Emmanuel Burriss played for the Volcanoes in 2006 and spent seven seasons in the big leagues (Bill Streicher/USA Today Sports).
The Keizertimes Top 20 Volcanoes players of all time series began in September and will come to a conclusion next week. Before we publish the final installment of the series, featuring the #1 player on the list, we take a look at five players who just missed the cut — the list is based on players’ success in the major leagues.
EMMANUEL BURRISS
Burriss attended Kent State University and was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the first round of the 2006 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft as a middle infielder. He played for the Volcanoes in 2006 and batted .307 with 22 RBIs and 11 extra-base hits in 65 games.
After two seasons in the minors, Burriss was called up to join the Giants on April 20, 2008. In 95 games with San Francisco, Burriss batted .283.
Burriss was named the starting second baseman to begin the 2009 season and, early in the season, had the game-winning RBI in the 300th career victory for MLB legend Randy Johnson. However, after batting .238 in 61 games, Burriss was optioned back down to Triple-A.
After an injury-shortened 2010 season, Burriss played in 59 games for the Giants in 2011 and 60 games in 2012.
Burriss became a free agent at the end of the 2012 season and signed a minor league deal with the Cincinnati Reds. The following year, Burriss went to the Washington Nationals on a minor league deal. Burriss spent all of 2014 in the minors and only appeared in five games for Washington in 2015.
In 2016, Burriss finished his seven-year MLB career with the Philadelphia Phillies, appearing in 39 games. He is now the hitting coach for the Oklahoma City Dodgers, a Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
BOOF BONSER
Bonser grew up in Florida and was selected in the first round of the 2000 MLB Draft by the Giants. He made his professional debut later that summer for the Volcanoes at the age of 18.
Bonser pitched 33 innings for the Volcanoes, going 1-4 with a 6.00 ERA. The following year, however, Bonser improved greatly, posting a 16-4 record and a 2.49 ERA with 178 strikeouts for the Hagerstown Suns in 2006 — he was named the South Atlantic League’s Most Valuable Pitcher.
After reaching Triple-A at the end of the 2003 season, Bonser was traded to the Minnesota Twins along with fellow former Volcanoes players Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano.
Bonser spent a little more than two years in the Twins minor league system before being called up on May 21, 2006. In his debut, Bonser pitched six innings and gave up only one run while striking out eight against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Even though he was sent back down to Triple-A in July, Bonser was called back up to join the team in August. After multiple injuries and poor performances by the Twins pitching staff, Bonser proved to be reliable enough to be selected as the team’s #2 starter on the postseason roster after being named the American League (AL) Rookie of the Month in September. In his only playoff appearance, Bonser pitched six innings and allowed two runs.
Bonser ended his rookie season with a 7-6 record in 100.1 innings.
In 2007, after beginning the year as the second starter in the rotation, Bonser went 8-12 with a 5.18 ERA. He was moved to the bullpen during the 2008 season, but his ERA climbed to 5.93 for the year.
Bonser missed the 2009 season after undergoing surgery to repair his labrum and rotator cuff. His final year in the majors would be in 2010. Bonser made two appearances for the Boston Red Sox before being released. He was picked up by the Oakland A’s in late-July and pitched 23 innings in 13 appearances.
CHRIS STRATTON
The Giants drafted Stratton in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft. In eight games with the Volcanoes, Stratton posted a 2.76 ERA and struck out 16 in 16.1 innings. In 2013, he was named the Giants third best prospect by Baseball America.
Stratton spent three seasons in the minors before being called up to the Giants on May 30, 2016. Even though he was primarily used as a starter in the minors, the Giants elected to bring Stratton out of the bullpen.
Stratton threw a perfect inning in his debut and struck out two of the three batters he faced. He earned his first MLB win on June 11, 2016 against the Dodgers.
Stratton split time between the Giants and Triple-A in 2017, and was moved back into a starting role. With the Giants, Stratton was 4-4 with a 3.68 ERA in 13 games.
Stratton made 26 starts for the Giants in 2018, winning 10 games and posting a 5.09 ERA. His best start of the season came on Sept. 13 when he threw a complete-game shutout against the Colorado Rockies.
The Giants traded Stratton to the Los Angeles Angels in 2019. Stratton only played with the Angels for a little over a month before he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Pirates moved Stratton back to the bullpen and used him as their setup guy. He made 28 appearances for the Pirates and had a 3.66 ERA in 46.2 innings.
In the shortened 2020 season, Stratton appeared in nearly half of the Pirates total games, posting a 3.90 ERA.
EHIRE ADRIANZA
Adrianza became a star infield prospect in Venezuela and began playing professional baseball in America for the Giants organization in 2008 — he played one game for the Volcanoes.
After steadily progressing through the Giants system, Adrianza received the call-up on Sept. 8, 2013, becoming the 300th Venezuelan player to reach the major leagues. On Sept. 22, Adrianza hit his first career homer against the New York Yankees off of Andy Pettitte. His second career homer came early in the following season against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.
In his two seasons with the Giants, Adrianza appeared in 105 games with the Giants, primarily as a middle infielder.
The following year, Adrianza signed with the Twins, playing in 70 games for Minnesota in 2017 and batting .265 with a pair of homers and 24 RBIs.
In 2018, Adrianza was a regular starter in the Twins infield, playing in a career-high of 114 games. He batted .251 with six homers and 39 RBIs.
Adrianza hit .272 the following season with the Twins, helping them win the AL Central division title. In 2020, Adrianza’s average dipped to .191.
AUSTIN SLATER
Slater was a star player at the Stanford University for three seasons, batting .310 with 72 RBIs in 113 games.
Slater also played in the Cape Cod League for two summers in college and was named an all-star in 2013.
After college, Slater was drafted by the Giants as an outfielder in the eighth round of the 2014 MLB Draft. Slater played 29 games for the Volcanoes in 2014 and led the team in batting average (.347) and on-base percentage (.417).
Slater made his MLB debut with the Giants on June 2, 2017 and recorded his first hit and RBI. He remained with the Giants for the rest of the season, batting .282 with three homers and 16 RBIs in 34 games.
Slater went back and forth between the Giants and Triple-A during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
However, Slater made the Giants opening day roster in 2020 and had a fantastic start to the year. Through 19 games, he was batting .347 with a .458 on-base percentage. On Aug. 8, Slater blasted two homers off of Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw in the Giants 5-4 win.
But Slater was placed on the disabled list with a groin strain on Aug. 22, and when he returned to the team on Sept. 5, his production wasn’t nearly on the same level. Slater still finished the year with a .282 average and five homers.