The Aces are looking to hire an on-field emcee for all 72 games at Aces Ballpark this season, and the dream job could be yours!
Applications are all in, and now the judges will be narrowing the field to three. Each finalist will be interviewed live on the air by the The Morning Moo Crew on K-BULL 98.1 on Monday, March 12.
Here are some of our favorite submissions. Who would you like to see on the field on April 5?
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In the true spirit of Spring Training, let’s hit the links…
At 26 years old, Hallberg retired this offseason and is now coaching high-school baseball while pursuing a collegiate degree.
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Pitcher Bryan Shaw’s Cutter Drawing High Comparisons
In the annals of baseball history, Yankees closer Mariano Rivera’s cutter will go down as one of the most devastating pitches of all-time.
So it’s never a bad thing when people are comparing your cutter to that of the future Hall of Famer.
And that’s exactly what’s happening to former Aces reliever Bryan Shaw.
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Non-Roster Spotlight: Jensen Lewis
Arizona Republic D-backs beat writer Nick Piecoro takes a look at Jensen Lewis, who signed a Minor League deal with Arizona and earned an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
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MLB.com put together a great primer on baseball’s top prospects. The Diamondbacks are very well represented, including three of the top 21 players (No. 9 Trevor Bauer, No. 20 Archie Bradley, No. 21 Tyler Skaggs).
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Aces Begin Search for Austin’s Sidekick
Try to think of a better summer job. We’ll wait. Still waiting. Didn’t think so. Check the link for details on how to apply.
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Butler’s Back–Dodger Makes Good on Promise
A little refresher course on Brett Butler, before he became a staple in the dugout for the Reno Aces.
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Vote for Cody–It’s a Slam Dunk
And finally, the NBA’s annual Slam Dunk Contest is set for Saturday night. Is it too late to ask for Cody Ransom to become a contestant?
Today the Aces family wishes infielder Cody Ransom a happy 36th birthday.
In December, Ransom inked a one-year Minor League deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second-straight season. His contract includes an invitation to Major League Spring Training, where he’ll compete for a spot on the D-backs’ 25-man roster.
In 2011, Ransom put together one of the most productive offensive seasons in Aces franchise history. He set new Aces single-season home run and RBI records in 2011, despite playing in just 101 games. Ransom hit 27 home runs, breaking the previous record of 25 (INF Brandon Allen, 2010). He also drove in 92 runs, besting the old mark of 86 RBIs (Allen, 2010). The D-backs Triple-A record for home runs is 30 (OF Ernie Young, 1999) and the record for RBIs is 110 (INF Josh Whitesell, 2008). Ransom had 432 plate appearances in 2011, compared with Allen’s 469 PA in 2010.
For his efforts, Ransom earned a Pacific Coast League Player of the Week honor and was named to the PCL’s mid-season and post-season all-star teams.
Ransom’s impressive numbers came in a season where he spent a month in the big leagues. You might remember this or even this.
He finished the 2011 season ranked among Minor League Baseball’s active career leaders in runs scored (811) and home runs (210), and he’ll start the 2012 season 10 RBIs shy of 800 in his professional career and 61 hits shy of 1,300 in his Minor League career. 
Ransom has spent parts of nine seasons in the big leagues with the Giants, Astros, Yankees, Phillies and Diamondbacks. In 2008, he became the 11th player in Yankees franchise history to homer in his first-career plate appearance with the storied franchise (in the expansion era). When he homered in his next plate appearance, he became the first Yankee player to accomplish the feat in club history. Later that season, on Sept. 21, Ransom made the final putout in the history of Yankee Stadium.
While there’s certainly value to the relative annual roster stability found at the big-league level, one of the charms of Minor League Baseball–especially in Triple-A–is the opportunity to see a large number of players shuffled into the lineups of your favorite club. Each and every new slugger stepping into the batter’s box at Aces Ballpark could be a future Major League star.
Sometimes, though, those players rise to stardom with a different Major League club–either through a trade or free agency.
Here’s a look at where some former Aces that have changed organizations will suit up for the 2012 season. This is not a complete list, and if your favorite player is missing, just comment below and we’ll do our best to track him down.
In an exciting bit of offseason news today, the Aces and University of Nevada jointly announced the two clubs will again play their annual exhibition game on Tuesday, April 3 at Aces Ballpark.
The exhibition game, which will precede the Aces’ regular-season opener for the third-straight season, has grown into one of the most gratifying annual events at Aces Ballpark. For everyone involved, either directly or indirectly, it has served as a wonderful rite of spring.
The game has been such a rich success because it benefits so many people for so many different reasons. Consider the following:
1) For the Aces players, the game is a very meaningful tune-up. For a good portion of the Aces’ roster, it represents the first opportunity to play on their home field. Hitters familiarize themselves to the batter’s eye in centerfield, fielders adapt to the lights, and pitchers adjust to pitching at 4,500 feet.
2) For the student athletes from the University of Nevada, the game serves as an opportunity to play in a professional park against Triple-A talent. In many cases, they’re hitting against pitchers that have had success in the Major Leagues. The Wolf Pack players get a glimpse of life in the Minor Leagues–a place many of them strive to reach.
3) For the Aces franchise, this is another opportunity for us to meld ourselves into the fabric of the community. The club’s community-relations efforts and initiatives have been documented on this blog, and the committment to benefiting the community is clear.
4) For the University of Nevada, the game is a tremendous opportunity to raise funds. In each of the last two seasons, the Aces have made a $15,000 donation to the Nevada Dugout Club, an organization that serves as the main fundraising body of the University of Nevada baseball team.
Call it the signal of the official start of the baseball season in Reno or even a win-win-win-win proposition. Whatever you call it, join us at the ballpark on April 3 for what promises to be another special night.
Reno Aces
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