For Immediate Release: Contact: Tyler Maun

March 31, 2011 James Smyth

E-Mail: media@myrtlebeachpelicans.com

PELICANS ANNOUNCE 2011 OPENING DAY ROSTER

Eight Baseball America Top-30 names highlight Myrtle Beach’s opening squad

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The Myrtle Beach Pelicans, Class A Advanced affiliate of the American League champion Texas
Rangers, have announced their Opening Day roster for the 2011 season. This year’s club boasts eight players ranked in
Baseball America’s Top-30 Texas Rangers Prospects list including all five rotation members to kick off the campaign.

Highlighting a star-studded starting five pitchers is left-hander Robbie Erlin, the fourth-best overall prospect in the Texas
system according to Baseball America and the second-best southpaw hurler. A 2009 third-round draft selection out of Scotts
Valley (CA) High School, Erlin made the jump out of spring training to the Class A Hickory Crawdads for his first full
professional season in 2010 and proceeded to lead the South Atlantic League in ERA (2.12) and strikeouts-to-walks ratio (7.4)
at just 19 years old. Joining Erlin in the Pelicans’ gem-laden starting staff are fellow lefty Robbie Ross (BA #19) and right-
handers Joe Weiland (#22), Barret Loux (#24), and Neil Ramirez (#27) who saw action Tuesday night with the Texas squad in
their historic exhibition game against Coastal Carolina University at BB&T Coastal Field. Left-hander Kasey Kiker, who Baseball
America lists as the system’s eighth-best lefty starter, will pair with Erlin to begin the season as he readies himself for an
anticipated move to Double-A Frisco. The two will swap starts with one piggybacking off the other’s starts in each ballgame.

Behind their front line, the Pelicans will open play with a relief corps of seven relievers including lefties Chad Bell, ranked as
BA #7 among Rangers’ southpaw starting pitchers, and Joseph Ortiz as well as right-handers Kennil Gomez, Trevor Hurley,
Ryan Kelly, Tyler Tufts, and Johan Yan.

Myrtle Beach’s position player depth is pronounced as well, and the Birds’ inaugural 2011 bats are headlined by third
baseman Mike Olt . The University of Connecticut product checks in at #7 in the Baseball America overall ledger and as the
top hot corner prospect in the Texas ranks. Olt set UCONN career records with 44 home runs and 177 runs batted in and led
the Huskies to the NCAA playoffs last year for the first time since 1994. In 69 games with the Short-Season A Spokane Indians,
the 6’2”, 215-lb third baseman batted .293 with nine home runs and 43 runs driven in. Fellow power prospect Chris
McGuinness will hold down the opposite corner for the Pelicans as the top-rated first baseman in the Rangers’ system along
with first baseman/outfielder Jared Bolden. Joining that corners trio in the infield are second basemen Travis Adair and
Santiago Chirino as well as shortstops Andres James and Leury Garcia (BA #15 overall). Behind the plate, the Pelicans’
pitching staff is in the hands of backstops Vinny DiFazio and Zach Zaneski.

The BB&T Coastal Field pastures will be stocked as well in 2011 with a solid core group of young outfielders. Center fielder
th
Jared Hoying leads the way in the outfield for the Birds in the new year. Baseball America’s 25 overall prospect in the Texas
system is the top man at his position for the Rangers and earned Northwest League MVP honors last year behind a blistering
campaign in which he batted .325 with ten home runs, 51 runs batted in, and an impressive .921 OPS over the course of 62
games with Spokane. Hoying will be joined by Jared Prince and Ryan Strausborger.

With their affiliation change to the Texas Rangers for the 2011 season, the Pelicans also welcome in a brand new field staff
led by manager Jason Wood. Along with hitting coach Julio Garcia and pitching coach Brad Holman, the 41-year-old former
big leaguer Wood leads the Pelicans into a new era under the Texas banner in his first managerial job. Wood, who saw major
league service time with the Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, and Florida Marlins in a career that spanned five seasons over
eleven years, spent last season as the hitting coach for the Rangers’ previous Class A Advanced club the California League,
the Bakersfield Blaze. Garcia, a 23-year coaching veteran, most recently piloted the AZL Reds in the Cincinnati system last
season. Holman has worked with many of the Pelicans pitchers he’ll mold this year during his last two seasons in the same
role with Class A Hickory. The field staff will be joined by athletic trainer Jeff Bodenhamer who has made stops at Clinton (IA)
and Bakersfield in his four years in the Rangers’ system.
The Pelicans open their 2011 campaign on Friday, April 8 at BB&T Coastal Field, welcoming in the Wilmington Blue Rocks for
the season’s first game at 7:05 PM. The first 1,500 fans through the gates Friday night will receive a Pelicans 2011 season
schedule magnet, and the night will be capped off by postgame fireworks. Saturday, the amazing Fire Stunt Man will light
himself ablaze and run the bases at BB&T Coastal Field, and on Sunday, fans can enjoy a pregame catch on the field as well
as a Golden Retriever Webkinz giveaway for the first 500 kids ages 12 and under through the gates.

Tickets for Opening Day as well as season tickets, mini-plans, and Pelicans Flex Books are available by calling the Pelicans
box office at (843) 918-6000 or (877) 918-TIXX or by visiting the Tickets page on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com.

***PELICANS***