VISALIA, Calif. -- Former Tennessee Tech pitcher Erik Sabel has been promoted to pitching coach with the Visalia Rawhide, a Class A-Advanced minor league affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
He will join a new coaching staff at Visalia which includes Audo Vicente as the team's manager and Alan Zinter as hitting coach.
Sabel makes the move to Visalia from low-A South Bend, where he
spent the last two seasons. He was also the Pitching Coach for the
Yakima Bears from 2005-2007. The 35-year-old was drafted by Arizona
in 1996 after three seasons on the Golden Eagle roster, and spent
three seasons in Major League Baseball with the Diamondbacks and
the Detroit Tigers from 1999-2002. He made 50 total appearances in
the Major Leagues, and was a member of Arizona's 2001 World Series
Championship team.
Besides his experience at the highest level of baseball, Sabel
also spent eight additional seasons in the Minor Leagues, compiling
over 250 total games pitched.
In just three seasons on the Tech roster, Sabel started 33 games
and posted 20 complette games, a mark that ranks second in the
Golden Eagle career record books. His 246.2 innings is the third
most in school history and he aso ranks fifth in career strikeouts
with 179. He is 10th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.18)
As a sophomore in 1995, Sabel pitched 93.1 innings, and as a
junior he threw 93.2 innigs. He won six games in 1995 and seven in
1996, and was named all-OVC both years before opting to forego his
senior season after being drafted.
The Visalia Rawhide play in the Class A-Advanced California League.
Other league members include the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, Lake
Elsinore Storm, Bakersfield Blaze, Inland Empire 66ers, Lancaster
Jethawks, Stockton Ports, High Desert Mavericks, Modesto Nuts and
San Jose Giants.
