St. Cloud, MN – The St. Cloud Rox announced today that the organization has signed four players to return for the 2019 season.
The players that will return for their second summer in St. Cloud include outfielder/infielder Ryan Davis (Georgetown), infielder/outfielder Gus Steiger (South Dakota State), pitcher/catcher Hance Smith (California-Berkeley) and pitcher Justin Wick (Creighton).
“We are extremely excited to bring back Ryan, Gus, Hance and Justin, who are very talented and high characters guys who want nothing more than to help bring Central Minnesota another championship,” Rox co-owner and vice president Scott Schreiner said.
Davis, a junior outfielder/infielder from Georgetown University, returns following the 2018 summer where he appeared in 61 games for the Rox. Davis concluded the season with 22 doubles, setting the Rox franchise record for most doubles in a single season, breaking a record set in 2013 by Chris Paul, who is currently playing minor league baseball in the Minnesota Twins organization. Davis finished the 2018 year with a .277 batting average, along with 65 hits, 34 runs scored, three home runs, 22 RBI and 10 stolen bases
Steiger is a sophomore infielder/outfielder from South Dakota State University, where he led the Jackrabbits in hitting with a .311 average in 2018, returns to St. Cloud after playing in 44 games for the Rox last summer. In his first year in St. Cloud, Steiger hit .245 with 39 hits, 23 runs scored, six doubles, one triple, 10 RBI and 11 stolen bases.
Smith, a sophomore pitcher/catcher from the University of California-Berkeley, comes back to St. Cloud following the 2018 summer where he appeared in 32 games in addition to making eight appearances on the mound for the Rox. On the mound, the right-handed pitcher made eight relief appearances to finish with a 0.93 ERA in 9.2 innings of work. He gave up just one run, five hits and struck out 13. At the plate, Smi
Wick, a junior left-handed pitcher from Creighton University, returns to St. Cloud for a second season after appearing in four games on the mound for the Rox. In four relief appearances, he gave up no runs, four hits, four walks and struck out 11 to finish with a record of 1-0 in 6.1 innings.
St. Cloud Field Manager Augie Rodriguez and the Rox organization will continue to build the roster for the 2019 season.
The Rox will open their eighth season of Northwoods League baseball in 2019. For more information regarding this release, 7-Game Packs, season tickets and partial season ticket packages for the 2019 season, please contact the Rox front office at 320-240-9798 or visit www.stcloudrox.com.
The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods 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, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rox as your favorite team.