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ApL Princeton WhistlePigs

Princeton Devil Rays update

January 18, 2005 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Princeton WhistlePigs News Release


It finally looks like the cold of winter has set in here for Princeton, West Virginia. For our out-of-area readers, we'll share with you that up to mid-January Princeton's daytime temperatures were running daily in the mid 50's and 60's. Now all that has appeared to change and it is time to heat up the e-mail channels with more talk of the summer of 2005-when the next baseball team of young Devil Rays will represent us. So without further delay, welcome to the January, 2005 edition of "Raywatch," the official monthly e-mail newsletter of Princeton Devil Rays Baseball.

WINTER FRONT OFFICE ADDITION: The Princeton Devil Rays have made a front office staff addition and would like to welcome aboard Todd Thompson of Morehead State (KY) University as a member of our "team." Todd, who is a native of nearby Logan, WV, began work here in the front office as a sports administration intern on January 3 and will be around Hunnicutt Field this spring to help provide information to you as we prepare for the 2005 season.

RETURN OF P-RAYS RADIO "VOICE": The Princeton Devil Rays and WAEY-1490 AM Radio are pleased to jointly announce that Jarrod Talbott will return to bring you all the play-by-play action for all away games played by the P-Rays in 2005. Once again, P-Ray road games will also be available via the internet as well as on local radio at 1490-AM on the dial. Jarrod, who is a native of nearby Winfield, WV, received his college degree from the University of Tennessee School of Broadcasting.

AND SPEAKING OF THE "VOICE": We hope you will join us in saying "Congratulations" to former P-Rays staffer Dave Ebert, who was recently named as Sports Information Director at Concord University. Dave was our play-by-play radio announcer for P-Ray road games in 2002-2003 as well as being our stadium P.A. Announcer from 2002-2004. Good luck Dave!

"MAJOR LEAGUE" BUS IS GAINING STEAM: We would once again like to remind you about our bus trip for fans to PNC Park in Pittsburgh, PA on Saturday, June 11 to see the Tampa Bay Devil Rays play the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 7:05 p.m. game. About 45 percent of the seats on the 55-seat, air-conditioned Abbott Trailways bus have already been sold. The bus will depart Hunnicutt Field at 10:30 a.m. on the game date and make a one and one-half hour lunch/mall stop in mid-trip to Pittsburgh while still allowing us to arrive well in advance of game time. The bus will return to Princeton immediately following the game. Cost of the trip (which includes your game ticket and all transportation costs) will be $75.00 per person. This is a great chance for you to see a major league game and how much would it cost you if you did this on your own? Since this is a major league game with reserved seating, it is necessary to have all payments submitted in full to the Princeton Devil Rays no later than April 20. Don't be left out of this great opportunity. For more details, please contact the P-Rays front office by e-mail at raysball@sunlitsurf.com or by telephone at (304) 487-2000.

MINOR MATTERS: Two former Princeton players recently signed minor league contracts to try and plot their paths back to the major leagues. Infielder Jared Sandberg, who as a 1997 P-Ray was also the Most Valuable Player of the Appalachian League, has inked a minor league deal with the Washington Nationals. All of Jared's previous major league service time has been with Tampa Bay. Pitcher Chad Fox (1992 Princeton Reds) recently completed a deal to be in the Chicago Cubs organization this spring. He has appeared in the majors in four uniforms: Braves, Brewers, Red Sox, and the 2003 World Series Champion Florida Marlins.

DECEMBER TRIVIA: Getting ready for the recently completed holiday season did not stop several of you from winning prizes and staking your claim as trivia gurus for our December, 2004 "Raywatch" trivia question. To review, our trivia question last month was " Who was the last member of the Texas Rangers to lead the American League in runs batted in (RBI's) for a season without having the letter "z" in his last name?" Well, this feat last occurred in 1989 and was accomplished by outfielder Ruben Sierra. We had six local readers arrive at the correct answer and they were Christie Cook, Steve Crowe, Daniella Hatfield, David Lawson, Frank Lewis, and Jim Nelson. All local winners received a $5.00 gift certificate to both The Eccentric Fish Restaurant and Breadman Bakery. We also have nine out-of-area readers who should be duly recognized as wearing the trivia crown for December and those submitting the correct answer were Bryce Casto (Dunbar,WV), Scott Gibson (St. Albans, WV), Rich Hively (Nitro, WV), Ron Martin (Clemmons, NC), Melanie Roth (Charleston, WV), John Seward (Kalamazoo,MI), Jeffery Smith (Cleveland, OH), Roman Stout (Kingsport, TN Mets GM), and Mark Wilson (South Shores, NC). Congratulations to all of you and our January question will appear later in this newsletter.

POKEY GOES WEST: On January 5, former 1991 Princeton Reds infielder "Pokey" Reese signed a one-year deal with the Seattle Mariners with a one-year club renewal option for 2006. If all incentives are met, the total deal could amount to as much as $4.45 million for the 31-year old Reese. Pokey, who will be returning to his original position of shortstop, has appeared previously in the majors for the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.

ALL OVER SPORTS WEEKLY: The January 5-11,2005, issue of "Sports Weekly" (formerly known as "Baseball Weekly"), which is published by USA Today, had the American League East Prospect Watch Section for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and it was full of names of former Princeton players that are familiar to our local fans. Named in their "Cream of the Crop" section was pitcher Jason Hammel (2002). The magazine's "Best of the Rest" section had a heavy Princeton flavor as the following players all received this accolade from this nationally respected magazine: first baseman Wes Bankston (2002), pitcher Eduardo Delacruz (2003), pitcher James Houser (2003), infielder Elliot Johnson (2002), pitcher Jarrad Lavergne (2002-2004), pitcher Brandon Mann (2002-2003), first baseman Gabby Martinez (2002), and pitcher Chris Seddon (2001). Also receiving mention in this section of the magazine were pitcher Seth McClung (1999), outfielder Jonny Gomes (2001), outfielder Jason Pridie (2002), as well as a reference being made to the status of former Appalachian League All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton (1999).

AND SPEAKING OF SPORTS WEEKLY...: In the very next issue of Sports Weekly that appeared on news stands (January 12-18, 2005 issue), the 40-man rosters (as of January 10, 2005) of all major league teams were published and 18 players with Princeton ties appeared. Naturally, 11 of these names appeared on the roster of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and they consist of six pitchers including Jason Hammel (2002), Carlos Hines (2001), Seth McClung (1999), Chris Seddon (2001), Brian Stokes (1999), and Doug Waechter (1999). The five position players on the TB 2005 40-man roster are catcher Pete Laforest (1998), and outfielders Rocco Baldelli (2000), Carl Crawford (1999), Jonny Gomes (2001), and Josh Hamilton (1999). Other former Princeton players dotting the 40-man rosters of major league teams across the land are shortstop Pokey Reese (1991) with the Seattle Mariners, pitcher Joe Kennedy (1998) with the Colorado Rockies, pitcher Brandon Backe (1998) with the Houston Astros, pitchers Victor Zambrano (1997) and Bartolome Fortunato (2000) both with the New York Mets, catcher Humberto Cota (1998) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and pitcher Evan Rust (2000) with the St. Louis Cardinals. To prove once again to not judge a team by it's record, of the above-listed players, the Princeton team most represented here was the 1999 squad (which finished with a 25-45 record) with five players (Crawford, Hamilton, McClung, Stokes, and Waechter) followed by the 1998 contingent (Appalachian League Eastern Division Champions with a 38-30 record) with four players (Backe, Cota, Kennedy, and Laforest).

WINTER LEAGUE TIDBITS: Two former Princeton players were busy getting in a little of extra work over the winter in preparation for the soon to arrive Tampa Bay Devil Rays' spring training camp at their St. Petersburg, FL site. Outfielder Jonny Gomes (2001) played for Mexicali in the Mexican League and logged an impressive .364 batting average with 17 homers and 45 RBI's in only 31 regular season games. Doug Waechter, a right-handed pitcher from the 1999 P-Rays, recorded 39 innings of work in the Puerto Rican League and finished with a 1-2 record and 31 strikeouts versus only eight walks.

FORMER INTERN GOES "MAJOR LEAGUE": The P-Rays would like to report another success story concerning a former P-Ray front office staff intern. Effective January 31, Brian LeHeup, who was an intern here in 2003, will now list Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL as his new business address since he will be joining the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as a full time group sales representative. Since his time in Princeton, Brian has been working in baseball operations for the Tennessee Smokies, now the AA affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The new job will be in familiar territory for Brian since he is a native of St. Petersburg.

JANUARY TRIVIA: As a special treat to kick off 2005, we are going to mail the February, 2005 edition of "At The Yard" magazine to the first ten people (either local or out-of-area readers) that submit the correct answer to our January "Raywatch" e-mail trivia question. We are going to toughen the question up a bit and make you earn it. As always, the first 15 correct local responses will receive $5.00 gift certificates to both The Eccentric Fish Restaurant and Breadman Bakery. Without further delay, here is your question: "Other than Barry Bonds, who is the only active player currently playing in major league baseball that has better than a .300 career batting average while also having at least 500 career doubles and at least 400 career stolen bases?" Please e-mail your guesses to us at raysball@sunlitsurf.com and be sure to include your U.S. postal mailing address so we will know where to mail you any applicable prizes. Good luck and it will be interesting to see how tough this question really turns out to be.

CONCLUSION: Now as we have turned the corner and can start looking to see when we can see the beginning of the 2005 Appalachian League season just up ahead, please be assured that everyone associated with the Princeton Devil Rays are hard at work to make the 2005 season as entertaining for you as we have in seasons past. As always, our goal is to continue to provide you with a wholesome and entertaining family-oriented environment that features once again a great variety of goodies and giveaways to make your visit memorable at each of our 34 home games. Oh yes, and then there is the action on the field too as you join us in the beginning of the journey to mold the Appalachian League players of 2005 into the major league stars of the future. Which players will it turn out to be? There's only one way to find out and we will have a seat waiting for you at beautiful Hunnicutt Field this summer to see for yourself. Keep warm and see you next month for the February edition of "Raywatch," the official monthly e-mail newsletter of the Princeton Devil Rays. Bye for now!!

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Appalachian League Stories from January 18, 2005


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