ApL Princeton WhistlePigs

P-Rays news

Published on October 20, 2004 under Appalachian League (ApL)
Princeton WhistlePigs News Release


The leaves in southern West Virginia are changing colors, the excitement and quality of action in the major league playoffs is better than ever and June of 2005 will be here before you know it. So, to keep those fires of anticipation for the 2005 Appalachian League baseball season burning, welcome to the latest edition of "Raywatch," the official e-mail newsletter of the Princeton Devil Rays.

PLAYER AND PITCHER OF THE YEAR-PRINCETON STYLE: Annually, the Player Development department of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays selects a player and pitcher of the year for each of their farm clubs. The 2004 selections for the Princeton Devil Rays were outfielder Ryan Royster and starting pitcher Jacob McGee. Other P-Rays' alumni to gain honors for 2004 "Player of the Year" were first baseman Wes Bankston (Princeton-2002) for Charleston, and infielder Gabby Martinez (2002) for Bakersfield. Former Princeton pitchers to be selected for "Pitcher of the Year" honors were Tony Peguero (2002) for Charleston, Jason Hammel (2002) for Bakersfield, and Chris Seddon (2001) for Montgomery.

DOING THE "FARM SHUFFLE": The Tampa Bay Devil Rays will have two new locations for their full-season "A" teams in 2005. Their new "low-A" affiliate will be located in Battle Creek, MI in the Midwest League, replacing the Charleston (SC) Riverdogs, who will now be affiliated with the New York Yankees. For your reference, the closest team to Princeton in the Midwest League is the Dayton (OH) Dragons. Tampa Bay's "high-A" affiliate will still be in the California League but will now be located in Visalia, CA in a switch from TB's previous league home in Bakersfield, CA. The team's AAA affiliate will still be the Durham (NC) Bulls while the Montgomery (AL) Biscuits will continue to handle the AA operations for the Devil Rays. Tampa Bay also recently signed a four-year extension with the Hudson Valley (NY) Renegades to be their "short-season A" affiliate.

CARL CRAWFORD NEWS: The recently completed 2004 major league season was another productive one for 1999 P-Ray outfielder Carl Crawford. For the second consecutive year, Carl led the American League in stolen bases and he displayed his speed even further by also leading the league in triples this season. He was voted TB's 2004 Most Valuable Player in a vote by the Tampa Bay chapter of the Major League Baseball Writers Association. In November, Carl will be part of a Major League All-Star team to tour Japan for a series of exhibition games.

SEPTEMBER TRIVIA: The receipt of some bum information resulted into doubling your chances at winning in our September edition of "Raywatch" e-mail trivia. To review, the question in last month's newsletter was "other than the Florida Marlins, through the completion of the 2003 major league season, who is the only other National League team to participate in the World Series after qualifying for the league playoffs as a wild card entry? There turned out to be two answers: the 2000 New York Mets and the 2002 San Francisco Giants. Local readers who submitted either of these answers were sent $5.00 gift certificates for both Breadman Bakery and The Eccentric Fish Restaurant of Princeton. Local winners were Kevin Clark, David Larson, Frank Lewis, Mark Morehead, Bob Redd, and Michael Stiltner. As always, we encourage our out-of-area subscribers to play along and those submitting correct answers were Cy Campbell (Denton, TX), Bryce Casto (Dunbar, WV), Leo Finkelstein (Lima, OH), Rich Hively (Nitro, WV), Mike Judge (Fishersville, VA), Ronald Martin (Clemmons, NC), and Dave Weekley (South Charleston, WV). The October trivia question will be later in this newsletter and we look forward to hopefully seeing our list of winners grow.

DRAFT POSITION: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays will pick in the eighth position of the 2005 amateur player draft. Tampa Bay's final winning percentage of .435 for the 2004 season was better than seven teams: Arizona (.315), Kansas City (.358), Seattle (.389), Montreal (.414), Milwaukee (.416), Toronto (.416), and Colorado (.420).

MOVIN' ON UP-TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS: For the first time in their seven-year major league tenure, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays did not finish last in the American League's five-team Eastern Division. The Rays finished fourth with a 70-91 record, three games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays. To demonstrate the strength of both the Tampa Bay team and the very tough division they play in, Tampa Bay finished with a final combined record of 9-29 versus the divisional heavyweights, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, but showed a record of 61-62 against all other opponents this season.

ROSCOE, ROSCOE IS EVERYWHERE: Roscoe, the Princeton Devil Rays' drug-free Rooster, has had a busy October to date. Princeton's favorite baseball fowl was on hand October 2 to entertain children at a "Neighborhood Kids Day" sponsored by the Princeton-Athens Kiwanis families including the Princeton-Athens Kiwanis Club, the Princeton Senior High School Key Club, and the Princeton Middle School Builders Club at Princeton's Kiwanis Park, which is located at the bottom of North Fifth Street in Princeton. Also, he participated on October 15 in the ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the grand opening of Princeton's "Planet Xtreme Teen Center," which is a new building for teenagers to congregate in a drug-free, non-violent environment complete with many games and other social activities.

FORMER P-RAYS IN THE DESERT: Princeton will have representation in the 2004 Arizona Fall League, which is a league operated by Major League Baseball for players to accelerate their development toward being full-time big league ballplayers. The league has six teams and one, the Mesa Solar Sox, will be managed by 1997 P-Rays' skipper Charlie Montoyo, and the Solar Sox roster will include former Princeton pitcher Carlos Hines (2001) and catcher Pete Laforest (1998). The league plays a 38-game schedule, which began on October 5 and will conclude with a championship game between the division winners on November 20.

BASEBALL AMERICA'S TOP LEAGUE PROSPECTS: The latest issue of Baseball America magazine (on sale through October 24), features a section listing the top twenty prospects in each of baseball's minor leagues for 2004 and two names popped up with Princeton ties. In the portion devoted to the Appalachian League, shortstop Reid Brignac was named in a poll of Appalachian League managers as the fourth best prospect in the league this year. The only other former P-Ray to gain mention was pitcher Jason Hammel (2002), who was named the 17th best prospect in the California League this year while wearing the uniform of the Bakersfield Blaze.

OCTOBER TRIVIA: Get those thinking caps on and we are going to tie in the fact that the October baseball playoffs overlap at this time of year with all the excitement taking place on college campuses all over the country regarding college football. Local "Raywatch" readers who submit correct answers to the following question will receive a $5.00 gift certificate to both the Eccentric Fish Restaurant of Princeton and also to Breadman Bakery. Please submit your guesses to us by e-mail at raysball@sunlitsurf.com and do not forget to include your U.S. postal mailing address so we will know where to send your prize cards. We also ask our out-of-area readers to play along and submit your answers so that we may list you among our winners in next month's newsletter. Here is your question: "Before currently becoming a star running back for the West Virginia University football team, Kay-Jay Harris played three years of minor league baseball. In which major league organization's farm system did he play?"

DOMINICAN DANDIES: Two former members of both the 1995 and 1996 Princeton Reds showed up on coaching staffs during the 2004 Dominican League season this past summer. Darwin Bracho, who played here as both a catcher and a second baseman, was the manager of the New York Yankees' DSL entry while infielder Manuel Solano was the pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds' affiliate in the same league.

PRINCETON'S SHINING PLAYOFF STAR: There's no better way to conclude this month's edition of "Raywatch" than to recognize an outfielder who appeared in only 27 games for the 1998 Princeton Devil Rays. However, Brandon Backe is better known these days as one of the playoff standouts on the Houston Astros celebrated pitching staff. His meteoric rise began with the last game of the 2004 major league regular season on October 3, when in a last-minute emergency start in place of future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens, he allowed only two runs over five innings pitched and drove in Houston's first two runs with his bat while being named the victor in Houston's playoff-clinching 5-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies. In the National League Divisional Series, Brandon notched a victory over the Atlanta Braves and then he was the game one starter for the Astros in the NL Championship Series versus the powerful St. Louis Cardinals. His crowning achievement in the 2004 playoffs to date was in front of a national television audience on the night of October 18 when he tossed a one-hitter (a single with two outs in the sixth inning) over eight shutout innings to help position the Astros to take a three games to two lead over the Cards in game five of the NLCS as part of a 3-0 victory. Keep your eyes on this emerging star that got his professional start in Princeton.

CONCLUSION: As we wrap up this month's edition, let's not forget about players like Brandon Backe, who made their debut in Princeton and then, before you know it, are appearing on television sets all over the world. Through your support or an encouraging word, look where he is now!! Let's all share the pride that we have helped in some small way develop some of the future major league stars of tomorrow while having a bushel full of fun, fellowship, giveaway prizes, family entertainment, and down-to-earth good ole' baseball action as all this unfolds. It is our hope that Hunnicutt Field is where you will plan to spend a portion of your summer for years to come. There will always be some periodic losses on the scoreboard for our team from time to time, but let us never forget that as long as we have professional baseball here, we will always be winners. Stay warm, enjoy the World Series, and be on the lookout next month for the November edition of "Raywatch!"

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Appalachian League Stories from October 20, 2004


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