Fisher Cats Send Five Players to All-Star Game

While the Red Sox are sending seven players to the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium this year, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats are sending five players to their Double-A All-Star Game.

The 2008 Northeast Delta Dental Eastern League All-Star Game will take place on July 16 at Merchantsauto.com Stadium, the home of the Fisher Cats. Twelve teams are part of the Eastern League and it is split equally into Northern and Southern divisions. The best players of the Eastern League’s Northern Division (NH Fisher Cats, Binghamton Mets, Connecticut Defenders, New Britain Rock Cats, Portland Sea Dogs, and Trenton Thunder) will take on the best players of the Eastern League’s Southern Division (Akron Aeros, Altoona Curve, Bowie Baysox, Erie SeaWolves, Harrisburg Senators, and the Reading Phillies).

The Cats (the Double-A minor league team for the Toronto Blue Jays) will be sending outfielder Travis Snider, second baseman Scott Campbell, catcher Brian Jeroloman, and pitchers Brett Cecil and Zach Dials.

Snider, a 20 year old, is rated by Baseball America to be Toronto’s #1 prospect. He is tied for the club lead with 11 home runs and has the most RBIs (45) on the active roster. In May he had the most home runs (8) and RBIs (30) in the Eastern League. From Jackson High School in Everett, WA, Snider was the Blue Jays’ first-round draft pick of 2006.

Campbell is a native of New Zealand and leads the league in batting average (.342). He ranks third in on-base percentage (.438) and is tied for third as well with hits (90). He’s 23 and was drafted by the Blue Jays in 2006 as a 10th round pick out of Gonzaga University.

Cecil is 22 and has a 3-1 record and an ERA of 2.91 in his 13 starts. He’s ranked as the Jays’ second best prospect by Baseball America and was a first round supplemental draft in 2007 out of the University of Maryland.

Dials is the Fisher Cats’ closer and has converted 12 of 15 opportunities. He is fifth in the Eastern League with his 12 saves. He was drafted in he 28th round in 2006 out of the University of Kentucky.

Jeroloman has thrown out 17 of 50 runners as the Cats’ catcher. He’s 23 and this season has proven to be a hard strikeout, only going down by-way-of-the-K 40 times. He’s drawn 37 walks to have an almost even K/BB ratio. He was a 6th round pick in 2006 out of the University of Florida.

More information and tickets may be found at www.nhfishercats.com.