RailCats SELL CONTRACT OF PITCHER CHAD BLACKWELL TO TORONTO BLUE JAYS
July 22, 2007 Contact: Tom Nichols at (219) 882-2255
Gary, Ind.—The Gary SouthShore RailCats Professional Baseball Club announced today that the contract of pitcher Chad Blackwell has been sold to the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He will report to the Blue Jays Advanced Single-A club, Dunedin, in the Florida State League.
Blackwell pitched in 29 games with the RailCats this season, posting a record of 4-0 with a 1.09 earned run average and four saves. He allowed only 25 hits in 41.1 innings, walking just 14 and striking out 38. Opposing batters hit only .188 against Blackwell.
Blackwell is a product of the University of South Carolina, where he led the nation in saves in 2004. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in June of 2004 and spent two seasons in the Royals organization before spending the 2006 season in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
Blackwell becomes the 16th RailCats player to be sold to a major league organization. He hopes to join pitcher Tim Byrdak and outfielder Nathan Haynes as players to play in the major leagues after playing for the RailCats.
More Information: The Gary SouthShore RailCats are a Professional Minor League Baseball Team serving Northwest Indiana and Chicago's south suburbs. For the last four years, they have been chosen "Best Local Spectator Sport" by Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly. Their 96 game schedule includes 47 home games at beautiful U. S. Steel Yard, an award-winning 6,000 seat state-of-the-art facility located next to the Indiana Toll Road (I-90) with easy access to I-65.
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