Big Mac is Back

Published on April 28, 2009 under Golden Baseball League (GBL)
Calgary Vipers News Release


With a number of Golden League teams adding former major leaguers to their rosters over the past week the Calgary Vipers jumped into the mix on Tuesday. The Vipers announced the signing of five year major league veteran Mac Suzuki. Suzuki brings 117 games of big league experience to the Vipers, including 67 starts for Seattle, Kansas City, Colorado and Milwaukee. He was also in the Royals major league camp in Surprise, Arizona last month.

Suzuki finished last season with the Vipers posting a stingy 1.64 ERA in five games. "Mac brings incredible maturity, experience and class to our locker room", said Vipers director of baseball operations Peter Young. "I expect we will use him as our closer and with Cody Cillo and Jon Huizinga also available for late inning work our starters should be pretty comfortable if they can get by six."

Pitching coach Evan Greusel and playoff phenom Joe Sergent will anchor the starting rotation along with workhorse Hideki Nagasaka. That leaves AAA veteran Alan Webb, rookie Zac Blakney and Atlantic league veteran Erik Dessau battling for the final two spots in the rotation. "Training camp should be pretty intense on the mound", added Young. "Frank James, Reggie Rivard and Jake Vose could all be starters if needed so Evan should have no problem finding someone to hand the ball to".

Vipers field manager Morgan Burkhart will be arriving in Calgary later this week with players starting to report early next week. Training camp officially begins on Saturday, May 9. The Vipers will face the Edmonton Capitals in pre-season play in Fort McMurray on May 15 and 16, in Calgary on Jay 18 and in Edmonton on May 19 before opening up the regular season against Jose Lima and the Long Beach Armada on May 21.

Thirteen position players and seventeen pitchers will be in camp making this the largest Vipers camp in their five year history.

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Golden Baseball League Stories from April 28, 2009


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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