Top Prospects Highlight Opening Day Roster
Date Posted: 4/5/2009

The Nashville Sounds – the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers – have announced their tentative Opening Day roster, a group of players highlighted by three of Milwaukee’s top five prospects.

Shortstop Alcides Escobar (pictured) and third baseman Mat Gamel, Milwaukee’s top two prospects as rated by Baseball America, highlight the 2009 squad. The two exciting infielders shared the Brewers’ organizational player of the year honors in 2008 following solid seasons at Double-A Huntsville.

Escobar, 22, was named to the Southern League Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star teams in 2008 after batting .328 with eight home runs, 76 RBIs, and 34 stolen bases in 131 games with the Stars. He led the Southern League in hits (179) and was among the league leaders in stolen bases (T2nd), runs scored (3rd-95), and average (3rd). He was rated as the Southern League’s “Most Exciting Player” in a mid-season Baseball America poll of league managers.

Gamel, 23, spent most of last season at Double-A Huntsville where he batted .329 with 19 home runs and 96 RBIs in 127 games. He led the Southern League in RBI, extra-base hits (61), and total bases (273) en route to being named the Topps Minor League Player of the Year. Gamel participated in the MLB All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium on July 13 and was selected to the Southern League Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star teams.

Catcher Angel Salome, who captured the Class AA Southern League batting title with an organizational-best .360 average last season, ranks as Milwaukee’s #5 prospect entering the season. The 22-year-old was also selected to the Southern League Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star teams in 2008. Salome finished 5th in the SL with 83 RBIs, was 3rd with a .415 on-base percentage, and placed 2nd with a .559 slugging mark.

In addition to the top prospects listed above, another key newcomer to Music City is first baseman Joe Koshansky, who was claimed by the Brewers off waivers from the Texas Rangers organization on Friday. Koshansky, 26, led all Minor League Baseball players with 121 RBIs in 2008 and his 71 extra base hits paced the Pacific Coast League. The left-handed slugger also finished in the top four in the PCL in home runs (31) and slugging percentage (.600). Koshansky, who hit for the cycle twice last season, was named as the first baseman on the Topps Triple-A All-Star team.

Ten players return to Music City from the 2008 Sounds squad, including starting pitchers Tim Dillard, Lindsay Gulin, and Sam Narron; reliever Chris Narveson; catcher Carlos Corporan; infielders Gamel, Adam Heether, and Hernan Iribarren; and outfielders Tony Gwynn and Brendan Katin.

Gulin, who represented the Sounds in the 2008 Triple-A All-Star Game, was a two-time PCL Pitcher of the Week honoree a year ago and ranked second in the PCL with his team-leading 3.54 ERA while pacing all league starting pitchers with a .219 opponents average. Narron paced the Brewers organization with 15 victories last season between Huntsville and Nashville.

Three players will make their first stop at the Class AAA level with the Sounds in 2009: reliever David Johnson (who posted a 3.32 ERA in 40 relief outings for Huntsville last season), Escobar, and Salome.

Sounds pitching coach Chris Bosio has a veteran staff to work with in 2009. Twelve of the 13 projected Nashville hurlers appeared at the Class AAA level or higher last season.

Nashville will be guided by a new coaching staff in 2009. Don Money, 61, becomes the 22nd manager in the Sounds’ 32-year franchise history after spending the past four seasons at the helm at Double-A Huntsville, where he finished as the club’s all-time winningest manager with 275 victories.

Money will be joined on the Nashville bench in 2009 by a pair of new faces: pitching coach Chris Bosio and hitting coach Sandy Guerrero. Trainer Jeff Paxson, who returns for his fifth consecutive year on the Sounds’ bench, and strength and conditioning coach Tom Reynolds, who returns for his second year with Nashville, round out the 2009 coaching staff.

The Sounds open their 32nd season on Thursday, April 9 at Greer Stadium with a 7:00 p.m. matchup against the New Orleans Zephyrs, the new Triple-A affiliate of the Florida Marlins.

Ticket packages are currently on sale. Call (615) 242-4371 or visit the Sounds’ website at www.nashvillesounds.com to order or for more information.

The tentative 2009 Nashville Sounds Opening Day roster is available at the link below. One roster move will have to be made before Thursday’s season opener to reduce the Nashville roster to the 24-man active limit.

Related Links:
 • 2009 Nashville Sounds Roster