-- SeaWolves manager Tom Brookens said his catching tandem of veteran minor leaguer Max St. Pierre and Double-A rookie Dusty Ryan will share the duties until one establishes himself as the starter.
"Both of them are going to get a lot of playing time,'' Brookens said. "It's really an open position as to who might end up moving out. Dusty is going to do most of the starting right out of the gate, but it's not like any one guy is the man and the other guy is not.''
-- SeaWolves first baseman Ryan Roberson is a 6-foot 5-inch, 240-pound Double-A rookie who split last season between the Gulf Coast Rookie League Tigers and high Single-A Lakeland.
He hit .268 with 15 homers and 51 RBIs in 100 games with Lakeland and led all Florida State League first basemen with 107 double plays and 14 errors.
-- Right-hander Rick Porcello, the Tigers' first-round selection in last year's June draft, ranks No. 14 on MiLB.com's top-50 prospects list.
-- Nine players who spent all or part of the 2007 season with the Erie SeaWolves made Triple-A Toledo's opening-day roster: Outfielders Jackson Melian and Matt Joyce, second baseman/shortstop Michael Hollimon, shortstop Erick Almonte, first baseman Jeff Larrish, catcher Nick Trzesniak, and pitchers Eddie Bonine, Ian Ostlund and Jeremy Johnson.
Hollimon, however, is on the Mud Hens' disabled list. He is currently in extended spring rehabbing a shoulder injury.
Toledo's roster includes three other former SeaWolves: pitchers Virgil Vasquez and Preston Larrison, and outfielder Brent Clevlen.
Former SeaWolves center fielder Clete Thomas, who played with Erie last season, is currently with the Detroit Tigers.