The Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.

History[link]

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Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort Cardinals – began operating as the Class D Illinois State League in 1947. The league changed its name to the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League in 1949 after the Marion team moved to Paducah, Kentucky. The league added teams in Clinton and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1954 and was renamed the Midwest League two years later. After the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League folded in 1961, teams from Appleton, Burlington, and Cedar Rapids joined the Midwest League for the 1962 season and remain in the league today. In 1963 the Midwest League became a Class A league after the minor league classification structure was reorganized.

In 1976 the Midwest League contracted from ten teams to eight when teams in Danville and Dubuque were eliminated. In 1982 the league expanded to 12 teams by adding the Beloit Brewers, the Danville Suns, the Madison Muskies, and the Springfield Cardinals. The Peoria Suns replaced the Danville Suns in 1983, and acquired their current name, Peoria Chiefs, the following year. The league began splitting its season into two halves and expanded to 14 teams in 1988 with the addition of franchises in South Bend, Indiana, and Rockford, Illinois. During the 1990s several teams changed cities as Major League Baseball placed higher standards on minor league baseball facilities; franchises in smaller cities were sold to new owners who moved those teams to new ballparks in larger cities. Kenosha, Madison, Rockford, Springfield, Waterloo, and Wausau lost teams during this decade while Battle Creek, Dayton, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids (West Michigan), Kane County, and Lansing gained teams.

The Fort Wayne TinCaps are the oldest franchise in the league, having begun as the Mattoon Indians in 1947 and playing in Keokuk, Iowa; Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin; and Kenosha, Wisconsin, before moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1993. The Clinton LumberKings have been in one city longer than any Midwest League team, having called Clinton, Iowa, home since 1954.

The Southwest Michigan Devil Rays moved to Midland, Michigan, and became the Great Lakes Loons prior to the 2007 season.

On September 2, 2008, Minor League Baseball announced that two teams would transfer from the fellow Class A South Atlantic League to the Midwest League. These two teams are the Lake County Captains (an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians playing in Eastlake, Ohio) and the Bowling Green Hot Rods (an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays playing in Bowling Green, Kentucky). [1]

Season structure[link]

The league plays a 140-game schedule that begins on the first Thursday in April and ends in early September, usually on Labor Day. The season is divided into two halves and accordingly each team's record is reset in the middle of the season. The two halves are separated by the Midwest League All-Star game. Players are selected from teams in each division, allowing the best members of the Eastern and Western divisions to face off against each other.

Since 2000 it has been divided into an Eastern Division and a Western Division, with four teams from each division qualifying for the first round of playoffs. The two teams with the best record from each division in each half of the season are awarded these eight playoff spots. The first two rounds of playoffs are best-of-three series; the league championship series is a best-of-five.

Midwest League presidents[link]

• 1947-1948: Howard V. Millard
• 1949-1962: C.C. "Dutch" Hoffman
• 1963-1964: Walter C. Wagner
• 1965: Jim Gruenwald
• 1966-1973: James Doster
• 1974-1985: Bill Walters
• 1986: Ed Larson
• 1987-present: George Spelius

Current teams[link]

¹ Hosted 2011 Midwest League All-Star Game

² Hosting 2012 Midwest League All-Star Game

Current team rosters[link]

• Main article: Midwest League rosters

Midwest League teams since 1956[link]

See also[link]

• List of Midwest League champions
• List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues — the Midwest League's attendance in a worldwide context
• Baseball awards #U.S. minor leagues

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Midwest League website
• A Fan's Guide to the Midwest League

Sean Lucas

Date of birth:	(1983-12-08) December 8, 1983 (age 28)
Place of birth:	Atlanta, Georgia
Career information
Status:	Retired
CFL status:	Import
Position(s):	LB
Height:	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight:	202 lb (92 kg)
College:	Tulane
Organizations
As player:
2006-2011	Saskatchewan Roughriders
CFL West All-Star:	2009
Playing stats at CFL.ca

Sean Christopher Lucas (born December 8, 1983 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a retired Canadian football linebacker who played all six years of his career for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. He was a part of Saskatchewan's Grey Cup win in 2007 and was named a CFL West All-Star in 2009.

Lucas was signed as a free agent by Saskatchewan in 2006, and he spent most of 2006 CFL season as a member of their practice roster. He made his professional debut in the final week of the season in Edmonton against the Eskimos. He has since earned a starting spot as an outside linebacker for the Roughriders and was named a CFL West Division All-Star in 2009. In college football, he played for Tulane University.

Career statistics[link]

^[2]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Tulane Green Wave Football Player Bio

This biographical article relating to Canadian football is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Michael Ynoa (born September 24, 1991) is a Dominican-American pitcher who is commonly known as "Michael Inoa." Ynoa is signed with the Oakland Athletics for the amount of 4.25 million dollars, setting a new record for the A's organization after lefty pitcher Mark Mulder was signed for 3.2 million in 1998. Ynoa was named the "Number One" and the "crown jewel" in the "Best Latino Prospects of 2008. "^[1] Ynoa is said to be the most impressive Latin American player prospect since Felix Hernandez in 2002.^[2]

He is 20 years of age, he is 6 feet 7 inches, and weighs 210 lbs (pounds), and two Major League Baseball teams (Cincinnati Reds, Texas Rangers) "reportedly offered Ynoa about $5 million."^[3] It was reported that Ynoa signed with Oakland not New York, who he had originally verbally agreed on a deal with, because of the better treatment of the Oakland staff, the management style of General Manager Billy Beane, and the better pitcher development record in Oakland.^{[citation needed]}

After pitching nine innings in the Arizona League, Ynoa underwent Tommy John surgery.^[4]

Spelling of name[link]

"Michel Ynoa" is the original spelling of Michael's name. His first name was anglicized to "Michael" after he signed with the Oakland Athletics in July 2008.^[5] Although Michael's last name is more commonly spelled with an "I," as of February 2009, he will be using the original spelling "Ynoa." "According to A's director of player development Keith Lieppman, [Y]noa will start going by the original spelling of his last name, 'Ynoa.' Somewhere along the line, there was a mixup on the spelling, and the pitcher's name made its way into the public forum with an 'I.'"^{[6][dead link]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Mike Moustakas
Kansas City Royals – No. 8
Third Base
Born: (1988-09-11) September 11, 1988 (age 23) Chatsworth, California
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 10, 2011 for the Kansas City Royals
Career statistics (through May 20, 2012)
Batting average	.273
Hits	129
Home runs	11
Runs batted in	47
Teams
Kansas City Royals (2011–present)

Moustakas during his tenure with the Wilmington Blue Rocks, High-A affiliates of the Kansas City Royals, in 2009.

Michael Christopher Moustakas (born September 11, 1988 in Chatsworth, California) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball.^[1] He was drafted second overall in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft.^[2]

Early life[link]

Mike Moustakas attended Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth, California. He is the nephew of former New York Mets hitting coach Tom Robson.

Moustakas was a four-year starter in baseball for Chatsworth High School. During that time he helped Chatsworth to a 124-11 record including four West Valley League championships, and two CIF city titles. His 52 career home runs in high school are a California prep state record.^[3]

Professional career[link]

Moustakas was drafted by the Kansas City Royals with the second overall pick of the 2007 amateur draft. He signed with the team on August 15, 2007, receiving a reported signing bonus of $4 million.^[4] Fellow Chatsworth teammate Matt Dominguez was chosen by the Florida Marlins with the 12th overall pick of the amateur draft.

Entering 2009, Moustakas was widely regarded as one of the top baseball prospects in all of minor league baseball. The Sporting News ranked Moustakas as the 13th best prospect overall,^[5] while MLB.com listed Moustakas as their 11th best prospect in all of baseball.^[6] Moustakas, however, had trouble adjusting to the Carolina League in 2009. While his power remained, his ability to hit for a high average went down significantly. In 2010, Moustakas' power and average increased significantly. As of July 13, 2010, Moustakas was hitting .352 with 21 homers and 76 runs batted in in AA Northwest Arkansas. On July 15, 2010, he was promoted to Triple-A Omaha.^[7] On August 30, 2010, Moustakas was named the 2010 Texas League Player of the Year and on the same night, he set an Omaha Royals record with three home runs and 11 RBIs in one game.^[8] Moustakas won the Joe Bauman Home Run Award for most home runs in minor league baseball, winning a tiebreaker with Mark Trumbo.^[9]

Moustakas had his contract purchased on June 9, 2011.^[10] He made his debut the following night against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, going 1-3 with a walk and a run scored. His first major league hit came in his third plate appearance against Ervin Santana, where he would eventually score in the 4-2 win.^[11] On February 18, 2012 the Royals announced they had signed Moustakas to a one-year contract for the 2012 season. No financial terms of the deal were released.^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

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Baseball portal

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• USA Today First-Team Baseball
• Lousiville Slugger All-Americans 2007
• Lousiville Slugger All-Americans 2006
• Louisville Slugger All-Americans 2005
• Baseball America High School Player of the Year: Mike Moustakas
• Chatsworth High School: Mike Moustakas
• Scouting report
• Baseball America Top 100 Prospects
• Top MLB Minor League Prospects
• Moustakas Bio and Stats