Caught napping

Senor Sager’s got the scoop on the Raps most recent acquisitions.  It’s funny though - the local press is beating the Rapids to the news release because the players are telling reporters about the contracts directly.  In some instances it appears that the team hasn’t even received the fax before the deal is revealed.

“Maranacook Community School graduate Jared Lemieux has another chance in professional baseball.

In a phone interview Saturday evening, Lemieux said he had signed a contract with Ottawa Rapids of Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball.

Lemieux, who graduated from Bowdoin College in 2006, said he will report May 9 to the team, an expansion franchise in the Can-Am League.

“It’s been a little stressful,” Lemieux said of waiting to sign a deal. “This was the No. 1 team I was trying to get with. It was just a matter of me waiting it out.”

Lemieux said he signed his deal and faxed it Friday to Ottawa. This is Lemieux third stop in the Can-Am League. He signed with the Worcester Tornados in 2006 but lasted just two weeks with the team. In the fall of 2006, he signed to play with Sussex for the 2007 season.”

The twenty four year old Lemieux has designs on being the Raps starting centrefielder.  The other pickup is infielder Jabe Bergeron, and wouldn’t you know it, there’s a hockey connection:

Head Coach Dave Barnard on Jabe Bergeron:

“Jabe Bergeron is the best hitter we’ve had in my 11 seasons at Williams. He combines power with plate discipline and the ability to put the ball in play. In addition to being the all-time leader in every Williams College offensive category, he was also a three year starter in hockey, leading the team in scoring in his junior year……watched many hockey games over his career and never saw him take a penalty.”

Couldn’t find the hockey stats, but here are the relevant baseball numbers:

• Batting Statistics •

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org.	Level		Pos	Ln	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	HBP	IBB	SH	SF	DP	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	GB%
2004	Kingsport	App	22	Nym	Rk		1b		28	103	15	30	2	1	5	16	1	0	4	25	1	0	0	2	4	.291	.318	.476	794	–
	Brooklyn	NYPL	22	Nym	A-		1b		4	9	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	4	1	0	0	0	1	.111	.273	.222	495	–
	Capitl Cty	SAL	22	Nym	A		1b		23	72	18	21	5	0	5	17	0	1	18	23	1	0	0	0	2	.292	.440	.569	1009	–
2005	Elmira	CanAm	23		Ind		dh-1b		43	160	20	45	10	0	3	16	1	0	10	35	1	0	0	2	5	.281	.324	.400	724	–
	Brooklyn	NYPL	23	Nym	A-		1b		4	13	1	2	0	0	0	4	0	0	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	.154	.267	.154	421	–
2006	Nashua	CanAm	24		Ind				10	32	3	3	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	0	2	.094	.094	.188	282	–
	Worcester	CanAm	24		Ind				40	141	12	37	10	0	1	16	0	0	6	19	3	1	0	1	4	.262	.305	.355	660	–
2007	Sussex	CanAm	25		Ind				88	336	51	102	17	2	5	49	0	1	27	44	10	2	2	6	9	.304	.367	.411	778	–
Minor League Totals - 4 Season(s)									240	866	120	241	45	3	20	122	2	2	68	164	17	3	2	11	27	.278	.339	.406	745	–

Pitching Statistics

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org	Level		W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SH	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WP	BK	H9	HR9	BB9	K9	WHIP	GB%
2004	Brooklyn	NYPL	22	Nym	A-		0	0	1.59	1	1	0	0	0	0	5.2	4	1	1	0	2	6	0		6.35	0.00	3.18	9.53	1.06	–
Minor League Totals - 1 Season(s)							0	0	1.73	1	1	0	0	0	0	5.2	4	1	1	0	2	6	0		6.92	0.00	3.46	10.38	1.15	–

Bergeron is the return player in the trade for Abner Arroyo which was blogged on Friday.