|
Lowell Spinners Notebook Season preview, pitching strong
This season, fans of the Lowell Spinners will see more stolen bases and more star pitching. One of those star pitchers will be 1999's America East Pitcher of the Year, Greg Montalbano, who the Red Sox picked in the fifth round of the 1999 draft. Montalbano was also on the 2000 All-America East Second team and is Northeastern University's career leader in strikeouts (217) and shutouts (5). Montalbano has endured many tribulations, not just in pitching sense, but in his struggles with cancer and tumors. He has had multiple tests to have these tumors removed. However, he said he doesn’t let his illnesses affect him on the field.
"I don't sit around and worry it's going to come back,” Montalbano said. “You can't live like that. You have to carry on."
S.J. Song, a right handed pitcher, is another one of the Spinners’ star pitchers. Song, 20, throws a fastball around 93 mph, a change-up and a forkball. Song signed with the Red Sox as a free agent in 1999. Last year he was with the Gulf Coast Red Sox, where he was named Fort Myers Pitcher of the Year. In high school at Kyung Nam in Pusan, S. Korea he led his team to the National Championship title.
Base-stealing prodigy Freddie Money will start in the Spinners’ outfield. The Red Sox took Money from Wallace Community College in the 2000 draft. He stole 42 bases in one season and was named State MVP for Division II. Money hit .509 in 55 games and 162 at bats.
Three players from last year’s 32-44 squad will return to the team this year. The returnees are shortstop Ronnie Rodriguez, and right handed pitchers Jason Bottenfield and Dan Giese, who were both up with Augusta Greenjackets this year.
As long as the Spinners don’t go into a slump like they did last year three-fourths of the way into the season, they should be headed for the New York Penn League playoffs. However, a slump is unlikely from this team, considering all the great new pitchers and award-packed position players on the field this season.
|