Wheeler to Compete in Minors Moniker Madness

HUNTSVILLE, AL - Huntsville Stars third baseman Zelous Wheeler has been selected as one of 64 Minor League Baseball players with a true asset, a unique moniker.

Wheeler, along with the 63 other minor leaguers, will go name-to-name in Minors Moniker Madness (MMM), a March Madness-style bracket to determine who has the best name in all of Minor League Baseball. It's the infielder's fourth year in the highly competitive bracket challenge, but seniority obviously didn't play a part. He's been given the "distinction" of an 11 seed, his second lowest seeding since entering the competition in 2008.

"At least I'm not facing Al Alburquerque this year," Wheeler said, after being informed he's been given the honor of competing. "That was a tough one."

"Z-Wee," as fans call him, lost to Alburquerque in the second round in his MMM debut back in 2008. He advanced to the third round the following two years, losing to Dusty Napoleon (2009) and Gookie Dawkins (2010). He was seeded 8^th and 13^th those years, respectively. Wheeler has yet to advance past the "Sweet 16" stage.

When asked about his strategy to make it to the "Elite 8" and beyond, teammate Steffan Wilson jumped in. "We have to change it up from last year. Whatever we did obviously didn't work," he said.

Wheeler and company have to start coming up with a solid game plan to get past Skyler Stromsmol as the clock is tick-ticking on round one. Fans can vote for Wheeler and other favorite names (besides Stromsmol) here. Voting for round one ends on August 7. Round two will go from August 8 - 11, with round three carrying on from August 12 - 15. The "Elite 8" voting begins on August 16. The four semi-finalists will be announced on August 19 with the finals running from August 23-25. Fans can get in on the action through Facebook and Twitter as well. Wheeler fans are encouraged to use the social media hashtag #VoteZelous throughout the competition!

The Stars continue a ten-game home stand tonight against the Carolina Mudcats at 6:43 p.m. It's a KRAFT Singles Tuesday Night Tickets! Buy 1 ticket, get 1 free from KRAFT Singles with purchase. Bring your package wrapper to the game for a steal of a deal!  Visit huntsvillestars.com for more information! Don't forget to keep up with the Stars on Facebook, Twitter and their official newsletter!