As the 2010 Major League Baseball season draws near and teams finalize their 40-man rosters, rookie players start stepping up their play.
Pinch-hitting in bottom of the ninth for the Milwaukee Brewers, former 2008 Glens Falls Golden Eagles standout outfielder Chad Stang (Midland College) crushed a double off San Francisco Giants reliever Felix Romero in an 8-6 loss.
Stang, a New York Collegiate Baseball League all-star on a Golden Eagles team that finished the season with 30 wins for the second straight year under Glens Falls Golden Eagles head coach John Mayotte and a NYCBL Eastern Division Regular Season Championship, had one of the Brewers three extra base hits.
Both Stang and Brewers top pitching prospect Eric Arnett played for the Golden Eagles in 2008 and were drafted by the Brew Crew in the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft.
Arnett remains the Golden Eagles highest MLB draft selection after being taken No. 26 for the Brewers.
Stang, a British Columbian native, totaled 43 hits and 59 bases in 52 games with five doubles, four triples, 13 walks, and 18 RBI for the single-A Helena Brewers of the Pioneer League.
Stang led all Helena hitters in triples.
Right-hand pitcher Arnett appeared in 14 games this season, starting nine, totaling over 34 innings pitched, allowing just one homer to 21 walks, and striking out 35.
Unfortunately for the Brewers, management sent him back to minor league ball before Arnett could showcase his rising fastball and power curve in his spring debut.
“It’s been exciting, and I’m just going to try to get back here next year,” Arnett said a few days before learning about his release from the Brewer roster.