Cascade’s Rea has breakout season temporarily set back by injury

CEDAR RAPIDS – He's having a breakthrough season in the minor leagues, but one that's taking a temporary detour.

Cascade's Colin Rea was placed on the disabled list Friday for the Double-A San Antonio Missions of the Texas League with lower back spasms. Rea, 24, had his shortest start of the season early last week, one that lasted 4 1/3 innings.

He allowed three runs, two earned.

The right-hander was a 12th-round draft pick of the San Diego Padres in 2011 out of Indiana State. He began his career at Northern Iowa, transferring when the school dropped its baseball program.

Rea had been fairly average in his professional career coming into this season, with a 21-29 record and 3.76 earned run average in 105 games, 74 starts. But, for whatever reason, things changed this season, as he has a 1.38 ERA in eight starts.

He has allowed 37 hits and nine walks in 52 innings, striking out 45. In an early May start, he threw eight shutout innings with 12 strikeouts.

Disabled-list stays are a minimum of seven days in the minor leagues, so Rea is expected back sooner than later.

Here's a quick look at other local, area and former University of Iowa players in the minor leagues:

- Chad Christensen (Cedar Rapids Washington): Has his batting average up to .299 in 36 games for high-Class A Fort Myers (Twins). Has hits in seven of last eight games. Outfielder has 10 doubles, a home run and 12 RBIs in 137 at-bats.

- Jon Keller (Cedar Rapids Xavier): Picked up his second save of the season last week for high-A Frederick (Orioles). Right-handed pitcher is 2-3 with a 3.95 ERA in 12 relief appearances. Has allowed just 26 hits in 27 1/3 innings.

- Derrick Loveless (Solon): Outfielder for high-A Dunedin (Blue Jays) is hitting .228 in 38 games (123 at-bats). Has two doubles, two triples, three home runs and 12 RBis.

- Scott Schebler (Cedar Rapids Prairie): Going into Saturday, the outfielder was 0 for 16 in his previous four games for Triple-A Oklahoma City (Dodgers). Hitting .190 for the season with six homers and 13 RBIs in 37 games.

- Jake Yacinich (University of Iowa): Just activated from the disabled list of low-A Burlington Bees (Angels). Shortstop has played in 21 games, hitting .295 with eight RBIs.

- Taylor Zeutenhorst (University of Iowa): Outfielder to the Midwest League's Clinton LumberKings (Mariners) is hitting .194 in 19 games. Has a home run and 19 RBIs.

Former Xavier prep Mitch Keller (Jon's brother) remains in extended spring training for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is expected to be assigned to a Rookie-league team when those seasons open in June.

Around the MIDWEST LEAGUE

- The parent Seattle Mariners sent touted young outfielder Austin Jackson to extended spring training last week with a left shoulder injury. Jackson, 19, was the sixth-overall pick last year and Seattle's top-ranked prospect by most experts.

He was hitting just .157 in 28 games for Clinton.

- Jose Velez, one of two new Cedar Rapids Kernels, has gotten into affiliated professional baseball the difficult way. The 25-year-old pitcher played Division III college baseball at Alma (Mich.), then signed with the independent Evansville Otters of the Frontier League. He pitched two seasons there, though one was short-circuited by injuries. The parent Minnesota Twins signed him as a free agent this past offseason and he pitched briefly at high-A Fort Myers (where he is originally from) before being assigned last week to Cedar Rapids.

-Kernels outfielder Trey Vavra entered Saturday second in the MWL in hitting. He had a .345 batting average, behind only Michael Gerber's .373. He's an outfielder for West Michigan. Vavra's six home runs rank him second in the Midwest League, one behind the four leaders.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com