NYPL notes: Newman, Kramer bonding

After a few seasons of having to look across the diamond at each other, Kevin Newman and Kevin Kramer now look across a Dunkin' Donuts table at each other, sharing stories about life.

The Class A Short Season West Virginia Bears middle infielders, once fierce rivals in the Pac-12 conference, were both early Draft picks of the Pittsburgh Pirates in June and are now roommates trying to learn from one another as they take the plunge into their new career together.

"Going into it, I knew he was a great player," said Kramer of Newman. "On a personal level we didn't know each other too well. We're roommates on the road here, getting to know each other personally. That's been nice. ... It's been nice to get to know him."

It was Newman, a University of Arizona shortstop who showed he could do well with the wood after winning consecutive Cape League batting titles, whom the Pirates reached for first with the 19th overall selection.

Just 43 picks later, Pittsburgh again went to the Pac-12 for a shortstop, this time using a second-round pick on UCLA's Kramer, a career .393 hitter in three seasons with the Bruins.

Both players initially found their selection to the same organization to be a bit peculiar, given they play the same position, but it took only a matter of moments before they both savored the prospects of how they could both boost each other's career.

"I was confused at first," said Newman. "Another shortstop? But it's kind of always been like that for me. At Arizona, we brought in six shortstops my freshman year, and it was a competition. What it was was nothing different than what I had been doing the last few years."

"I was excited when I got picked by the Pirates because I knew coming in I'd be a sponge with him and take some stuff that he does well and how he works and what he works on and kind of implement that into my game," said Kramer. "I'm always a fan of competition, just like Kevin is. I knew it would play itself out. I wasn't worried about where I was going to play."

It has been Newman who has enjoyed the bulk of work at short, while Kramer has settled in nicely at second base, a position he had played when he first arrived at UCLA.

Now the tandem works as a defensive black hole in the middle of the Black Bears infield, combining for a .966 fielding percentage, linking up on 16 double plays.

"We're continuously getting better and molding well, learning each other's tendencies and knowing where each other will be in any given situation," said Newman. "It's great and we're having a good time with it."

On the flip side, the bats have yet to light up for the West Virginia Kevins, who have combined for 25 hits between them, but that is where their newfound relationship comes in handy -- they bounce ideas off each other, vent and help each other escape from the game.

"It's a little bit of a balance," said Kramer. "If one of us is frustrated or one of us wants to talk about it, the other listens. We don't talk about it too much. It's more so about what's going on in the rest of the parts of our lives, whether its family, girlfriends, whatever it may be. We try to balance it out. If you try to talk baseball the whole time, you tend to go stir crazy. We've had plenty of Dunkin' Donuts dates."

In brief

No gray area: State College first baseman Casey Grayson has reached base in all 23 games played this season. He currently carries a league-best 14-game hitting streak and has hit safely in all but two games. Grayson leads the league in batting (.398), on-base percentage (.479) and hits (33). He is just three games shy of tying Rowan Wick's club record for consecutive games on base, set just last season.

Blasting zone ahead: Stone Garrett went 53 at-bats between long balls, but with his sixth-inning shot against Hudson Valley on Monday, he climbed back into the top spot on the league's home run leaderboard. Despite the power slump, the Batavia outfielder has been producing, hitting .336 in July with 11 RBIs and eight extra-base hits. Garrett's .615 slugging percentage is tops in the league, with Tri-City's Drew Ferguson a distant second at .586.

Penning positive results: Brooklyn's Christian Montgomery has put up some pretty gaudy numbers in his seven appearances out of the bullpen this year. The Cyclones reliever has only tossed eight frames, but they have been nearly spotless as he has allowed just three hits and a walk. He has also fanned 16 batters -- third most by a relief pitcher -- giving him a league-best 18 strikeouts per nine innings. Montgomery (2-0) has also picked up his first two career victories.