Baseball in Fort Wayne

A common trait of teams in the MidWest League is that the team rosters are pretty young since those squads are usually filled with first year players or players entering their first full year. This year’s Fort Wayne TinCaps roster is certainly no exception.

Five 19-year-olds tackle the Midwest League to open 2010 while slugging 1B Nate Freiman and RHP Dexter Carter provide experienced leadership as former college standouts.

Manager Jose Flores makes his full-season managerial debut in 2010. He managed eleven players on the TinCaps’ opening-day roster during his two-year tenure in the Arizona Rookie League. Pitching coach Bronswell Patrick comes to Fort Wayne after an assignment with short-season Eugene last year.

There are 25 players on the TinCaps roster

• Nine have played in Fort Wayne previously: Dexter Carter, Nic Greenwood, John Hussey, Rob Musgrave, Stiven Osuna, Michael Watt, Griffin Benedict, Dean Anna and Juedy Valdez.
• Five are among the San Diego Padres’ top 30 prospects according to Baseball America: Everett Williams (8), Edinson Rincon (9), Rymer Liriano (14), Jerry Sullivan (19) and Dexter Carter (28).
• Five countries are represented: United States, Dominican Republic, Australia, Venezuela and Mexico. Olabisi was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He is a member of the royal family of the Urhobo tribe. He and his family moved to Saudi Arabia when he was five years old and he played in the 2000 Little League World Series for Saudi Arabia. He has played summer baseball in Canada and now lives in Texas.
• Six were selected in the tenth round or earlier: RHP Miles Mikolas (7th 2009), Sullivan (3rd 2009), Watt (2nd 2007), Jason Hagerty (5th 2009), Nate Freiman (8th 2009) and Williams (2nd 2009).