Traverse City, MI --The Traverse City Beach Bums continue to beef up their starting pitching with the signing of left-handed pitcher and former St. Louis Cardinals farmhand, Jonny Bravo.
"Bravo was a top priority for us in the past few weeks because he is lefty with a power arm and experience as a starter," said Beach Bums' Director of Baseball Operations Jason Wuerfel. "His fastball is consistently around 90mph, which is rare for Frontier League starters, and even more rare for Frontier League left-handed starters. [Beach Bums Manager] Gregg Langbehn and I feel really good about the how our starting rotation is shaping up thanks in large part to the addition of Bravo."
Jonny Bravo pictured on the mound during his university days at Azusa Pacific.
Traverse City, MI—The Traverse City Beach Bums Reading Program sponsored by Fifth Third Bank got underway Friday afternoon. Suntan and his friends from the Beach Patrol were treated to a boisterous welcome at Blair Elementary School and celebrated the kick off in Blair Township for the fifth year in a row.
Since its onset in winter of 2006, the Beach Bums' Reading Program has grown to include 30 area elementary schools and just over 9,600 students. Students are encouraged to pick up a book and read, and are able to advance around the bases with every five books they read. The end result when the students ‘Read Around the Bases’ is hitting a homerun with their reading.
The Beach Bums have upped the reading program perks in 2010, awarding participating students their first chairback ticket voucher when they read five books and land on first base. Students earn additional awards the more books they read. Twenty books read = a homerun and receive a second chairback ticket voucher in addition to all the other gifts earn as they pass each base.
The Beach Bums will visit other participating schools in the coming weeks. Students will have until Friday, April 16, 2010 to reach their reading goal.
Meaghan Moore Photograph
Traverse City MI-- The Traverse City Beach Bums have signed outfielder Paul Cruz to the 2010 roster.
"Cruz is an experienced player with above average defensive ability at all three outfield positions,” said Beach Bums’ Director of Baseball Operations, Jason Wuerfel. “Offensively, he is a top of the order hitter who can draw a walk, won't strike out, and if the pitcher makes a mistake, he has the ability to pop a ball out of the park."
Photograph of Paul Cruz provided by and used with the permission of the University of Tampa.
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