Pimentel, the 22-year old resident of La Romana, Dominican Republic has spent the entire 2008 season with Northwest Arkansas. He is currently 3-8 with a 5.40 ERA in 15 starts. In 83.1 innings, he has allowed 55 runs (50 earned) on 94 hits. Pimentel has walked 25 and struck out 64. He is one of 10 pitchers on the World Team. The World Team is comprised of a 25-man roster which competes against 25 prospects selected for the U.S. Team.
Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers along with Odalis Perez and current Naturals teammate Blake Johnson in exchange for Elmer Dessens on July 25, 2006, Pimentel was third in the Carolina League with a 2.65 ERA last season for the Wilmington Blue Rocks. He was named by Baseball America as the Royals seventh-best prospect entering the 2008 season and rated as having the best changeup in the Kansas City system.
Pimentel is the Kansas City Royals' lone representative for the Futures Game.
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark, located in Springdale. The Naturals have a toll-free ticket hotline (1-877-444-2637) for fans to purchase Naturals tickets. Our website also offers fans the opportunity to purchase tickets online and avoid lines at the ticket windows by printing their tickets at home or at the office.
]]>The life of a clubhouse manager can be very long and stressful days. Helmer, entering his first season as the Northwest Arkansas Naturals' clubhouse manager, begins his day usually around 9-10 A.M.
Helmer has a regular routine of what needs to be done throughout a game day. He begins his day by finishing up any laundry left over from the previous night and hanging up laundry loops in lockers. In the meantime, while waiting for the laundry to get done, Helmer will spend that time in the umpires' locker room where he cleans up and hangs up any clothes or equipment. After that, he then heads up to the front office to see if any mail has arrived for the players, which he later distributes. He'll then head back down to the coaches' office to make sure it is clean, laundry is hung up and that they have the proper amount of snacks and drinks.
Around 1-3 P.M. is when the day starts getting busy for Helmer because that's when the players begin to arrive at the ballpark. Helmer says, "This is the time you usually see me running around the clubhouse." His first priority is to make sure that the players are taken care of and if a player is in need of anything, he is always there to help them. Around 2-3 P.M. is when he starts getting things prepared for early batting practice. He makes sure players have their batting practice gear and that the water coolers are ready to go in the dugout. Around 4 P.M. while the team is taking batting practice, Helmer will head off to the kitchen area, where he makes sure that players have a warm meal and enough snacks and drinks. Pre-game meal usually consists of meatballs, pasta, chicken ravioli, or barbeque. Once batting practice is over and the players are properly fed, it's time for Helmer to head back to the laundry room. He gathers up all the laundry from batting practice and makes sure the first load is in an hour before game time. While waiting for the players' laundry, he then takes the player ticket pass list to the ticket office, so that players' families and friends will have the proper amount of tickets for that night's game.
Once the game starts, Helmer is still hard at work inside the clubhouse. Helmer uses that time to hang up laundry, clean up the locker room area, and make sure the kitchen area is stocked with food and drinks. If the players are in need of anything during the game, he has to be ready and alert at all times. As the end of the game nears, Helmer either has the post-game meal delivered or goes to pick it up. Once the meal has arrived, he then sets it up and makes sure the players have everything they need. Once the players have eaten and showered, post-game laundry begins. The post-game laundry usually consists of game day uniforms. Once the last player has left the locker room area, Helmer begins with one last clean-up of the locker room. Two hours after the game had ended and all of his duties are done, Danny Helmer can officially call it a day and head for home, knowing tomorrow he will do it all over again.
The good feelings continued on Opening Day in
Despite the Naturals hitting just .217 as a team in April, the month was not without highlights. Kila Kaaihue hit seven home runs, most of them coming at Arvest Ballpark. On Opening Night, Kaaihue became the first Natural to homer at Arvest Ballpark, and went on to cement a reputation, at home at least, for majestic looking, tape measure shots that disappear into the night sky. Starter Carlos Rosa, who started both of the games in the season-opening road trip that ended in Naturals victories, came within nine outs of a no-hitter on April 25th against the Travs, yielding just one run in eight innings. Rosa was by far the Naturals ace, and he was promoted to (Triple-A)
The month of May began for the Naturals just as the month of April had ended--with lots of wins. Northwest Arkansas vaulted themselves right into the thick of the Texas League North Division race, going 11-3 in the first half of May and sweeping a Tulsa series at home in the process. By the end of the month of May, the Naturals had the best home record in the Texas League and one of the best home records in all of the minors.
The road continued to give them their ups and downs, however. Although the Naturals were able to get three of four in
The Naturals finished the month of May against those South Division clubs. Frisco had won at a near .700 clip for most of the season but gradually weakened in the first half as they lost their big bats to promotions to Triple-A. The Naturals were able to put up a 7-5 record in twelve games against the two squads between May 21st and June 2nd, winning four of six at Arvest Ballpark and splitting the road contests.
The bats heated up in May as well, as the team hit over .300 in May behind the blistering bats of Juan Richardson (.346) and Jose Duarte (team leading 18 RBI in May). Speed continues to be the Naturals primary offensive asset, as the club closed in on 100 steals in mid-June and has a reasonable shot at eclipsing 200 steals as a team.
The Naturals and Travelers began a four-game set at the 'Vest in early June with the same gap they had left the last time they'd met - two games, with the Naturals in first place. The Travs proceeded to take three of four from the Naturals on their home turf, and packing things up with a tie for first-place. The Naturals did, however, manage to get the first game behind a dominating performance from Blake Wood, a young rightly recently promoted from (Advanced-A)
Springfield meanwhile, who hadn't been heard from in weeks, slowly creeped back into the race, behind the dominating pitching of former Diamond Hog Jess Todd and two hitters, Steven Hill and Isa Garcia, promoted from (Advanced-A) Palm Beach to complement league batting leader Shane Robinson, who hit nearly .400 for the season's first two months. In the second week of June, with but a week to go to determine who would get the automatic berth into the Texas League playoffs, these three teams had things all knotted up.
A Run in the Second Half??
The Naturals should be well comprised to compete for the second-half division title, as well. As the entire rotation is in their first-season at the Double-A level, it is a reasonable bet to stay intact for the duration of the season. They may get some bullpen help as well if some pieces from the Wilmington pen, such as Aaron Hartsock, who was in for a short cameo in late May, returns, and Tyler Chambliss, who is the Blue Rocks closer, earns a promotion. Offensively, the cast should stay relatively intact, as well, good news for the Arvest Ballpark fans of Kaaihue,