J.D. is back in town

CEDAR RAPIDS - Don't get too accumstomed to seeing J.D. Williams here, Cedar Rapids Kernels fans. He probably won't be around long.

It was surprising just to see the outfielder come back to town at all, sent from Minnesota Twins extended spring training Saturday. He went 2-for-3 with a walk Sunday in the Kernels' 2-0 win over Peoria at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Williams broke his right thumb on a bunt attempt about midway through spring training in March. Since then, he has been hanging out with former fellow Kernels outfielder and Twins uber-prospect Byron Buxton in Florida, healing and being bored.

Buxton injured a wrist diving for a ball in a spring training game and is supposed to begin playing at high-Class A Fort Myers sometime this week.

'Sitting around together, him a little longer than me,” Williams said with his ever-present smile. 'But, basically, yeah, we were partners down there. Partners in crime ... Rehab is boring, man. A lot of sitting around and doing nothing.”

Williams, 23, played in 80 games last season for the Kernels, hitting .281 and earning a promotion to Fort Myers. A roster spot opened up in Cedar Rapids with an ankle injury to infielder Tanner Vavra, so the Twins decided to give him the opportunity to do something other than sit around.

The switch-hitter had an RBI double in Saturday's game and doesn't appear to have much rust. A lot of things can happen, but the smart money is on Williams being out of here sooner rather than later.

'They just told me they wanted to come back here and see some more pitching,” Williams said. 'I really don't care where I'm at, where I'm playing. Just getting some at-bats. Meeting these new guys, I haven't really played much with them. It's good to meet these guys. We're just having fun winning.”

'I'd like to have him the whole year, but that ain't going to happen,” said Kernels Manager Jake Mauer. 'Get him healthy, get him going. We wanted to get him out of extended as quickly as possible. So with Tanner's ankle injury, this was just kind of an opportunity to get him here. It worked out. Time will tell. I'm not going to say he's going to go by this time or that time. Could be tomorrow, could be July. You don't know how it shakes out.”

The Kernels (17-12) gave up 12 runs in a series-opening loss Friday night, but Peoria (17-11) didn't score after a seven-run fourth inning in that game. That's a 23-inning shutout streak for Cedar Rapids pitchers.

Ryan Eades (3-0), Yorman Landa and Hudson Boyd combined on a four-hitter Sunday. Eades fought his way through five innings, Landa was dominant in his three-inning stint (one hit, four strikeouts), and Boyd closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth.

'That was pretty good,” Mauer said. 'Mister Eades didn't have his best stuff, but he competed and got through five. Great to see Landa take over a game like that. Nobody really sniffed him ... If we can line up our guys the way we want, our bullpen is pretty good.”

Cedar Rapids scored single runs in the second and third against Peoria starting pitcher Rob Kaminsky, the parent Cardinals' top draft pick last year. The Kernels begin a week-long road trip tonight at Quad Cities.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@sourcemedia.net