The Kane County Cougars, now a Kansas City Royals affiliate, have named Vance Wilson as their field manager for the 2011 season. Wilson spent parts of eight seasons as a backup catcher in the major leagues with the Mets and Tigers and finished his career with the Royals in their farm system.
Joining Wilson on the staff will be hitting coach Damon Hollins and pitching coach Jim Brower. Hollins played 256 games in the majors, 241 with Tampa Bay and his last season as a player-coach with the Royals affiliate in the Appalachian League. Brower spent parts of nine seasons on major league rosters playing for eight different teams from 1999-2007.
The Quarry Fieldhouse in Romeoville, IL will be holding an exposure camp for high school classes of 2011 and 2012 on Saturday December 11th 2010.
Pitcher and catcher registration starts at 9:00 am and infielders and outfielders registration starts at 12:00 pm. The cost for the camp is $100 for a single session or $125 for both sessions.
For more information click on the link below:
Exposure camp at the Quarry Fieldhouse
The Kane County Cougars announced the signing of a two-year player development contract with the Kansas City Royals.
This is the fourth different Major League Baseball Club affiliation since 1991 which began with the Baltimore Orioles then the Florida Marlins and most recently the Oakland Athletics.
The agreement does not affect ownership, management or front office personnel of the Kane County Cougars.
Baseball America's top ten pro prospects from Independent leagues....in bold are the players on Independent teams in Illinois.
1. Matty Johnson - OF - Gateway Grizzlies
2. Wes Alsup - RHP - Joliet JackHammers
3. Chris Garcia - 1B - Shreveport-Bossier
4. Ryan Sheldon - RHP - Normal CornBelters
5. Bobby Pritchett - RHP - Normal CornBelters
6. Josh Short - OF - Lake County Fielders
7. Donald Brandt - LHP - Maui
8. Blake Gailen - OF - Chico
9. Pat Trettel - C - Lincoln
10. Mark Samuelson - 1B - Chico/Yuma/Tijuana
Here are a few guidelines for a National Letter of Intent regarding prospective student-athletes enrolling in the 2011-2012 academic year...
Initial signing date for the early period is November 10th 2010
Final signing date for the early period is November 17th 2010
The regular period signing date for baseball is April 13th 2011
The final signing date for the regular period is August 1st 2011
There is a signing deadline for each period. In the November signing period the National Letter of Intent must be signed between the dates of November 10th - 17th. There is a 14 day signing deadline for the regular period (April 13th through August 1st)
Coaching contact is prohibited at the time of signing a National Letter of Intent. A coach or institutional representative may not hand deliver the NLI off campus or be present off campus at the time of signing. The NLI may be delivered by express mail, courier service, regular mail, e‐mail or fax. An NLI transmitted to an institution by fax or electronic means shall be considered valid.
The Windy City Thunderbolts announced three more players have their contracts picked up by MLB clubs.
Pitchers Andrew Werner and Rod Scurry have been picked up by the San Diego Padres and Pitcher Ryan Bollinger has been signed by the Chicago White Sox.
The ThunderBolts have had 16 players signed by Major League organizations since the start of the 2009 season.
Bradley University student and baseball player Phil Kaiser died early Monday morning after being transported to Methodist Medical Center of Illinois. His cause of death has not yet been determined.
The family will host a wake Friday from 1-8 p.m. at Woodlawn Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Forest Park, Ill. (7750 W. Cermak Road). A funeral Mass will take place Saturday at noon at St. Odilo Catholic Church in Berwyn, Ill. (2244 East Avenue). Bradley University will host an on-campus memorial service at a future date to be determined. In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to the Phil Kaiser Memorial Scholarship Fund (6959 Riverside Drive, Berwyn, IL 60402).
Pitcher Erik Hamren from the Joliet JackHammers has recently signed with the San Diego Padres and becomes the second JackHammer from the 2010 roster to sign with an MLB affiliated club.
Hamren was originally drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 37th round of the 2008 MLB amateur draft.
The IHSA has decided to move the 2011 1A and 2A state championship series to O'Brien field, home of the Chicago Cubs minor league affiliate the Peoria Chiefs. The idea behind the move was to make the state finals events more centrally located based on the location of the participants.
Class 3A and 4A will remain at Joliet's Silver Cross field for the next five years.
The Lexington Snipes will join the Chicago Suburban League for the 2011 summer season. The Snipes are a summer collegiate team whose roster is primarily made up from Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University and Heartland Community College players.
Oakton Community College has canceled its fall training after 25 members of the baseball team were caught in an underage drinking bust.
Director of Athletics, Bruce Oates, met with the team and the players involved "We have suspended the remainder of the fall season".
Baseball will resume in the spring at Oakton.
The current owners of the Joliet JackHammers baseball team have signed a letter of intent to sell according to city officials from Joliet.
The JackHammers owe the city of Joliet (which owns Silver Cross Field) over $200,000 and vendors over $100,000.
The potential buyer plans of keeping the JackHammers name and the deal should be finalized in the 25 days.
Money from the sale of the franchise would go to the city and vendors, not to the current owners. The new owners plan to set up a fund to ensure payment to the city and vendors.
The commissioner of the Northern League, Clark Griffith, has yet to receive paperwork on the change of ownership and would have to approve the sale of the franchise.
Zion-Benton Township High School is looking for a Varsity Baseball Head Coach for the 2010-2011 school year. For more information please visit the link below:
Head Varstiy Baseball Coach Zion-Benton
The Boston Red Sox purchased the contract of centerfielder Matty Johnson from the Gateway Grizzlies.
Trinity International Unviersity baseball commitments for the 2010-2011 season are listed below:
OF Adam Ladzinski - Minooka, IL
RHP Gentry Nordstrom - Ottawa, IL
OF Camden Decker - Montgomery, IL
RHP/INF George Heller - Elgin, IL
RHP/INF Jeff Baird - Antioch, IL
LHP Tom Kruse - Oak Lawn, IL
OF David McKenrick - Villa Park, IL
INF Jordan Germosen - Dominican Republic
C Mike Lambert - Wintrop Harbor, IL
OF Mike Feliz - Orlando, FL
OF Tony Guidone - Chicago, IL
OF Jeff Grainge - Elmhurst, IL
The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper has ranked Illinois State University at #40 in the Division I baseball recruiting poll for 2010-2011.
Eleven players which include seven freshman, three junior college transfers and one division I transfer make up the recruiting class for Illinois State.
Three of the freshman, catcher Mike Hollenbeck - 14th round by the Boston Red Sox, pitcher Johnny Lieske - 35th round by the Texas Rangers, infielder Brock Stewart - 40th round by the New York Mets, turned down professional contracts to join the Redbirds this season.
Chad Parker has been named the 2010 Northern League Manager of the Year as he led the JackHammers to a 20 game improvement over 2009 finishing the season with a 53-47 record.
In 2009 Parker was also named Manager of the Year in the Frontier League with River City Rascals.
Parker has also signed a two-year extension from the JackHammers which will keep him in Joliet through 2012.
Josh Short (Lake County Fielders Outfielder) has been voted as the 2010 Northern League Rookie Player of the Year.
Short finished the season with a .326 batting average (4th in the Northern League), 26 home runs (4th in the Northern League) and 84 rbi's (2nd in the Northern League).
The 6'2" 200lb outfielder was drafted out of high school in 2005 by the Florida Marlins but did not sign. Short went on to play at Mount Hood Community College in Oregon and signed with the Marlins in 2007.
The Lake County Fielders are part of the Northern League, an independent professional baseball league, and owned in part by Kevin Costner.
Trinity College announces that Justin Huisman will take over the Head Coaching duties replacing his brother Jason who will take over as Assistant Baseball Coach, replacing Justin.
Illinois State University baseball will hold fall and winter hitting clinics for elementary, junior high and high school aged participants.
The first clinic will start Sunday October 24th and sessions will meet once a week until November 22nd. An additional hitting clinic will start Sunday January 16th and go five weeks, meeting once a week.
For additional information please follow the link below:
ISU Hitting Clinics
The Kane County Cougars, now a Kansas City Royals affiliate, have named Vance Wilson as their field manager for the 2011 season. Wilson spent parts of eight seasons as a backup catcher in the major leagues with the Mets and Tigers and finished his career with the Royals in their farm system.
