Kannapolis Intimidators

Kannapolis Intimidators Founded in 1995 Kannapolis, North Carolina
Team Logo Cap Insignia
Class-level
A
Minor league affiliations
South Atlantic League Southern Division
Major league affiliations
Chicago White Sox (2001–present) Philadelphia Phillies (1995–2000)
Name
Kannapolis Intimidators (2001–present) Piedmont Phillies (1995) Piedmont Boll Weevils (1996–2000)
Ballpark
Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium
Minor league titles
League titles	1 (2005)
Division titles
Owner(s)/Operated by: Brad Smith
Manager: Tommy Thompson
General Manager: Randy Long

The Kannapolis Intimidators are a minor league baseball team in Kannapolis, North Carolina. The team is a Class Low-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and has played in the South Atlantic League under various names and team affiliations since its inception in 1995.

Team history

Piedmont Boll Weevils, 1996–2000

The Intimidators franchise moved to Kannapolis in 1995 from Spartanburg, South Carolina, where they had been a Class A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. Debate raged in the Kannapolis area over what to name the team, with team officials finally decided to call the team the Piedmont Phillies for the 1995 season. A name-the-team contest in the fall of 1995 drew thousands of entries, and team officials settled on the boll weevil as the team's new mascot, indicative of Kannapolis' history as a textile mill town (Kannapolis natives are even called "lintheads"). The Piedmont Boll Weevils would keep that mascot until after the 2000 season, when NASCAR racing legend Dale Earnhardt purchased a share in the team's ownership. It was then that the name was changed to the Kannapolis Intimidators, in honor of Earnhardt's legendary nickname. It was also during that offseason that the team's parent club changed from the Phillies to the Chicago White Sox, making the Intimidators the third White Sox farm team to be located in the Carolinas, following the Charlotte Knights (who actually play their home games in suburban Fort Mill, South Carolina) and the Winston-Salem Warthogs, now called the Winston-Salem Dash.

Earnhardt, who drove the #3 car in NASCAR, was killed in an accident at the Daytona 500 in February 2001. Following Earnhardt's death, the Intimidators avoided assigning the number 3 for team members. Team manager Razor Shines, originally slated to wear #3, subsequently changed his uniform number to #43. The team officially retired number 3 on May 15, 2002, in memory of their former co-owner, similar to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim retiring the number 26 (the 26th man) in honor of former owner Gene Autry.

The team's logo was designed by Sam Bass, who has designed paint schemes and uniforms on many NASCAR, Champ Car, and IRL race cars.

The team plays in Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium in Kannapolis. "The Cannon" was still under construction when the Piedmont Phillies began play in 1995. Upon completion in the winter of 1995, the stadium seated 4,700 fans.

Current or former Major League Baseball players to pass through Kannapolis include Jimmy Rollins and Dave Coggin of the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as Jack Egbert, Gordon Beckham, Chris Getz, Brent Morel and Clayton Richard of the Chicago White Sox. Also, NFL running back Ricky Williams played for the Boll Weevils during the late 1996 and 1997 seasons while he was also playing college football for the University of Texas.

Ownership

Smith Family Baseball, owned by Illinois businessman Dale Smith and his son Brad (the team's President) bought the team from Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and motorsports magnate Bruton Smith in December 2004. Larry and Sue Hedrick, the owners who bought the Spartanburg Phillies in 1993 and eventually moved them to Kannapolis, retained a minority share of the team's ownership.

Championship series

The Kannapolis franchise has appeared in two SAL championship series, winning one:

• 1995 (Piedmont Phillies) – lost to Augusta 3 games to 2
• 2005 (Kannapolis Intimidators) – defeated Hagerstown 3 games to 1

Notable ballplayers

• Mike Lieberthal, All Star and Gold Glove catcher

Current roster

Kannapolis Intimidators roster
Players				Coaches/Other
Pitchers 20 Spencer Arroyo 28 Jon Bachanov 31 Chris Bassitt 43 Paul Burnside 35 Dexter Carter 10 Justin Collop 23 Chase Cooney 18 Brad Furnish 51 Matthew Heidenreich  1 Terance Marin 12 Nick McCully -- Kevin Moran 45 Phil Negus 25 Steven Upchurch  9 Jake Wilson		Catchers 27 Kevin Dubler 32 Miguel Gonzalez -- Jose Ramos Infielders 40 Dan Black 11 Drew Lee 26 Leighton Pangilinan 22 Rangel Ravelo 29 Carlos Sanchez  6 Marcus Semien 17 Ross Wilson Outfielders -- Dusty Harvard 13 Collin Kuhn 24 Trayce Thompson  2 Keenyn Walker		Manager -- Julio Vinas Coaches 38 José Bautista (pitching) -- Rob Sasser (hitting) 7-day disabled list * On Chicago White Sox 40-man roster ∞ Reserve list § Suspended list ‡ Restricted list # Rehab assignment Roster updated November 27, 2011 Transactions → More MiLB rosters → Chicago White Sox minor league players

2011 Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Base on balls; SO = Strikeouts; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	SB
Dan Black, 1B	135	510	82	146	41	6	18	98	50	109	.286	7
Michael Blanke, C	47	170	22	44	13	1	2	18	11	28	.259	0
Kevin Dubler, C	52	175	24	44	10	2	3	15	18	34	.251	2
Kyle Eveland, SS	63	189	29	43	7	0	4	27	24	53	.228	6
Kenny Gilbert, RF	56	183	25	47	8	2	1	26	12	48	.257	0
Miguel Gonzalez, C	55	184	17	47	7	0	2	21	16	34	.255	5
Ryan Hamme, RF	18	55	10	12	0	1	0	8	6	9	.218	3
Dusty Harvard, OF	20	51	7	9	0	1	0	5	1	14	.176	0
Collin Kuhn, OF	35	91	14	20	8	0	3	16	15	32	.220	2
Drew Lee, 2B	94	325	49	89	17	3	5	36	17	79	.274	3
Jake Oester, 3B	6	19	1	2	0	0	0	2	1	6	.105	1
Leighton Pangilinan, 1B	19	64	6	13	3	1	1	9	3	18	.203	0
Jose Ramos, C	2	6	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	2	.167	0
Rangel Ravelo, 3B	43	161	11	51	9	0	0	21	12	19	.317	0
Carlos Sanchez, 3B	63	264	44	76	10	1	1	27	15	49	.288	7
Marcus Seimen, SS	60	229	35	58	15	2	3	26	22	53	.253	3
Brady Shoemaker, LF	99	373	68	119	28	2	11	65	43	78	.319	7
Juan Silverio, 3B	88	329	48	95	29	6	5	58	18	81	.289	4
John Spatola, OF	42	121	20	31	7	2	4	19	12	28	.256	0
Trayce Thompson, CF	136	519	95	125	36	2	24	87	60	172	.241	8
Rafael Vera, DH	57	167	22	31	10	0	0	16	22	43	.186	0
Keenyn Walker, OF	39	162	25	37	1	2	0	15	14	64	.228	10
Ross Wilson, 2B	79	287	43	77	17	3	2	26	31	55	.268	7
Team totals	138	4634	697	1217	277	37	89	642	423	1109	.263	75

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; HR = Home runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K
Spencer Arroyo	10	9	3.70	28	27	0	170.1	188	88	70	18	41	130
Jon Bachanov	2	4	3.12	14	7	1	40.1	33	18	14	2	14	31
Jimmy Ballinger	2	3	2.18	12	1	2	20.2	26	7	5	0	9	14
Chris Bassitt	3	1	1.75	18	0	1	25.2	19	6	5	1	7	30
Ryan Buch	4	3	3.65	8	8	0	44.1	35	23	18	2	17	45
Paul Burnside	8	4	3.22	19	13	1	92.1	77	41	33	2	31	77
Dexter Carter	3	5	6.65	14	12	0	65.0	81	50	48	9	30	47
Justin Collop	1	0	3.55	6	0	2	12.2	11	5	5	0	4	11
Chase Cooney	2	2	4.10	31	1	1	48.1	44	28	22	6	33	47
Brad Furnish	0	2	5.10	6	6	0	30.0	35	18	17	7	3	19
Matthew Heidenreich	10	10	4.32	27	27	0	154.1	174	91	74	13	31	101
Leroy Hunt	1	0	5.79	7	0	1	9.1	6	7	6	0	2	13
Garrett Johnson	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	2.0	1	0	0	0	0	2
Reid Kelly	1	0	3.72	11	0	0	19.1	17	10	8	2	8	22
Terance Marin	3	1	1.99	26	0	1	49.2	41	16	11	0	11	38
Nick McCully	5	2	3.17	24	1	3	54.0	39	21	19	0	11	47
Kevin Moran	1	2	7.33	12	3	1	27.0	29	23	22	0	17	25
Miguel Negron	1	0	6.23	7	0	1	8.2	11	10	6	1	7	6
Phil Negus	4	1	3.14	32	12	3	91.2	88	47	32	8	32	82
Jacob Petricka	3	1	2.81	8	8	0	41.2	39	14	13	0	13	48
Addison Reed	0	0	1.13	4	0	0	8.0	4	1	1	0	1	1
Orlando Santos	2	0	1.08	12	0	1	25.0	16	3	3	1	6	22
Steven Upchurch	6	9	4.62	28	12	2	89.2	103	52	46	5	30	70
Rafael Vera	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Wes Whisler	0	1	2.49	23	0	3	25.1	13	9	7	3	17	24
Jake Wilson	4	2	1.47	36	0	9	49.0	24	10	8	1	25	62
Team totals	76	62	3.67	138	138	33	1205.1	1154	598	492	81	399	1025

External links

• Official Team Website
• Photos of Fieldcrest Cannon and information about team history
• Live Broadcasts of Every Game
• Official Team Blog