10 Years Later: '04 Scrappers Clicked On and Off the Field

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers won the 2004 New York-Penn League Championship for the club's only championship in its 15-year history. In a series of stories throughout the season, '04 manager Mike Sarbaugh and some his former players remember that campaign 10 years later.

Fresh out of Virginia Tech, Wyatt Toregas - the Cleveland Indians 24th-round draft pick in 2004 - arrived in Niles, OH on this date 10 years ago to join the Scrappers a day before their season opener.

It was a day after he signed his first professional contract. It was also the day where he met his first friend in pro baseball, 2004 19th-round draft pick Chris Gimenez.

"He was my roommate and a really good guy - actually the first guy I met," Toregas said. "We're still friends. What sticks out in my mind the most [about the 2004 season] is the guys I played with."

The same goes for many others from the 2004 Scrappers when they think back to their New York-Penn League championship season. 

On a roster that saw 41 players in Mahoning Valley (some staying longer than others) over the course of about three months, the teammates simply clicked. It's a factor that '04 first-year manager Mike Sarbaugh knows helped the team succeed.

"I still keep in touch with more guys from that team than a lot of the other clubs I had," said Sarbaugh, now the Tribe's third base coach. "A lot of good guys that played the game the right way and were really good teammates." 

Regulars from that Mahoning Valley Scrappers championship team were as follows: 

• Toregas at catcher.
• Tim Montogomery, Teodoro Encarnacion Mike Butia and Argenis Reyes in the outfield
• Fernando Pacheco at first base
• Marshall Szabo and Chris Clem at second base
• Gimenez and Brett Parker at third base
• Brian Finegan at shortstop
• Tony Sipp, Aaron Laffey, Ryan Knippschild, Richard De Los Santos, Nelson Hiraldo, Dan Cevette, Chris Niesel and Justin Hoyman in the starting rotation
• Mark Harris, Roger Lincoln, Matt Knox, Mark Jecman, Hector Santana, Matt Haynes, Scott Roehl, Kyle Collins and Paul Lubrano in the bullpen

"I remember the camaraderie that we had and how we came together," Finegan said. "It was a good group of guys and we were all happy to be there whether we were a first-rounder or last pick in the draft."

Finegan, a 15th-round pick in '04, and Montgomery, a 2003 23rd-round selection, both hailed from the University of Hawaii. In all, the 2004 Scrappers featured 16 first-year college players.

"We meshed very well together and it was all one team that stayed together pretty much through the entire season," said Knippschild, a 35th-round pick out of Kansas in '04. "We played as a team and learned how to play professionally because most of that team was college guys."

Of the 41 players that littered the roster throughout the season, nine eventually reached or returned to the big leagues. That list includes the now-retired Toregas - who made his major league debut with the Indians in 2009 - and Gimenez -currently a catcher with the Texas Rangers who also debuted with the Tribe in '09.

Their lasting friendship is just one example of the close-knit '04 Scrappers squad.

"When you [win a championship] with a bunch of guys you like playing with," Toregas said, "it's awesome."