Barnstormers Complete Spring Training Roster
Published on April 11, 2008 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Lancaster Stormers News Release
LANCASTER, Pa.-The Lancaster Barnstormers have filled their 26-man spring training roster. The club signed OF Jason Perry, LHP Nate Hoelscher and IF Juan Francia and invited SS John Nelson to spring training, Barnstormers vice president of baseball operations Keith Lupton announced. The team expects to receive a signed contract from Nelson in the next few days, Lupton said.
Perry, who hit 25 homers at double-A and triple-A during the 2007 season, joins the Barnstormers after being released by the Detroit Tigers late this spring training. The lefty slugger opened last season with the double-A Texas League Midland Rockhounds and was later promoted to triple-A Sacramento where he crushed 18 homers in 78 games. He hit two more for triple-A Toledo after a late-season trade to the Tigers.
The resident of Jonesboro, Ga., becomes the seventh current member of the Barnstormers with past ties to new Lancaster manager Von Hayes, and the fifth to have played for him. Perry hit .338 with 64 extra-base hits in 325 at bats for a .686 slugging percentage for Hayes's Modesto club in 2004. He opened 2006 by hitting a scalding .402 in 28 games, earning his first promotion to triple-A.
Originally signed out of Georgia Tech by the Toronto Blue Jays as their sixth round pick in the 2002 June draft, Perry was traded to Oakland a year later in exchange for outfielder John-Ford Griffin.
Hoelscher, 28, went 5-3 with three saves and a 5.18 ERA in 35 appearances with class triple-A Omaha last season, his sixth in the Kansas City Royals organization. The native of Alexandria, Minn., had his best season in 2004 with the Wilmington Blue Rocks where he posted a 2.15 ERA in 51 games. He walked 15 and struck out 70 in 83.2 IP that season, where he teamed with Lancaster county native and fellow Barnstormers pitcher Eric Ackerman. In his six pro seasons, he has averaged 2.46 walks per nine innings.
Nelson, 29, fills a vacancy at shortstop for the Barnstormers. He reached the Major Leagues in 2006, appearing in eight September games for the St. Louis Cardinals. He rose through the St. Louis organization after signing with the Cards out of Kansas University in 2001.
The native of Denton, Texas, has the ability both to hit for power and to steal bases. He has reached double figures in homers four times in his six full pro seasons, including a career-best 21 with triple-A Memphis in 2006 and 15 last year between Memphis and Iowa. He has also reached double figures in steals four times.
He was the Midwest League's All-Star shortstop in 2002 with Peoria when he batted .274 with 16 homers and 63 RBIs. Nelson hit a career-high .301 with double-A Tennessee in 2004.
Francia, 26, spent the first eight seasons of his professional career in the Detroit Tigers system. A switch-hitter from Venezuela, Francia won stolen base crowns with the Gulf Coast League Tigers in 2000 and with the West Michigan Whitecaps where he stole a career high 53 in 2002. He also captured the New York-Penn League batting title with a .340 mark in 2001.
He may have had his best season in 2005, splitting time between Class A Lakeland and double-A Erie. Overall, he hit .306 with six homers and 41 stolen bases. On August 9 of that year, he performed a baseball rarity, hitting for the cycle (single, double, triple, home run) at Akron.
Francia spent last season in the New York Yankees organization where he hit a combined .260 at double-A Trenton and triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The Barnstormers leave early Monday morning for spring training in Lakeland, Fla., and will return to open the 2008 season at home against the Bridgeport Bluefish on Friday, April 25. Single-game tickets to all regular season games are available for purchase online at www.LancasterBarnstormers.com, over the phone at (717) 509-HITS or in person at the Clipper Magazine Stadium box office.
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