ZEBULON, N.C. - The Milwaukee Brewers today announced the initial roster for the Carolina Mudcats in advance of the 2019 season. The new initial roster features 13 players returning from the 2018 team and top organizational prospects including outfielder Tristen Lutz and catchers Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano .
Initial 2019 Carolina Mudcats roster:
PITCHERS (15): Cody Beckman (L), Rodrigo Benoit, Chris Dula, Dylan File, Bowden Francis, Gabe Friese, Matt Hardy, Nelson Hernandez, J.T. Hintzen, Christian Meister, Michael Petersen, Matt Smith, Christian Taugner, Noah Zavolas
CATCHERS (3): Mario Feliciano, Payton Henry, Nathan Rodriguez
INFIELDERS (7): Ryan Aguilar (L), Dallas Carroll, Julio Garcia (S), Devin Hairston, Pat McInerney, Nick Roscetti, Eddie Silva
OUTFIELDERS (4):Zach Clark, Rob Henry, Tristen Lutz, Joantgel Segovia

The initial roster features 28 players, but will be pared down to 25 active players before the first game of the 2019 season on Thursday, April 4 at Grainger Stadium in Kinston versus the Down East Wood Ducks. Carolina's home opener and Opening Night 2019 is scheduled for Thursday, April 11 versus the Wilmington Blue Rocks at Five County Stadium. Season ticket packages as well as group ticket packages and the latest mini plans are all available now by visiting the Five County Stadium front office in Zebulon, by calling (919) 269-CATS (2287) and by visiting carolinamudcats.com.
The aforementioned Henry and Feliciano highlight a catching core that also includes Mudcats' returnee Nathan Rodriguez, who was limited to just 35 games with a hand injury last season. Henry, the 2018 Minor League Gold Glove Award® winner for defensive excellence at catcher, enters the 2019 season rated as the No. 10 prospect in the Milwaukee farm system according to MLBPipeline.com and the No. 11 prospect in the Milwaukee system per Baseball America. Feliciano, meanwhile, enters the 2019 season rated as the No. 14 and No. 22 prospect in the Brewers farm system per MLBPipeline.com and Baseball America respectively.
A consensus Top 10 prospect in the Milwaukee system, Lutz enters 2019 rated as the No. 5 and No. 7 prospect in the Brewers system per MLBPipeline.com and Baseball America respectively. The Brewers selected Lutz with the 34th overall pick and in Competitive Balance Round A of the 2017 Draft out of James W. Martin High School in Arlington, TX. He comes to Carolina from Milwaukee's Low-A affiliate, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, in hits (109), runs (63), doubles (33), home runs (13), walks (46) and RBI (63) last season.
Lutz will anchor a Carolina outfield that will also feature Zach Clark, Rob Henry and Joantgel Segovia. Clark joins the Mudcats from Low-A Wisconsin where he led the T-Rats in stolen bases (19) and triples (8) last season. Henry and Segovia both split their 2018 seasons between Wisconsin and Carolina. Henry spent the middle of his season in Low-A, but first began and then finished 2018 with Carolina. Segovia started 2018 with Wisconsin and came to the Mudcats in early June; he combined to slash .286/.349/.358 with a .708 OPS, 123 hits, 45 runs, 16 doubles and 34 RBI between both levels last season.
The Carolina infield will feature a plethora of familiar names as Ryan Aguilar, Dallas Carroll, Devin Hairston, Pat McInerney and Nick Roscetti all return for their second campaigns with the Mudcats. The 2019 infield will also include new-comers in Julio Garcia and Eddie Silva.
Aguilar led the Mudcats and finished tied for the Carolina League lead in triples with nine last season. He split time between first base and all three outfield positions last season, posting a .995 fielding percentage (one error) at first and a .991 fielding percentage (two errors) in the outfield. Carroll set a Mudcats' franchise record for plate appearances in a single season with 587 last year and led the 2018 Mudcats in games (134), hits (114) and walks (65). Hairston, meanwhile, split 2018 between Wisconsin and Carolina, and finished the season committing just two errors over 97 combined games (.995 fielding percentage) between second and short at both levels. McInerney slugged . 444 and hit 10 home runs over 56 games with Wisconsin in 2019 before earning a promotion to Carolina at the All-Star break (he then hit just .112/.241/.153 with Carolina in 33 games). Roscetti joined the Mudcats in June of last season after batting .326/.347/.383 with 46 hits over 39 games with Wisconsin. 
Garcia is in his first year with Milwaukee after signing with the Brewers this past off-season. Garcia originally came up with the Angels and slashed .232/.265/.320 with 19 doubles and five home runs over 122 games with the Low-A Burlington Bees last season. Silva is in just his second year as a pro, after signing as a non-drafted free agent out of Florida International University in 2018, and combined to hit .335/.377/.527 with a .904 OPS (68 H, 30 R, 19 2B, 6 HR, 37 RBI) over 53 games between Helena and Wisconsin in 2018.
Carolina's starting rotation should include Dylan File, Bowden Francis, Nelson Hernández and Christian Taugner. Francis and Taugner each started last season with Wisconsin before earning promotions to Carolina and finishing 2018 with the Mudcats. Francis started in 23 of 26 overall appearances and totaled 106 strikeouts and 38 walks over 128.0 innings pitched between Low-A and High-A last season. Taugner, despite finishing 2018 in Carolina, ended up ranked fifth in earned run average (3.49) and fifth in WHIP (1.25) among Midwest League starters last season.
File and Hernandez both join the Mudcats from Low-A where they spent the entirety of the 2018 season with the Timber Rattlers. File was a mid-season Midwest League All-Star last season, going 5-3 with a 3.67 ERA and 50 SO over 56.1 IP and 11 first half starts. File also finished his Midwest League season ranked tenth in earned run average (3.96) and ninth in strikeouts (114). Hernandez led the Timber Rattlers in wins (10) and starts (28) last season; going 10-10 with a 4.95 ERA overall (134.2 IP, 47 BB, 83 SO).
The Carolina bullpen will feature several new names, but should include a couple of returnees from last year's team including Cody Beckman and Rodrigo Benoit. Beckman is a NC State product and the lone lefty on the 2019 initial roster. Benoit spent most of 2018 with Low-A Wisconsin, but impressed in his Mudcats' debut last season after striking out five straight and six overall over 2.0 innings on August 8, 2018 versus Lynchburg.
The newcomers to the Carolina pen should additionally include Chris Dula, Gabe Friese, J.T. Hintzen, Christian Meister, Michael Petersen, Matt Smith and Noah Zavolas. Friese, Hintzen, Meister, and Petersen all finished the 2018 season with Low-A Wisconsin.
Dula is new to the Brewers system. A native of Troutman, NC, Dula was originally drafted by the Texas Rangers, but most recently pitched for the Utica Unicorns of the independent United Shore Professional Baseball League. Friese is a Kennesaw State University product who went 3-5-6 with 21 games finished over 35 games with the T-Rats last year. Hardy is also up from Wisconsin where he went 4-0 with a 1.62 ERA (16.2 IP, 4 BB, 18 SO) over his final 12 appearances to close out 2018. Hintzen began 2018 with rookie level Helena, but finished with Wisconsin and combined to go 3-1 with a 2.95 ERA over 17 games and one start (39.2 IP, 11 BB, 48 SO) between both levels. Meister is entering his second season with the Brewers after signing as a minor league free agent last June and spending the remainder of the 2018 season with Wisconsin. Petersen is a 6'7" right-hander who went 2-1 with a 3.45 ERA and 8.2 SO/9 ratio over 32 games in Low-A last year. Petersen was born in the United Kingdom (Middlesex, Great Britain), but moved to the United States at the age of one and grew up in Northern California. Smith missed the last two years due to injury and last pitched in the Milwaukee system in 2016 where he went a combined 1-4 with a 4.13 ERA over 14 games and five starts between the AZL Brewers, Helena and Wisconsin (48.0 IP, 11 BB, 39 SO). Zavolas is new the Milwaukee system as he was recently acquired by the Brewers, along with outfielder Ben Gamel, for outfielder Domingo Santana in a trade with the Seattle Mariners last December. Zavolas pitched to a 3.30 ERA and went 5-2-2 between short-season Everett and High-A Modesto (38.2 IP, 11 BB, 41 SO) last season in the Seattle system.
The 2019 Mudcats, as previously announced, will be led once again by Manager Joe Ayrault who returns for his third straight season as skipper in Carolina. Working alongside Ayrault this season will be Pitching Coach Cam Castro, Hitting Coach Bobby Bell, Coach Fidel Pena, Athletic Trainer Matt Deal and Strength and Conditioning Specialist Jonah Mergen. Castro, Pena and Deal are all in their first season with the Mudcats. Bell returns for his second straight year with Carolina and Mergen, like Ayrault, returns for his third.
The Carolina Mudcats are the proud Carolina League, Class-A Advanced affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. First established in 1991, the two-time Southern League Champion Mudcats are entering their 29th consecutive season of baseball at Five County Stadium in Zebulon, N.C. The Mudcats are owned and operated by the Milwaukee Brewers.
# # #