim Wheeler is currently tied for the lead in homeruns, throughout all of Minor League Baseball. (Rich Crimi)

The player who leads all domestic leagues in homers will be presented the Joe Bauman Trophy in December at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Dallas, Texas. The winner will also receive a check representing $200 for each regular season home run he hit.

There is no shortage of pursuers chasing Goldschmidt and Wheeler, a pair of 23-year-olds, for the honor. Ten players are within five homers of the pair, including Bryan LaHair of Iowa who is just one back.

The top home run hitter in each classification level, provided he is not the overall winner, receives $500. Goldschmidt captured the Class A prize last season with 35 roundtrippers, just one less than overall winner Mike Moustakas.

LaHair leads Triple-A™ with his 28 longballs, two more than Cody Ransom of Reno and Trayvon Robinson of Albuquerque.

Goldschmidt and Wheeler are the top two in Double-A, five ahead of Tyler Moore (Harrisburg).

Michael Choice of Stockton and Ian Gac of Winston-Salem share the Class A lead with 27. South Bend’s Yazy Arbelo is their closest pursuer and is four behind the leaders.

Jeff Malm of Hudson Valley and Murray Watts of the Burlington Royals are tied for the short season/rookie classification lead with 11. Stephen McQuail of Vancouver and Elizabethton’s Eddie Rosario are just one back of the duo.