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CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Top Prospects, Familiar Faces Highlight 2019 Pelicans' Roster

March 29, 2019 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - In conjunction with the Chicago Cubs, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans are excited to announce their 2019 Opening Day roster, which features six top 30 Cubs prospects and 12 returners to the Grand Strand.

Three of the organization's top 10 prospects will make their way to the Beach, including the Cubs No. 1-overall prospect according to MLB.com, Miguel Amaya (No. 2 by Baseball America). Amaya, who hit .256/.349/.403 in Low-A South Bend last year, will be joined by fellow prospects, right-handed pitcher Paul Richan (No. 7 by Baseball America, No. 18 by MLB.com) and shortstop Aramis Ademan (No. 10 by Baseball America, No. 6 by MLB.com), who is returning from last season.

Richan made his professional debut for Short Season Class A Eugene last year after being selected by the Cubs in the second round out of University of San Diego, going 0-2 with a 2.12 ERA in 29.2 innings of work. Ademan, a mainstay at shortstop a year ago, will be back in the Grand Strand for his second summer with the Birds. Right-handed pitcher Alex Lange (No. 14 by Baseball America, No. 12 by MLB.com) will also be returning from the 2018 squad after finishing sixth in the Carolina League in ERA (3.74).

The final two top 30 prospects heading to Myrtle Beach are outfielders D.J. Wilson (No. 25 by Baseball America), who played in 64 games for the Birds in 2018, and Jimmy Herron (No. 27 by Baseball America), who will make his Carolina League debut after hitting .259/.361/.381 between Rookie Level Mesa and South Bend last season.

Four other position players will be returning to the Grand Strand from last year's team, including Wladimir Galindo (.216/.276/.313 in 2018 with the Pelicans) and Yeiler Peguero (.210/.240/.228 over 60 games with the Birds), who will both slot back into the Pelicans infield in 2019. Kevonte Mitchell and Zach Davis will also be back to patrol the outfield at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark this summer. Infielder Carlos Sepulveda, who missed all of 2018 with an arm injury, will also be back in the Grand Strand after playing in 28 games for the Pelicans in 2017.

The Pelicans pitching staff features four holdovers from a season ago. Bryan Hudson will be back in a Birds uniform after winning six games and working 113 innings for Myrtle Beach last season. He will be joined by Garrett Kelly, Tyler Peyton and Ryan Kellogg, who combined to make 80 appearances out of the bullpen a year ago.

Javier Assad will be making his Carolina League debut on the mound this summer for the Pelicans after leading the South Bend Cubs in starts (21), innings pitched (106.1) and wins (5). Pitchers Brendan King, Erling Moreno, Ben Hecht, Jesus Camargo, Brian Glowicki and Manuel Rodriguez all join Assad in the move from South Bend to Myrtle Beach. Glowicki was lights out in the back-end of the Cubs bullpen last season as he finished second in the Midwest League in saves (18) and finished the year with just a 1.20 ERA. Camargo split time between the starting rotation and bullpen, pitching his way to a 3-2 record with a 2.62 ERA. Moreno and King both served well in the starting rotation, making 11 and seven starts for the Cubs, respectively. Rodriguez and Hecht figure to add depth to the Pelicans bullpen after they both made at least 30 appearances for South Bend last year. Luis Lugo rounds out the Pelicans Opening Day pitching staff. Lugo is entering his ninth season in the minor leagues after being claimed off of waivers in the Rule 5 Draft by the Chicago Cubs on December 13, 2018.

Tyler Payne joins Amaya behind the plate this season. The veteran backstop, who is entering his fifth pro season, had an injury-plagued 2018 in which he just played 13 games for South Bend.

The Pelicans will also be seeing plenty of new faces around the infield this season with Cam Balego, Jhonny Bethencourt and Luke Reynolds heading to the Grand Strand. Balego and Bethencourt will both take a step up the Cubs' organizational ladder after spending 2018 in South Bend. Balego opened last season in Eugene and finished the season in South Bend, hitting .233/.296/.287. Bethencourt spent the entire 2018 season with South Bend, but missed most of the second half with an injury. Bethencourt was named a Cubs Organizational All-Star in 2017. Along with outfielder Grant Fennell, Reynolds, on the other hand, will make the jump from Eugene to Myrtle Beach for the 2019 season. Reynolds, a 10th-round selection in 2018, hit .289/.383/.421 in 36 games for the Emeralds last year.

The Pelicans' 2019 roster is preliminary and subject to change.

Steve Lerud enters his first season as the Pelicans skipper, and just his second year as a manager overall, after guiding Eugene to a Northwest League Championship last season. Ty Wright will be back for his third season in the Grand Strand and will act as the Birds' hitting coach for the second-straight year. Osmin Melendez joins the staff as a hitting coach in his first year with Myrtle Beach and Brian Lawrence assumes the pitching coach duties after three seasons in South Bend. Both Logan Severson, who will serve as the team's athletic trainer, and Keegan Knoll, the Birds' strength and conditioning coach, will be back for their second seasons with the team.

Myrtle Beach will kick off the 2019 season on Tuesday, April 2 when they host the Charleston Riverdogs, a New York Yankees affiliate, in the Battle of the Beaches exhibition game at 6:30 p.m. at Ticket Return.com Field. The regular season opens on Thursday, April 4 against the Lynchburg Hillcats, a Cleveland Indians affiliate, who come to town for a four game series. Tickets are available for all 2019 regular season Pelicans' home games at MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Tickets.

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