Each season at Fifth Third Field gives fans another chance to experience exciting action, eat great food and watch the rising stars of baseball play — but some of those future household names aren’t playing for the hometown Mud Hens.
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The 14-team International League (IL) is full of talent from top to bottom and ready to entertain area fans who visit Downtown Toledo this year.
Thirteen teams, including the Hens, will be looking to dethrone the Pawtucket Red Sox, last season’s Governors’ Cup champions.
Here is a look at the IL’s Western Division teams and how they stack up.
Indianapolis Indians
Major League club:
Pittsburgh Pirates
Record last year: 73-71
Hoosiers will have a hometown boy to root for on the Indians roster as pitcher Clayton Richard will starts his year on the AAA level. Richard is a Lafayette, Indiana native, and has seen some time in the bigs, but hasn’t been on the major-league level since 2013, after which he had two shoulder surgeries.
Catcher Elias Diaz, left fielder Alen Hanson, and outfielder Mel Rojas are all players with major league talent, but the Tribe will not have the services of Andrew Lambo: the big time slugger made the major league roster out of camp.
Columbus Clippers
Major League club:
Cleveland Indians
Record last year: 79-65
Columbus will have a glut of talent that’s had its time in the bigs.
Their starting rotation players all have names that you’ve seen play either for or against the Cleveland Indians: Bruce Chen, Shaun Marcum, Danny Salazar and Josh Tomlin will all get starts on the bump for the Clippers.
Offensively, 1B Jesus Aguilar will once again join the Clippers after falling just short in spring training: he led the Clippers last season batting .304 and netting 77 RBIs. He’ll be joined in the infield by shortstop wunderkind Francisco Lindor.
Tyler Holt, James Ramsey and Carlos Moncrief will all return to the outfield, and with Destin Hood and Jerry Sands joining them, manager Chris Tremie will have an embarrassment of riches.
Expect the Clippers to compete hard.
Louisville Bats
Major League club:
Cincinnati Reds
Record last year: 68-75
The Bats will have one of the Reds’ top prospects in the rotation this year as Michael Lorenzen takes the step up from the Red’s AA team, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.
He’ll be joined by Dylan Axelrod and David Holmberg, who each saw a spell with the Redlegs last year, and Louisville returnees Josh Smith and Jon Moscot.
The outfield will have its share of vets and newcomers. Bats mainstays Donald Lutz and Steve Selke return to Louisville once again.
The Bats infield is a new beast: Only second baseman Hernán Iribarren returns to the Bats lineup, but is joined by IL All Star shortstop Iván De Jesús, third baseman Jermaine Curtis, and Josh Satin who can play anywhere and hit anything.
The other teams in the International League are:
- Buffalo Bisons (Major League club: Toronto Blue Jays)
- Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Major League club: Philadelphia Phillies)
- Pawtucket Red Sox (Major League club: Boston Red Sox)
- Rochester Red Wings (Major League club: Minnesota Twins)
- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Major League club: New York Yankees)
- Syracuse Chiefs (Major League club: Washington Nationals)
- Charlotte Knights (Major League club: Chicago White Sox)
- Durham Bulls (Major League club: Tampa Bay Rays)
- Gwinnett Braves (Major League club: Atlanta Braves)
- Norfolk Tides (Major League club: Baltimore Orioles)
“Shaggy” Matt Culbreath is sports director for 1370 WSPD.
