Harrisburg Announces Its 2012 Roster
The official release is not yet in hand, but with some help (H/T Geoff Morrow of the Patriot News), we’ve cobbled together a preliminary list of the 2012 Harrisburg Senators, which will feature quite a few of our 2012 Watchlist.
There are more than 25 names here, so a couple of them will be on the roster but on the DL, which we’ll learn in the coming days (watchlist players in bold).
PITCHERS
Michael Ballard
Erik Davis
Paul Demny
Marcos Frias
Christian Garcia
Robert Gilliam
Danny Rosenbaum
Pat Lehman
Jeff Mandel
Pat McCoy
Hector Nelo
Kevin Pucetas
Joe Testa
CATCHERS
Jeff Howell
Devin Ivany
Sandy Leon
INFIELDERS
Josh Johnson
Stephen King
Jeff Kobernus
Jose Lozada
Manny Mayorson
Chris McConnell
Tim Pahuta
OUTFIELDERS
Destin Hood
Eury Perez
Chris Rahl
Jesus Valdez
A lot of familiar names, no? By my count, 12 of these 27 played for Harrisburg at some point last season. This roster very much reminds me of the Potomac rosters of a few years ago, where there’s very little in-between — either a prospect or a veteran. But with eight watchlist players, this is going to be one of the most interesting teams to watch this season.
Harrisburg opens up the 2012 campaign on the road in Bowie this Thursday for a four-game set, with night games on Thursday and Friday and day games on Saturday and Sunday.
Where did Josh Smoker end up at?
Repeating A ball again?
That’s if he’s not in XST…
Very true. Never no with minor league rosters.
Last year in Richmond, one of the Squirrels was listed as being demoted out to A ball for two weeks, funny thing was, every night of those two weeks he was in Richmond serving as the 1B coach for the team.
So, until I see a guy on the field, I’ve learned not to trust minor league rosters as 100% accurate.
Never know*
Mild surprise not to see Selik at HBG? 92 IP at POT and did pretty well. Maybe a mid-season call up?
Not really. Selik hit a wall in August and finished the season in the ‘pen. Bear in mind, he is yet another TJ surgery survivor and a convert from catcher to pitcher, so some of that fade can be attributed to the grind of a full season (the 120⅔ IP was a career high).
Who is Manny Mayorson? Not familiar with that name.
Guy we signed in the offseason from the Blue Jays system
I think Garcia used to be a prospect. What is the line on him?
He’s 26 and has logged only 2 innings above AA.
So basically, not much.
Did a story on him last summer, but the rub is that he’s had TJ surgery twice and hasn’t pitched more than 26 innings since 2008. His days as a starter are long gone, but the hope is to catch lightning in a bottle, kind of like they did with Mattheus.
Doesn’t look like a very strong team, especially the starting pitching. Not that I was anticipating one. Don’t know who will be pitching for Potomac, but that too appears to be disappointing now that both Purke and Ray are not there.
Hopefully there will be a few pleasant surprises in the minors this year because the overall picture seems a little glum.
Are Purke and Ray slated for XST? Would think that Ray might get assigned to POT after XST though.
Yes, Byron Kerr reported that Ray will stay for XST.
and Purke.
Thanks SpringfieldFan. I read his article about the roster predictions / scoop, but didn’t catch any reference to R Ray.
This team should be exciting! 5 players total 165 stolen bases last year. Mostly double and triple power especially in Metro Bank Park which is very deep in the alleys.
An interesting reminder today over on Nats Insider about something that Luke reinforces here on his site all the time — that being the need to remind ourselves about the human element before criticizing or posting about roster moves prematurely. Zuckerman’s article about Chad Durbin’s release was commented on by his father, Joe Durbin. Joe makes some very salient observations and comments that further emphasize the need for polite and impersonal input. Something that I feel most all posters here do.