Another encore presentation from our series of interviews in the New Era last summer. Today … Cam Smith and Scott Sobkowiak.
Smith had an up-and-down season with the Barnstormers. He finished 5-6 with a 4.60 ERA, but he also issued 74 walks and threw 16 wild pitches in 76 innings. The 34-year-old righthander was one of the [...]
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The Barnstormers have hired Glenn Murray to be the team’s hitting coach. Murray is an Atlantic League veteran who spent eight seasons with the Nashua Pride. He’s the league’s all-time leader with 158 home runs and 528 RBIs. He served as the Pride’s hitting coach last summer and retired as a player in July.
“I’m overjoyed [...]
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One of the biggest challenges facing the Barnstormers between now and the beginning of the season will be constructing a pitching staff. That is, of course, a test for every Atlantic League team.
The Barnstormers hope to build their rotation around playoff hero Josh Stevens, who was acquired on loan from the Nashua Pride in September. Stevens made [...]
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For more on Patterson’s past, go here.
Can Scott Patterson make it to the big leagues? Sounds like a crazy question at first, doesn’t it? The majors, after all, are a long way from the Frontier League, where Patterson spent the first three seasons of his professional career. But once you look closely at Patterson’s numbers and the direction he’s trending, [...]
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Jim Seip, my colleague at the York Daily Record, has an interesting article here. He discusses a “Name that wall” promotion for the Revolution’s 38-foot monstrosity in left field. Apparently, it’s the tallest wall in professional baseball (if there’s competition for such a distinction). Some want to call it the Green Monster as an homage to [...]
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Pitching coach Rick Wise plans to return to the Barnstormers for a third season. The New Era’s article is here. Wise joins new manager Frank Klebe on the coaching staff. The team has yet to name a bench coach.
Coming soon to the blog: An in-depth look at Scott Patterson’s chances of reaching the big leagues. Last week we reviewed the [...]
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Lincoln Mikkelsen, at age 39, was the best pitcher in the Atlantic League last season. In 25 starts for the Atlantic City Surf, he posted a 15-5 record and 1.85 ERA. He was named pitcher and player of the year in a poll of managers, GMs and broadcasters.
Since the season ended, the Surf have departed for the [...]
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MiLB.com has an interview with Tom Herr.
Former Atlantic City Surf reliever Jamie Tricoglou had his contract purchased by the St. Paul Saints of the American Association. Tricoglou is one of the few Surf who escaped the web of the Loaded Long Island Ducks and is actually an Atlantic League free agent. If he’s not committed to [...]
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Throughout the 2006 season, the New Era ran interviews with some of the team’s players and coaches on its Barnstormers Weekly page each Monday. We’ll repeat some of the more interesting answers here for fans who might not have seen them in the paper. When I was a kid they called these reruns. Now they’re “encore presentations.”
Today: pitching coach Rick [...]
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The Road Warriors are the only team in the Atlantic League that has yet to name a manager. According to Executive Director Joe Klein, the league is waiting until the other franchises fill out their coaching staffs before making a decision for the travel club.
“I like to see that everybody has hired a guy,” Klein said Thursday morning. [...]
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