Barons Lefty Neal Cotts to Make Major League Debut Tonight
August 12, 2003 - Southern League (SL1)
Birmingham Barons News Release
BIRMINGHAM, AL â Barons left-handed pitcher Neal Cotts has been named the Southern League Pitcher of the Week for August 1-7 after going 1-0 in two starts as he tossed 13 scoreless innings and struck out 14 batters while giving up just five hits and four walks. After turning in such a stellar week, the parent club Chicago White Sox rewarded Cotts by calling him up to the bigs to make his Major League debut.
Cotts becomes the 37th player to have gone directly from Class-AA Birmingham to the White Sox to make their major-league debut since the Barons became affiliated with the Sox in 1986. He joins other players like Robin Ventura, Frank Thomas, Mike Cameron, Mark Buerhle and Miguel Olivo on the list.
For the year, Cotts has gone 9-6 with a Southern League leading 2.12 ERA in 20 starts for the Barons and ranked fourth in strikeouts (131) at the time of his call up. The White Sox plan on purchasing his contract before their game against the Anaheim Angels on August 12 in Anaheim and starting Cotts that night.
On the season, seven different Barons have won player of the week awards. Four have been hitters (Ryan Hankins, Jeremy Reed, Carlos Maldonado and Gabe Alvarez) and three have been pitchers (Royce Ring, Tetsu Yofu and Cotts).
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