RAILCATS ACQUIRE FORMER YANKEES PROSPECT TO COMPLETE OBENCHAIN DEAL
January 8, 2008 Contact: Tom Nichols at (219) 882-2255
Gary, Ind.—The 2007 Northern League Champion Gary SouthShore RailCats Professional Baseball club announced today that right-handed pitcher Jim Conroy has been acquired from the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League as the player to be named later in an August, 2007 deal that sent pitcher Steve Obenchain from Gary to Evansville.
Conroy, 25, is a native of Rock Island, Illinois. He was the New York Yankees' 19th round draft pick out of the University of Illinois in 2005 and spent two seasons in the Yankees organization prior to signing with Evansville for the 2007 season.
Conroy spent four years at the University of Illinois from 2002-'05, posting a career record of 18-10. In his senior season at Illinois, he earned Big 10 2nd Team All-Conference honors, going 8-3 with a 3.10 ERA. Conroy was drafted by the Oakland A's after his junior season at Illinois but did not sign.
After being selected by the Yankees, Conroy enjoyed an outstanding professional debut season in the summer of 2005 with Staten Island of the New York/Penn League, going 5-1 with a 2.04 ERA that ranked third best in the league. He spent most of the 2006 season with Charleston of the South Atlantic League, going 4-4 with a 4.56 ERA.
Conroy went 8-9 with a 4.43 earned run average with Evansville in 2007. He finished fifth in the Frontier League in strikeouts.
The RailCats begin defense of their 2007 Northern League title on May 15th when they host Joliet in the 2008 season opener. Call (219) 882-2255 for ticket information.
More Info: The Gary SouthShore RailCats are a Professional Minor League Baseball Team serving Northwest Indiana and Chicago's south suburbs. The RailCats won the Northern League championship in 2005 and 2007 and for each of the last four years, they have been chosen "Best Local Spectator Sport" by Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly. Their 96 game schedule includes 48 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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