From the majors to the Frontier League

In case you didn't see this on the other league sites, the Windy City ThunderBolts signed former major elague pitcher Billy Petrick to a contract for the 2009 season.

Petrick was a third-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs and pitched in eight games (0-0, 7.45 ERA) out of the bullpen for the Cubs in 2008. He was bothered by shoulder injuries and spent almost all of last year on the minor-league disabled list, pitching in only eight games in Class A.

Petrick will be the fifth former major leaguer to play in a Frontier League game. Corey Thurman pitched in 49 games for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2002 and 2003 before going 2-3 in six starts for Florence in 2005. One of Thurman's wins was an eight-shutout-innings performance against Washington. He made it back to Triple-A but pitched last year in the independent Atlantic League.

Scott Sobkowiak was a former top-10 prospect of the Atlanta Braves and pitched the final inning of the final game of the 2001 season for the Braves. He pitched for Rockford in 2003 and 2004. Ben Diggins was a top pitching prospect for Milwaukee and made five starts for the Brewers in 2003. He tried to make it as a hitter with Windy City and lasted 17 games.

There also was former Wild Things hitting coach Joe Charboneau, who took one at-bat for Canton in 2000.

I recall that Kalamazoo, at its tryout camp a couple of years ago, found a guy who had briefly played in the majors with Florida but was never able to get him to sign and onto the field in the regular season.

He's still Super Joe

Here's a story from the Toledo Blade about former Wild Things hitting coach Joe Charboneau. The Frontier League is mentioned only briefly and there is no mention of the Wild Things, yet it's still a good read.

Read the story here.