Christensen ready to move up?

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jake Mauer claims he doesn't know about anything being imminent. Selfishly, he'd love to keep Chad Christensen on his ballclub all season.

But the Cedar Rapids Kernels manager doesn't think that'll happen. He believes it's time for the hometown boy to move on and up out of here.

'He's doing what we're asking him to do here,” Mauer said, after Christensen helped the Kernels to a 5-4 win Wednesday night over Quad Cities at Veterans Memorial Stadium. 'If he keeps putting up numbers like he is ... If they call and need somebody, he's the first guy I'd say is ready to go.”

This has turned into much more than a feel-good story about a guy from Cedar Rapids getting a chance to play pro ball in Cedar Rapids. Christensen, the former Washington prep, has established himself as a legitimate player.

After not even playing opening night, he is now a fixture in the third hole of the batting order for the Kernels (29-37). His batting average is hovering near the .300 mark, he leads the team in stolen bases (17) and is second in RBIs (34).

He has been versatile enough defensively to play all three outfield positions and first base. He drove in three runs Wednesday night, including providing a key two-run triple to dead center in the bottom of the eighth inning that basically put the Kernels over the top.

He then scored on a wild pitch for a 5-1 lead. Reliever Hudson Boyd survived a shaky top of the ninth to put Cedar Rapids in the win column.

'Chad just always kind of seems to be the right guy at the right spot,” Mauer said. 'A situation comes up where we need something, he always delivers ... He's not afraid of a big situation.”

'That's very nice to hear,” Christensen said, when informed of his skipper's praise. 'But like I always say, (a promotion) is not up to me. I'm just playing baseball, trying to come in mentally prepared every day and play hard. I've done that so far, but we're just coming up on the all-star break, so we've got a lot of baseball left.”

Where will most of that baseball end up being played? Christensen is older (23) and needs to be pushed aggressively if the parent Minnesota Twins think he's got any shot at all of eventually playing in the major leagues.

Fort Myers is the next stop in the Twins farm system, by the way. The Kernels have four games remaining in the Midwest League's first half.

'If he keeps doing what he's doing, he probably won't be here. That'd be my guess,” Mauer said. 'He's starting to separate himself from the league. He goes out there and plays. I'd like to keep him the whole year, but you're starting to get to that point where promotions are going to happen. The flow-up effect happens when that happens. As far as I'm concerned, he's one of the few guys we have that can at least compete at the next level.”

'I came in here expecting to hit, expecting to play well,” said Christensen, a 25th-round draft pick last year out of the University of Nebraska. 'I have confidence in my abilities. Everyone in this clubhouse does. It's just about staying consistent, learning day to day.”

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