Brewers Announce Initial 2018 Mudcats Roster
ZEBULON, N.C. - The Carolina Mudcats, the Class-A Advanced affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, unveiled their initial roster for the 2018 season today. The Mudcats will open the new season with Milwaukee's top overall rated prospect Keston Hiura , former first round picks Nathan Kirby and Clint Coulter and 10
ZEBULON, N.C. - The Carolina Mudcats, the Class-A Advanced affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, unveiled their initial roster for the 2018 season today. The Mudcats will open the new season with Milwaukee's top overall rated prospect
The initial 2018 Carolina Mudcats roster breaks down as follows:
PITCHERS: RHP
CATCHERS:
INFIELDERS:
OUTFIELDERS:
Hiura was selected by the Brewers in the first round (ninth overall) of the 2017 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft out of UC Irvine. He enters the 2018 season rated as the number one overall prospect in the Brewers system according to MLBPipeline.com. Hiura is also rated as the No. 56 overall prospect in baseball according to MLBPipeline.com. He is also rated as the No. 2 prospect in the Brewers system and No. 47 overall in MiLB by Baseball America. Hiura hit a combined .371/.422/.611 over 42 games with the AZL Brewers and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers last season.
Hiura will man the middle of the Carolina infield this season along with fellow infielder Luis Aviles. Aviles played in a Carolina League high 132 games last season. He also led the Mudcats and was second in the Carolina League with 38 stolen bases during the 2017 season. Infielder Weston Wilson is also among the returnees back from 2017, while Dallas Carroll, Tucker Neuhaus and Ronnie Gideon are among the newcomers to the Carolina infield this season. Gideon, however, is no stranger to Five County Stadium as his father Ron Gideon managed the Mudcats in 2000 and 2001 when Ronnie was a child.
The Carolina outfield will consist of returnee Carlos Belonis and newcomers in Coulter, Rob Henry and Ryan Aguilar. Cooper Hummel, one of Carolina's primary catchers during the 2017 season, will also see steady playing time in the outfield this year. Belonis started the 2017 season with the Mudcats before a mid-season transfer to Low-A Wisconsin. He later returned to the Mudcats in August for a few games before suffering an injury and finishing the season on the disabled list. Coulter spent the entire 2017 season with Double-A Biloxi where he finished the season as the club leader in home runs (14).
Both of Carolina's primary catchers from the 2017 season in Hummel and Max McDowell, as well as newcomer Robie Rojas, will act as battery mates for the Carolina pitching staff this season. McDowell closed out his 2017 campaign hitting .290 with three home runs and a 1.016 OPS over his final 10 games.
The 2018 starting rotation should initially be comprised of returnees in Marcos Diplan and Trey Supak who are rated as the No. 12 and No. 23 prospects respectively in the Brewers system by MLBPipeline.com. The rotation is rounded out with Kirby, Cameron Roegner and Braden Webb.
The Brewers selected Kirby in the first round (40th overall) of the 2015 draft out of the University of Virginia where he was named ACC Co-Pitcher of the Year in 2014 and named First Team College All-American in 2015. Kirby has been plagued by injuries throughout his professional career after being limited to just five games in 2015 with Low-A Wisconsin and missing both the 2016 and 2017 seasons due to injury. Webb was a third round pick by Milwaukee in 2016 out of the University of South Carolina where he was named Freshman Pitcher of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association in 2016.
Carolina's bullpen will feature returnees Jon Olczak and Luke Barker, as well as newly added arms with Daniel Brown, Nattino Diplan, Alec Kenilvort, Miguel Sanchez and Chase Williams all joining the Mudcats. Olczak pitched for NC State and went 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA over 23 games in 2015 for the Wolfpack. Brown pitched to a 1.98 ERA over his final 19 games with Low-A Wisconsin last season. The 6'6" Kenilvort signed with the Brewers in July of 2017 after originally beginning his career in the Colorado Rockies system and playing in the Frontier League at the beginning of the 2017 season. Williams missed most of the 2017 season due to injury, but has pitched to a 1.54 ERA over 17 games and two starts (23.1 IP) since his selection by the Brewers in the 2016 draft.
Joe Ayrault will return for his second straight season as manager of the Mudcats in 2018. Ayrault is joined this season by pitching coach Bob Milacki, hitting coach Bobby Bell, coach Edwin Maysonet , athletic trainer Jeff Bodenhamer and strength and conditioning specialist Jonah Mergen.
The 2018 season begins on Thursday, April 5 with Opening Night versus the Winston-Salem Dash at Five County Stadium in Zebulon. A full calendar of in-season events, theme nights, promotions and giveaways are all currently available at www.carolinamudcats.com.
Individual game tickets for the 2018 season are now on sale at www.carolinamudcats.com/tickets and available at the Five County Stadium front office in Zebulon, NC. Season ticket plans, group ticket packages and the latest Fishing License mini plans are also all available now by visiting the Five County Stadium front office, by calling (919) 269-CATS (2287) and by visiting www.carolinamudcats.com/tickets.
The Carolina Mudcats are the proud Carolina League, Class-A Advanced affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. First established in 1991, the two-time Southern League Champion Mudcats are entering their 28th consecutive season of baseball at Five County Stadium in Zebulon, N.C. The 2018 season marks the first for the Mudcats under the ownership of the Milwaukee Brewers organization.
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