IL1 Louisville Bats

Bats End of Season Game Notes 2006

Published on September 11, 2006 under International League (IL1)
Louisville Bats News Release


- IN THE STANDINGS: The Bats spent the following days alone or tied at each position in the International League West Division standings this year: FIRST - 16, SECOND - 43, THIRD - 71, FOURTH - 20. Louisville finished with a 75-68 record, third in the International League's West Division, 1.5 games behind Toledo & Indianapolis.

- HE'S A BASEBALL GUY: Manager Rick Sweet entered the 2006 campaign as his 18th season as a minor league manager. Sweet owns a career record of 1,190-1,201. 2006 marks his second season in the Reds organization. He is now in fifth place on the Louisville career managerial wins list with 141 wins.

- AT HOME (43-30): Hit .272 (637-2340) with 46 HR, 271 runs scored (3.71/g) and a 3.42era.

- ON THE ROAD (32-38): Hit .268 (646-2409) with 50 HR, 307 runs scored (4.39/g) and a 3.76era.

- COACHING CAROUSEL: Ted Power joined Louisville as pitching coach Tuesday, May 16. Power began the year as the Reds' pitching rehabilitation coordinator. He was the pitching coach at Rookie League Billings from 2000-2001 and at Single-A Dayton in 2002. Mario Soto, who served as the Bats pitching coach for the first 33 games of the year, completed his time with Louisville and returned to his home in the Dominican Republic. Lee Tunnell, who was originally set to be Louisville's pitching coach, is serving as bullpen coach for the Reds. Louisville native Jay Sorg, who spent parts of 2001 through 2003 with Louisville as first base coach, joined the Bats on June 17 served as first base coach for the remainder of the season. Sorg replaced Ricardo Cuevas, who joined the Bats coaching staff as first base coach at the beginning of the year, and has completed his time with Louisville and left to join the Rookie League Billings team where he served as first base coach. Alonzo Powell, who was originally set to be Louisville's first base coach, was reassigned to be the hitting coach at Single-A Dayton at the beginning of the season.

- ALMOST A RECORD: The Bats team ERA finished at 3.58, fifth best in the IL. It marked the second lowest ERA in franchise history, the lowest coming in 1985 with a 3.51era.

- A HOP OF A YEAR: OF Norris Hopper led the International League with a .347 batting average. Hopper led the next closest hitter, Josh Phelps of Toledo, by 39 points. Hopper set a franchise record for highest batting average in season. The previous high by a Louisville player was .333, done three times (Lance Johnson -1987, Dmitri Young - 1996, Raul Gonzalez - 2002). The last time a player won the IL batting title by more than 30 points was in 1970 when Ralph Garr of Richmond hit .386, beating Roger Freed of Rochester who hit .334 by 52 points. The last Louisville player to lead the league in batting average was Dmitri Young in 1996 with a .333 mark. Hopper was recalled to Cincinnati on 9/3 for the second time this season. He led Louisville with 25 stolen bases. He also struck out only 25 times in 383 plate apps.

- CHIASSON A RECORD: RHP Scott Chiasson finished the season with 29 saves which was third in the IL behind Julio Manon of Ottawa and Lee Gardner of Toledo (30). Chiasson's 60 appearances led the league and tied for seventh in all of Minor League Baseball. Chiasson also tied for second place in saves in a single season in Louisville history with Willie Smith (29 - 1994, page 99 of Bats Media Guide). Mike Perez holds the single season record with 31 in 1990.

- CONGRATS: Norris Hopper was selected to the International League post-season All-Star team as one of the three outfielders. Hopper was the first Louisville outfielder selected to the team since Raul Gonzalez in 2002. Hopper was the leading vote-getter among all outfielders.

- A VALIANT EFFORT: Despite a 4-0 victory over Indianapolis on 9/3, the Bats were eliminated from playoff contention due to Toledo's 4-3 victory over Columbus. It marked the third consecutive year Louisville did not make the post season.

- SHUT EM DOWN: The Bats had 12 shutouts on the 2006 season, tied for the second most in franchise history in one season. The record of 13 was set in 1992.

- ONE HIT: The combined one-hitter by Tom Shearn, Brad Salmon and Scott Chiasson on 9/3 was the Bats first one hitter since 7/15/02 @ ROC when Luke Hudson picked up the victory for Louisville combining with Scott MacRae.

- LEADING AT THE GATES: Louisville once again led the International League in attendance for the 2006 season. The Bats attendance was 652,692, an average of 9,193 fans/game, which led the second place Pawtucket Red Sox by almost 30,000 fans. The 2006 attendance was the third most in stadium history, trailing only opening season of 2000 (685,863) and 2002 (658,856).

- WHAT A MONTH: Louisville finished the month of June 22-7, setting a new franchise record with 22 wins surpassing the previous mark of 21, which had been done twice before, in July of 1998 and May of 2001. Coming into June, Louisville had gone 10 straight months without a winning record, their last coming in May of 2004. Louisville won 22 total games in April and May combined.

- ATTENDANCE BREAKS RECORD: Louisville's Opening Night attendance of 14,123 on April 14 broke the Louisville Slugger Field single-game record of 13,242 set on April 12, 2000 - the first game played at LSF.

- B.I.P.: The Louisville Bats once again produced a weekly half-hour show on ICN-2 (Insight Channel 2) in Louisville. "Bats Inside Pitch" premiered a new show at 8:30 p.m. each Wednesday, with replays at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday, and 4 p.m. Sunday on ICN2. Bats radio broadcasters Jim Kelch and Matt Andrews host the show each week that took you behind the scenes with the 2006 Louisville Bats.

- 25th ANNIVERSARY: The Louisville franchise celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2006. Since the franchise's inception in 1982, the team owns a 1,773-1,806 record. Louisville has been an affiliate of the Cardinals (1982-1997), Brewers (1998-1999) and Reds (2000present). Louisville has won four championships in that time, three American Association Championships (1984, 1985, 1995) & one International League championship (2001).

- TEAM HITTING: Louisville led the International League in hitting in 2006 with a mark of .270.

- STRATTON'S SHOT: Rob Stratton added to his legend at Louisville Slugger Field on April 29, 2006 with his 490 foot home run in the bottom of the eighth inning off LHP Alex Herrera, the longest home run in LSF history. The previous record of 483 feet was set by Kevin Witt on 5/12/02. Stratton now owns two of the top three longest home runs in stadium history and three of the top eight.

- A LOT OF MOVEMENT: Louisville make 183 roster moves on the year and 61 players donned the Louisville uniform. Only Scott Chiasson, Ryan Jorgensen, Dane Sardinha, Jesse Gutierrez, Matt Kata and Earl Snyder spent the entire season with the Bats.

- THREE TIMES A RECORD: IF Ray Olmedo recorded three doubles August 11 @ Charlotte which tied a franchise record. He became the 15th player in franchise history to accomplish the feat.

- REHAB PLAYERS: Louisville had eight players join them on Major League rehab assignment in 2006. (Jason LaRue, Paul Wilson, Cody Ross, Matt Belisle, Edwin Encarnacion, Brandon Claussen, Jason Standridge & Gary Majewski).

- ONLY ONE: Louisville had only one player named as an International League weekly award winner in 2006. LHP Mike Gosling was named IL Pitcher of the Week for the period of 8/14-8/20 (2-0, 0.69era, 13.0ip, 1bb-13k).

- HIS NAME IS EARL: Earl Snyder had the longest hitting streak by a Louisville player this year at 12 games (7/28-8/10). Snyder led Louisville with 127 games played, 17 home runs, 77 RBI and 58 runs scored. He was also named Louisville Hitter of the Month for June (.290-3hr-22rbi).

- GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORD: The Louisville Bats vaulted themselves into the Guinness Book of World Records with over 2,900 participants in the "Largest Kazoo Ensemble" on August 22. The entire stadium, led by the West Louisville Boys Choir, played "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" on kazoos distributed by volunteers from the National Jug Band Jubilee. The previous record of most kazooists was 1,791.

- A BREAKOUT YEAR:: OF Chris Denorfia was named to Minor League News' FAB 50 Baseball Rankings of prospects in all of baseball. Denorfia came in #13 on the list. The Louisville Bats finished 16th in the rankings of top clubs in minor league player development for 2006. The Cincinnati Reds organization finished as the 7th best farm system in the nation. Denorfia fell 29 plate appearances shy of qualifying for the league batting title leaderboard. His .349 batting average would have edged out teammate Norris Hopper. Denorfia was elected as starting outfielder for the IL in the Triple-A All-Star Game; he started in CF and went 1-for-3 with two runs scored

- CHEER CHEER FOR OLD NOTRE DAME: LHP Chris Michalak finished third in the International League with a 2.99era and tied for the team lead with nine victories. Michalak had his contract purchased by the Reds on August 12 and picked up his first Major League victory since 2001in the Reds' 9-7 win over Philadelphia that night. Michalak was named Louisville Pitcher of the Month for April (2-0, 3.00era).

- A NICE RECOVERY: Jesse Gutierrez, who missed the majority of last season after tearing the ACL in his left knee, led Louisville in doubles (27) and walks (49). He was also named Louisville Hitter of the Month for May (.319-2hr-16rbi).

- ANTI THEFT DEVICES: Louisville was second in the International League behind only Charlotte in caught stealing efficiency. 59 out of 133 runners attempting to steal were caught this year (44%). Dane Sardinha threw out 49% (31/63) while Ryan Jorgensen threw out 40% (26/65). Jorgensen also did not have a passed ball the entire season.

- AFFILIATION EXTENDED: Prior to the season, the Louisville Bats and Cincinnati Reds extended their Player Development Contract through the 2008 season. It extended the previous agreement which was set to expire after the 2006 season.

- POWER OUTAGE: Louisville hit 96 home runs on the year, an average of 0.67/game. It marked the lowest home runs total since 1991 when the Redbirds hit 85 homers as a team.

- NEW RELIEVER MARK: Mike Burns and Scott Chiasson both broke the previous record of lowest ERA in a season by a reliever with at least 50 innings pitched. Burns holds the new mark of 1.75era with Chiasson coming in right behind him at 1.91era. The previous record of 2.02era was set by Mark Grater in 1991.

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International League Stories from September 11, 2006


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