The Victoria HarbourCats have signed three significant veteran pieces to their mound puzzle for the 2017 West Coast League baseball season, the club announced Monday.
Josh Mitchell from Pitt will return for his third season with the HarbourCats in 2017 after emerging as a main starter during his second summer.
Mitchell set the HarbourCats single-season wins record by going 7-0 in 2016 with a 1.86 ERA in 13 appearances and nine starts. He recorded a team-high 622脷3 innings pitched and allowed 51 hits and just nine walks with a staff-best 61 strikeouts.
Mitchell was named a 2016 summer-collegiate all-American by Perfect Game.
Blake Hannah from UC-Davis will return for his second summer in Victoria, having pitched to a 4-2 record with a 2.93 ERA over 10 appearances and five starts in 2016. The 6-foot-3 Hannah allowed 38 hits and seven walks with 28 strikeouts in 43 innings pitched. After beginning the season in the bullpen, Hannah earned a spot in the starting rotation. He went 3-1 in his five starts down the stretch with a 3.00 ERA, allowing 28 hits and two walks with 15 strikeouts in 30 innings.
Colin Ashworth pitched some important innings in the HarbourCats鈥� bullpen in 2016 and will also return in 2017. Ashworth made 14 appearances, with one start, this past season with a 1-0 record, two saves and a 3.81 ERA. He allowed 23 hits and 11 walks with 14 strikeouts in 281脷3 innings pitched. Ashworth came to Victoria in 2016 from Orange Coast College and is now attending the University of Hawaii of the NCAA Big West Conference.
