Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Catfish Roster Announced

Columbus Catfish logoThe Columbus Catfish have finalized their roster. And everybody on the team in named Bryan.

Okay, not really.

Oh, the finalization of the roster is true. But the part about everyone named Ryan ... that's false.

Mostly.

Only four players are named Ryan. Out of 28 (including the 3 on the DL).

Of the 25 active players, 4 are named Ryan. Which is only 16 percent.

It would jump to 20% if I counted the Brian, which sounds a lot like Ryan.

Still, the roster is set.

Why is that news?

Well, this is the first year the Catfish have been a part of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization. Since the club came to town (as the South Georgia Waves, in 2003), they were a Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate. But that changed during the off-season, when the Dodgers and Devil Rays swapped a couple of teams.

Tampa Bay picked up Columbus and Vero Beach, while Los Angeles got Great Lakes (formerly Southwest Michigan) and Inland Empire.

Since 2003, this will be the first year that there will be no returning players from the previous year. Usually, a few players start the year that had played here the year before. But not this year.

But, there is at least one player that's played in Columbus before. Just not pro ball.

Brian Baker played high school ball at Columbus High, and college ball at Columbus State University, a Division II school, before signing with Tampa Bay as a free agent in 2005. He lives around here. So, we'll have a local kid on the team.

There's also Desmond Jennings, who was a high school star at quarterback for Pinson Valley, had signed with the University of Alabama, but was drafted by Cleveland. He eventually went to Itawamba Junior College in Mississippi before being drafted by Tampa Bay.

No, he's not exactly local. But some serious sports fans ... including some slightly pissed off Crimson Tide fans ... might remember him.

So, with one local boy, another kid from the general area, 4 players named Ryan, and a score more of other players, the Columbus Catfish are ready for opening day.

It's Thursday.

I can hardly wait.

1 comment:

  1. I can hear the crack of the bat, now!

    Oh, I wrote about a famous resident from Alabama! heh

    ReplyDelete

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