April 4, 2010
ARLINGTON, Texas - With the start of the 2010 Major League Baseball season upon us it also marks another year that the UT Arlington baseball program is well represented in the big leagues with seven former Mavericks landing on MLB Opening Day rosters, which includes a manager, two coaches and four players.
Trey Hillman (1982-85) begins his third season as manager of the Kansas City Royals. He has won 140 games in two seasons as the manager for the Royals and last season was named to the American League All-Star coaching staff by A.L. manager Joe Maddon (Tampa Bay).
Hillman is joined by two former Mavericks on his coaching staff as Dave Owen (1977-79) returns as third-base coach and Steve Foster (1987-88) begins his first season with the Royals as bullpen coach. Owen is in his third season with Kansas City and Foster joins Hillman and Owen after spending the previous three seasons in the same position with the Florida Marlins.
The Royals finished spring training with a 14-13 overall record, which was the sixth best mark among American League teams.
John Lackey (1998) begins his first season with the Boston Red Sox after signing a five-year, $85 million contract on December 16, this past off-season. He was arguably the top pitcher in the free-agent market after winning 102 games in eight seasons with the Los Angeles Angels.
Lackey is coming of an 11-8 season in 2009, where he struck out 139 batters in 176.1 innings. Lackey tallied his fifth straight season with an ERA below 4.00 (3.83) and made 27 starts despite starting the season on the disabled list.
In five spring training appearances, Lackey went 1-1 with a 1.35 ERA in 20.0 innings. He allowed 17 base hits, three runs and allowed one walk with eight strikeouts. Lackey's ERA was the best on the team among all pitchers who threw at least 10.0 innings.
After making his first career Major League All-Star Game, former Southland Conference Player of the Year Hunter Pence (2003-04) will be the starting right fielder for the Houston Astros on Opening Day for the third straight season.
Pence is coming off a career-year batting .282 with 26 doubles, five triples, 25 home runs and 72 RBI while playing in 159 games. He marked career-highs in games played, hits (165), walks (58), stolen bases (14) and tied his most home runs.
Pence led the Astros during spring training with an impressive .373 (22-for-59) batting average with seven doubles, a triple, three home runs and 18 RBI in 20 games played.
Adam Moore (2006) made his big-league debut towards the 2009 season with the Mariners and is now ready to make his first 25-man roster to start the season. Moore is expected to be the Opening-Day starter behind the plate for the Mariners.
In spring training, Moore batted .314 with five doubles and six RBI with six walks in 18 games.
Mark Lowe (2002-04) begins his fifth season with the Mariners and will be back in his role as the set-up man in 2010. Last season, Lowe pitched in 75 games and posted a 3.26 ERA while ranking fourth in the A.L. with 26 holds. He struck out a career-high 69 batters and allowed only 71 base hits in 80.0 innings pitched.
In Cactus League action this spring, Lowe pitched in 11 games with a 3.86 ERA in 11.2 innings. He struck out 10 batters while issuing four walks.
NOTES:
Ryan Roberts (2002-03) was left off the Opening Day roster for the Arizona Diamondbacks after finishing 2009 as the every day starter at second base. Roberts was in a battle with Rusty Ryal for the final spot on the 25-man roster which ended up going to Ryal. Roberts batted .279 in 110 games with the D-Backs last season. He scored 41 runs and tallied 17 doubles, two triples and seven home runs with 25 RBI.
