Meet the 2019 Quad Cities River Bandits

And last but not least in WTHB's season-opening "Meet the Team" series... the Quad Cities River Bandits!

Photo from Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.Net

SOCIAL MEDIA

Official website - RiverBandits.com

Twitter - @QCRiverBandits

Instagram - @qcriverbandits

OTHER TWITTER ACCOUNTS OF NOTE

Rich Guill, team photographer - @QCBanditPhotog

Steve Batterson, sports reporter, Quad-City Times - @sbatt79

The Quad Cities is a collection of four (well, actually five) cities on the Mississippi River bordering Iowa and Illinois; Bettendorf and Davenport are the principal cities on the Iowa side, while the Illinois half of the Quad Cities consists of Rock Island and Moline.

The River Bandits play at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, located on the banks of the Mississippi. Like Whataburger Field, Modern Woodmen Park provides stunning views of a bridge. In this case, it's the Centennial Bridge, which connects Davenport and Rock Island. Quad Cities is a member of the Midwest League and they play in the Western Division with Cedar Rapids (Twins), Peoria (Cardinals), Kane County (D-Backs), Beloit (A's), Burlington (Angels), and Clinton (Marlins; formerly a Mariners affiliate).

Unfortunately, the area is susceptible to flooding, and Quad Cities' home opener, which had been scheduled for Opening Night, has been moved to Burlington, which is located further down the river.

Quad Cities' pitchers were absolutely filthy in 2018 as it seemed as though they were striking out everyone they faced. The majority of Tri-City's pitching staff, a group that struck out a little over ten per nine innings last season, is heading to Iowa and they're hoping to continue racking up the Ks.

Although not many of the pitchers on the current roster aren't quite on the prospect radar just yet, there are a few intriguing guys like Willy Collado. While Bryan Abreu commanded most of the attention last season, Collado was also excellent out of the bullpen. Could he make a leap similar to Abreu's in 2019? 

Mark Moclair was downright scary with Tri-City... when he wasn't walking everyone (9.9 BB/9), he was mowing them down to the tune of 15.8 strikeouts per nine innings. If he can tame himself a little bit while retaining his lights-out strikeout ability, he could really break out. Austin Hansen was downright unhittable in his pro debut and he could also be a breakout candidate in 2019.

Luis Garcia excelled in the River Bandits' rotation last year and he's looking to be the next in a long line of success stories from the Astros' Latin American program. 

As for the position players... Ross Adolph, one of three players that the Astros acquired from the Mets in the J.D. Davis trade, will make his full-season debut with the Banditos. We can probably also expect to see Luis Santana for a spell later this year. Andy Piñeda brings blazing speed to the table; if there's anybody in the system who is faster than Myles Straw, Piñeda might be the man. 

Jeremy Peña may be a recent draftee but he's already in the discussion of top defensive players in the organization. He has the MLB pedigree and he'll look to become more well-rounded on offense as he progresses through the system. Alex McKenna will start the season on the injured list but had a fine pro debut. Hopefully, he can pick up right where he left off. Enmanuel Valdez has shown some pop in his bat at the lower levels. As the (current) youngest player on the Quad Cities roster, however, he'll get a bit of a reprieve in terms of carrying an offense, which should give him time to refine his game at the plate.

Oldest - Scott Schreiber (October 13, 1995)
Youngest - Enmanuel Valdez (December 28, 1998)

PITCHERS

Asterisk - left-handed

Well, there aren't any left-handed pitchers on the Quad Cities roster right now.

Humberto Castellanos - International free agent (Mexico), 2015; played with Tri-City and Quad Cities in 2018

Willy Collado - International free agent (Dominican Republic), 2016; Quad Cities

Brett Conine - 11th round, 2018 draft (Cal State Fullerton); Tri-City

Devin Conn - 19th round, 2018 draft (Nova Southeastern); Tri-City

Brett Daniels - 17th round, 2018 draft (North Carolina); Tri-City

Cody Deason - 5th round, 2018 draft (Arizona); Tri-City

Shawn Dubin - 13th round, 2018 draft (Georgetown [Kentucky]); Tri-City

R.J. Freure - 6th round, 2018 draft (Pittsburgh); Tri-City

Luis Garcia - International free agent (Venezuela), 2017; Tri-City/Quad Cities

Austin Hansen - 8th round, 2018 draft (Oklahoma); Tri-City

Mark Moclair - 12th round, 2018 draft (University of Tampa); Tri-City

Nivaldo Rodriguez - International free agent (Venezuela), 2016; Tri-City

Matt Ruppenthal - 17th round, 2017 draft (Vanderbilt); GCL/Tri-City

POSITION PLAYERS

Asterisk - bats left-handed

Italics - switch-hitter

Catchers

Oscar Campos - International free agent (Venezuela), 2014; Tri-City

Alex Holderbach - 16th round, 2018 draft (Eastern Kentucky); Tri-City

César Salazar* - 7th round, 2018 draft (Arizona); Tri-City/Quad Cities

Infielders

Trey Dawson - 15th round, 2018 draft (Kentucky); Tri-City/Quad Cities

David Hensley - 26th round, 2018 draft (San Diego State); Quad Cities

Jeremy Peña - 3rd round, 2018 draft (Maine); Tri-City

Scott Schreiber - 9th round, 2018 draft (Nebraska); Quad Cities

Enmanuel Valdez* - International free agent (Dominican Republic), 2015; Tri-City

Outfielders

Ross Adolph* - Acquired from Mets (along with Luis Santana and Scott Manea) via trade for J.D. Davis, 2019; Brooklyn (Mets)

Marty Costes - 22nd round, 2018 draft (Maryland); Tri-City/Quad Cities

Jonathan Lacroix* - 12th round, 2017 draft (Seminole State College); Quad Cities

Andy Piñeda* - International free agent (Dominican Republic), 2014; Tri-City/Corpus Christi