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 River City Rascals

Ground to Cover for New Rascals Outfielders

April 28, 2016 - Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


This week's positional preview takes us to the outfield where River City will have seven new faces compete for spots left open by 2015 Rascal players, such as all-star Curran Redal. Redal, Brian Hansen and Jackson Slaid are just three of the outfielders not returning and manager Steve Brook has filled their spots with four players who have professional baseball experience and three who are looking to start their careers.

James Baldwin III, the son of former major league pitcher James Baldwin Jr., enters his first season in the Frontier League and is a candidate for the centerfield job. A fourth round pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2010, the centerfielder played in 483 minor league games between the Dodgers (2010-2014) and Chicago White Sox (2015) organizations. He will be a key addition to the outfield looking to replace Redal, who played in all 96 games last year. Up to this point in his professional career, he has hit .228 with 42 homeruns, 200 RBI and has stolen 168 bases.

Another newcomer fighting for the centerfield spot is Dominique Taylor. After being drafted out of Salt Lake Community College in 2011, Taylor declined the offer and improved his draft stock after playing at the Division 1 Level for UC Irvine. In 2013, the Kansas City Royals selected Taylor in the 13th round and he played 265 games in three years with the organization. Taylor spent 2015 with the Class-A Advanced Affiliate in Wilmington and was then asked to play for his country in the World Baseball Classic Qualifier. Taylor, born in Frankfort, Germany in 1992 accepted the offer to play for Germany and picked up a hit in two games as the starting centerfielder. In four minor league seasons, Taylor maintained a .273 average.

Competing for a corner outfield spot this season, former 6th round San Diego Padres draft pick Kyle Gaedle begins his Rascals career after playing five years in the minor leagues. Selected in 2011, Gaedle reached Double-A in 2014 and played 67 games for the San Antonio Missions between the 2014 and 2015 campaign. The highest draft pick in Valparaiso history, Gaedle has played in 430 minor league games and has slashed .240/.332/.396 with 34 homeruns and 185 RBI.

Coming from the New York Yankees organization, Griff Gordon gives Rascals manager Steve Brook multiple left-handed bats to choose from in the outfield. A 27th round draft pick in 2014, Gordon played for the Yankees Gulf Coast League affiliate after he was drafted and then was promoted to Class-A Charleston in 2015. In 98 games combined over two years, Gordon hit .250, a homerun and 33 RBI.

Robby Enslen, the star outfielder at Oakland University for the last four years comes to the Rascals for his first go-around in professional baseball. Enslen earned First-Team All-Horizon League honors as a junior and was then voted the Preseason Player of the Year before his senior year in 2015. The centerfielder would go on to earn Second-Team All-Horizon League honors his final year and became the fourth player in program history to record more than 200 hits, finishing his career with 218.

With a breakout freshman campaign, Matt Honchel put himself on track to become one of the most successful players at the University of Miami (Ohio). The left-handed bat was named a Freshman All-American after hitting .395 with 26 RBI and led the team in five other categories. Honchel followed that with three more great years earning him First-Team All-MAC honors as a sophomore and a senior. He is second on the all-time hit list at Miami (Ohio) with 294 and finished with a slash of .354/.416/.427.

Centerfielder Connor Savage capped off his collegiate career at Puget Sound with a hit in his last at-bat, making him the all-time hits leader at the University (205). As a senior, Savage hit .364 and become the second player in the programs history to record 60 or more hits in a season.


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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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