APPLESOX 2018 ROSTER HEADLINED BY 10 RETURNERS

Wenatchee native, Jacob Prater - the AppleSox leading hitter from a summer ago - will lead a group of ten returners back to the Valley this summer.

WENATCHEE, Wash. – 10 collegiagte baseball players with prior playing experience for the Wenatchee AppleSox will be on the club’s 2018 roster, Head Coach Kyle Krustangel announced, Wednesday.

Hunter Boyd, Connor McCord, Jake Taylor, Jacob Prater, Michael Spellacy, McCabe Cottrell, Gerald Hein, Steen Fredrickson, Jordan Rathbone, and Grady Miller all have spent summers in the Wenatchee Valley. Eight of the 10, with the exception of Rathbone and Miller, played for the AppleSox a season ago. Rathbone was a two-year member of the AppleSox in 2015 and 2016, while Miller, a Wenatchee native, played in just 2016.

Boyd, who has spent this spring at the College of Idaho, appeared in 11 games and made eight starts for Wenatchee last season. He went 3-2 with 53 strikeouts in 57.2 innings.

McCord, from perennial college powerhouse Western Oregon, was a two-way player for Wenatchee. Like Boyd, he went 3-2 with six starts over nine appearances a year ago. He tallied 39 strikeouts in 42.1 innings on the mound. He hit a home run and a double last season for the AppleSox to supply three RBI for his season.

Taylor and Prater will be two of four players on the 2018 AppleSox from Seattle U. The roommate tandem from a year ago features the team’s leading hitter in Prater (.359) and second-most played player in Taylor (41 games). Prater collected 47 hits including 17 for extra bases. He drove in 21 runs. Taylor tied for the second-most home runs on last year’s team with four, while also driving in 23 runs.

Cottrell, a pitcher from Gonzaga, really turned it on late last season as an incoming collegiate freshman. His second-to-last start of the year was a complete game two-hitter, for his first collegiate-level win at Port Angeles. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was nearly 3:1 last year, as he tallied 49 strikeouts with only 17 walks allowed. In 11 games, he made 7 starts.

Spellacy, also from Gonzaga, was a two-player last summer. He accumulated the team’s second-highest batting average at .356 and drove in seven runs. Also a relief pitcher, he appeared in 14 games last season for Wenatchee and posted 19 strikeouts with a 4.56 ERA.  

Hein, from LC State, started 3 games in June and struck out 14 batters in 15.1 innings. He allowed no more than six hits in each of his three starts.

Fredrickson of Montana State University-Billings pitched in 11 games with three starts last summer. He struck out 28 batters and posted a 5.18 ERA.

Rathbone has been playing this spring at South Mountain CC and brings a wealth of WCL plate appearances to this year’s club. Over two summers and 58 games, Rathbone was a .278 hitter for Wenatchee. He drove in 28 runs with 15 extra-base hits, including 5 triples during his two summers in the Wenatchee Valley.

In 2016, Miller went 3-4 for Wenatchee on the mound. Now headed to the University of San Diego, he hopes to build on his 10 starts for the AppleSox two summers ago. He will spend the first 15 days of his summer collegiate season in the Cape Cod League.

The AppleSox next wave of roster announcements will highlight this year’s new position players, followed by the pitchers in a later release.

The Wenatchee AppleSox open their 19th season of play June 1, 2018 at the Victoria Harbourcats, and play their home opener in Wenatchee June 5 against the River City Athletics. For more information, fans can visit www.applesox.com.