In his first full year of professional baseball, former Notre
Dame pitching ace Aaron Heilman '01 was promoted from double-A
to triple-A in the New York Mets farm system. He hoped to be promoted
to the big leagues in September 2002, the month when teams are
allowed to expand their rosters with minor leaguers.
As of mid-September, Heilman was
2-3 with a 3.28 ERA in 10 games, seven of them starts, for the
Norfolk Tides. Before his promotion to Norfolk, he'd gone 4-4
with a 3.82 ERA in 17 games, all starts, for the Binghampton Mets.
In his debut with the Tides in
July, Heilman pitched eight shutout innings on the road against
the Indianapolis Indians, 70 miles from his hometown of Logansport,
Indiana.
According to CollegeSports.com,
three other ex-Irish pitchers were at triple-A this past season:
lefthander Chris Michalak '93 (Pawtucket Red Sox) and righthanders
Tim Kalita (Toledo Mud Hens, played at ND from 1997-99) and Brad
Lidge (New Orleans Zephrys, at ND from 1996-'98). Michalak (Texas
Rangers) and Lidge (Houston Astros) both made appearances in the
majors this past season.
At the end of its article on Heilman's
debut against Indianapolis, the website listed information on
10 other former Irish players active in professional baseball,
including Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Craig Counsell. The
story is at: http://www.collegesports.com/sports/m-basebl/stories/071302aaa.html,.
