Doug Slaten
Douglas Slaten (February 4, 1980 – October 4, 2016) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2006 to 2012 for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Amateur career Slaten was born in 1980 in Venice, California, and began playing tee-ball at age five. He attended and played baseball for Venice High School, Glendale Community College, and Los Angeles Pierce College. He declined a scholarship offer to UCLA. Professional baseball career Slaten was selected three times by Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations during MLB drafts. He was first selected in the 29th round of the 1998 MLB draft by the Baltimore Orioles, but he did not sign. The Orioles again selected Slaten during the 1999 MLB draft, in the 34th round, but again he did not sign. The Arizona Diamondbacks then selected Slaten in the 17th round of the 2000 MLB draft, and he signed on July 5, 2000. Arizona Diamondbacks After signing ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a base on balls, walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important player on the defensive side of the game, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum. There are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, left-handed specialist, lefty specialist, setup man, and the closing pitcher, closer. Traditionally, the pitcher also bats. Starting in 1973 with the American League and spreading to further leagues throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the hitting duties of the pitcher have generally been given over t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Major League Baseball Draft
The Major League Baseball draft (officially the Rule 4 Draft; also known as the first-year player draft or amateur draft) is the primary mechanism by which Major League Baseball (MLB) assigns amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined by a lottery system, starting in 2023, where teams that did not make the postseason in the previous year participate in a state-lottery style process to determine the first six picks. The team with the worst record has the best odds of receiving the first pick. Prior to 2023, the draft order was based on the previous season's standings, with the worst team selecting first. The first amateur draft was held in 1965. Unlike most sports drafts, the MLB draft is held mid-season, taking place in July since 2021. Another distinguishing feature of the draft compared to those of other North American major professional sports leagues is its sheer size: currently, the d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arizona Fall League
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled by many of the top prospects in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) who are assigned by their parent clubs. Structure The six teams of the AFL are organized in two three-team divisions. Each AFL team is affiliated with five teams in Major League Baseball (MLB), and each MLB team provides seven players from their Minor League Baseball affiliates, yielding 35-man rosters. Specific players are invited (not assigned) to play in the AFL by their parent club. The league provides an environment for top prospects to advance their development, in a setting that MLB governs and monitors, as opposed to other offseason leagues (such as the Puerto Rican Winter League) located outside of the contiguous United States. Player eligibility has changed over ti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tennessee Smokies
The Knoxville Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The team was based in Kodak, Tennessee, a Knoxville suburb, from 2000 to 2024 as the ''Tennessee Smokies'' at Smokies Stadium. The team moved into Covenant Health Park in Knoxville in 2025. The team's nickname refers to the Great Smoky Mountains which permeate the region; mountains in the chain are often clouded in a hazy mist that may appear as smoke rising from the forest. History Prior professional baseball in Knoxville Knoxville has hosted Minor League Baseball teams since the late 19th century. The city's professional baseball history dates back to 1896 with the formation of the Knoxville Indians who played two seasons in the Southeastern League. They were followed by the Knoxville Reds (1902–1905). In 1904, the Reds won the city's first professional championship in the Tennessee–Alaba ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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El Paso Diablos
"El Paso Diablos" refers to two different professional baseball teams based in El Paso, Texas, in the United States. The most recent Diablos were a member of the South Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. From 1990 to 2013, the Diablos, in both incarnations, played their home games at Cohen Stadium. The team's name means "devils" in the Spanish language. Team history A Maverick Beginning The team has its roots going back to 1892, when the team was originally called the El Paso Browns. The name eventually changed to the Mavericks. In 1913, the El Paso Mavericks played in the Copper League, which consisted of teams from Silver City, Hurley, and Santa Rita, New Mexico. Despite coming in third place that season, the Mavericks went on to win the post season tournament, becoming the Southwestern Champions of 1913. In 1915, the Mavericks joined the Rio Grande Association, a Class D mino ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Double-A (baseball)
Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League Baseball, organized into three leagues: the Eastern League (1938–2020), Eastern League, the Southern League (1964–2020), Southern League, and the Texas League. History Class AA ("Double-A") was established in 1912, as the new highest classification of Minor League Baseball. Previously, Class A (baseball), Class A had been the highest level, predating the establishment of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues—the formal name of Minor League Baseball—in 1901. Entering the 1912 season, three leagues were designated as Class AA: * American Association (20th century), American Association (AA) * International League (IL) * Pacific Coast League (PCL) Each of these leagues had previously been in Cl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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South Bend Silver Hawks
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz'' ("south"), possibly related to the same Proto-Indo-European root that the word ''sun'' derived from. Some languages describe south in the same way, from the fact that it is the direction of the sun at noon (in the Northern Hemisphere), like Latin meridies 'noon, south' (from medius 'middle' + dies 'day', ), while others describe south as the right-hand side of the rising sun, like Biblical Hebrew תֵּימָן teiman 'south' from יָמִין yamin 'right', Aramaic תַּימנַא taymna from יָמִין yamin 'right' and Syriac ܬܰܝܡܢܳܐ taymna from ܝܰܡܝܺܢܳܐ yamina (hence the name of Yemen, the land to the south/right of the Levant). South is sometimes abbreviated as S. Navigation By convention, the ''bottom or down- ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lancaster JetHawks
The Lancaster JetHawks were a baseball team located in Lancaster, California. They were named for the city's association with the aerospace industry and played their home games at The Hangar. From 1996 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's California League, a Class A-Advanced league affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB). With MLB's reorganization of the minor leagues after the 2020 season, Lancaster was not selected to continue in affiliated baseball, and ultimately folded. History The team was founded as the Silver Sox in Reno in 1947, where they played as a Class C Team until 1951. In 1955, they were revived as a Class A team, and continued playing in Reno until moving to Riverside to become the Pilots in 1993. They made the move to Lancaster in 1996. Notable players to play for the JetHawks include José Cruz Jr. and Brandon Webb. While in Riverside, the team played at UC-Riverside Sports Center. The Pilots' previous owners chose Lancaster over ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arizona League
The Arizona Complex League (ACL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in and around Phoenix, Arizona, since 1988. Prior to 2021, it was known as the Arizona League (AZL). Along with the Florida Complex League (FCL), it forms the lowest rung on the North American minor-league ladder. ACL teams play at the minor league spring training complexes of their parent Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs and are owned by those parent clubs. Admission is not charged and no concessions are operated at the teams' games. Every Cactus League team fields at least one team in the league. Night games are commonly played in the spring training stadium, although games may also be played at the team's practice fields. As of the 2021 season, there is no league limit to how many players can be on an active roster, but no team can have more than three players with four or more years of minor-league experience. Major-league players on rehabilitation assignments may also appear in th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Farm Team
In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher level at a given point, usually in an association with a major-level parent team. This system can be implemented in many ways, both formally and informally. It is not to be confused with a practice squad, which fulfills a similar developmental purpose but the players on the practice squad are members of the parent team. Contracted farm teams Baseball In the United States and Canada, Minor League Baseball teams operate under strict franchise contracts with their major league counterparts. Although the vast majority of such teams are privately owned and are therefore able to switch affiliation, those players under contract with the affiliated Major League Baseball team are under their exclusive contr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Baseball Almanac
Baseball Almanac is an interactive baseball encyclopedia with over 500,000 pages of baseball facts, research, awards, records, feats, lists, notable quotations, baseball movie ratings, and statistics. Its goal is to preserve the history of baseball. It serves, in turn, as a source for a number of books and publications about baseball, and/or is mentioned by them as a reference, such a''Baseball Digest'' ''Understanding Sabermetrics: An Introduction to the Science of Baseball Statistics'' an ''Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records'' Dan Zacho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2000 Major League Baseball Draft
The 2000 Major League Baseball draft, was the annual choosing of high school and college baseball players, held in June 2000. A total of 1,452 players were drafted. First round selections Compensation picks Background The Florida Marlins made Adrián González of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, California the first overall selection in the 2000 First-Year Player Draft. González, who was rated as the best pure high school hitter in the draft by ''Baseball America'', was the first high school first baseman taken first overall since the New York Yankees chose Ron Blomberg in 1967. In his senior year, González hit .645 with 13 home runs and 34 RBI. Among the college players chosen was David Parrish, son of former major leaguer Lance Parrish, by the New York Yankees with the 28th pick. In addition, David Espinosa, a high school shortstop from Miami, Florida, became the first RBI ( Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) alumnus ever selected in the first round of the draft ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |