Our friends at Notes from the Sally (the nickname for the South Atlantic League) have released the Asheville Tourist’s Opening Day roster. You can find it here.
While not neccesarily surprising, it is nice to see 2016 No. 4 overall pick Riley Pint heading to full season ball. The Rockies must feel confident enough in him to handle more advanced hitters out of the gate. Also in that class of not surrpising but good to see are recent high school picks and third basemen Colton Welker and Tyler Nevin. Nevin missed nearly all of 2016 due to injury.
The most notable missing names that jumped out at me are Pedro Gonzalez and 2016 draft picks Garrett Hampson, Robert Tyler, Ben Bowden, Brian Serven and 2015 first rounder Mike Nikorak. Hampson, Tyler, Bowden, and Serven are all college draft picks, and they very well might all be headed to Class A Advanced Lancaster. Gonzalez and Nikorak are most likely going to stay for extended spring training followed by a short-season assignment.
Here’s the full list:
2017 Asheville Tourists
| POS | NAME |
|---|---|
| POS | NAME |
| P | Baker, Bryan |
| P | Culbreth, Ty |
| P | Dennis, Matt |
| P | Fernandez, Julian |
| P | Gold, Brandon |
| P | Hammer, JD |
| P | Humphreys, Reid |
| P | Julio, Erick |
| P | Lawrence, Justin |
| P | Oakley, Kenny |
| P | Pint, Riley |
| P | Requena, Alejandro |
| P | Santos, Antonio |
| C | Diaz, Joel |
| C | Perkins, Rob |
| INF | George, Max |
| INF | Gomez, Jose |
| INF | Nevin, Tyler |
| INF | Snyder, Taylor |
| INF | Welker, Colton |
| INF/OF | Bosiokovic, Jacob |
| OF | Abreu, Willie |
| OF | Anderson, Cole |
| OF | Fernandez, Vince |
| OF | Melendez, Manuel |
| DL | Wear, Campbell |
Of course, as with any roster, it would hardly be surprising if there were changes made between now and the begining of the season for the Asheville Tourists. Things remain fluid.
Earlier today, the Hartford Yard Goats announced their roster.