Calgary Vipers Add Baseball Magnet

New Vipers catcher Rick Guarno

Patrick Arlis, Calgary’s steady hand behind the plate last season, is moving on to pursue coaching interests in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

In his only season with the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League, the 28 year old catcher who is a traditionally a light hitter, had a career year with the bat hitting 35 points better than his career .238 minor league batting average at .273. 

His seven home runs were also a career-high, besting the six dingers he hit while playing for the Jupiter Hammerheads of the Florida State League (A+) in 2005.

In his place, the Vipers have signed Rick Guarno out of Colorado in the Pacific Coast League (AAA).  

Guarno is also not known for his bat, but he comes in with these dubious stat; he’s played in 287 career minor league games, has hit 15 homeruns and has been hit by pitches 42 times.  That’s once every seven games!!! 6.83 games to be exact.

Legendary batting champion Ted Williams who played in nearly 10 times as many major league games as Guarno has minor league contests (2292-287) only got plunked 39 times in his entire career.

Craig Biggio got nailed a major league baseball record setting 285 times in 2,850 big league games, exactly once every 10 games….

Kinda makes Biggio look like a fraidy cat.

Have I mentioned that for the price of lunch at McUpchucks you have a 1-in-7 chance of seeing a live human hit with a object hurtling at him at speeds anywhere between 80-100 MPH?

Welcome to Calgary, Rick. I look forward to watching you do what you do best.

First baseman John Urick is also on his way into Calgary.  The 27 year old former Oklahoma State slugger is at a career crossroads and might be an asset if he has one of those breakthough years that late bloomers tend to do.   Don’t hold your breath however, waiting for that to happen.

Rick Guarno

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org.	Level	Unif	Pos	Ln	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	HBP	IBB	SH	SF	DP	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2002	MBC	NEC	19	-	NCAA				53	189	37	61	10	0	0	23	5	1	12	13	7		4	2	6	.323	.381	.376	757
2003	ALR	SBC	20	-	NCAA				56	209	54	72	27	1	5	48	6	0	34	28	6		1	8	3	.344	.436	.555	991
	TRI	Nwst	20	Col	A-		c		37	137	16	32	8	2	1	9	3	0	11	29	1	0	5	1	2	.234	.293	.343	636
2004	TRI	Nwst	21	Col	A-		c		28	105	11	24	1	0	0	6	0	0	5	20	8	0	2	1	2	.229	.311	.238	549
2005	ASH	SAL	22	Col	A	-	c		19	69	7	18	7	0	0	2	1	0	6	6	3	0	1	1	2	.261	.342	.362	704
	MOD	Calif	22	Col	A+		c		57	188	26	48	10	0	1	23	0	1	17	41	7	0	5	1	4	.255	.338	.324	662
2006	MOD	Calif	23	Col	A+		c		20	60	10	15	5	0	1	6	0	2	7	22	4	0	2	0	2	.250	.366	.383	749
2007	TUL	Tex	24	Col	AA		c		75	248	28	64	15	0	6	37	4	0	17	67	12	1	4	4	2	.258	.331	.391	722
2008	TUL	Tex	25	Col	AA		c		27	100	15	29	3	0	5	15	0	1	3	21	6	0	1	2	2	.290	.342	.470	812
	COL	PCL	25	Col	AAA		c		24	97	14	23	7	2	1	10	1	1	0	17	1	0	1	2	2	.237	.240	.381	621
Minor League Totals - 6 Season(s)									287	1004	127	253	56	4	15	108	9	5	66	223	42	1	21	12	18	.252	.321	.361	682

John Urick

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org.	Level	Unif	Pos	Ln	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	HBP	IBB	SH	SF	DP	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2003	OKS	Big12	21	-	NCAA	-			56	210	52	73	10	2	13	53	1	2	33	25	3		1	3	5	.348	.438	.600	1038
	STA	NYPL	21	Nyy	A-		1b		59	186	18	42	9	0	0	16	2	2	36	36	0	1	0	4	7	.226	.345	.274	619
2004	BAT	Midw	22	Nyy	A		1b		118	397	61	112	29	0	15	65	1	4	52	85	4	3	0	3	15	.282	.368	.469	837
2005	TAM	FSL	23	Nyy	A+		1b		94	340	38	81	23	1	11	46	0	0	32	56	7	2	0	1	5	.238	.316	.409	725
	COL	IL	23	Nyy	AAA		1b		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	.000	.333	.000	333
2006	LAK	SAL	24	Phi	A		1b		100	358	52	95	27	2	6	53	1	2	53	100	9	0	2	6	5	.265	.369	.402	771
2007	CLE	FSL	25	Phi	A+	-	1b		77	262	35	63	14	1	10	55	0	1	35	78	3	3	2	6	5	.240	.330	.416	746
2008	CLE	FSL	26	Phi	A+	24	1b		122	421	56	112	32	1	10	77	0	2	50	107	7	3	0	5	7	.266	.350	.418	768
	REA	East	26	Phi	AA	-	1b		4	9	2	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	1	0	1	0	.222	.273	.222	495
Minor League Totals - 6 Season(s)									575	1975	262	507	134	5	52	313	4	11	259	464	31	13	4	26	44	.257	.348	.409	757

Patrick Arlis

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org.	Level	Unif	Pos	Ln	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	HBP	IBB	SH	SF	DP	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2000	ILL	NCAA	19	-	NCAA				22	23	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	9	0		1	0	1	.087	.125	.087	212
2001	ILL	NCAA	20	-	NCAA				55	201	25	67	16	0	4	43	12	1	12	26	2		1	2	4	.333	.373	.473	846
2002	ILL	Big10	21	-	NCAA				49	179	37	58	11	1	7	37	14	4	11	36	5		0	3	2	.324	.374	.514	888
	JAM	NYPL	21	Fla	A-		c		47	148	17	40	9	0	3	25	0	1	22	40	2	0	0	3	4	.270	.366	.392	758
2003	GRE	SAL	22	Fla	A		c		74	246	26	50	8	1	1	21	10	3	17	61	3	0	4	1	1	.203	.262	.256	518
2004	GRE	SAL	23	Fla	A	-	c		61	207	23	47	5	1	2	17	3	1	18	59	1	0	1	0	0	.227	.292	.290	582
	JUP	FSL	23	Fla	A+	44	c		3	12	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	4	0	0	0	0	1	.083	.154	.167	321
2005	JUP	FSL	24	Fla	A+		c		91	305	38	74	9	2	6	35	9	1	25	72	0	1	8	4	13	.243	.296	.344	640
2006	CAR	Sou	25	Fla	AA		c		68	205	20	48	14	0	2	13	2	1	35	46	2	0	3	0	1	.234	.351	.332	683
2007	KAN	Northern	26	-	Ind	20			46	168	22	44	10	0	1	19	2	1	16	38	5	0	6	3	5	.262	.339	.339	678
	CAR	Sou	26	Fla	AA		c		15	46	0	4	1	0	0	2	0	1	7	16	0	2	1	1	0	.087	.204	.109	313
	ALB	PCL	26	Fla	AAA		c		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.333	.000	333
2008	Cal	Gold	27	-	Ind				78	293	51	80	24	1	7	42	0	0	32	63	1	0	3	3	3	.273	.343	.433	776
Minor League Totals - 7 Season(s)									484	1632	197	388	81	5	22	175	26	9	174	399	14	3	26	15	28	.238	.314	.334	648

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