Bradley Beck, a non-drafted free agent out of Montgomery Rockville Junior College in Maryland, made his professional debut with the Mesa Angels last season where he went 2-3 with a 1.91 ERA in 20 appearances out of the bullpen. Beck appeared brie.y with the Triple-A Salt Lake Stingers last year, tossing one scoreless inning of relief.
With the Quakes, Beck made two relief appearances and had a 0.00 ERA in three innings of work. His last appearance came Sunday at Inland Empire during a Rancho Cucamonga loss during which he hurled a pair of hitless innings against the 66'ers.
The addition of Beck to the Cedar Rapids bullpen gives manger Bobby Magallanes a southpaw option to call on during the middle and late innings of a game. This will mark the first time all year the Kernels have had the luxury of calling for a lefty out of the pen.
Kelly Shearer goes on the disabled list after leaving his last start on May 20 against Kane County in the third inning complaining of a "heavy arm." Shearer is 1-5 with a 5.02 ERA in nine starts for the Kernels this season. In 43 innings of work the Missouri City, TX, product has struck out 31 and walked 26. He also leads the team in wild pitches with 10.
It is unknown who will take Shearer's spot in the rotation. The Kernels have an off day on Wednesday which gives the staff the luxury of setting a rotation of Nick Adenhart, Stephen Marek, Robert Mosebach, and Tommy Mendoza for its upcoming series with the Swing of the Quad Cities that is set to start in Davenport on Thursday. Whoever replaces Shearer in the rotation will start the .rst of a four game series at Clinton on Memorial Day, Monday, May 29.
The Kernels face the Kane County Cougars tonight at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Hot dogs are just $1 all night long and gates open at 5:30 p.m. for the 6:30 p.m. contest which will feature Mosebach (3-1) taking on Kane County's Jason Ray (2-1, 3.68).