CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Ten Current, Former Pelicans Headed to 2011 Arizona Fall League

Published on August 31, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


WILMINGTON, DE - Ten current and former Myrtle Beach Pelicans have been named to the roster of the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League, the premier offseason showcase circuit for Minor League Baseball's top prospects. That group includes seven members of Myrtle Beach's 2011 squad and current Pelicans pitchers Miguel De Los Santos and Ryan Kelly, shortstop Leury Garcia, third baseman Mike Olt, and outfielder Ryan Strausborger. Pitchers Neil Ramirez and Johan Yan, who began their 2011 seasons with the Pelicans before promotions to Triple-A Round Rock and Double-A Frisco respectively, are also on the Saguaros roster. Three other former Pelicans currently in the Atlanta Braves organization also named to the Surprise roster are pitchers Erik Cordier (Myrtle Beach, 2009), J.J. Hoover (2010), and infielder Phil Gosselin (2010).

Left-hander De Los Santos and righty Kelly have contributed to a Pelicans pitching staff that has been at or near the best team ERA in the Carolina League for the entirety of the 2011 campaign. Kelly began the year out of the Myrtle Beach bullpen, converting three saves in his first three appearances, before Ramirez's April promotion to Triple-A Round Rock opened a spot in the rotation. Over five subsequent starts, the right-hander went 2-1 with a 5.11 ERA before returning to the bullpen where he converted his next five save opportunities. Overall this season, the Hilton Head, South Carolina native has made 38 appearances in total and gone 3-6 with a 3.76 ERA and nine saves. Traded twice over the offseason, Kelly made his way to the Rangers on January 8 by the way of the Oakland A's, who acquired him from the Pittsburgh Pirates 16 days earlier. Kelly was originally a 26th-round draft selection of the Pirates in 2006.

Lefty De Los Santos vaulted over Advanced A after a strong 2010 at Short-Season A Spokane and Class A Hickory and began this year at Double-A Frisco. After struggling with his command in the Texas League and dealing with shoulder discomfort, he was placed on the disabled list in May and then sent to the Rookie-level Arizona League where he made one appearance in June before being transferred to Myrtle Beach. With the Pelicans, the southpaw has caught fire in August. Save for one tough outing two starts ago against the Kinston Indians, De Los Santos has dominated the circuit this month, picking up wins over the Potomac Nationals (twice), the Salem Red Sox, and the Winston-Salem Dash. Aside from the lefty's start in which he allowed seven runs over three and one-third innings on August 21, De Los Santos has posted a 1.46 ERA for the month, allowing four earned runs in 24.2 innings pitched. In his first August start, the 23-year-old went seven perfect innings against the Potomac Nationals at BB&T Coastal Field. This month, he's struck out 45 batters against nine walks. De Los Santos entered this year as a member of the Rangers' 40-man roster and as Texas's tenth-best overall prospect according to Baseball America.

Garcia, Olt, and Strausborger have all taken their turns leading a prolific Pelicans attack that also has ranked near or at the top of the Carolina League's offensive team marks this year. Shortstop Garcia was named the Carolina League's Topps Player of the Month for June, a month in which he batted .342. with a .397 on-base percentage, 22 runs scored, seven extra-base hits, 14 runs batted in and ten stolen bases. Tabbed as the Rangers' 15th-best prospect and third-best at shortstop by BA entering this year, Garcia was tabbed the organization's fastest baserunner and best infield arm by the publication and has served as Myrtle Beach's leadoff man for the majority of the 2011 season.

Third baseman Olt entered this year as the Pelicans' highest-rated position player prospect according to Baseball America (ninth overall, top third baseman) and flashed his enormous upside in the season' first month when he was named the Rangers' Minor League Player of the Month. The third baseman spent over two months out of action following a June 6 home plate collision in which he broke his collarbone against Winston-Salem but returned to the Pelicans' lineup on August 21. In the 54 games he played in the season' first half, Olt batted .286 with ten homers, 34 runs batted in, a .395 on-base percentage, and a .508 slugging percentage. Upon his return to the Pelicans' lineup, his homer total still led all Myrtle Beach hitters. Since rejoining the club, Olt has already homered three times, doubled twice, and driven in seven runs in eleven games.

Outfielder Strausborger is in the midst of a breakout season that saw him named to the Carolina League's All-Star squad in June. Through the season's first half, the Indiana State University product and 2010 Rangers draftee found himself near the top in almost every Carolina League offensive category, batting .305 with 84 hits, 16 doubles, seven triples, seven home runs, 40 runs batted in, 21 stolen bases, and an .861 OPS. Myrtle Beach's regular center fielder held down the three hole in the order for the majority of the time Olt spent on the disabled list, spending 71 games batting third. After a slump in the month of July, Strausborger returned to form in August, batting .325 with an .851 OPS before being hit with a pitch on the hand by Lynchburg's Chris Masters on August 25. The 23-year-old hasn't seen action since and is currently day-to-day.

Pitchers Ramirez and Yan impressed in their time in Myrtle Beach, although for Ramirez, with just one blink, Pelicans fans might have missed it. The Rangers' 2007 supplemental first round pick started for Myrtle Beach on Opening Day and never made another appearance in the Carolina League. Promoted as an emergency fill-in for the Triple-A Round Rock rotation five days later, Ramirez stuck in the Pacific Coast League where he went 4-3 with a 3.68 ERA in 17 starts. In an effort to keep his innings down, the Rangers sent him to Double-A Frisco in the middle of July, coincidentally enough on the same day the Pelicans saw Yan's promotion to the same staff.

Sidearming right-hander Yan was a deadly weapon out of the Pelicans' bullpen for 26 appearances and has been even more so for the RoughRiders in Texas League action. Yan, an infielder when he began his career with the Rangers in 2006, converted to the mound in 2009, and opposing hitters have been worse for it ever since. In the Carolina League, the lanky Dominican struck out 48 batters in 41.1 innings against just 13 walks and held opponents to a .214 average including a paltry .192 for right-handers. Since his promotion to Frisco, Yan has been lights out. The 22-year-old didn't allow an earned run until his 13th appearance in Frisco and has still allowed just one in 23.0 innings pitched in the Texas League.

Braves prospects Cordier, Hoover, and Gosselin all played in Myrtle Beach over the last two years of the Pelicans' affiliation with Atlanta. In 2009, Cordier finished ninth in the Carolina League with a 3.87 ERA in 25 starts. One year later, Hoover was tabbed a Carolina League All-Star and represented the hometown Pelicans at the 2010 California-Carolina League All-Star Game at BB&T Coastal Field in Myrtle Beach. "Hoov" anchored a Pelicans rotation that ranked among the best in all of Minor League Baseball during the 2010 season while it boasted Hoover's fellow top Atlanta prospects Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, and Arodys Vizcaino, all of whom have made their big league debuts this year. Hoover finished 2010 second in the CL with 11 wins and second with 118 strikeouts while his 3.26 ERA checked in fifth.

Cordier has spent all but one of his 18 appearances this season with Atlanta's Triple-A affiliate, the Gwinnett Braves, and has gone 5-8 with a 5.33 ERA in the International League. Hoover has split time between Atlanta's Double-A squad in Mississippi and Gwinnett and is making the transition to a relief role, coming in out of the bullpen for 19 of his 31 appearances in the Southern League and eight of his ten outings in the International League.

Infielder Gosselin has spent all of his 2011 playing against the Pelicans as a member of the Lynchburg Hillcats, but it was in a Myrtle Beach uniform one year ago that the University of Virginia product got his first taste of Carolina League action. After being taken by the Braves in the fifth round of the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft, Gosselin moved to the Advanced A ranks for six games with the Pelicans at the end of last year after a strong performance in 54 games for Class A Rome. This season, the second baseman has played in 115 games for Lynchburg and has batted .264 with six homers, 63 RBI, and a .716 OPS.

The Arizona Fall League is entering its 20th season as the premier offseason showcase league for the top prospects in all of Minor League Baseball. In addition to the ten current and former Pelicans headed to the AFL for 2011, top minor leaguers such as the Washington Nationals' Bryce Harper and Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have been named to the Scottsdale Scorpions. Just last year alone, current big leaguers like Dustin Ackley (Seattle Mariners), Eric Hosmer (Kansas City Royals), Brandon Belt (San Francisco Giants), and Jason Kipnis (Cleveland Indians) took part in AFL action. Former Pelicans and current Atlanta Braves stars Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman were named to the AFL in 2009 and 2010 respectively. The Arizona Fall League has played home to nine future Major League MVP Award and three future Cy Young Award winners since its inception two decades ago. Each Major League club selects six of its more promising prospects to play on one of the six teams in the league which play six days a week (Monday-Saturday) in the Phoenix metropolitan area. This year, the AFL season is slated to begin on Tuesday, October 4. The Pelicans' contingent will begin their quest for the AFL crown at Scottsdale that evening at 6:35 p.m.

Before that, though, Myrtle Beach has business to take care of. De Los Santos, Garcia, Kelly, Olt, and Strausborger will lead the first-half Southern Division-champion Pelicans into the Carolina League postseason a week from today at BB&T Coastal Field in pursuit of the franchise's first Mills Cup title and first since 2000. Though Myrtle Beach's first-round opponent is still undetermined, the Pelicans will host the first two games of the best-of-five Southern Division Championship Series in Myrtle Beach on September 7 and 8.

Following Thursday night's series finale of four at Wilmington, the Pelicans return home to the Grand Strand for their final regular season home series of 2011 when they host the Salem Red Sox for three games from Saturday through Monday. Tickets for all Pelicans home games can be purchased by visiting the BB&T Coastal Field box office, the Tickets page at MyrtleBeachPelicans.com, or by calling (843)918-6000 or (877)918-TIXX.

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Carolina League Stories from August 31, 2011


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