Waterloo, Iowa – Former Waterloo Buck pitcher Eric Stout will play in the Arizona Fall League during professional baseball’s off-season.  Stout will suit up for the Surprise Saguaros and join 23 other former Northwoods League players who will be competing over the next two months in Arizona against the top players in Minor League Baseball. 

Stout, a left-handed pitcher who played for Waterloo in 2013, was taken in the 13^th round with the 393^rd pick of the 2014 Major League Baseball Amateur Entry Draft by the Kansas City Royals.  This past season for Kansas City’s Double-A affiliate in the Texas League, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, Stout appeared in 42 games and finished with a 6-4 record.  The Glen Elyn, Illinois native threw 72.1 innings, striking out 69 with a 3.86 ERA.

A product of Butler University, Stout appeared in 10 games for the Bucks in 2013, starting nine.  Stout went 2-1 with a 3.97 ERA and 41 strikeouts. 

There are six teams in the Arizona Fall League: the Scottsdale Scorpions, Mesa Solar Sox, Salt River Rafters, Glendale Desert Dogs, Surprise Saguaros, and Peoria Javelinas.  The teams are broken into two divisions, East and West and each Major League Baseball team sends six top prospects to the Arizona Fall League.  Most of the players are Double-A and Triple-A Minor League players. Each team can choose to send one player considered a Class-A player.

The Bucks play at Riverfront Stadium where the team welcomed a new state of the art video board in 2016 thanks to a matching grant from the Black Hawk County Gaming Association.  Team ownership has invested more than $170,000 in improvements since the end of the 2014 season including painted bleachers, public Wi-Fi, sound system, group outing areas, and concessions equipment.  Bucks 2017 Season Tickets are now on sale.  Fans are encouraged to call the Bucks’ Ticket Line at (319) 232-5633 to order.  Fans can stay in touch with the Bucks during the off-season by utilizing their website at www.waterloobucks.com or using the Waterloo Bucks app.

# # #

The Waterloo Bucks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 160 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit http://www.waterloobucks.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Bucks as your favorite team.