SMOKIES PARK CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY

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2 SMOKIES PARK CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY According to Tennessee Smokies general manager Brian Cox, the last 10 years have been the most exciting in the 100-plus-year history of the Smokies franchise. With a new ballpark, a hurricane-aided league co-championship and hillside infernos, who can argue? Smokies Park opened its doors on April 20, 2000, and has provided baseball fans, families and especially Smokies staff members with treasured memories ever since. "The first time we set the hillside on fire during a fireworks show was July 1, 2000," Cox said. "There were 20 staff members trying to put it out with fire extinguishers. I'm calling off the show when the mayor of Sevierville calls me on the radio and says 'the rest of the fire department is on the way-go ahead and keep shooting the show.'" It's that focus on entertainment, combined with a deep sense of community involvement, that makes Smokies Park an attractive destination for Sevier County citizens as well as the 10 million tourists that visit the Smoky Mountains region each year. "Initially, the City of Sevierville saw us as more of a tourist attraction," Cox said. "But one thing that's grown for us is that we've become more of a part of the fabric of what goes on in the Sevier County area. We're a member of at least 15 Chambers of Commerce each of our staff members have a chamber that they're actively involved with." Smokies Park has also become a landmark because of its unique setting and fan- Year W-L Finish Playoffs st, East none T-1st West none nd, East none nd, East 1st-round loss to Carolina rd, East Southern League Co-Champions rd, North none rd, Norh none nd, North 1st-round loss to Huntsville th, North none st, North 1 Southern Bases, Vol. X, Issue 2

3 friendly layout. Nestled on a large hillside that spans the entire distance of the outfield wall, Smokies Park provides an intimate setting that immerses fans in the game. The park also features an open concourse, guaranteeing an unobstructed view of the field from anywhere on the concourse. "The open concourse was a new concept from architects in 2000, and we were lucky to be one of the first [parks with that feature]," Cox said. "When you walk into the park, you walk into the upper level, so the worst seat in the house is only 20 rows from home plate." The close proximity has given the most faithful Smokies fans a front-row seat for four different major league affiliates in the last decade: the Toronto Blue Jays ( ), the St. Louis Cardinals ( ), the Arizona Diamondbacks ( ) and the Chicago Cubs (2007-present). Many notable current stars for each of these teams have stepped in the batter's box and toed the rubber at Smokies Park (see graphic below). The Smokies were affiliated with the Cardinals when, due to the threat of bad weather stemming from Hurricane Ivan, they were declared Southern League co-champions with Mobile in Tennessee had defeated Chattanooga three-games-to-one in the Eastern Division Playoffs and was set to battle Mobile for the league title. As is normally the case in Minor League Baseball, Cox recognizes the success of Smokies Park as a total team effort. "There are so many people, from part-time to full-time staff, that have already come through this park to make it what it is today. We're all lucky to have been on this ride for the last 10 years." So what can Southern League fans expect from the next 10 years of Smokies baseball? "We're always going to be a good family value," Cox said. "We're always searching for ways that fans can stretch their dollars to be able to enjoy what we do. A family of four can still get in for $20. That's special." Prospect Smokies Prospect Years Since Michael Young 2000 Has made five straight all-star appearances for Rangers Felipe Lopez Was a 2005 all-star and Silver Slugger winner for the Reds Orlando Hudson Dodgers 2B has 902 hits and three Gold Glove awards Dan Haren 2003 Two-time all-star pitcher has 66 wins and 838 strikeouts Yadier Molina 2003 Cardinals catcher on 2006 World Series Championship team Rick Ankiel Pitcher-turned-outfielder hit 25 homers for Cards in 08 Stephen Drew 2005 As a 25-year-old SS, hit.291 with 21 HR for D-Backs in 08 Dan Uggla 2005 Has 90 HR and 270 RBI in last three seasons for Marlins Jeff Samardzija 2007 Top prospect had 2.28 ERA in 26 games for Cubs in 08 southernleague.com 2

4 Carolina Mudcats Caro-liners RHP Jordan Smith carried a two-hitter into the 7th inning of a 10-3 win at MIS on April 11. The Mudcats also smacked five doubles for the second game in a row.... RHP Misael DeJesus won his first career AA start at MIS on April 13, pitching seven innings of two-hit ball.... Carolina outhit Mobile by five (12-7) but lost by five runs (9-4) on April The Mudcats tied a franchise record by turning five double plays against the Stars on April In the first two games of their April series vs. Huntsville, Carolina scored eight unearned runs.... RHP Travis Wood carried a no-hitter into the seventh against the Stars on April 21, but surrendered a hit along with two runs on the way to a 2-1 loss. Wood has been the victim of bad luck thus far, matching an 0-3 record with a 1.35 ERA, fifth-best in the league.... OF Chris Heisey ranks in the league s top five in batting (.345), steals (7), on base percentage (.462), slugging percentage (.586) and runs (19). NORTHDIVISION Chattanooga Lookouts Chattanooga Chatter The Lookouts scored two runs in the fourth without the benefit of a hit against Montgomery on April 15. Biscuits pitcher Aneury Rodriguez walked five batters in the frame.... Chattanooga returned the favor the very next day, as Lookouts LHP Josh Lindblom plunked two batters in the fourth followed by a league-record tying four wild pitches to push two runs across. A passed ball was also charged to C Lucas May in the inning.... The 2009 Lookouts include three players rated in the top 10 in the Dodgers organization by Baseball America, seven players that were named to the 2008 Southern League All-Star Team, three players who have played at the MLB level, and 17 players who have logged time in the Southern League.... The Lookouts staff leads the league with 187 strikeouts.... OF Andrew Lambo, the Dodgers top prospect, is currently riding a nine-game hitting streak and ranks third in the league in hits (31), doubles (9) and extra-base hits (13). Tennessee Smokies Smoke Signals Smokies manager Ryne Sandberg and Barons skipper Ever Magallanes are no strangers to one another. The two skippers met 12 times during the 2007 season when both coached in the Midwest League. Their teams split those 12 contests evenly at 6-6. Sandberg and Magallanes squared off in each club s second series of 2009, each winning two games. April 19 s game was postponed due to rain. The old rivals will meet again on May 21, when the Barons travel to Tennessee for a five-game set.... 2B Tony Thomas is pacing the Smokies attack with a.333 average, 5 HR and 14 RBI.... RHP Jay Jackson sported an 0-3 record and 9.45 ERA through his first three AA starts, but regrouped in a big way by limiting Carolina to four hits and one run through seven innings in an 8-4 win April 29. Jackson, a former two-way player at Furman, also blasted his first professional home run, a fifth-inning solo shot off of Misael DeJesus. Huntsville Stars Dancing with the Stars LHP Chris Cody was named Southern League Pitcher of the Week for his work between April During that span, he was 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA. Cody allowed six hits in 12 innings notched eight strikeouts against zero walks. On April 15, Cody s streak of 39.2 innings without allowing a home run was snapped by Mississippi s Kala Ka aihue.... Cody and RHP Mike McClendon have been a strong 1-2 punch, combining for a 4-1 record and 1.36 ERA through 39.2 innings.... From April 14-17, the Stars won four straight games by one run in their final at bat. In two of those games, the deciding run was scored by a pitcher. Eight of the Stars first nine games were decided by one run....the Stars stranded 24 runners vs. Carolina on April 23, one shy of the league record.... The Stars have just five homers on the season, four less than league leaders Greg Halman and Rhyne Hughes.... CF Adam Stern leads the league with 11 stolen bases. West Tenn Diamond Jaxx Jaxx Facts The Jaxx won a wild affair at Mississippi on April 27, scoring the game-winning run on a passed ball and marking their first walk off win of West Tenn s previous run was also scored on a passed ball.... OF Ezequiel Carrera has reached base in all 22 games he has started this season. Carrera, who has played at least three games in left, center and right field this season, ranks first in the league with 23 runs and a.485 on base percentage. His.350 average ranks fourth in the league.... The Diamond Jaxx snapped a seven-game losing streak April 22 against Tennessee.... OF Greg Halman, the Mariners #1 prospect according to Baseball America, leads all Double-A players with nine homers and leads the league with 27 RBI.... West Tenn has converted just two of eight save opportunities.... RHP Justin Souza has been superb, allowing just four earned runs in eight appearances. He has struck out 17 and walked only three in 20 innings of work. 3 Southern Bases, Vol. X, Issue 2

5 Birmingham Barons Barons Bits Through April 13, the Barons bullpen had allowed only one earned run and did not allow an earned run for 19.1 consecutive innings.... OF David Cook had reached base in an astonishing 36 straight games at the AA level until his streak was snapped April 24 vs. Jacksonville. The streak began on May 15, 2008 and does not include Cook's totals after he was promoted to Charlotte on June 12, LHP Aaron Poreda has pitched much better than his 2-3 record indicates. Poreda, the White Sox s No. 3 prospect according to Baseball America, owns a 1.65 ERA and has allowed just 15 hits in 27.1 innings. He also notched Double-A s first no-hitter of 2009 against West Tenn on May 4. The 6-6 lefty struck out eight and walked five in the rain-shortened 3-0 victory.... SS Gordon Beckham, Chicago s first overall selection in the 2008 draft, leads the league with 12 doubles and 14 extra-base hits. SOUTHDIVISION Jacksonville Suns Suns Block 3B Lee Mitchell started the 2009 campaign on a tear, driving in seven runs in the Suns opening series against the Smokies. He batted.412 and added two homers, the second coming in a five-rbi performance on April Suns pitchers opened the season by throwing at least six innings in nine straight games.... On April 18 against West Tenn, the Suns completed a five-game sweep by scoring in every inning but the first on the way to a 17-0 rout. In all, nine of the ten Suns that saw a plate appearance drove in at least one run. In the five-game sweep, the Jacksonville Suns outscored the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx On April 25, Suns pitchers Jarrett Santos and reliever Kasey Olenberger combined to no-hit Montgomery through six and one-thirds innings. Montgomery's Rhyne Hughes broke up the effort with a solo homerun.... Santos was named Southern League Pitcher of the Week on May 4. He has pitched 21 scoreless innings to start the 2009 season. Mobile BayBears Mobile Alerts LHP Bryan Augenstein, LHP Clay Zavada and RHP Jason Urquidez combined on a one-hit shutout in Mobile's 3-0 Easter Sunday blanking of Huntsville.... Augenstein received 2009 s first Pitcher of the Week honors and has continued his dominance on the mound. Through four starts, he owns a 5-0 record and a 0.83 ERA. He has struck out 28 and allowed 17 hits in 31.2 innings, and batters are hitting.157 against the 6-5 righty.... Mobile s pitching staff leads the league in ERA (2.65), hits allowed (181), shutouts (6) and saves (9).... The BayBears offense deserves some credit for their league-high 17 wins as well. Mobile is first in the circuit with 131 runs and second with a.273 batting average.... In a season-opening five-game set at Huntsville, the BayBears retired 12 straight Stars three different times.... Of the six players to earn Hitter and Pitcher of the Week honors, three of them have been BayBears (Augenstein, 3B Ricardo Sosa and OF Cyle Hankerd). Mississippi Braves Pearls of Wisdom RHP Kyle Cofield became the first M- Braves starter to register a win on April 12 against Carolina, even though he didn't start the game. Cofield relieved LHP Tom Glavine, in Mississippi on a rehab assignment, in the third inning.... The Braves have three of the best defensive prospects in the minors in SS Brandon Hicks, 2B Travis Jones and CF Gorkys Hernandez. All three players were selected as the best defensive players at their respective positions in the Carolina League in Entering the season, the M-Braves had not lost at home on Thursday since the Thirsty Thursday promotion was introduced in Mississippi won its first two home Thursday games of 2009, but its 11- game winning streak was snapped with a 9-2 loss to Montgomery on April In its first 15 games, Mississippi had already experienced a five-game losing streak and a six-game winning streak.... RHP Rafael Cruz leads the league with five saves. Montgomery Biscuits Biscuits Bites In his first two appearances of the season, RHP Calvin Medlock recorded eight outs, seven by way of strikeout. For the season, 21 of Medlock s 44 outs have been recorded by strikeout.... CF Desmond Jennings stole home one of three steals on the night against Chattanooga on April 15. Jennings has been one of the league s best players through the first month, hitting a leaguebest.394 with 18 RBI and seven steals. He also is tied for first with 14 extrabase hits and is first in slugging (.625). On May 4, Jennings had seven hits in a doubleheader sweep of the Braves.... RHP Jason Isringhausen, a two-time allstar with 293 career saves, joined the Biscuits staff from April for a major league rehab assignment. In four games, Isringhausen allowed one earned run on two hits. He has since been promoted to AAA Durham.... LHP Jason Cromer began the season in Durham but was sent back to Montgomery for his sixth different Southern League season. southernleague.com 4

6 SOUTHERN LEAGUE WEEKLY AWARDS Opening Day-April 19 Ricardo Sosa, 3B, Mobile HITTER OF THE WEEK Sosa served as the primary offensive catalyst for the red hot BayBears, who are off to an 8-2 start. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound third baseman didn't even start the season opener and only collected two hits in the first three games, but hit.609 with three homers and 10 RBI in his next six games. Sosa, a native of Miami Lakes, Fla., turned things around with a five-hit, four-rbi performance in a 13-2 victory at Huntsville on April 13. When he received the award, Sosa led the league in hits, was tied for first in homers and RBI and ranked second in slugging (.711). Sosa also had an eight-game hitting streak from April 10 - April 17 that included four multi-rbi games. 4/9-4/19 AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB OBP SLG Bryan Augenstein, RHP, Mobile PITCHER OF THE WEEK 4/9-4/19 Augenstein completed Mobile's sweep of 2009 s first weekly awards by recording two victories and tossing 12 scoreless innings in his first two Double A starts. On April 12, he allowed just one hit in five innings as three BayBears pitchers combined to one-hit Huntsville in a 3-0 victory. He was slightly less spectacular on April 17 against the Mudcats, but struck out seven and allowed four hits in seven innings to earn his second win of the season. Through the first week and a half, Augenstein owned an absurd 13-to-1 K/BB ratio and opposing hitters batted.125 against the 6-5 righty. Augenstein, from Vero Beach, Fla., owns a career ERA of 2.49 in 29 minor league starts and was selected by the Diamondbacks in the seventh round of the 2007 draft. W-L SV ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR *stats as of 5/5 5 Southern Bases, Vol. X, Issue 2

7 SOUTHERN LEAGUE WEEKLY AWARDS Week of April Rhyne Hughes, 1B, Montgomery HITTER OF THE WEEK Hughes entered the second full week of the season with two home runs but managed to triple his season total in just seven games with an impressive power display. While the 25-year-old Picayune, Miss., native has never topped 14 home runs in a single season of his fouryear minor league career, he slugged four last week and drove in seven runs. Hughes hit.375, scored five runs and had two multi-rbi games. His primary victim was Mobile, as three of his homers came off BayBears pitching. He also had a four-hit game against Mobile on April 20. At the time of the award, Hughes led the league with six homers and 10 extra base hits and was tied for fourth with 13 RBI. 4/20-4/26 AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB OBP SLG Chris Cody, LHP, Huntsville PITCHER OF THE WEEK With two dominant starts, Huntsville lefty Chris Cody took the April 26 Pitcher of the Week honors. Cody, who resides in Brewster, N.Y., picked up a pair of victories, yielding one earned run in 12 innings. He surrendered just four hits and struck out three in six innings of work against Carolina on April 21 and held Chattanooga to two hits and fanned five on April 26. On the offensive end, he also added a triple and a run against the Lookouts. Cody did not walk a single batter in his two starts and has only issued 5 free passes in 22 innings this season. On April 15, Mississippi's Kala Ka'aihue ended Cody's streak of 39.2 innings without allowing a home run. 4/20-4/26 W-L SV ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR *stats as of 5/5 southernleague.com 6

8 SOUTHERN LEAGUE WEEKLY AWARDS Week of April 27-May 3 Cyle Hankerd, OF, Mobile HITTER OF THE WEEK 4/27-5/3 Hankerd had an incredible week, recording five multi-hit games to raise his batting average 144 points to a blistering.388 clip. The Covina, Calif., native also tripled his RBI total and drilled his first three homers of the season. Hankerd had three or more hits three times, including a season-high four-hit performance against Jacksonville on May 1. He also added two homers and five RBI to lead Mobile to a 12-0 win. The 24-year-old outfielder hit safely in each of Mobile's six games and is currently riding a team-high seven game hitting streak. Hankerd currently ranks second in the league in batting and slugging percentage. He is the second BayBear in three weeks to win Hitter of the Week honors, joining opening-week winner Ricardo Sosa. AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB OBP SLG Jarrett Santos, RHP, Jacksonville PITCHER OF THE WEEK 4/27-5/3 In only his second start of the season on April 30 against Mobile, Santos delivered for the Suns yet again, allowing just three hits in six scoreless innings. After making six straight relief appearances to begin the season, Santos got his first start April 25 and allowed a walk and no hits in five innings. Entering the season, only 20 of Santos' 200 career minor league appearances had been starts. He now has pitched 21 scoreless innings on the season and has allowed just five hits and three walks. Santos leads the league with a perfect 0.00 ERA and has a spotless 2-0 record. Opposing batters are hitting just.077 against the Tulare, Calif., native, who has struck out 14 batters thus far. W-L SV ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR *stats as of 5/5 7 Southern Bases, Vol. X, Issue 2

9 FEATURED STATLINE 5 IP, 0 H, 8 K BY THE NUMBERS Barons left-hander Aaron Poreda notched Double-A s first no-hitter of 2009, defeating West Tenn 3-0 in a rain-shortened five-inning affair on May 4. The top pitching prospect in the White Sox organization, Poreda struck out eight and walked five. He owns a 1.65 ERA and has allowed just 15 hits in 27.1 innings. Jacksonville Suns right-hander Jarrett Santos has started the season with 21 consecutive scoreless innings. He has allowed just five hits and three walks and leads the league with a perfect 0.00 ERA. So far, there have been 12 shutouts in the Southern League. Six of them have been recorded by the Mobile BayBears. Through 22 games, the Huntsville Stars have hit only five home runs. The Stars are the only team in single digits and are well behind the league average of 16.2 homers. STRANGE BUT TRUE Mobile s pitching staff leads the league in ERA (2.65), hits allowed (181), shutouts (6), walks (53) and ranks second in...home runs allowed? BayBears hurlers have surrendered 19 gopher balls, 12 more than Birmingham, the circuit s best team at keeping the ball in the yard. RECORD WATCH Chattanooga Lookouts righty Josh Lindblom tied a Southern League record with four wild pitches in one inning against Montgomery on April 16. The Biscuits scored two runs in the inning without the benefit of a base hit. On April 29, Jacksonville and Montgomery combined for 17 extra-base hits, two shy of the Southern League record for extra-base hits in a single game combined. The Suns tallied 11 (6 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR) of those, also two short of the single game team record. Check out the Southern League s official souvenir store online to purchase the 2009 Southern League Media Guide, which features budding MLB stars Clayton Kershaw, Evan Longoria, Cameron Maybin and David Price on the cover. Also available are Southern League New Era caps, Southern League polo shirts and official Southern League baseballs. Visit the Southern League souvenir stand today! Writer, Managing Editor and Graphic Designer Nate Beardsley Editor Lori Webb Copyright 2009, The Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction southernleague.com of Southern Bases, in whole or part without the expressed written consent of the Southern 2 League of Professional Baseball Clubs, Inc., is strictly prohibited.