Northwest Arkansas Naturals Announce Season-Opening Roster - Double-A Texas League

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com – SPRINGDALE, AR – The Northwest Arkansas Naturals announced today their Opening Day Roster for the start of their inaugural 2008 season. The roster features 27 players, and includes three of the Royals top ten prospects according to Baseball America, two players who have Major League experience, and a catcher who suited up for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The Naturals pitching rotation features a talented starting pitching staff, which boasts four of the top six ERA’s from the Advanced-A Carolina League last season and the Carolina League Pitcher of the Year from 2007.

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Right-hander Daniel Cortes is the Royals’ #2 prospect according to Baseball America and possesses a fastball that can reach the mid-90’s.  Though only 20 years old, the Royals envision Cortes as a potential frontline starter in the future.  During the 2007 campaign, Cortes posted an 8-8 record and a 3.07 ERA for the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Royals Advanced-A affiliate.  Cortes was acquired by the Royals in July 2006 in a trade that sent reliever Mike MacDougal to the Chicago White Sox.  Right-hander Carlos Rosa is a member of the Royals’ 40-man roster and logged Double-A time with the Wichita Wranglers last season.   The Royals’ #7 prospect, Rosa was 6-6 with a 4.36 ERA for Wichita and 2-1 with a 0.39 ERA in four starts with the Blue Rocks.  Rounding out the rotation is southpaw Rowdy Hardy and right-handers Blake Johnson and Julio Pimentel.  Hardy, the 2007 Carolina League Pitcher of the Year, also received the Kansas City Royals 2007 Minor League Pitcher of the Year award after going 15-5 with a 2.48 ERA and allowing just 144 hits in 167 innings of work for the Blue Rocks.  The 25-year old control specialist issued just 16 free passes in all of 2007.  Pimentel, the eighth-best Royals’ prospect, (12-4, 2.65) and Johnson (9-6, 3.26) both were acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers during a mid-2006 trade for Elmer Dessens. 

The bullpen is headlined by right-hander Roman Colon, a 29-year old Dominican flamethrower who is recovering from injuries but comes to Springdale with a big-league resume that includes 73 appearances for the Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers.  Acquired by the Royals last summer for left-hander Danny Christensen, Colon threw just 22 1/3 innings across three minor-league stops last season while he battled injuries, but possesses a mid-90’s fastball and, predictably, a more polished arsenal than Texas League hitters are used to facing.  Indeed, Colon has nearly five seasons worth of experience pitching at the Double-A level or higher, and carries a career minor league ERA of 3.85 in 203 appearances (107 starts). 

Northwest Arkansas’ relief corps also will include Devon Lowery and Matt Peterson, each with parts of four seasons’ worth of Double-A experience, as well as lefty Dusty Hughes.  Hughes  was Wichita’s pitcher of the year in 2007 (6-2, 3.08 ERA) and was selected as the top pitcher in the Arizona Fall League after last season.  Peterson spent quite a bit of time this spring in the Royals’ big league camp and last season posted a 1.98 ERA and an Eastern League-leading 29 saves for the Altoona Curve, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Double-A affiliate.

Like the pitching staff, the offense includes an individual with big-league service time in shortstop Angel Sanchez.  Sanchez saw playing time in eight late-season contests with the Royals in 2006 after a solid campaign in Wichita (.282, 4 HR, 57 RBI).  Before that season, Baseball America rated Sanchez as the best defensive infielder in the Royals’ organization.  A member of the Royals’ 40-man roster, Sanchez sat out last year recovering from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.

Catcher Cody Clark is a Conway, AR resident who is a Wichita State graduate but logged two seasons of time playing for the Arkansas Razorbacks.  The catching ranks for the Naturals also include Kiel Thibault and Adam Donachie, a former 2^nd round pick of the Royals.

The team possesses incredible speed; Center fielder Jose Duarte swiped 34 bases for Wilmington last season while hitting .290, and Ovandy Suero stole 75 bases for the (Advanced-A) Lakeland Flying Tigers, a total that ranked him second in all of minor league baseball.  Mario Lisson, expected to start at third base, is a potential five-tool talent that hit .285 with 61 RBI and 23 steals for Wilmington and posted good power numbers this off-season in winter ball. 

The power in the Naturals lineup will come from Lisson as well as Juan Richardson, a 29-year old veteran of five seasons in Double-A, the latter two coming with the Springfield Cardinals, the Naturals’ Texas-League rival.  Richardson hit 18 home runs and knocked in 78 RBI in 2007 and boasts a .300 average over the past two Texas League seasons.  First baseman Kila Kaaihue hit 12 home runs in 244 at-bats for Wichita in his second tour through the Texas League and had a solid spring, and right fielder Brian McFall will look to build upon his solid Carolina-League campaign last season with Wilmington, where he posted a .286 average, 13 home runs, and 72 RBI.

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