Tar Heels in the MLB/MiLB

The latest post on Dustin Ackley had me thinking, where are all the other former Tar Heels currently playing? This led me to a search to find the big name players from Carolina, especially from the past few seasons. Click their names to go to their official team websites.

Fox should be smiling

MLB

There are currently four Tar Heels in the MLB.

• Daniel Bard - P - Boston Red Sox (1st round 2006, 2009 debut)
• Chris Iannetta - C - Colorado Rockies (4th round 2004, 2006 debut)
• Andrew Miller - P - Florida Marlins (6th overall 2006, 2006 debut)
• Brian Roberts - 2B - Baltimore Orioles (1st round 1999, 2001 debut) (transferred to South Carolina)

MiLB

By the UNC Athletic Department's count there are 22 Tar Heels in the minors (not including Ackley or White who both signed late). I will go over some of the bigger, more recent names. Just for newer people to baseball, minor leagues go from Rookie leagues to A, then AA and last stop AAA before the big show.

• Dustin Ackley - OF - Peoria Javelinas (Seattle Mariners, AFL) (2nd overall 2009) (linked is a great article about AFL)
• Tim Federowicz - C - Salem Red Sox (Boston Red Sox, A) (7th round 2008)
• Tim Fedroff - OF - Kinston Indians (Cleveland Indians, A) (7th round 2008)
• Mark Fleury - C - Billings Mustangs (Cincinnati Reds, Rookie) (4th round 2009)
• Reid Fronk - OF - Charlotte Stone Crabs (Tampa Bay Rays, A) (7th round 2007)
• Josh Horton - SS - Midland Rockhounds (Oakland Athletics, AA) (2nd round 2007)
• Brian Moran - P - Clinton LumberKings (Seattle Mariners, A) (7th round 2009)
• Luke Putkonen - P - West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit Tigers, A) (3rd round 2007)
• Kyle Seager - 3B - High Desert Mavericks (Seattle Mariners, A) (3rd round 2009)
• Kyle Shelton - 1B - Kannapolis Intimidators (Chicago White Sox, A) (undrafted 2008)
• Adam Warren - P - Staten Island Yankees (New York Yankees, A) (4th round 2009)
• Alex White - P - has not been assigned to a team yet but is signed (Cleveland Indians) (15th overall 2009)
• Seth Williams - OF - St. Lucie Mets (New York Mets, A) (40th round 2008)
• Rob Wooten - P - Huntsville Stars (Milwaukee Brewers, AA) (17th round 2008) (currently with Peoria Javelinas)

A lot of names I know. That should be a great thing for the University of North Carolina.