Servais hopes personnel changes result in win-loss changes for Kernels in 2nd half

CEDAR RAPIDS - Scott Servais isn't your stereotypical farm director.

The Los Angeles Angels minor-league head had to have an ice wrap applied to his right shoulder while on a visit to Veterans Memorial Stadium last week. He had just gotten done working out with the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Throwing batting practice and shagging flies are very un-farm director-like things.

“I played for 15 years and coached for awhile,” Servais said.“I get such a better feel for the players this way. I get to know their makeup, how they tick.”

Servais, 45, was lured awayfrom the Texas Rangers last winter, part of massive front-office turnover for the Angels. The club's director of scouting and player development made an impact in his first trip to town, essentially bringing with him four players from the 2012 amateur draft to play for the Kernels, who wrapped the Midwest League's first half Sunday.

Cedar Rapids isn't accustomed to getting much, if any, significant help during the season, so this is different.

“At this level, I try and not do a lot of player movement early in the season. I try and let the kids play it out,” Servais said. “But I also feel an obligation to affiliates to put a competitive club in there. I believe in winning in the minor leagues ... Let's see if we can shake it up a little bit.”

The Kernels were the epitome of mediocre in the first half, finishing seventh in the eight-team Western Division with a 32-38 record that included a four-game win streak to end the half. They struggled offensively and on the mound, though they improved significantly with that former thing.

A 4.71 earned run average is last in the 16-team MWL by over a half-run a game. Three of the four newbies (infielders Eric Stamets and Alex Yarbrough, and catcher Zach Wright) aren't pitchers, though they and reliever R.J. Alvarez all come from college.

“We took a lot of college players out of this draft,” Servais said. “We needed to in order to kind of fill up our system. There are some holes in our system.”

Three Kernels will take part in tonight's MWL All-Star Game at Kane County: third baseman Kaleb Cowart and relievers Stephen Tromblee and Ty Kelley. Cowart (.293 batting average and 54 RBIs in 66 games) has far and away been the team's most impressive position player.

He's a legit prospect who will be promoted to high-Class A sooner than later, Servais said. In fact, it'll be interesting to see if he's with the club when it opens the second half Friday at home against Beloit.

Alvarez also is another guy who likely won't be long for the Midwest League, Servais said.

“We will play with the starting rotation a little bit,” Servais said. “That's the biggest thing. If we can get our pitching going in the right direction, that's what it's going to take for us to be competitive.”

Here are final first-half individual statistics for the Kernels:

Cedar Rapids Kernels 2012 Individual Stats _ Cedar Rapids Kernels Stats