Around the League 1/12/08

The Traverse City Beach Bums won Digital Ballpark's 2008 Ballpark of the Year Award this week, marking the second time a Frontier League team has won the award.  The Gateway Grizzlies won the award in 2005.  You can check out the Digital Ballpark's website at www.digitalballparks.com.

Here at the Beach Bums we continue to shake things up behind the scenes to make a run at the Frontier League championship this season.  We came to terms this week with a former San Diego Padres prospect who finished the 2007 season starting in center field for the class triple-A Portland Beavers.  This is a really significant signing for our club and adds even more experience up the middle to go along with triple-A caliber shortstop Tim Hutting and veteran Beach Bums second basemen Steve Young.  We will put out a press release on the outfielder once we have his contract signed and returned.

We have some other deals in the works and we should be able to announce a few players moves this week, so make sure you keep checking the blog for the latest on your Beach Bums. 

In other news, Frontier League teams continue to piece their teams together this week including the Evansville Otters, who filled out their coaching staff by naming Brenden Sagara the pitching coach and Bobby Bell the hitting coach.  Sagara was the pitching coach at Windy City last year and should be a big boost to an Otters club who struggled mightily in 2007.  Bobby Bell was the hitting coach for former Beach Bums field manager Jeff Isom in Joliet before he came to Traverse City.

The Southern Illinois Miners signed pitchers Jon Bjelland and Nick Starnes this week.  Bjelland had a great year at Minnesota State as a 5th year senior in 2007 and signed before the draft with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but he was promptly released when the team physical discovered a tear in his rotator cuff.  He had surgery in August and will attempt to rehab and be ready by training camp.

Starnes was undrafted out of UNC Greensboro and played for NBC World Series Champion Havasu Heat last summer.  The NBC World Series is a great event that takes place in Wichita, Kansas, where a 64-team field of qualifying amateur teams play literally around the clock in a double elimination tournament until there is a winner.  Summer collegiate leagues teams that don't have internal championship tournaments also take place such as the Alaskan League, Jayhawk League, etc.

The Rockford Riverhawks signed a trio of players this week - infielder A.J. Reed and pitchers Drew Himes and Matt Enderle.  Himes pitched briefly in the Frontier League last season with both Gateway and Rockford.  He had a good year with Gateway in 2006, but struggled in 2007 before being released.

Neither Enderle nor Reed have previous professional experience.  Reed played for University of North Alabama last year and Enderle pitched at St. Joseph's College.