Blue Crabs building high

Last year's MVP candidate Osborn returns to the team

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Atlantic League contracts are good for one season so players –– no matter if returners or newcomers –– have to be signed on a yearly basis.

Headlining the faces the team is hitching its 2009 hopes to is a fan favorite and league MVP candidate from a season ago in third baseman Pat Osborn, inking his contract with the Blue Crabs recently.

The 28-year-old Osborn, a Florida Gators product and 2002 second-round draft pick by the Cleveland Indians, boasted 17 home runs and a league-leading 106 RBIs last year in the Blue Crabs' inaugural campaign.

His impressive .326 batting average was also among the league's top 10, as he played in 132 of the Blue Crabs' 140 games last year.

Accompanying Osborn are fellow returners Mike Conroy and Anthony Perry and newcomer Octavio Martinez, all signing with the Blue Crabs recently.

Conroy is an outfielder, while Perry and Martinez are catchers.

The Blue Crabs continued their assault in bringing in marquee talent by signing catcher Lance Burkhart and outfielder Steve Doetsch –– both league all stars previously in their careers –– and big-time returners Travis Garcia and Matt Schweitzer, an infielder and relief pitcher, respectively.

Burkhart was obtained in a trade last month with Lancaster in exchange for the rights to former starting Blue Crabs catcher Adam Shorsher.

The 34-year-old Burkhart, who has played 13 seasons in affiliated and independent professional ball with the last four being in a Lancaster uniform, appeared in only 57 games last year due to injury.

He still belted 10 home runs with 28 RBIs. He averaged 17 homers and 61 RBIs with Lancaster the three seasons before.

Burkhart will start for the Blue Crabs behind the plate while backed up by free-agent Martinez and Perry.

Doetsch, selected in the 15th round of the 2003 draft by the Atlanta Braves, entered the league last year after the beginning of the season. He hit .298 in 42 games with Bridgeport.

He has a lifetime .279 professional average and has been good for eight home runs and 42 RBIs on average in his six seasons.

Schweitzer excelled out of the bullpen last year, appearing in a team-high 62 games, and the lefty proved to be among the top relievers in the league.

He yielded only 19 earned runs in 59 innings for a lofty 2.90 ERA.

His 61 strikeouts and 27 walks enabled him to save seven games.

What Schweitzer accomplished last year was nothing more than a continuation of his solid six-year professional career that includes a lifetime 3.26 ERA in almost 500 innings pitches. He is nearing 500 career strikeouts with 23 saves.

Garcia made a massive splash with the Blue Crabs when he was brought in for the final 19 games of a near-playoff run.

After completing an entire season in the fellow independent circuit of the Frontier League, where he hit .289 and went yard 15 times with 69 RBI in 92 games, Garcia transitioned his explosive bat to the Blue Crabs.

He hit .306 with three homers and 20 RBIs in just 72 at-bats to aid the Blue Crabs towards matching a league high of 74 wins in the regular season.

A New York City native, Garcia was drafted by his hometown Mets in 2003 out of Iona College.

He advanced as far as Single-A Advanced ball in 2004 with the Mets system before moving on to the Frontier League the following year.

In six professional seasons, Garcia has compiled prolific numbers with a career .295 average, 70 homers and 346 RBIs in 505 games.

Conroy became the first left-handed bat in the Blue Crabs lineup for the upcoming season. He appeared in 14 games at the end of last season for the club.

Perry was the youngest player in Blue Crabs' brief history last year when he arrived to the team directly out of Fisher College (Mass.). He received 26 at-bats in 14 games played.

Martinez is an 11-year veteran with experience in the Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles Dodgers organizations.

He played in the independent Golden League last year, hitting .294 with four homers and 26 RBIs in 59 games.

dcogle@somdnews.com