Storm celebrates 100th former player in majors

LAKE ELSINORE – This year is Lake Elsinore Storm’s 18th season, and they celebrated Century Night April 9 commemorating the 100th former Storm player to reach the major leagues.

Cedric Hunter, who played for the Storm in 2008, opened the 2011 season on the San Diego Padres’ 25-man roster. He made his major league debut in the Padres’ season opener March 31 in St. Louis, entering the game as a pinch-runner in the top of the 11th inning. Hunter subsequently scored the second run of the inning and remained in the game as the Padres’ center fielder. The Padres held the Cardinals scoreless in the bottom of the inning for a 5-3 victory.

“We’re excited,” Storm general manager Chris Jones said of Hunter’s major league debut. “Ced’s a great guy, and we’re just excited that we’re at 100 now.”

The 100 Storm alumni to have reached the majors do not include players who spent time with Lake Elsinore on rehabilitation assignments. “The Angels and the Padres organizations, they’ve done a good job in their minor league system, and we’ve been lucky to have some good players come through here,” said Jones.

The California League franchise had been in Palm Springs before moving to Lake Elsinore for the 1994 season. The Storm was a California Angels affiliate for their first seven years in Lake Elsinore and have been the Padres’ highest Class A farm club since 2001.

The Class AA and Class AAA levels are between the California League and the majors for both the Angels and the Padres, so there is a lapse between the time a player competes for the Storm and when he plays in the big leagues. That creates an average of six to seven future major leaguers each year on the Storm roster. “It just means that the Padres have been giving us good teams,” said Jones. “You’re actually seeing some future Padres.”

Although Hunter was sent down to Class AAA Tucson on April 10 when Eric Patterson was activated from the disabled list, the Padres’ 25-man roster still included former Storm players Jason Bartlett, Ernesto Frieri, Chase Headley, Nick Hundley, Cory Luebke, and Tim Stauffer while the disabled list included Storm alumni Kyle Blanks and Mike Baxter.

“It’s a numbers game,” Jones said of Hunter returning to the minors.

Hunter appeared in six games with the Padres before being sent to Tucson and had one hit in four at-bats with one walk. The 23-year-old Hunter played all 28 innings in his first two games with Tucson and had 14 plate appearances.

“He had a great spring,” Jones said of Hunter. “We’re just very excited for him. He is a class act, and we’re excited that he got his chance.”

Hunter spent all of 2008 with the Storm and played in 134 games. He led all minor leaguers with 186 hits during the season and also led all California League batters with a ratio of one strikeout per 13.64 plate appearances. He scored 98 runs and batted .318 in his only Storm season.

The Century Night recognition had planned to include 100 promotions throughout the game, although the fans received a total of 116 promotions.

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