2013 TB Minors: Who's Where with former P-Rays?

Even though pro baseball in Princeton doesn't start until June, it's always a positive sign the end of winter is near with the assignment of former P-Rays' players to full-season teams throughout the minor league farm system of the Tampa Bay Rays.  April 4 marked the first games of the new season that followers of pro baseball can start tracking the progress of many of  their favorite players that formerly wore the Princeton colors.

Five of these players will begin their season playing for former 1997 Princeton skipper Charlie Montoyo at the highest level of minor league baseball, AAA, as members of the Durham Bulls of the International League.  Closer Kirby Yates (2009 P-Ray) made a great impression on the Tampa Bay Rays with the recently concluded 2013 spring training in Port Charlotte, FL and hopes to continue his progress in North Carolina this summer.  Former 2008 P-Rays' infielder, Tim Beckham, the number one overall pick of the 2008 major league amateur draft, is also continuing to creep closer to his first major league shot and has also been playing second base in addition to the shortstop slot that he performed in for Princeton.  Also joining them on the Durham roster are RHP Alex Colome (2008), C Craig Albernaz (2006), and LHP Frank De Los Santos (2007).

A total of 13 former P-Rays will start the season sporting the uniform of the AA Montgomery Biscuits of the Southern League.  And, just several games into the new season, many of them have already has some memorable single-game performances.  The Biscuits' mound corps will include LHP Braulio Lara (2010), RHP Victor Mateo (2010), LHP C.J. Riefenhauser (2010), LHP Enny Romero (2010), and RHP Albert Suarez (2008).  Two former Princeton catchers, Mayo Acosta (2007-08) and Mark Thomas (2007), will handle the bulk of the duties behind the plate for Montgomery.  Helping to anchor the infield are Robi Estrada (2007), Shawn O'Malley (2006), and first baseman Cameron Seitzer (2011), who parlayed a .307 batting average at Bowling Green last year to propel him past the Charlotte Stone Crabs and straight to Montgomery.  Rounding out the Princeton portion of the Biscuits' roster are three of the finest outfielders, Todd Glaesmann (2010), Kevin Kiermaier (2010) and Ty Morrison (2008-09) to patrol the outfield at Hunnicutt Field in recent years. The trio all saw action for Tampa Bay in major league spring training contests in 2013.

Tampa Bay's High-A full-season team are the Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League and they too have a heavy Princeton presence with 12 former players on active duty to start the 2013 FSL season as members of the Stone Crabs. Four former P-Rays' hurlers, RHP Andrew Bellatti (2010),  LHP Jacob Partridge (2010), LHP Felipe Rivero (2011), and RHP Eliazer Suero (2010), will be throwing from the hill for the Stone Crabs. Former 2011 P-Ray Jake DePew and Alejandro Segovia (2010) are the catchers listed on the Stone Crabs roster with a Princeton connection.  First Baseman Jeff Malm (2010) is joined in the infield by a young player rapidly on the rise in the TB farm system, Jake Hager (2011), along with a pair of middle infielders, Hector Guevara (2010) and 2011 Appalachian League All-Star Taylor Motter.  Expected to hold down two of the outfield spots for the Stone Crabs are Kyeong Kang (2007), who has hit double figures in homers for AA Montgomery each of the past two seasons, and 2011 P-Ray Drew Vettleson, who also saw action in several spring training games for Tampa Bay this year.

Three members of last season's P-Rays, OF Andrew Toles, LHP Blake Snell, and RHP Nick Sawyer jumped right past the next step in the Tampa Bay farm system (Short-A Hudson Valley of the New York-Penn League) and to the low full-season Class-A Midwest League as members of the Bowling Green Hot Rods.  In addition to Snell and Sawyer, there are seven additional former P-Rays' pitchers on the Hot Rods' mound staff: Jeff Ames (2011), who was Bowling Green's opening night starting pitcher; and six more members of Princeton's 2011 pitching staff: Shay Crawford, Brandon Henderson, Marcus Jensen, Reinaldo Lopez, Jose Molina, and Eduar Quinonez.  2011 P-Rays' catcher Justin O'Conner will be behind the plate for the Hot Rods and also on the Bowling Green roster is SS Leonardo Reginatto (2010), who is fresh off performing in the 2013 World Baseball Classic for the team of his native country, Brazil.  And, of course, this group will be led by another former P-Ray, 1997 player and 2009 manager, Jared Sandberg.

If you have a player's name you could not locate in this story, odds are that the player is still in "Extended Spring Training" at Tampa Bay's spring site in Port Charlotte, FL.  "Extended Players" usually break camp in mid-June and either wind up at one of Tampa Bay's short-season locations: Hudson Valley Renegades, Princeton Rays, or the Gulf Coast League Rays (Port Charlotte, FL) unless they are either elevated to one of the Rays' full-season affiliates or released.

Among the names local fans would recognize from past years that have been released from the Tampa Bay Rays' organization prior to the start of the 2013 season include pitchers Nick Barnese (2007), Joe Cruz (2008-09), Randy "R.J." Davis (2012), Kevin James (2011-12), and Jason McEachern (2008-09) as well as catcher Alejandro Torres (2009).

Fans that need a dose of Rays' affiliated baseball prior to the arrival of the Princeton Rays on June 16 should check out the websites of the Rays' full-season affiliates as many minor league teams (including the Princeton Rays) offer free internet radio broadcasts of their games.

To get more immediate and breaking information year-round on Princeton Rays Professional Baseball as it occurs, do not forget that the P-Rays are now on Facebook. Be sure to check out and "like" our Facebook section on our website at www.princetonrays.net. Don't miss your opportunity to sign up for this free service! ANOTHER FREE OPPORTUNITY for you to keep up with your P-Rays is to follow the team on "Twitter" at @princetonrays or by accessing www.twitter.com/princetonrays.