Thursday, June 12, 2008

Lucas to White Sox

Michael Lucas' stay with his hometown team wasn't a long one – two days to be exact – but nobody was complaining Thursday at Consol Energy Park. That's because Lucas had his contract purchased by the Chicago White Sox.

A Trinity High School and Xavier University product, Lucas never did appear in a game with the Wild Things after signing with them Tuesday. He did throw in the bullpen during the ninth inning of Washington's 9-1 win Tuesday over Southern Illinois.

Lucas (6-3, 215) had a 7-2 record this spring with Xavier and was a first team all-Atlantic 10 Conference selection.

Lucas said he will be joining Chicago's Bristol (Va.) affiliate in the rookie-level Appalachian League. He leaves this morning for a short preseason camp.

Lucas said he had no contact with the White Sox before or after last week's major league draft.

"My only connection with the White Sox was a couple of my teammates at Xavier were picked up by them," Lucas said Thursday night.

The 22-year-old right-hander said he received a call Thursday morning from J.D. Heilmann, his pitching coach at Xavier, altering him to the White Sox's interest.

"I woke up this morning planning to go to the ballpark," Lucas said. "I was hoping to get some innings in and get my feet wet in professional baseball. Then I get the call from my pitching coach from school. He said the White Sox had drafted a couple of pitchers who didn't sign and don't be surprised if they call."

It didn't take long for the phone to ring again.

"I was still on the phone when I heard another beep. My coach said, "Go ahead, answer it.' Wouldn't you know it, it was the White Sox. They said, 'Would you like to sign a contract with us?' This all happened in a five-minute span."

It's the second year in a row the White Sox have picked up a player from Washington County. Last year, Chicago drafted outfielder Duke outfielder Jim Gallagher of Peters Township. Gallagher is batting .249 with 4 home runs in 59 games for Kannapolis of the Class A South Atlantic League.

Lucas is the second player in as many days to have his contract sold by the Wild Things to an affiliated team. On Wednesday, relief pitcher Corey Bachman joined the Toronto Blue Jays' system.

1 Comments:

Blogger Mapod said...

Congrates to Michael and I wish him well.

July 7, 2008 at 4:29 AM  

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