Lexington Legends 2014 Preview

Defense

LF - Fred Ford

CF - Dominique Taylor*

RF - Elier Hernandez*

3B - Michael Antonio

SS - Humberto Arteaga

2B - Ramon Torres

1B - Samir Duenez*

C - Jin Ho Shin

Rotation

Jake Junis

Kevin McCarthy*

Cesar Ogando*

Luis Santos*

Matt Tenuta*

Bench

C - Chad Johnson, C - Frank Schwindel*, IF - Carlos Garcia*, IF - Mauricio Ramos*, OF - Alfredo Escalara-Maldonado

Bullpen

Matt Alvarez*, Alex Black*, Andrew Edwards*, Austin Fairchild*, Luke Farrell*, Kevin Perez*,  

Jose Miguel Rodriguez*, Luis Rico*

Notes

• To open the 2014 season, Lexington will have 17 new faces putting on the 'Stachetastic' uniform, including 11 new pitchers.
• Elier Hernandez, ranked as the Royals' #11 prospect in Baseball America, joins the Legends after a stellar performance with the Idaho Falls Chukars of the Pioneer League.  He posted an impressive line of .301/.350/.439 with 3 HR and 44 RBI.  Another stat worth mentioning is Elier's line drive rates.  In 66 games for the Chukars, his LD% was 25.8%, while the rest of the league hit on average 18.3%.  Plus, the fact that he's facing pitchers a few years older than him makes his 2013 season look just a little more superb.  Along with his strong arm and quickness in right field, Hernandez will be a fan favorite at Whitaker Bank Ballpark.
• This year's first baseman will not be familiar name to most, but soon will become one of the more popular names among Royals prospects.  At the young age of 17, Samir Duenez is ranked as the #17 prospect in the Royals' system and will be fun to keep an eye on.  Standing at 6'1", weighing 175 lbs, Samir has great bat speed and good strength for his age.  As a left-handed hitter, he has good power going to the opposite field and shows great discipline.  During his time with Rookie League Royals in Arizona last year, he hit .294/.337/.380 with 12 doubles, 19 RBI, and struck out only 27 times in 199 plate appearances.  For how young he is, Duenez has plenty of time to fill out and could make a possible switch to the outfield in the future, where he played a few games towards the end of last season.  
• Fun Fact: Newcomer Luke Farrell, who pitched for Idaho Falls in 2013, is the son of Boston Red Sox Manager John Farrell.  Luke has 2 brothers involved in baseball, as well.  Shane, drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays, is now a member of the Chicago Cubs front office and Jeremy, who plays in the Chicago White Sox system.