Baseball in Fort Wayne

The Lake Erie Crushers announced during a press conference that former Wizards shortstop, Jodam Rivera is among the first signees for the startup new entry in the independent Frontier League.

Rivera was originally drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 24th round (702nd overall) of the 2004 amateur entry draft. He played five years in the Padres system and got as high as Double-A. While with the Wizards in 2006, Rivera appeared in 31 games. He hit .217 with 23 hits and eight runs batted in over 106 at-bats. He spent the entire 2007 season with Fort Wayne, hitting .225 in 284 at-bats in 91 games. He also produced five home runs and 26 runs batted in while walking 43 times.

Rivera suffered a hand injury that brought an early end to his 2008 season before the Padres gave him his outright release. Despite receiving offers from other Major League affiliated clubs, the 22-year-old Rivera chose the Crushers for the opportunity to get more playing time and develop:

“For me, the biggest thing is the chance to play every day,” Rivera said. “Baseball players, when they play more, they can develop more. I had a couple offers with affiliated teams but I wanted to come here because it’s a new team and I’ll get to play every day. That’s a lot better for me. I want to be an every day player so I can get to the big leagues [The Morning Journal].”

Joining Rivera as the first Crushers signees are former Marlins and Astros farmhand, Drew Saylor and former Anaheim Angels minor leaguer, Gordon Gronkowski. The Lake Erie Crushers are the newest expansion team in the Frontier League, an independent professional baseball league with 12 teams throughout the Midwest. The team will open its Inaugural Season on June 2, 2009 in a new 5,000 capacity ballpark located at the intersection of I-90 and Route 611 in Avon.

Video from the press conference can be viewed here.

Photo by Chad Gramling