2015 Season In Review (PDF)

 

-- TEAM & PLAYER NOTES --

RECORDS ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN: The Smokies enjoyed another fantastic season in attendance, recording the second-best total attendance in franchise history by welcoming a total of 277,606 guests through the gates of Smokies Stadium in 2015...The club averaged 4,406 fans per opening, setting a new top mark in the franchise's history, while also finishing third in the Southern League in that category...Tennessee also set their single-season attendance record on three different occasions during the 2015 campaign, most recently by announcing a crowd of 7,866 on July 24...The club had also set single-game attendance records earlier in the year on June 19 (7,806) and in the first game of a doubleheader on May 12 (7,787)...The team also set a single-day franchise attendance record by welcoming over 10,000 fans during their day/night doubleheader on May 12, totaling 10,518 guests over those two contests...The club this season also welcomed their four millionth fan through the gates of Smokies Stadium since the ballpark hosted it's first Smokies contest on April 20, 2000.

 

#WINNING: Tennessee posted winning records in both halves of the 2015 Southern League campaign, tallying a 39-30 clip in the first half, along with a 37-33 mark in the second half...This season was the first time the Smokies had recorded winning marks in both halves since 2011...The club also compiled an overall record of 76-63, marking the first above .500 record over an entire campaign since 2013...Tennessee finished with the third-best overall mark in the North Division, just 1.5 games behind of the Montgomery Biscuits (77-61), while also ranking tied for third among the circuit's teams in victories with the Chattanooga Lookouts.

 

WILLLLLLLSOOOOOONN!: C Willson Contreras became the first Smokies player in 37 years to win the Southern League's batting title, compiling a .333 average (151-454) to beat Chattanooga OF Max Kepler (.322) by 11 points...Prior to Contreras, the last player in franchise history to pace the circuit in batting was Joe Gates in 1978 (.332)...The Venezuela native became just the fourth backstop in the modern-day Southern League era (since 1964) to pace the league in batting, with Huntsville C Angel Salome most recently accomplishing that feat in 2008...The Cubs Minor League Player of the Year also completed his breakout 2015 campaign by ranking second in the league in RBI (75), doubles (34) and on-base percentage (.413), as well as third in hits (151) and slugging percentage (.478) and fifth in extra-base hits (46) and total bases (217)...The backstop would go on to be named to the Southern League's Post-Season All-Star Team, becoming the first Smokies player to receive that honor since 2013, as well as the first Smokies catcher since 2011.

 

SCHWARMING THE LEAGUE: At the time of his promotion from the Smokies to the Chicago Cubs on June 16, C Kyle Schwarber had posted a .320 batting average (63-197), adding 13 homers and 39 RBI, and ranked first in the circuit in on-base percentage (.438) and walks (42), as well as second in homers and slugging percentage (.579), third in RBI and fourth in batting average and total bases (114)...Schwarber also became the third Smokies player to be promoted directly to the Cubs after OF Tyler Colvin (2009) and INF Starlin Castro (2010)...The backstop enjoyed a strong month of May that included a pair of multi-homer games on May 17 versus Jackson and May 30 versus Mobile.

 

DON'T MESS WITH THE RHYNO: Starter Ryan Williams enjoyed a breakout 2015 campaign and was named the Cubs' Minor League Pitcher of the Year at the end of the season...Williams became the first Smokies pitcher since Kyle Hendricks in 2013 to be honored as the Cubs' Minor League Pitcher of the Year...Between Tennessee and Low-A South Bend, the right-hander tallied a 14-3 record and 2.16 ERA, with ten of those wins coming in a Smokies uniform...Williams paced all Cubs farmhands in victories and ERA, in addition to ranking fifth in strikeouts (98)...The righty also paced all full-season minor league hurlers in WHIP (0.90), while also placing tied for seventh in earned-run average and tied for ninth in wins among that company.

 

LET'S PLAY TWO!: Tennessee made history on May 12, participating in the first ever day/night doubleheader in franchise history...The club honored the late Cubs legend Ernie Banks throughout that day by "Playing Two!" while also recognizing the impact the infielder made on not just the Cubs, but the game of baseball...The twinbill also happened to take place on the 45th anniversary of Banks' 500th career home run...The Smokies also set two attendance records that day - a single-game record of 7,787 fans in game one and a single-day mark of 10,518 fans combined over both games - with the team splitting their doubleheader with the Montgomery Biscuits...In total, the Smokies announced five of the top ten crowds in stadium history in 2015.

 

WALK THIS WAY: The Smokies finished the 2015 campaign ranked second in the Southern League with 571 walks, in addition to third at the Double-A level and sixth among all teams in Minor League Baseball...The only clubs that collected more bases on balls were the Fresno Grizzlies (606), Memphis Redbirds (604), Midland RockHounds (589), Lancaster JetHawks (588) and Chattanooga Lookouts (573)...Those 571 free passes were the most drawn by Tennessee since beginning their affiliation with the Chicago Cubs in 2007, and 46 short of the Smokies Stadium Era (since 2000) record of 617, which was set in 2002...OF Bijan Rademacher led the Smokies with 67 walks this season, ranking him sixth in the league.

 

THE HUMAN HIGHLIGHT REEL: OF Jacob Hannemann made several outstanding catches this season, and was featured on SportsCenter's "Top Plays" a phenomenal four times this season...Among those snags was a game-saving diving catch with the bases-loaded in the 12th inning of a tie game on May 27 versus Mobile...Hannemann also announced his presence with authority in his very first Double-A contest on April 28 versus Chattanooga, homering in his first at bat...The 24-year-old also recorded a monster game on June 13 at Jacksonville that included four extra-base hits, one of which was a grand slam as part of a six-RBI game, falling a single shy of hitting for the cycle.

 

CONTRIBUTING CALL-UPS: C Kyle Schwarber was one of three 2015 Smokies who also pitched for the Chicago Cubs this season, excluding Major League Rehab Assignments, along with pitchers Carl Edwards Jr. and Rafael Soriano...Schwarber has had the biggest impact of the trio and recorded four hits in his first start for the Cubs on June 17 at Cleveland, including a triple for his first Major League hit...The next day the backstop launched his first career longball of his MLB career on June 18...Edwards Jr. made his Major League debut on September 7 at St. Louis, tossing a scoreless inning of relief while yielding no hits and just one walk.

 

HEY NOW, YOU'RE AN ALL-STAR: A total of seven Smokies players were named Mid-Season All-Stars by the Southern League to participate in the circuit's Mid-Summer Classic in Montgomery, including pitchers Corey Black, Felix Pena, Frank Batista and P.J. Francescon, as well as catchers Kyle Schwarber and Willson Contreras and infielder Dan Vogelbach...Schwarber was unable to play due to his promotion to the Cubs, while Contreras and Vogelbach both started for the North Division squad...Vogelbach blasted a three-run homer in his first at bat in the second frame...Contreras would also go on to be named to the circuit's Post-Season All-Star Team at the conclusion of the year, the club's first Post-Season All-Star since 2013.

 

MONTHLY HONORS: Three Smokies players earned Cubs Minor League Player of the Month nods in 2015...INF Dan Vogelbach earned the honors in April after tallying a .362 average (25-69), adding 11 runs, seven doubles, three homers, 13 RBI and 14 walks, along with a .470 on-base percentage and .594 slugging percentage in 19 contests...C Kyle Schwarber followed the next month with Player of the Month in May after compiling a .297 clip (27-91) with 18 runs, two doubles, eight homers, 17 RBI and 24 walks, as well as a .443 OBP and .582 SLG in 28 games...OF Albert Almora Jr. received recognition for the month of August, posting a .352 clip (44-125) along with 22 runs, 14 doubles, a homer, 15 RBI and 11 walks...Closer P.J. Francescon was also tabbed the Southern League's Relief Pitcher of the Month for the month of June after not allowing a single run over his eight appearances that month while also notching four saves.

 

WEEKLY HONORS: A total of three Smokies players received Southern League Player of the Week or Pitcher of the Week honors throughout the 2015 season, including INF Dan Vogelbach, who was honored by the circuit in each of the first two weeks the honor was handed out for the time spans between April 9-20 and April 20-27...C Willson Contreras was also named Player of the Week for his efforts between July 27-August 3, while starter Ryan Williams earned the Pitcher of the Week nod for the span between August 10-17.