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MWL1 Lake County Captains

Lake County Captains Unveil 2016 Roster

April 4, 2016 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Lake County Captains News Release


(Eastlake, OH) - The Lake County Captains, the Class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, have announced their 2016 Opening Day roster and it will include four players who rank in the top 30 Indians prospects according to MLB.com. The highest ranked prospect on the Captains' Opening Day roster will be catcher Francisco Mejia, Cleveland's #8 prospect, who returns to Lake County for his second season. The Captains open the 2016 season against Fort Wayne, an affiliate of the San Diego Padres, on Thursday at 6:30 PM.

The Captains will carry a 13-man pitching staff that includes four returnees from last year's team. RHP Dominic DeMasi, LHP Thomas Pannone, RHP Cortland Cox and RHP Casey Shane each pitched for the Captains at some point in 2015. Shane is ranked among the Indians' top 30 prospects according to MLB.com.

The Captains will have two familiar faces at catcher this season as Mejia and Martin Cervenka return to Lake County. Mejia put together a strong season in 2015 as one of the youngest players in the Midwest League. The then-19-year-old slugged nine home runs and batted .243, while throwing out 34% of would-be base-stealers from behind the plate. Cervenka brings international experience to the Captains, as the Prague native is the only active Minor League Baseball player on the Czech Republic national team.

The Captains infield will include a pair of top-30 Indians prospects in #21-ranked Willi Castro and #22 Tyler Krieger. The 18-year-old Castro batted .264 last season and stole 20 bases with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the New York-Penn League. Krieger was selected by the Indians in the fourth round of last year's MLB Amateur Draft out of Clemson University and will make his professional debut with the Captains. The rest of the Lake County infield includes Sam Haggerty, Nathan Winfrey, Anthony Miller and 2015 returnee Yonathan Mendoza. Haggerty and Winfrey spent last season with Mahoning Valley, while Miller played his professional debut season in the rookie-level Arizona League.

The outfield will see former Captains Bobby Ison and Silento Sayles return to the club. Ison batted .251 and hit 10 doubles for the Captains last season, while Sayles batted .283 during his 16 games with Lake County. The rest of the outfield will be comprised of Connor Marabell and Nathan Lukes, who both played in Mahoning Valley in 2015. Lukes is the highest draft pick of the Captains outfielders, as the Indians selected him in the seventh round of last year's MLB Amateur Draft.

Tony Mansolino will lead the Captains in his professional managerial debut. Mansolino, 33, becomes the Captains 11th field manager. He served as the Captains hitting coach in 2013 and is starting his sixth season in the Indians organization with previous stops at Mahoning Valley, Carolina, and last season in Akron. Mansolino played professionally for six seasons as an infielder from 2005-2010 after being selected in the 26th round of the 2005 MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played four years of baseball at the Vanderbilt University, where he was teammates with Indians Director of Player Development Carter Hawkins and former Indians pitcher Jensen Lewis. He retired as a player after the 2010 campaign and resides in Nashville. Mansolino replaces Shaun Larkin, who is now the manager for the Ogden Raptors, the Short-Season affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Pioneer League.

Pitching coach Steve McCatty comes to the Captains after spending 2009-2015 as the Major League pitching coach for the Washington Nationals. McCatty, 61, will make his Indians organizational debut this season. McCatty had a nine-year Major League career with the Oakland Athletics where he went 63-63, with a 3.99 ERA and 541 Strikeouts. He was tied as the AL Wins leader (14) in 1981 with Dennis Martinez, Jack Morris and Pete Vukovich. Off the field, he served as a technical consultant for the Disney movie, "Angels in the Outfield" and currently resides in Michigan.

Kevin Howard, 34, enters his first season as the hitting coach for the Captains after spending last season as the hitting coach for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. Howard played professional baseball for 12 seasons, reaching as high as Triple-A. The former infielder was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the fifth round of the 2002 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Miami. He went on to play for eight different organizations: Reds, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals.

Junior Betances, 43, will be a coach with the Captains in 2016, his first in Lake County, continuing a career with the Indians organization that has spanned over 20 years as a coach, player or executive. Betances was the manager of the DSL Indians from 2002-2005. He was the hitting coach in the Arizona League last season.

Individual game tickets are on sale at the Classic Park box office, online at captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). Full season tickets plans, 12-, 20-, and 35-game mini ticket plans for the 2016 season are on sale now at great prices complete with several exclusive benefits. Information can be found at the Captains website www.captainsbaseball.com.

The Lake County Captains are a Class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians and play their home games at Classic Park in Eastlake, at the corners of State Route 91 and Vine Street. For more information on the Captains, please visit the team's official website at www.CaptainsBaseball.com.

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